ã€ŠSummoned by Monster Girlsã€‹


 Chapter 1

    The rain spattered against the windshield with the same ceaseless regularity that it had been using since the accident. What use did the rest of the world have for a fender bender on a dark highway after all? This was just one life out of millions it was overseeing.

    I took a deep breath in, held it, then let it out slowly in a sigh while I replayed the last several hours in my mind.

    I¡¯d been driving home from work when I got a call from a friend that he¡¯d blown a tire while up in the mountains near town. Apparently, I¡¯d been the only one to answer his calls. That hadn¡¯t been surprising, Jason had this habit of asking for favors, but not repaying them.

    Getting out to him took another two hours, and then about an hour to get the spare tire I had on his Jeep so he could get it home. He¡¯d hurried off, stating that he had a date to get to and that he¡¯d get the spare back to me as soon as he could. That was when the rain had picked up even more.

    I¡¯m not a reckless driver, I check both ways and drive within the speed limit. My old truck struggles at higher speeds after all, so it¡¯s not like I have much choice. But when the rain was coming down in buckets like it had been, things happen. Like an animal jumping out into traffic.

    I hadn¡¯t been the one to play chicken with the deer, thankfully. But I had tagged the guy who tried to dodge it by jumping into my lane.

    His fender had been clipped by my front bumper. The nose of my old pickup hadn¡¯t cared that he was driving a Tesla though and the steel bumper on my truck had creased his expensive electric car with as much regard as I would crumple a paper cup. I¡¯d tried to avoid him, but since I was in the far right there wasn¡¯t anywhere else to go but the ditch when he came into my lane and slammed on the brakes. Thankfully, no one had been hurt and Bambi made it off into the forest after his little bit of revenge on humans.

    ¡°Be thankful for that, focus on that fact and that your truck isn¡¯t trashed, Liam.¡± I sighed, leaning forward to bump my head onto the steering wheel. The words were meant to help, but the post-accident shakes were still there. They¡¯d probably be there for a while yet. I just wanted to get home and sleep. Work had been killer, I was tired and wet from the rain.

    Movement in the darkness ahead of me shook me out of my thoughts as red tail-lights kicked on, followed by a turn signal a moment later. The State Patrol officer that had come out to document the accident pulled away from the scene and into the road. We¡¯d already spent another two hours out here, between dealing with the insurance paperwork and the cops. Despite the fact that the other guy had merged into my lane, I was going to be considered ¡®at fault¡¯ because I hit him from behind. ¡®Driving too fast for conditions¡¯ was the ticket the officer had written that sat next to me on the seat.

    The familiar anger rose up in the pit of my gut. I wouldn¡¯t have been out here if not for that stupid phone call after all.

    ¡°Easy, Liam. Don¡¯t blame Jason. He had no way of knowing¡­take it easy.¡± I urged myself, throttling the anger and stuffing it back down under the exhaustion that still rode high after the bullshit work week. At least it was Thursday night, I just had to get through work tomorrow and things would be fine. I could catch up on sleep this weekend and maybe get some cooking done so I wouldn¡¯t have to eat frozen meals and fast food next week.

    The rain continued to drum on the roof of the truck in a steady beat. It¡¯d been raining most of the day; that sort of persistent and relentless rain that I remembered from Seattle, where I grew up. The sort of rain that felt so very out of place here in Denver. Colorado was not a place known for heavy rain after all, being an alpine desert. Normally the area was covered in dry, brown grass or the scrubby pine trees that were clinging to the rocky terrain out of pure ornery determination.

    A grumble of thunder nearby made the truck vibrate and shook me out of my exhausted musings. Sitting here wasn¡¯t going to get me home. I needed to start driving before I fell asleep against the wheel.

    ¡°No one is going to look out for you but yourself, Liam.¡± I muttered, repeating one of the many bits of sage advice my mother and father had spoken over me. It was true, everyone was working so hard just to get by nowadays that people didn¡¯t really reach out to others, least of all strangers.

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    Reaching down to twist the key for the truck, I waited while the engine lugged a few times. My truck was older than I was. I¡¯d inherited it from my father when he passed. Lung cancer was what the doctors said, but I honestly think it was a broken heart. He lasted less than a year after Mom passed after all. It¡¯d been bad luck that had taken her. Black ice is not something anyone can expect. She¡¯d gone quickly at least, that was what the doctors had said. She¡¯d been declared dead on arrival by the paramedics.

    My parents estate had been enough to settle their outstanding debts. The truck and a small savings was all I had left afterwards, and a few odds and ends like Dad¡¯s hunting rifle and revolver. The truck was actually the part that I got the most out of in a day, since it got me to work and back. The solid truck handled black ice or snow during the winter like a champ, it was basically bullet proof. The accident that had crumpled the other guy''s fender had barely done more than dimple the front corner of the bumper. Good old Detroit steel just didn¡¯t stop rolling.

    So when the engine lugged again and died, I had to bite back the urge to swear.

    ¡°You gotta be kidding me.¡± I growled and began yanking my soaking hoodie back on so I could get out to check the engine. The fabric got caught around my head and tangled while I tried to get the hoodie on.

    Of course that was the time that my phone started to ring, right as the thunder rumbled overhead once more. Snarling, I yanked the hoodie back around and pulled it down before snatching my cell phone where it sat on the cracked leather of the bench seat next to me. But the device was dark.

    The ringing chime came again and I felt something, like a finger running down my spine, that made my whole body shiver as I realized something.

    That chime wasn¡¯t my ring tone. I remembered now that I¡¯d changed it from the standard ¡®deedle deedle¡¯ that the phone came with to the opening bars of my favorite song by Hulkoff about a week ago.

    Another flash of lighting came and a third ringing tone echoed around the truck. I searched around me but I couldn¡¯t figure out where it was coming from. My old beast had a full sized cab with two bench seats. I glanced behind the main seat, wondering if someone had left their phone behind or something. It¡¯d been a few weeks since I¡¯d given Tony a ride to work while his car was broken down, but it was the only answer I could think of.

    Nothing, just the darkness lit by the flash of lightning outside.

    A fourth ringing noise sounded out and something else happened that nearly made me crap my pants.

    Nothing jumped out of the shadows of the truck, or tapped my window, or even rustled in the bushes near my truck. That would have been easier to accept than what happened.

    Letters of blazing purple light, glowing like the core of a black-light, formed in front of my face. They shimmered for a moment like a mirage, making it hard to focus on them enough to read what was written, but they flickered and resolved after a second and I skimmed over them.

    Irregular planar travel detected.

    Calculating¡­

    No history of dimensional travel detected.

    Compensating¡­

    Entry Level System package allocated to Traveler.

    Standby, Traveler. DSR has been notified of your situation.

    Remain where you appear, if possible. Assistance is en-route.

    Do not panic.

    I read the last line of the notice two more times to make sure that I wasn¡¯t seeing things.

    ¡°Oh great¡­hallucinations. Maybe the car accident was worse than I thought and I¡¯m concussed and in a ditc¡ª,¡± My complaints were cut off a moment later when it felt like someone grabbed my belt buckle and physically yanked me up and out of the truck. They then crammed me into a cannon and fired me into a swirling maelstrom of color and light.

    I saw motion and felt colors whirl around me. Something broke across my face like walking through a spider¡¯s web, and then it did it again, and again.

    The sensation of motion increased rapidly until I felt like I was skimming along like a fighter jet. I felt movement, but no air resistance. It was just like how you would feel a lurch when a large vehicle moved and then you¡¯d feel yourself ¡®catch up¡¯. But I wasn¡¯t catching up. The world was moving too fast for me to really focus or see what was happening until it came screaming to a stop and I was slammed into reality once more.

    The sounds of my boots on stone and the murmuring of voices were the first things heard. The sight of burning torches and light sparkling off polished metal was the first thing I saw.

    The second thing I saw was the collection of well dressed young men and women staring at me with mixed looks of horror, curiosity, fear, and surprise in their eyes. Eyes that were slitted, eyes that were glowing, and eyes that looked normal.

    ¡°What¡­the hell?¡± I muttered as I fought to not trip and fall from my spinning mind.

 Chapter 2

    The shouting that ensued after I spoke aloud was enough that I had to fight to follow the guidance of that strange, burning message that had crossed my vision before this whole thing had started.

    Don¡¯t panic, sure thing. Would love to. I thought to myself while watching as the mess of young men and women scrambled away from me. There was something very odd about their clothing and accessories that I was having trouble getting my still whirling brain to latch onto. Instead, I looked around the room to assess it for dangers. Since these young adults appeared to be more afraid than threatening at the moment.

    The room that I was in was constructed of a warm brown stone, polished with age and care to a glossy sheen. Eight pillars were spaced around the outer edges of the room to leave a large space in the middle. I was in the back half of the room, central in that open middle area. Engraved on the ground was a collection of swooping circles and elaborate figures that reminded me of runes, or even elvish writing like in that one movie about the ring and the little people. Though the runes didn¡¯t look quite right, they still had that same cursive look to most of them. These runes were filled in with a glittering metal that shone like gold but with a faint red tinge to it. Coal filled braziers burned at four points in the circle I stood in, while a small pile of what looked like copper and silver coins sat inside a bowl nearest to the startled youths. Everything looked pristine, except for a section of the circle near one of the pillars that looked warped for some reason.

    With the circle¡¯s details finally bringing my attention back to the group of people, the ringing in my ears finally slowed long enough to realize I could understand what it was that they were shouting about.

    ¡°What the heck is that!?¡±

    ¡°That reaction, it was the strangest I¡¯ve ever seen!¡±

    ¡°Is it dangerous? Can it get out of the circle?¡±

    ¡°Banish it, quickly!¡±

    ¡°This is clearly unnatural¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh, he¡¯s handsome¡­¡±

    The last statement drew my gaze to a short woman towards the front of the group. She was one of only three people who weren¡¯t cowering back away from me. Dressed in a sleek, white blouse with a brick-red underbust corset cinched around a tiny waist to accent both a generous chest as well as a set of broad hips, she looked like a cross between someone¡¯s cute kid sister and a model cosplaying a noblewoman. The swishy skirt of rich, earthy brown accented with silver embroidery around those broad hips drew eyes to her curves even more. Her head was framed with a mass of rich red-brown curls that bounced with life as she leaned to one side to peer up at me. The distance and angle made it hard to guess, but she was noticeably shorter than my own above average height, so I put her at around four to four and a half feet tall.

    Definitely not a kid with those curves¡­I blinked as the thought crossed my mind and her inquisitive, brown eyes blinked back at me, the smile not leaving her plump lips.

    ¡°Kass!¡± Hissed the taller girl next to the redhead, drawing my attention up to her.

    While the short girl was all curves, her friend had the lithe build of a gymnast. Long legs clad in close fitting blue pants lead into a slim torso with a modest bust. She was also dressed in a white blouse but no corset. An elegant neck supported a refined face that bore a thick mass of platinum blonde hair that was kept in a chunky braid draped over one shoulder and two pointed ears poked up from the top of her head.

    Wait, what?

    I did a double take and stared at the blonde woman again. The angular points of a pair of large, canine ears in the same blonde as her hair, but tipped in just a smattering of black, protruded from her head and one rotated slightly as she glared down at her friend.

    Remember, don¡¯t panic. I reminded myself as my heart lurched into my throat. A shift of movement behind the blonde woman caught my attention and a fluffy, white tail with the tip blackened like it had been dipped in paint shifted into view, flicking back and forth. It could have been cosplay, but I had never seen cosplay accessories move that smoothly.

    My world spun and I turned my attention to the large group of others behind them. A roaring noise sounded in my ears, drowning out the conversation, shouts, and murmuring as I studied them quickly.

    Every single one of the people in that group was not human. I saw multiple people with canine ears, one with cat ears, a half dozen with feathers and twice that with scales of some type or another. Several had the pointed ears of elves, while four of them near the front had the stocky stature and broad shoulders that made me think ¡®dwarf¡¯ as well. Their shorter stature drew my attention back to the grinning redhead at the front of the group and I looked her over once more.

    She didn¡¯t have that same stocky build or broad shoulders, she was exactly proportional, just built along a smaller design philosophy. Her height was the only thing that told me she was different from the others. That was until she shifted to move forward and I realized that it wasn¡¯t feet poking out of the bottom of her skirt.

    A thick tail, patterned in an earthy brown and brick red scales, undulated underneath her. The tail stretched out behind her a short distance, twice as long as she was tall plus a bit more.

    She moved with a sinuous grace as she approached the edge of the circle that I stood in and only my stunned confusion kept me from taking a step back. Her mouth moved but I couldn¡¯t hear it over the thunder of my heart in my ears. A slight frown crossed her cute lips, and her button nose wrinkled slightly as she peered up at me.

    The look of honest concern on her face was actually enough to ground me for a moment and I shook my head furiously to try and clear it so I could focus. My entire world was upended right now and I needed to get a handle on things.

    ¡°Sorry, could you repeat that?¡± I said as the rushing noise in my ears dimmed.

    The rumble of talking from the rest of the room shut off as if someone had flipped a switch.

    ¡°My name is Kassandra Silverscale. I apologize for my poor manners, you were not what we had expected¡ª,¡± The young woman started to speak before the third person in that group that hadn¡¯t retreated interrupted her.

    ¡°Silverscale, do not approach the summoning circle until we ensure that it is secure! We have no idea if this person is safe to be near. With a reaction like what occurred, it could be anything.¡± Barked an older woman with a cane. She was dressed in a far more conservative fashion, with a close fitting dress of slate gray and a thick belt of white leather. Feathers decorated her gray hair and were fluffing up slightly as she glared at me. The only point of character in her outfit was the heavy, metallic cane that she was brandishing towards me like a sword. Kassandra didn¡¯t look away from me, but I caught the roll of her eyes and had to fight back a smile at her expression

    ¡°Uh¡­I think your thingy might be broken actually, the¡­circle?¡± I pointed to the distorted portion of metal and the older woman¡¯s eyes darted over before widening in surprise. Hissing under her breath, she moved to step in front of Kassandra with her arm outstretched to block the younger woman. ¡°I promise, I¡¯m not going to hurt anyone!¡± The open suspicion that the woman had in her eyes was starting to actually hurt my feelings.

    She¡¯s looking at me like I¡¯m some kind of child predator or something. I thought to myself, glancing over to the blonde woman who still remained a few steps back. She was watching me curiously, her tail flicking a little faster behind her in a way that reminded me of a hopeful dog. She did not look afraid in the slightest, just curious.

    ¡°What are you?¡± The older woman demanded. Kassandra didn¡¯t look away from me, though her frown was deepening, clearly irritated at the interruption of the other woman.

    ¡°My name is Liam? I¡¯m a human.¡± I tacked the last bit on, considering I¡¯d already made the realization that these people weren¡¯t human. The tail and ears might have been explained away, but the smoothness that Kassandra¡¯s movement earlier was not something I could imagine being a costume piece.

    Apparently, this was the wrong thing to say though. The silent group of students backed away another several steps and the older woman paled. Her cane angled a bit more to point the tip at my chest and I wondered what the heck she planned to do with it. Kassandra apparently had enough of the older woman interfering though and spoke up.

    ¡°Instructor! Do you intend to usurp this casting from us?¡± While she¡¯d been polite while speaking to me earlier and introducing herself, the snake-woman was sharp in her words now. The older woman flinched and glanced down at the glaring Kassandra before looking back at the blonde.

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    ¡°Silverscale, this is dangerous! The circle itself is damaged, there is no saying what this ¡®human¡¯ might do!¡±

    ¡°The ¡®human¡¯ has a name, Instructor. I have introduced myself to Liam and he has given me his name in return. We have entered the first stages of contract negotiations already. By rights, I could demand compensation for you attempting to upset it.¡± Kassandra¡¯s words were firm, but not haughty, as she continued to glare up at the older woman. ¡°I understand though that you are doing this out of concern, unwarranted though it is. If Liam was going to attack, then do you think he would have pointed out the damage to the circle and then politely introduced himself? For which you are threatening him.¡±

    The older woman gaped down at Kassandra, who slithered forward and around her before she reached up to push the cane down and away. They continued their staring contest for several seconds before the feathered, older woman stepped back slightly and slammed the tip of her metallic cane into the ground with a sharp clack.

    ¡°Fine, if you wish to try and pursue this, go ahead. But the princess¡­¡±

    ¡°The princess can decide for herself if she wishes to enter into negotiations alongside me. While we shared the cost of this summon, I will reimburse her if she wishes to change her mind.¡± Kassandra said sharply. This earned her another glare from the feathered woman, but the platinum-blonde¡¯s expression morphed into a broad smile. All three of them ignored the murmurs of the group behind them.

    Movement pulled my eyes to another strange type of human-animal hybrid in the group. A small, mouse-eared girl peeked around one of the larger, scaled individuals. Large ears, almost a foot across, poked out of the top of her head and trained on them while she watched in interest. She was around the same height as Kassandra was, but more slender than the curvaceous snake woman. A glitter of light off myriad earrings in her ears was distracting for a moment but then she ducked back out of view.

    The blonde girl moving drew my attention back to those closest to me and I looked up to meet her eyes. Her pointed, canine ears were focused on me and the fluffy tail of hers was stirring gently as she moved up to stand next to Kassandra. A hand came up to rest between her breasts and she bowed slightly towards me.

    ¡°I apologize for my rudeness. I am Rieka Coldeye. It is a pleasure to meet you, Liam the human.¡± Apparently Rieka¡¯s actions were an indicator that she was willing to go through with whatever was going on, since the instructor huffed in irritation but didn¡¯t speak. Kassandra shot her companion a bright grin before turning those warm, brown eyes back to me. Now that I was looking for it, I could see that her pupils were thin slits, like those of a snake. Other than the tail though, they were the only hint at her non-human origins.

    ¡°It¡¯s no big deal.¡± I brushed aside her apology. Don¡¯t panic, it seems to be working. Too bad I forgot my towel. I thought to myself, strangling a crazed giggle before it could get out. ¡°I hadn¡¯t exactly expected to end up here after all.¡±

    ¡°I apologize for that as well.¡± Kassandra spoke up, moving forward again until her coils came to a stop just short of the edge of the circle. ¡°It appears the summoning circle was damaged somehow and the spell went awry.¡±

    ¡°Summoning?¡± I asked intelligently, still a bit dumbfounded by the situation. The beauty of the two women in front of me didn¡¯t help either. The top of Kassandra¡¯s blouse was open and marked with just a few ruffles, accenting the pale cleavage that peeked out above her corset. Both girls were actually rather pale of skin, though Rieka had a light tan going that was more obvious next to Kassandra¡¯s very pale skin.

    ¡°Yes. We were summoning a guardian creature for myself and Lady Coldeye. It was meant to be practical, as well as part of our classwork this semester.¡± Kassandra answered gently, her eyes skimming over my body in such a way that made me feel like she was undressing me visually.

    ¡°Ah, okay¡­summoning. Guardian.¡± I mumbled. Panic had fled in the face of the utter confusion at what was going on. I was standing inside a summoning circle, apparently. In front of two beautiful women with animal features, while more people with animal features stood across the room and murmured in concern over what was going on. I¡¯d read stories about this kind of thing before, they¡¯d been getting more and more popular as the world went to crap around my generation after all.

    Thinking of those stories gave me a handle to hang on to and I shook away the confusion to ask a question.

    ¡°So, you were trying to summon a hero or something?¡± I did my best not to sound incredulous, but both of the girls'' curious expressions morphed into smirks before Kassandra spoke again. Rieka seemed content to let her smaller friend do the talking for now.

    ¡°Not exactly. This was intended to summon a bonded partner or mentor spirit to assist us in times of need, rather than some hero to go out and defeat a great evil.¡±

    ¡°So¡­a familiar?¡± I hazarded a guess, and the grin on Kassandra¡¯s lips grew even wider.

    ¡°Sort of. Honestly, the ritual was meant to summon something between a familiar and a hero. A teacher or patron is more like it. But I am not complaining in the slightest for the result.¡± That smile grew lascivious as she looked me over once more and I couldn¡¯t help but blush a bit. Despite her shorter height, Kassandra was all woman after all. Well, the parts of her that weren¡¯t covered in scales were all woman.

    ¡°The targeted summon was supposed to conjure a ¡®strong protector¡¯ after all, and you definitely look to fit that bill.¡± Rieka added on, her tail wagging a bit quicker now. ¡°While we do apologize for tearing you away from whatever you were doing, we would like to see if you would be interested in forming a contract with us.¡± Kassandra glanced at her friend with a knowing smile before nodding twice.

    ¡°Strong protector?¡± I muttered and thought about something. My dad had told me the story behind our family name. Cosgrave meant ¡®victorious¡¯ in Gaelic. Add that in with my first name meaning literally ¡®protector¡¯ in the same tongue as well and that might answer some of the questions being posed.

    ¡°Is there a question we could answer for you, honorable Liam?¡± Kassandra asked after a moment of silence while I thought.

    ¡°Ah, no. I was just thinking about your¡­thing.¡± I gestured down at the circle. ¡°Might have hooked onto something. My full name means ¡®victorious protector¡¯ in a language from my families¡¯ homeland. Is it possible that it latched onto that?¡± Kassandra¡¯s eyes brightened at my words and she nodded quickly, a motion that sent a ripple of movement through her torso that was very distracting.

    ¡°Yes! It is likely that it did just that! Liam, would you become my and Rieka¡¯s protector then?¡± The last part was spoken with so much anxious hope that I answered automatically. It was something of a stumbling block for me. I had a hard time telling people ¡®no¡¯, even people I didn¡¯t like. But the limited interaction I¡¯d had with Kassandra and Rieka thus far was hardly a bad one. The two of them seemed both earnest and kind, and if I couldn¡¯t tell an ungrateful jerk like Jason ¡®no¡¯, there was absolutely no way I¡¯d manage it for two cute girls.

    ¡°Yes, of course.¡±

    No sooner had I spoken the words than the metallic circle underneath us lit up with energy, glowing a shimmering blue-white. I felt that same tugging sensation at my belt, like something was pulling me forward. I stepped over the circle at the center of the summoning diagram, something that made everyone in the room hiss in a breath, even the two girls closest to me.

    ¡°The circle! It¡¯s not stopping him!¡±

    ¡°Oh by the gods¡­¡±

    ¡°Is he going to eat them?¡±

    ¡°The instructor should do something!¡±

    The rustling of whispers from the other group was like a torrent of moving leaves in the wind, but the tugging sensation didn¡¯t let me hesitate. It drew me forward across the circle to stop in front of the girls.

    Kassandra grinned up at me, her eyes wide in wonder. This close, I could see the smattering of freckles over her pale nose and the top of her cleavage as she peered up at me. I also spotted a pair of folded up spectacles tucked into the edge of her bodice, their silver rims glittering slightly in the brighter light.

    ¡°I, Kassandra Silverscale, accept the guardian pact with Liam the human.¡± Kassandra said quickly, thrusting a hand toward me and I intercepted it gently before she could touch my chest. Something instinctual guided me to press my lips to the back of her hand and bow over it slightly. The gesture caused a brilliant blush to flame into place on her face, trailing down enough to darken the skin of her neck and upper curve of her bust.

    I felt a burning sensation on the back of my right arm. Not like ¡®touching a hot stove¡¯ sort of burn, but more the tingling of a sunburn. I dropped Kassandra¡¯s hand and tugged the sleeve of my shirt back to expose a sinuous rune on the back of my forearm, right where a watch would sit.

    ¡°That¡¯s different.¡± Kassandra muttered, still blushing furiously before she shot a glance at her stunned friend and elbowed Rieka in the hip, making her jump.

    ¡°I, Rieka Coldeye, accept the guardian pact with Liam the human.¡± Rieka said a moment later, offering her hand to me as well with wide eyes. Shrugging, I repeated the motion from before. Catching her hand in mine, I brushed a kiss lightly against her knuckles.

    This time, with my sleeve rolled up to expose it, I was able to see the second rune form further up my arm, though it was a different shape than the first and more angular.

    Releasing Rieka¡¯s hand, I straightened and nodded to them both as politely as I could.

    ¡°I¡¯ll do my absolute best to look after you two, on my name as Liam Cosgrave.¡± Both girls'' eyes widened at my statement. That made me worry a bit, but before I could ask what was wrong, I felt a jerking sensation at my back, like someone had the back of my jeans in their fist and were trying to yank me backwards.

    ¡°What the heck?¡± I protested as the glow from the floor shifted from a blue-white down into that fluorescent, dark-light color that the words in my vision had been before.

    As if summoned by the thought, words flashed into view.

    Signal locked.

    Traveler, prepare for retrieval.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Kass¡¯ voice was high in concern as I was yanked backwards towards the center of the circle by an invisible force.

    ¡°I¡¯m being retrieved!?¡± I protested. This was too much. I¡¯d been summoned to another world and met two cute girls who apparently needed me to protect them. I didn¡¯t want to go back to Earth!

    ¡°Oh. Then we will just summon you back, Liam!¡± Kassandra¡¯s worry melted like an ice-cube on a hot sidewalk and she flashed him a brilliant smile that showed pearl-white teeth. ¡°Thank you for this gift! I¡¯ll summon you tomorrow sometime so we can talk over the details. Be safe, sweet Liam!¡± She blew me a kiss with one slender hand that made my heart lurch. Rieka looked like she was about to say something before the feeling of being crammed into a tube came again and the world surrounded me in flaring lights and motion.

    My mind whirled even faster as I felt like I¡¯d been stuffed into a blender with a pound of glitter and set to spin on high. The moment seemed to take minutes and seconds all at the same time before darkness descended and felt the ancient, cracked leather of my truck seat envelop me once more.

 Chapter 3

    The glowing words in my vision didn¡¯t fade away immediately. They did shift and morph into a new sentence inside the darkened confines of my truck.

    Retrieval successful.

    Traveler, please stand by for DSR personnel to contact you for a debrief.

    After a handful of seconds, just long enough to finish reading it, the words flared and vanished from my view. The only light in the truck now came from the passing headlights of a car.

    ¡°That was¡­I don¡¯t know what that was.¡± I muttered, patting at my chest and my pockets. I don¡¯t know why I did it. You travel to another world and talk to a bunch of half-animal people and see if you are calm when you come back. Checking to make sure I had my wallet still made sense at the moment.

    Something strange caught my attention as the headlights went past, so I reached up to fumble on the overhead light in the cab of the truck.

    The two runic marks on my right forearm were still there and I stared at them in confusion.

    Black markings stared back at me, indelible and stark. A confirmation of fact to what had just happened.

    Tracing them with one finger confirmed that they were slightly raised, like a fresh tattoo, but didn¡¯t hurt anymore. I ran my fingers over the first one, the one that had appeared after Kassandra did whatever it was she did. I could sense a faint, gleeful happiness that I wasn¡¯t entirely sure if I was imagining. Tracing the second one, I got nothing. But running my finger back over the first got that same content feeling in my chest. My musings were interrupted by a sharp rapping on the passenger window.

    I didn¡¯t scream in surprise. Nope. Not a single scream happened and no one was there to say otherwise.

    I did yelp though, that much I¡¯ll admit to.

    With the overhead light on, the reflections on the interior glass made it impossible to see what was outside the truck other than the shape of a person. I was sure it had to be a good Samaritan that stopped to check on the truck. I had no idea how long I¡¯d been sitting there and it was possible it could be another state patrol checking on an abandoned vehicle too. Doing my best to calm my racing heart, I took a breath to respond.

    ¡°Sorry, one second.¡± I called and flicked the overhead light off again to get a look at who stood outside the truck.

    What stood outside my truck was definitely not a state patrol officer.

    The dim light of the passing traffic showed a woman¡¯s figure, with broad shoulders, full breasts, and long hair. Another vehicle passed in the oncoming lane with high beams on and washed her with light for several seconds. Her skin was a slate blue color that heavily accented the fact that her long, straight hair was the vibrant color of a fresh strawberry. She was wearing a white blouse with the top few buttons open, which was already darkening from the rain still pattering down. She made a motion with one hand to roll the window down and I noted she was wearing long, black, opera-style gloves. The entire time she was smiling gently through the window at me.

    The motion broke me out of my staring and I fought with a brief urge to just drive away. Humans don¡¯t have blue skin naturally, or hair that is bright red. But I had just been summoned to another world and talked to three different people with clear animal features to them. I even had tattoos to prove it.

    ¡°Whatever, can¡¯t get any weirder. Maybe she¡¯s from the ¡®DSR¡¯ or whatever the floating, magical writing was talking about and has some answers.¡± I grumbled before leaning over to tug on the manual lock of my old truck. The door clunked as the lock disengaged and then clunked a second time when she popped the latch and pulled the door open.

    ¡°Excuse me. But are you Liam Cosgrave?¡± The woman asked in a tone that was a little concerned and quite hopeful. Her opening the door caused the overhead light to come on again and illuminated more of her body.

    She had wide hips and a narrow waist tucked into a fitted, black pencil-skirt. The white blouse was soaked through enough to reveal that she either wasn¡¯t wearing a bra, or it was the same color as her skin. Sea-green eyes glittered with concern as she peeked into the truck at me, while her strawberry red hair bounced in a slight curl near her rounded bottom.

    ¡°That¡¯d be me. Hop in before you get soaked, ma¡¯am.¡± I beckoned for her to join me and she did so with a bright smile that held not even a hint of guile. I¡¯ll be the first to admit that I have a bit of an issue with being too willing to help people out. But the vibe I got off of this woman was completely honest, blue skin notwithstanding.

    Man, how messed up is it that I can glance at a random woman that has blue skin who just happened to appear on the side of a dark road next to my truck and think ¡®yea she¡¯s trustworthy¡¯? I thought to myself as the selfsame blue skinned woman carefully navigated up into the passenger seat of the truck. Her long legs were also encased in black stockings that vanished under her skirt. She wore a pair of simple shoes in a dark red that went well with the black of her outfit and had sensible heels on them.

    ¡°I am glad that we were able to recover you, Mr. Cosgrave.¡± The woman said once she was settled onto the seat of my truck and closed the door. She¡¯d produced a flat leather folio case from somewhere while I¡¯d been thinking about how weird my life had been the last few hours. ¡°This whole thing must have been extremely disorienting to you and I want to be the first to apologize for the inconvenience that it must have caused.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± I said smartly, somewhat surprised by her ready apology before even introducing herself.

    ¡°What happened to you was a tragedy and likely quite scarring, but I reassure you that the DSR will do what it can to make this right and to ensure that you¡¯ll be able to return to a normal life.¡± The slate skinned woman¡¯s eyes were filled with earnest concern as she rapidly flipped through something in the folio, glancing up at me occasionally.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t that big of a deal actually.¡± I tried to reassure her but she was having none of it.

    ¡°It was though! Humans aren¡¯t even on the list of approved summons, let alone the fact that you never volunteered to answer a call as such.¡± She looked up from her paperwork with such earnest concern that I was honestly more confused by this situation than I had been only moments before when confronted by half-animal people. Her forehead wrinkled cutely as she stared at me with such care that it was touching. That let me finally find my feet in the conversation.

    ¡°Hang on for a second.¡± I said quickly, holding up a hand. ¡°Can we start this over? I have about a million questions and while I appreciate your reassurances, I don¡¯t even know your name.¡±

    ¡°Oh..I apologize. My name is Cariad Davies, but you can just call me Cari if you want.¡± She blushed cutely, her slate blue skin darkening across the bridge of her nose, and ducked her head a bit in embarrassment.

    ¡°Okay. Call me Liam then please, Cari.¡± I asked, glancing out the front window. ¡°So what can you tell me about?¡¯

    ¡°About what, Liam?¡± Cari asked cutely, her nose wrinkling slightly as she gave me another earnest smile.

    ¡°About all of this? What the heck happened? Where did I go? What is the DSR? What are you?¡± I winced slightly as the last question flowed out alongside the rest. ¡°I mean that last one in as least offensive a way as possible. I am just¡­so confused right now.¡±

    ¡°That is fine, Liam. You have a lot of leeway given what happened to you.¡± Cari reassured me sweetly before clearing her throat and squaring her shoulders. ¡°I¡¯m happy to answer any questions that you have to the best of my ability! Just tell me where you want me to start.¡±

    Are you single? The thought came floating out of the depths of my caveman brain entirely unexpectedly and I flinched, shaking my head a bit in hopes of shaking the thought away from myself.

    ¡°Oh my, I apologize if I am making you uncomfortable, Liam.¡± Cariad had clearly caught the flinch and her smile fell into a sad expression that tore at my heart.

    ¡°No, no, no. It¡¯s not that. I¡¯m not uncomfortable around you.¡± I reassured her quickly and her smile returned like a sun gleaming off a cool pond. I cast around quickly and spat out the first question that came to mind in an effort to shove us along past the awkward moment. ¡°What is the DSR?¡±

    ¡°Right! You would have no point of reference for us. DSR stands for ¡®Dimensional Security and Repair¡¯. The DSR handles the barriers between realities and works to ensure that they remain stable as well as preventing things like: dimensional invasions or incursions, collapse, leakage, theft, or kidnappings.¡± Cariad ticked these points off on her long fingers as she said them. ¡°Ultimately, we are here to make sure that things keep working the way they are supposed to.¡±

    Stolen novel; please report.

    ¡°And I take it that me getting yanked to another world with no warning to meet a bunch of animal people wasn¡¯t ¡®working how it is supposed to?¡± I asked, being very careful to not sound accusing. Cariad was just so earnest and I didn¡¯t want her to feel bad. I¡¯d worked enough customer service jobs to know that the one stuck helping the angry customer was rarely the person who was at fault.

    ¡°Exactly! Humans and Earth are actually on the ¡®no contact¡¯ list, as events in your species'' history made it a point that your kind did not want to be contacted or travel between dimensions. Religious wars and ethnic cleansing tends to do that.¡± Cariad gave me a wry smile and I couldn¡¯t help but nod along.

    ¡°If you are talking about the Dark Ages and all that, then yea that would be good evidence to avoid contacting us¡­wait you said something about being on a ¡®list¡¯? Am I going to get in trouble? Are you guys kind of like TSA? Did I violate a ¡®no fly¡¯ list or something?¡±

    ¡°Not at all, Liam!¡± Cariad chirped, her smile not fading at all. ¡°You didn¡¯t volunteer or pierce the dimensional membrane yourself, so you were just another victim in the situation. That¡¯s why I¡¯m here, to do my best to fix this.¡±

    ¡°What is there to fix? I¡¯m back¡­though not sure if I want to be back, honestly.¡± I glanced down at the paperwork sitting on the bench seat next to me. The officer who had documented the accident had given me a handwritten summary of the event and what to expect, advising that anything else would be mailed to him. It was a stark reminder of the shit that my life was.

    ¡°Ah¡­¡± Cariad¡¯s chipper voice faded into one of concern and she seemed at a loss for words.

    ¡°Nevermind, just me being mopey. Besides, Kassandra said she¡¯d try and summon me back anyway. So maybe I can see them again.¡±

    ¡°Oh that won¡¯t work.¡± Cariad crushed my hopes in seconds with an assertive tone. ¡°Only Travelers can actually transit between dimensions on the regular. What happened to you today was more akin to someone busting through a wall and snatching you, rather than anything like the normal summoning process.¡±

    ¡°I thought I was a Traveler though? That¡¯s what the glowing words said earlier.¡± I was mostly talking to myself, but apparently Cariad caught it and her head whipped around fast enough that her hair swung around to land across her chest. The bright red strands were still wet from the rain but I heard a quiet hissing noise as they hit her skin and steam rose up from the point of contact.

    ¡°What was that about glowing words?¡± Cariad demanded, her voice a mixture of concern and hard demand.

    ¡°Whoa, how hot is your skin?¡± I couldn¡¯t stop staring at where the steam continued to rise off her exposed chest at the spot her moist hair was contacting it.

    ¡°I''m at normal temperature. That is just what happens when a daemon contacts matter from a stable dimension.¡± Cariad brushed off my question with a wave of her hand. ¡°I¡¯ll explain it later, but I need to confirm something first though, Liam. You said something about glowing words? Wait, what are those?¡±

    ¡°Yea.¡± I managed to finally tear my eyes away from her (literally) smoking chest and back up to her eyes to see what the sudden question was aimed at. I met her eyes and blinked in surprise.

    Both sets of them.

    A second pair of eyes had opened up above and to either side of the first. They were a vivid, electric-blue in color and slitted like Kassandra¡¯s had been. All four of them were fixed on my right arm. More specifically, the black marks on my arm.

    ¡°I have no idea what these are. They appeared after I agreed to help two girls in the world that I got pulled to. Kassandra and Rieka. They said they needed a guardian and I agreed to help them out.¡± I shrugged, holding my arm out to her so she could look at them closer. She bent to look intently at the swirls, which caused her shirt to fall a bit further open and reveal more soft skin. I forced my eyes away and continued. ¡°As far as the glowing words? Right before I was summoned, these fluorescent purple words popped up in my vision and warned me I was being summoned. They said something about alerting the DSR and to not panic.¡±

    ¡°Dear Ancients¡­you might actually be a Traveler.¡± Cariad gasped, her left hand coming up to cover her mouth in surprise as she sat upright. Her normal eyes flicked up from my arm to stare at me, while her electric-blue set remained fixed on the marks on my arms.

    ¡°Can you fill me in on what a Traveler is?¡± I asked after sharing a stare with her for several seconds.

    The question was enough to shake her out of her fugue and Cariad cleared her throat quickly. Her upper set of eyes closed once more, leaving behind thin lines that marked their lids but nothing else hinted at their existence. I could only tell they were there because I¡¯d been watching when she closed them.

    ¡°Sorry about that, Liam. I was just¡­well, that is¡­¡± Cariad paused for a moment to collect herself and took a deep breath before continuing. ¡°A Traveler is a member of an existing race that has made contact with the System and volunteered to transit between dimensions in order to fulfill contracts and agreements. Normally, this is something that we get more advanced warning of, but what you described is one of the ways the System contacts operatives. Give me a moment to check something please?¡±

    ¡°Of course, check away.¡± I gestured for her to go ahead and fished in my pocket for my phone to check the time.

    My phone was the one thing that I¡¯d bothered to invest money in. I didn¡¯t own a computer, or even have the Internet in my apartment. But I did have a decent phone with a good data plan, so it made up the difference. The display on the phone told me it was half past ten at night and I would have to be up for work in about five or so hours.

    ¡°Ugh¡­¡± I groaned and tossed the phone back down on the seat next to me. This reminded me of the issues getting the truck started earlier and I tried the key again. The vehicle rumbled to life almost immediately, with the radio crackling on before it began spouting off the classic rock station I¡¯d been listening to while driving. I was quick to turn it down, glancing over to check on Cariad to see if she was on the phone, which she wasn¡¯t.

    Instead, she was actually cupping something in her hand that I couldn¡¯t see. As I watched, she rolled the window down and tossed it out the window before quickly spinning the crank to close the window once more.

    ¡°Okay! It¡¯ll be a bit until I hear back from my boss on the exact details. In the meantime though, I can answer a few of your questions. Also, we don¡¯t have to wait here, you are free to start heading back home. I don¡¯t want to inconvenience you any more than I already am.¡± Cariad gave me another of her cute smiles and I nodded once, doing my best not to stare.

    ¡°Sure¡­but what about your car? I don¡¯t want to leave it¡­¡± I glanced over my shoulder and through the narrow window behind the truck, somehow expecting the, literally four-eyed, woman to have a car parked nearby.

    ¡°Oh I didn¡¯t travel here by car. Don¡¯t worry about it, Liam. The most important thing right now is answering your questions and making sure you are comfortable. Especially if you really are a Traveler.¡±

    Deciding not to argue, I shrugged and checked traffic once more before signaling and pulling out onto the rain-slicked road.

    ¡°So, just to confirm¡­that wasn¡¯t a hallucination? You aren¡¯t a hallucination, right?¡±

    ¡°If I was a hallucination, of course I¡¯d tell you I was real, wouldn¡¯t I?¡± Cariad¡¯s tone was slightly teasing at first before she became serious. ¡°No, it wasn¡¯t a hallucination. You actually were yanked out of your reality by a freak accident and into another one that was not your own. We were able to recover you and draw you back to your native reality only because you did not exit the close environs of the summoning accident. Normally, such an event would have simply fizzled and not gotten far enough to take you. But someone wasn¡¯t paying attention and a mistake happened. Again, I would like to apologize on behalf of the DSR.¡± Cariad shifted to bow her head to me.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m not hurt and I made it back. Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± I tried to reassure her while we got up to speed. ¡°Also, could you buckle your seatbelt? The last thing I need is another ticket¡­¡±

    ¡°The point is that you could have been hurt, Liam. It was still an accident and a problem. The DSR will make it right, though the fact that you claim to be a Traveler will complicate that, though not in a bad way.¡± She was quick to reassure me while buttoning up the top of her blouse slightly before pulling the seat belt out of the wall and buckling it, being oddly careful to make sure it was tucked against her chest and under the collar of her shirt.

    ¡°Okay, but you don¡¯t need to apologize anymore. Apology accepted. I don¡¯t hold it against you or anything, so no need to hammer on it too much.¡± I glanced over at what she was doing, which reminded me of the whole ¡®smoking chest¡¯ thing. ¡°Could you explain why your chest, err¡­your skin started smoking when your hair made contact with it?¡±

    ¡°Oh! Yes, I did say I would explain that. So it necessitates explaining a few things really quickly to get context. I have to say you are taking this quite well, all things considered.¡± Cariad said quickly

    ¡°Panicking wouldn¡¯t help. So I¡¯m just trying to focus on the facts for now.¡± I said while nodding for her to continue. She shot me a small smile before picking up where she¡¯d left off.

    ¡°So! You are from this universe. You are a native to it and the existence that it represents. I am not from this universe. Or any of them to be exact.¡±

    ¡°Okay, you said you were a ¡®daemon¡¯, is that right?¡±

    ¡°Yup! That is exactly what I meant. Daemon¡¯s exist not in a given universe, but between them. We are creatures that inhabit the membrane that separates the universes and keeps them secure. The DSR is one of the most important organizations as it helps to maintain the membrane that we exist in.¡±

    ¡°So you kind of¡­live inside the walls between worlds? That sounds cramped.¡± I could only imagine her squeezed into a narrow crawlspace inside the walls of a house. While it was an amusing, and somewhat alluring, mental image, it didn¡¯t look comfortable in my head.

    ¡°Oh the dimensional membrane is not that tight. There are dozens of miles of space between different universes, both horizontally and vertically. The DSR works to make sure that the barriers are respected and not damaged since it also endangers our people. Usually, the damage is caused by folks being yanked between dimensions without warning. It¡¯s actually one of the reasons the System was put into place.¡±

    ¡°Okay, so people getting yanked damages the membranes, which is where you guys live. And the DSR is there to prevent that?¡±

    ¡°Yup! But it only damages them when people are pulled through the wrong way. Travelers and people moving according to the System¡¯s guidance follow secure pathways that don¡¯t damage the membranes and can actually work to enhance them and heal damage.¡± Cariad answered rapidly, her sea-green eyes glittering with excitement.

    ¡°Got it, but how does that equate to your skin smoking?¡±

    ¡°Oh, that is because it was being consumed. When a Daemon touches material of a stable universe, it is consumed entirely to energize the Daemon. It¡¯s kind of like¡­has your science discovered antimatter yet? Sort of like that, but one sided. It¡¯s how the barriers remain solid after all, by consuming matter from the existing universe.¡± Cariad¡¯s grin was wide as she stared at me, though I couldn¡¯t help the sudden feeling of concern welling in my stomach.

    I was sharing the cab of my truck with a being made of antimatter?

 Chapter 4

    So it turns out that Cariad wasn¡¯t exactly made of antimatter, but negatively charged matter. If her living tissues touched something from our world, it would start to dissolve as the energy was consumed to fuel a unique set of powers all her own. It was one reason why she was wearing the stockings and gloves, as they were made of a distinctly neutral material that would allow her to touch and interact with this universe without dissolving bits of it. Which I was thankful for, my old truck had enough problems with rust as it was.

    I also learned a bit more about the entire situation as well. Apparently, they actually have a collection of agents at the DSR that were supposed to be on watch for this sort of specific event to occur. It didn¡¯t happen often though, so the agent in charge of keeping watch was slacking and when he missed the particular event that tossed me to the other world, he¡¯d tried to hide it so no one realized he was basically napping on watch.

    Needless to say, that hadn¡¯t worked. He might have gotten away with it, but apparently when the System decided to christen me a Traveler, it sent an alert out manually for me to be recovered. Which is why the ¡®recovery team¡¯ had been able to reverse the summon and send me back home like they had.

    ¡°So you forged a contract with two of the locals and you gave them your full name? That should be more than enough for them to be able to summon you back to complete the contract.¡± Cariad was explaining as we turned off the highway and onto the surface streets to get back to my apartment. It was now nearly midnight and the rain had finally let up, allowing the moonlight to glimmer off the moist road and other peoples cars.

    ¡°You make it sound so official. All I did was verbally agree to help them and then kissed their hands. Still no idea why I did that¡­¡± I muttered while focusing on the road. It had been easier to glance over at Cariad while I drove on the highway since it was mostly deserted, but despite the late hour there were still enough cars on surface streets that I wanted to pay attention.

    ¡°Words have a lot of power, though it¡¯s something that your species may have forgotten since the olden times. But as to why you kissed their hands? That¡¯s a good question. Such an act would also signify an oath taken, depending on the tradition it originated from.¡± Cariad was making a note of something in her folio, the scratch of her pen just barely audible over the quiet grumblings of Sammy Hagar about heavy metal that came from the radio.

    ¡°Makes sense. I just dunno why I did it. I just¡­felt like I should? They offered their hand to me and I had this feeling that a handshake wasn¡¯t what they were after.¡±

    ¡°Probably a combination of instincts and a bit of a guiding hand from the System.¡± Cariad tucked her pen into the folder and flipped it closed. ¡°You mentioned they had more old style clothes on right? Corsets and the like?¡±

    ¡°Yea, corsets and skirts. The only weapon I saw was the old lady with the metal cane, though she didn¡¯t seem like she needed it to walk or anything.¡±

    ¡°Fair enough. So we¡¯ve covered your questions about what happened and what I am. What¡¯s next, Liam?¡± Cariad shifted on the bench seat and I took the opportunity of a red light to glance over. She¡¯d drawn her hair over her shoulder and was idly combing through it with her fingers while watching me with a little smile. I turned back to the road with a cough.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be honest, Cari. I am tired enough after the events of today that my brain isn¡¯t exactly functioning properly. So why don¡¯t you tell me what we need to cover next and I¡¯ll chip in with questions when I can think of them?¡±

    ¡°Trusting of you. To let a stranger steer the conversation.¡± Cariad teased for a moment but she turned her attention back to the leather folio and began sorting through it quickly.

    ¡°A stranger who could melt me with a touch of her hand no less, that I have no real way to defend myself against after all.¡± I replied, attempting to sound flippant, though I wasn¡¯t sure how successful I was.

    ¡°Oh, I wouldn¡¯t do that. I¡¯m your case-worker after all, assigned to help resolve this whole situation for you. Also, I couldn¡¯t melt you with just a touch. I¡¯d have to spend a great deal more time poking away at you, given your size.¡± Cariad teased without looking up.

    ¡°I¡¯d object to being called fat, but I know reality.¡± I replied offhandedly and she dropped her paperwork in her lap to stare at me in surprise.

    ¡°You are not fat, Liam!¡± Cariad protested with surprising force.

    ¡°What do you call this?¡± I pinched at my middle with one hand to make a point. I wasn¡¯t exactly fat, but I also wasn¡¯t exactly cut either. The downside of having to rely on fast food lunches when I just didn¡¯t have the energy to cook for work. I worked hard enough that it never got out of hand, but it was still just present enough to annoy me when I bent over. I had started doing meal prep for my lunches for work, but it was hard to keep motivated.

    ¡°Having body-fat is entirely different from being fat. Otherwise, all women would be considered fat because of these.¡± Cariad cupped her breasts pointedly through her blouse, her tone firm. I had no idea how to respond to that, though I was glad that there wasn¡¯t anyone that I could run into nearby as my brain had to go through a hard reboot.

    Silence descended and the track swapped over, a moment later Eddie Van Halen started crooning about how he was attracted to his teacher and Cariad blushed furiously.

    ¡°Sorry.¡± She murmured and let go of her assets to hide her face in her hands, clearly embarrassed.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. I would agree with your summary.¡± I said after a moment, doing my best to not laugh. She¡¯d derailed one of my mental issues but now was embarrassed herself, so I decided to deflect to something more comfortable. ¡°So what¡¯s next then?¡±

    ¡°Right! Next step is a great spot to move to!¡± Cariad seized on the idea and snatched her folio up just as we turned into the parking lot of the dingy apartment complex I lived in.

    My apartment wasn¡¯t high class. I kept it clean but the neighborhood made it so that I was still glad I didn¡¯t have a nice car for someone to break into. The economy was screwed enough that, even with my inheritance, I couldn¡¯t afford a house because I wasn¡¯t making enough to qualify for the loans. Even though the loan payments were less than my rent. The parking lot reflected the level of poverty that was high in the area. Two cars were up on cinder-blocks in the back side of the lot, a collection of parts and spare tires sitting around them and taking up another two parking spots. Only about half the spots were full and one corner had a small collection of tents that the local homeless used.

    Thankfully, the lot was empty of other people, though lights were on in a few of the apartment windows of the drab building. I got us parked just as Cariad found what she was looking for.

    ¡°So, your next steps depend entirely on what you would like to do going forward. Because of what you¡¯ve told me, it has potential to open up some options. I should have an answer to confirm my inquiry on your status as a Traveler and that will give me more information on where to go next.¡± Cariad looked up with a bright smile and just the faintest hint of a blush still on her cheeks from her earlier indiscretion.

    ¡°Let''s continue up in my apartment, if you are okay with that? I¡¯d rather not sit in the parking lot in my truck and talk. That¡¯ll attract attention from folks.¡± I pulled the keys from the ignition and gestured at the building, which Cariad paused and blinked at before glancing around.

    ¡°This is where you live?¡± The surprise and disappointment in her voice was like a knife in my heart but I brushed it off. It wasn¡¯t like I brought women home to show off my sweet digs anyway, so her tone wasn¡¯t surprising. Still was disappointing to hear though.

    ¡°Yea, unfortunately. It¡¯s what I can afford. The apartment is clean though, I promise.¡±

    ¡°Oh I¡¯m not worried about that, Liam. I¡¯m just¡­normally Travelers are already well off when they put themselves forward. It¡¯s necessary for some of the contracts, as they are for things like material wealth or resources.¡± Cariad sounded concerned and she glanced over at me. ¡°I also worry about your safety here. This doesn¡¯t seem like a good environment for someone to live, let alone someone as important as a Traveler.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not anyone important. Besides, everyone has to start somewhere.¡± I shrugged it away, but her concern was touching. ¡°If you¡¯d prefer, I could drive around some more though? I don¡¯t want you to feel unsafe.¡±

    ¡°No! It¡¯s fine. Let''s go up to your apartment. I need to get the response to my inquiry and it won¡¯t come while we are in motion.¡± She unclipped her seatbelt and popped the door of the truck open with a rather cute grunt of effort. I wanted to ask about her ¡®response¡¯ that she¡¯d talked about, but figured it could wait. The only thing I could think of that would collect more attention than us sitting and talking in the truck would be if someone happened to see the blue-gray skinned woman standing in the parking lot. So I hopped out and guided Cariad to the stairs.

    No one intercepted us before we got up to the third floor where my apartment was. I could hear the sound of Jeopardy coming from Mrs. Kowalski¡¯s apartment across the hall, but that wasn¡¯t really any indication of life. The dulcet tones of Alex Trebek were a constant in this hallway, since Mrs. Kowalski just kept it cranked up and would often fall asleep to it. It only took a moment to get my front door unlocked and I gestured for Cariad to proceed me into the apartment.

    My apartment was much like my truck. Old, but well cared for. The formica countertops were chipped in spots, but clean. The carpet had a few balding spots, but was unstained. My couch was one of those glorious, squashy things that only got better with age rather than falling apart. Though I had a feeling that when it came time to throw the couch away, I¡¯d have to pour it out of the apartment rather than carry it, due to how broken it was getting. The main room was a combination living room and dining room with a little kitchen off to one side. A bathroom and bedroom opened off the back of the living room space and I was just glad that I had closed the door to the bedroom. The last thing I wanted any woman to see, regardless of the color of her skin or odds of doing anything with, was my dirty clothes on the floor or the disheveled state of my bed.

    Instead, Cariad walked to the sliding glass door that led out onto my splintery little patio-balcony and carefully unlatched it before stepping out. She made a motion like she was catching a bug with both hands before returning inside with her hands cupped. I made sure the front door was locked, bolted, chained, and latched properly before walking over to where she stood by the dented kitchen table.

    ¡°What''cha got there?¡±

    ¡°The response to my inquiry.¡± Cariad spared me a brief grin before opening her hands.

    Sitting in her cupped palms was a folded piece of paper. The navy-blue paper was in the shape of an origami bird about the size of a sparrow. While I watched it, the folded paper shivered like it was shaking its feathers out before rapidly unfolding into a full sized sheet of paper with white type printed on it in a language I didn¡¯t recognize.

    Except, I did.

    The swooping curls and shapes that made up the printed letters were as foreign to me as the inky marks on my forearm, but somehow my brain had meanings to assign to them.

    ¡°Okay, let''s have a look at this.¡± Cariad muttered to herself and peered down at the form.

    ¡°Who is Cerebaton?¡± I couldn¡¯t help the question as I stared at the letters making up what appeared to be letterhead.

    Cariad froze. And I don¡¯t mean she went quiet or stopped breathing. She literally froze in place. Not a breath, not a movement, not a glance. She embodied absolute stillness with the surety of a statue carved of stone.

    ¡°Liam¡­can you read this?¡± Cariad said after about three seconds of silence, the stillness falling away from her like a blanket being shrugged off. Her second set of eyes flicked open again, their electric-blue slits focusing on me while her normal eyes remained on the sheet of paper.

    ¡°Yea, somehow. I gotta ask, doesn¡¯t it get disorienting looking at two different things like that?¡± The question came without warning for me either, the brilliant blue of her second set of eyes was utterly fascinating to see, and they blinked in surprise before locking gazes with me. It was slightly odd, having them offset like they were, but the evening was already weird enough that I just went with it.

    ¡°Sometimes, yes. But my secondary eyes can see energy signatures. The fact you can read my language is just strange. You shouldn¡¯t be able to normally. But¡­¡± Both sets of eyes trained on the page in front of her and she skimmed it quickly. ¡°Yup, that confirms suspicions. You are registered in the System as a ¡®Traveler, Nascent¡¯ which means that you weren¡¯t seeing things earlier. Also, there¡¯s a note here about an ¡®entry level package¡¯?¡±

    That statement jogged loose another memory and I snapped my fingers in annoyance. The sharp sound made Cariad jump and I frowned at myself for startling her.

    ¡°Sorry, I just remembered that. So when I was transferred, before it reminded me about not panicking it said something about an ¡®entry level package allocated¡¯. Do you know what that means?¡±

    Cariad set the page of paper down on the table with a sigh and slumped into her chair at the table. She still managed to make the graceless motion elegant though and her second set of eyes scanned over me once more before blinking closed.

    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Yeah, and it could be good or bad depending on what you want to do. Now that I know what to look for, I can see the hints of it.¡± Cariad sighed, looking exhausted for the first time in the evening. I honestly didn¡¯t think it was fair for her to look so tired, given I was the one who was ripped to another world without warning. I stuffed that thought into a dark hole. I had no idea what her situation was, for all I knew she¡¯d been called in after hours to deal with this mess, and who liked forced overtime?

    ¡°Want some coffee?¡± I asked on impulse, the exhaustion in my brain finally beginning to get the better of me.

    ¡°Coffee would be grand actually.¡± Cariad gave me a sweet smile that wiped away any remaining irritation that I might have felt. ¡°That is the bitter, wake-up drink that you humans enjoy, correct?¡±

    ¡°Yea, that¡¯s the stuff. I have a feeling this might take a bit to go through and I need to be able to think straight.¡± I agreed before heading to the kitchen. ¡°You can drink stuff, right? It¡¯s not going to just¡­smoke away inside your throat?¡±

    ¡°I can, the reaction is contained and I get some benefits from the chemicals before they break down. It¡¯s mostly just for fun though. Oh, don¡¯t give me a mug you care about though.¡± She winced slightly as she said that, but I laughed.

    ¡°I have just the mug actually. Work used to give these company branded mugs out as Christmas gifts. I kept it since there wasn¡¯t anything wrong with it, but I never really used it for anything. Kinda like the branded shirts, I just use them for when I want something I¡¯m not worried about making a mess on.¡±

    ¡°That is fair. I know that some companies think that swag is all they need to earn loyalty or something like that.¡± Cariad giggled while I got the kettle and my battered, steel French-press out of the cabinet.

    ¡°Okay, so you mentioned that this affected options?¡± I gestured towards the sheet of blue paper on the table while filling the kettle with water.

    ¡°Yes. So before, your options were to either remember or forget what happened. There is some magic that can be done to erase memories and remove trauma, which is normally what people opt for when torn away from the safety of their homes and cast into strange situations. At least those we can recover. Again, good job on staying in the ritual circle. If you¡¯d wandered far from it, the recovery team likely wouldn¡¯t have been able to locate you. As long as you remained on it, the circle acted as a beacon they could use to figure out which dimension you went to.¡±

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t hard. There were people there that wanted to talk and that helped ground me. If I¡¯d been alone in the room, I probably would have wandered off trying to figure out what was happening.¡±

    ¡°Also fair. But yes, since you are now a registered Traveler, we aren¡¯t allowed to use that option. Memory tampering is forbidden for Travelers, it¡¯s part of the ¡®benefits package¡¯ that comes with being recognized by the System.¡±

    ¡°You mentioned this ¡®System¡¯ again like it¡¯s somehow sitting in the room with us. Can you elaborate on that real quick? I was going to ask earlier but kept forgetting in the light of the other things you mentioned.¡± I carefully scooped the ¡®good coffee¡¯ out of the bag I had hidden in the pantry. I normally drank the stuff that came in the big plastic tubs, but I bought this one for the rare times one of the few friends that I liked came over.

    ¡°Sure, the System is what the DSR is based around. It was put into place by the Ancients of my kind to help monitor the dimensional membrane as well as encourage proper travel along the established routes.¡±

    ¡°Rather than people busting through walls like what happened to me?¡±

    ¡°Exactly. So the System encourages people to travel the established pathways with a benefits package. Things like being able to comprehend languages spoken and written by at least one living person on the planet. As long as it is a ¡®living language¡¯ that might be used in pursuit of their contracts. It also works kind of like a rewards program? The more work you do and the more times you ¡®travel¡¯ to another world on those established paths, the more the System grants you access to. What each Traveler selects is entirely up to them, but what is offered by the System depends on their species and genetic history, as it is relating to bits of ancient genetic code that may have gone dormant. There are certain universal benefits that are always available, the variety comes in when they become accessible.¡±

    ¡°So¡­the System offers fabulous prizes for not walking on the grass?¡± I couldn¡¯t help but tease the serious looking woman as she waved her hands in the air like she was conducting an orchestra while talking. Cariad pouted at me for a moment before rolling her eyes.

    ¡°Yes, if you want to bring it down to that level. It is more like¡­using a bridge to cross a stream properly, instead of just splashing through the stream and upsetting everything in it. If you think of the different universes as the cells in a honeycomb, you can either burst through the wall of the comb and damage it, or climb up and out of the top before dropping down into another. That is the path the System encourages. It also is how we get the necessary mana to repair and reinforce the dimensional membrane.¡±

    The kettle began to whistle on the stove and I was quick to move it so the shrill noise wouldn¡¯t wake the neighbors. Some others might not care about it, but I liked to remain under the radar as much as possible. Hell, if it wasn¡¯t for the fact that people would try to break in to squat here, I¡¯d be happy if folks thought the apartment was abandoned. Cariad continued with her explanation as I watered the ground beans.

    ¡°Basically, each time you are summoned for a contract, whether it be an initial one or a continuing one, the System takes the mana offered up by the casters and uses it as fuel. Some mana is used to keep the System itself running, the best example would be something like a metaphysical supercomputer to get you in the right headspace. It uses the rest to bolster and heal damage to the membranes in places where irresponsible travel took place. This keeps the negatively charged existence inside the membranes safely separated from the positively charged one of the regular universes. In return, the System rewards the Traveler responsible for the mana with SP, or ¡®system points¡¯ as we call them. Those points can be redeemed for everything from material compensation all the way up to phenomenal cosmic power, if you have enough of them.¡±

    ¡°Okay, so sort of like when credit card companies offer reward points for using their services.¡±

    ¡°More like a profit-share cut really, since the System really wants to encourage people to follow the rules. The dimensional membrane can heal itself naturally, but that can cause a lot of damage on both sides. Buffering it with mana helps keep the two forms of reality separate in a safer method and furnishes that mana via the Travelers. But this brings us back around to your entry level package.¡± Cariad patted the bit of paper as I carried the sealed up French-press over to the table and set two mugs next to it.

    ¡°Sugar? Milk?¡± I asked, pausing while still standing.

    ¡°Sugar would be good, no milk though please.¡± She responded with another of her bright smiles. I could barely see the thin lines that marked her second set of eyelids, but her normal eyes had slight dark spots under them that made me think of sleep-bags. I shouldn¡¯t be keeping her, poor girl needs sleep. I thought to myself while digging through the cabinets for the jar of sugar.

    Setting the reused jam-jar on the table, I plopped a spoon down on top of it and settled into my chair with a groan.

    ¡°Sorry to keep you up like this, Liam. I should be letting you sleep but I¡¯m heaping all this new information on you right now.¡± Cariad frowned in concern after having unintentionally echoing my own thoughts. She reached across the table to pat my wrist lightly with her gloved hand. The soft silk of the glove was pleasant against my skin and her touch felt electric.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. I couldn¡¯t sleep even if I wanted to, there were too many questions at this point. So this package?¡±

    ¡°Well it relates to your next steps. At the moment, you have the choice to just go back to your regular life. The DSR will deposit a settlement of local funds into your account, and the case will be closed. At that point your name will be removed from the registry in the System and you won¡¯t hear from us again. This is because the mana used to set up the package will be refunded to the System. You¡¯ll still retain the linguist power, as that change has already been made, which makes the financial compensation a bit smaller.¡± Cariad tapped the sheet of paper in front of her.

    I thought about what she said while I poured the coffee out. The rich scent of the hot drink filled the air and helped my brain focus, since it knew that caffeine was on the way now. Cariad took a moment to unscrew the jam jar and toss several spoonfuls of sugar into her drink before taking a quick sip and smiling happily.

    ¡°And the other option?¡± I asked after taking my own first sip of coffee. The hot drink hitting my throat was a blessing and I hadn¡¯t realized how much I needed a drink until then.

    ¡°You open the package. You still have the choice to take contracts when they come up, but you are no longer able to be removed from the registry. Also, there is no financial compensation from the DSR at that point. One thing to keep in mind, SP is something that only the System can award. It can be manifested as physical currency, but can only be traded to another Traveler or one aspiring to become a Traveler. It¡¯s honestly how a lot of Travelers get their start. Either they apprentice with another Traveler and are gifted their first SP token, or it¡¯s inherited down a family line. Helps them get a leg up on their situation.¡±

    ¡°So I have to open a mystery box to see if it has a dead rat or magical powers in it?¡± I couldn¡¯t help the surprise in my voice and Cariad frowned at me, her nose wrinkling cutely.

    ¡°The System would never give you a dead rat, Liam. Regardless of what it offers you, the power will have potential and be tied into natural abilities of your species. It could awaken latent magic in your genetic structure, or give you superhuman strength. It might give you access to the ability to summon creatures from other planes to do your bidding, or bolster your allies and enhance their abilities with your own. It¡¯s impossible to say really.¡±

    ¡°Have there been human Travelers in the past?¡± I took another sip of my drink and waited. Cariad tapped her mug to her lips lightly while she thought and I watched as a portion of the porcelain rim began to slowly melt away under the touch of those soft pillows of flesh. She rotated the cup unconsciously to keep the hot liquid from spilling but continued to do it.

    ¡°It¡¯s been awhile, I¡¯d have to look at the records to be sure. But if there are any legendary heroes in human history, there are good odds that they got their power from the System. And when I say legendary, I mean like¡­real legends. Not the ¡®she could make rats dance¡¯ or ¡®he¡¯s able to lick his own elbow¡¯ type stuff.¡±

    ¡°Merlin? Ancient and powerful magician who helped a king found a legendary kingdom that vanished into the mists of time?¡± I suggested, remembering one of my favorite legends. Cariad nodded rapidly, a broad smile crossing her lips.

    ¡°Exactly! While the entry-level package won¡¯t give you that kind of power out the gate, it will set your feet on the pathway. Naturally, I¡¯m biased in that I want you to accept the mantle of a Traveler, as it would benefit the DSR and help out a lot. It¡¯s ultimately your choice, Liam.¡±

    I considered her words and thought over what had happened in the last few hours.

    I¡¯d been in a car accident, something that changed peoples lives normally. Right after that, I¡¯d experienced something even more life changing.

    I¡¯d traveled to another world.

    There I met two polite, young women who had asked me to protect them. I¡¯d agreed to do that, and while it had been on the spur of the moment, I had promised.

    Glancing down at my right forearm, I ran my thumb over the two marks there, still as dark as spilled ink. The first mark brought to mind the mischievous smile of the part-snake girl, Kassandra. And the second gave me the vague memory of a quickly wagging tail, icy blonde except for a tip as black as if it had been dipped in ink.

    Sure, this was strange. Heck, I was having coffee with a woman that dissolved the mug she was drinking out of because her very existence was antithetical to matter in this world. I have to remember to ask her what happens to the air she touches. I reminded myself, remembering that there was still matter floating about, even if I couldn¡¯t see it.

    I¡¯d adapted to the situation rather rapidly though. Despite the fact that Cariad could easily hurt me, I was just sitting here drinking coffee with her while discussing something utterly life changing like it was just signing up for a car loan. I¡¯d adapted to a lot of things as I became an adult and started to support myself. A crappy job, a dull boss, a boring life, ¡®friends¡¯ whom only contacted me when they needed or wanted something, and the loss of my parents. This sounded like something fun I could adapt to for once. That and I couldn¡¯t get the saucy wink that Kassandra had sent me out of my mind, and I had promised the girls I¡¯d help them.

    ¡°Okay, lets see what this gift box has in it then.¡± My statement got another glowing smile out of Cariad and she set her mug down. It looked like she¡¯d taken several bites out of the porcelain rim at this point, but most of the coffee was gone so there was no risk of it spilling.

    ¡°Oh, I am so glad you chose to do this, Liam! Okay, I want you to focus internally. Close your eyes and think to yourself ¡®System Interface, open!¡± The blue-skinned woman bounced happily in her chair, which made her cleavage echo the movement enticingly as well. She unbuttoned those top buttons again. I thought idly. I hadn¡¯t noticed at first, but now I was abundantly aware of that expanse of bare, blue-grey colored skin.

    Focusing myself back to what I was doing, I closed my eyes and thought about what she said while muttering it under my breath.

    ¡°System interface, open.¡±

    The black-light words reappeared once more in the darkness of my vision

    Welcome New Traveler - Entry-Level Traveler package waiting for redemption.

    Redeem: Y/N?

    The words sat as a banner across the upper portion of my field of view and as I waited, the ¡®Y/N¡¯ started to blink slightly.

    ¡°Okay, you should see a request to redeem the package. Just focus on the affirmative option and the System will take it from there.¡± Cariad said gently and I nodded before mentally pressing the ¡®Y¡¯.

    The writing flared brightly before fading. A new sentence scrolled into place in the darkness of my closed eyes.

    Liam Cosgrave, prepare for System integration and initial power award.

    ¡°It says to pre¡ª,¡± I started to say, but my entire body locked up like someone had jabbed a taser into my spine. It was a good thing all my muscles tensed, otherwise I might have bit my tongue off. However, I couldn¡¯t even close my mouth as everything locked up and refused to move at all.

    ¡°Easy, hang on Liam. It¡¯s a bit jarring at first, but that¡¯s what happens when an extra-dimensional supercomputer links to your brain. It¡¯ll clear up in a minute.¡± Cariad said gently and I felt a soft touch on my arm once more.

    As quickly as it started, the sensation faded and I felt a ripple of goosebumps start at the crown of my head and roll down my body to my toes. Before I could say anything, the words flared back into existence.

    System integration complete.

    HUD loading¡­

    Time expected: three minutes, twenty-four seconds.

    Initial Traveler power set awarded - Shape-Shifting (Minor)

    Congratulations, Liam Cosgrave.

    Refer to HUD after it loads for further details.

    I stared at the words numbly for several seconds and the timer continued to count down. It had just swapped over to two minutes and fifty-nine seconds when Cariad spoke.

    ¡°What did the System give you? I¡¯m curious what the first human Traveler in centuries got awarded.¡±

    ¡°Shape-shifting.¡± I muttered, still staring as the words continued to burn and glow in front of me.

    ¡°Shape-shifting?¡± Cariad asked, her voice full of bemused interest.

    ¡°Shape-shifting.¡± I repeated numbly.

 Chapter 5

    ¡°Shape-shifting¡­what the hell.¡± I muttered to myself while hefting the bright blue tote overhead and tossing it up onto the stack. Getting the thirty pound tote up over my head was just another motion at this point. When I¡¯d started this job loading trucks for Rykol Food, I¡¯d only planned on it being part-time until I could find something better. That had been almost two years ago and now I was just too tired to try finding a new job. ¡°Shoulda taken the payoff.¡± I grumbled to myself, hefting another tote up and getting it on top of the other one. The stack was probably about eight or nine feet tall at this point and was as high as I could safely stack them while full. But there were hundreds more to load into this truck alone. Loading semi trailers was as mind numbing and backbreaking as it sounds, trust me.

    The grumbling was just that. Grumbling. I didn¡¯t actually mean it, even though I was still irritated about what had happened the previous night.

    Cariad had stuck around for another half an hour, answering questions and helping me figure out the interface for the System.

    Whenever I closed my eyes now, a sort of ¡®heads up¡¯ display flickered into view. It would only hang around for about ten seconds. All I had to do was ignore it for that long and it would vanish once more. I could summon it back by thinking ¡®System interface¡¯ and it would pop back in for another ten seconds or so.

    My case-worker had also walked me through how to open the different layers of the interface. There were several headings along the top of it that would work like drop-down menus. They were ¡®Contracts¡¯, ¡®Assignments¡¯, ¡®Powers¡¯, ¡®Stats¡¯, and ¡®Messaging¡¯. Also, in the upper right corner, was a counter for my System Points, which were currently set for 0. The menu for Assignments was dark at the moment, and the only one that didn¡¯t react when I interacted with it. Cariad had advised that was normal, as it would only have information once I had completed an assignment or had one active that I was working on.

    The ¡®Contracts¡¯ tab had two entries under it:

    Kassandra Silverscale (Guardian Contract level 1)

    Rieka Coldeye (Guardian Contract level 1)

    While I didn¡¯t know the specifics of what a ¡®guardian contract¡¯ was or what being ¡®level 1¡¯ meant, it did at least ensure I wouldn¡¯t forget the girls'' names. Wonder when they are going to try and call me back. Maybe later tonight since they did it late yesterday. Whatever, at least it¡¯s Friday.

    I dragged another stack of totes down off of the wheeled trolley that they¡¯d been delivered on, where they were only stacked 3 high for balance. They could be stacked as high as five or six in the truck though. The first three in a stack could just be yanked down and slid into place, the others had to be stacked manually. I did that while flicking through the interface on autopilot.

    ¡®Powers¡¯ had only one entry in it at the moment and I did my best to keep the grumbling to a minimum as I read it once more.

    Shape-Shifting (Minor) - Allows the user to draft minor changes to the body based on animals he knows of. Changes are such as: thickened skin and fur, advanced hearing, improved night sight, claws, increased muscle mass. Cannot assume full animal form or even a half form yet. Unable to mix more than two animal''s features at a time. No more than a total of five pounds of additional mass may be added, removed, or modified.

    Mastery - 0/1000

    The idea of being able to make modifications to my body was intriguing and sounded useful, but I hadn¡¯t the foggiest idea of how to actually use it. It wasn¡¯t as if the ability came with a user manual either.

    ¡°Just experiment. The powers that the System grants sometimes take time to master, but it wouldn¡¯t have given it to you if there wasn¡¯t some reason for it. Some bit of history or genetic note that would somehow rationalize it. Just gotta figure out how to tap into that power now.¡± Cariad had advised me, and while I understood it was meant as an encouragement, it was still a little frustrating that the supposedly simple effect was escaping me.

    Focusing again, I stared down at my hands where they gripped the sides of the tote. Focusing on them entirely, I willed them to grow claws, change colors, sprout fur. Anything besides just being their normal pink color.

    Nothing happened.

    Well, nothing with my hands happened at least.

    ¡°Cosgrave!¡± The harsh, nasally tone of Aaron Dutcher, my supervisor, echoed inside the back of the semi-trailer I was loading.

    I nearly dropped the heavy tote on my foot. Bobbling it slightly, I had to shift my grip to pin it against my legs. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw Dutcher standing near the entrance to the truck.

    Aaron Dutcher looked an awful lot like a basket-ball with arms and legs. Skinny ones at that. His fat gut always protruded over his belt to hang barely in view at the bottom of the work polo¡¯s he wore. I had to wonder how he was able to walk around at times with how skinny his legs were, they gave the constant impression of twigs ready to break at any moment.

    I knew why they didn¡¯t just snap, and why they remained skinny despite his large weight. Dutcher didn¡¯t think that he should have to walk back and forth on the loading dock while he ¡®supervised¡¯ us loaders. So he¡¯d bought and brought in a Segway and rode the damn thing around like a bored mall-cop, minus the badge and with double the entitled attitude.

    ¡°What¡¯s up, Dutcher?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s Mr. Dutcher to you, Cosgrave! Stop slacking around and get back to work.¡± Squealed the fat man before doing a rather practiced three point turn on his little electric conveyance and rolling out of sight to go harass another loader.

    ¡°Jackass.¡± I muttered, heaving the tote up and into its spot. Dutcher liked to come by and bug me if he thought I wasn¡¯t ¡®contributing¡¯ enough to the workload. I easily loaded at least one to two more trucks each day than any of the other guys on the dock. But I also wasn¡¯t taking a dozen smoke breaks or hiding in the truck to play on my phone.

    But you were playing with yourself. No, not like that! The thought that crossed my mind was both annoying and disgusting and I furiously shook my head to try and dislodge it. Not that I couldn¡¯t imagine one of the guys deciding to get some ¡®happy time¡¯ in while hiding behind some totes, they¡¯d do just about anything besides work if given the chance, but I just didn¡¯t want to think about it.

    Squeezing my eyes shut to try and force the thought out, the glowing script of the System interface glittered in front of me, still open to the ¡®Powers¡¯ tab. There were other entries there, but none of them were visible. They were only noticeable due to the fogged over outlines of text. Cariad had explained those to me as well, saying that they would likely open up more as I mastered the power already given to me. Shape-Shifting had so much potential and I wanted to start experimenting with it, but I still had to figure out what the heck to do to get it to work!

    The interface text flashed abruptly and dumped me back to the ¡®main screen¡¯ of the heads-up display. A moment later familiar words in that dark-light purple flashed into place.

    Kassandra Silverscale and Rieka Coldeye have sent a non-urgent request for your presence regarding your Guardian contract.

    Transit? View summoning?

    The two options, ¡®Transit?¡¯ and ¡®View Summoning?¡¯ pulsed slowly and flared brighter when I focused my attention on them. I must have stared at the ¡®Transit¡¯ option too long, as it flashed twice in confirmation before the message faded and a new message flared into place.

    Brace for transit, Traveler.

    ¡°Shit!¡± I swore, glancing around quickly to make sure no one was watching before ducking down into a squat behind the stack of totes I¡¯d been pulling off the cart. I hadn¡¯t meant to accept it yet, but there wasn¡¯t a cancel button I could find. Less than a second later, I felt that tugging sensation about my body, like a giant crane arm had fastened around me and lifted me into the air. Seconds later I was in motion and colors bloomed all around me.

    This time, the travel was a little less jarring and the colors that bloomed all around me were muted. I felt less like I¡¯d been strapped to the hood of a speeding race-car and more like I was riding a roller-coaster.

    After what only felt like three or four seconds of subjective time, the world stopped spinning and I could see again.

    The room that I¡¯d first appeared in was gone, and replaced by the packed earth of what looked like a wrestling ring. Grass stretched out from there, dotted with small trees and enclosed gardens. A few hundred feet away, I saw buildings surging up into the sky with distinctly gothic and classical architecture to them. Part animal people wandered the grass or walked on paths nearby, talking in quiet voices in small groups. The air itself felt fresh and clean after being inside the musty truck for so long and I couldn¡¯t help taking a deep breath.

    ¡°Well, so the stories weren¡¯t mistaken.¡± A woman¡¯s voice said in a severe tone from behind me and I turned quickly to see who it was.

    Two familiar faces and one unfamiliar one stood on the edge of the clear circle of bare earth. Kassandra was grinning triumphantly, her angular face bright with pride and she bounced slightly with excitement on her coiled snake tail. Rieka was on the other side of the new person, her smile was more subdued but no less proud and I could see that fluffy tail of hers starting to wave slowly behind her. The girls were dressed in similar outfits to what they¡¯d worn the previous night, though both carried short batons and wore belts with several pouches on them over their nicer clothes.

    ¡°Hello, good to see you ladies again.¡± I said with a smile to both of them. And it was good to see them. While I¡¯d not been able to really convince myself it was all a hallucination the night before due to Cariad¡¯s presence and the continuing existence of the System interface, seeing them again hammered it home.

    ¡°Hello Liam!¡± Chirped Kassandra happily, slithering forward on her tail with a deft wiggle of her hips. ¡°Lady Maia heard about what happened and wanted to confirm that everything was okay. So she requested that we summon you so she could confirm you weren¡¯t dangerous.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s definitely dangerous, but not to you two, I think.¡± The third woman said in a reserved tone that drew my attention to her immediately. This was the one who had spoken when I first arrived.

    She was tall and elegant, wearing an elaborately folded skirt and close fitted jacket that made me think of a classical pianist. She had long, straight, black hair shot through with streaks of gray that was tucked neatly behind a pair of pointed ears. Thick, almost coke-bottle glasses sat on a slim nose inside of wrought iron rims while she peered at me through them. Every inch of her was neat and orderly and I felt even more grubby just being near her.

    ¡°I would be a horrible protector if I was a threat to those I¡¯m supposed to be protecting.¡± I straightened and nodded to her politely. ¡°Lady Maia, it is a pleasure to meet you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure.¡± The woman said in a neutral tone, giving me a once over again before she sniffed. I glanced down at my work-stained clothing before looking back up at her and shrugging.

    ¡°Sorry, was in the middle of my regular job. I¡¯m normally a bit better put together.¡± I offered, hoping to placate the fastidious woman.

    ¡°You are put together just fine.¡±

    Kassandra¡¯s words drew Lady Maia¡¯s attention right off of me and on to her. The miniature, half-serpent woman shrugged, entirely unabashed by the older woman''s pointed stare.

    ¡°What? He is! Besides, it isn¡¯t as if we gave him any warning. He likely wasn¡¯t expecting to be called back until later tonight since that was when we called him last.¡± The fact she was repeating my thoughts from only minutes ago made me stifle a laugh.

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    ¡°Likely.¡± Lady Maia said shortly, switching back to stare at me for a long moment. ¡°Either way, he appears polite and I do not get a sinister sense from him. I trust that you two will do your best to help develop him into something that will make Rue House shine in the coming competitions.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Lady Maia.¡± Rieka said demurely, dipping her head respectfully to the older elf woman.

    ¡°Oh I know Liam will do great!¡± Kassandra waved the hand holding her odd baton like she was wafting off a fly.

    ¡°I¡¯ll do my best?¡± I added in, not entirely sure what they were talking about.

    ¡°Good. Excuse me, I have other things to tend to today.¡± Lady Maia nodded to the girls before giving me another searching look and then striding away across the grass.

    ¡°Old bat.¡± Kassandra muttered under her breath as soon as the elf was far enough away.

    ¡°Kass! Lady Maia deserves our respect.¡± Chastised Rieka, scowling rather cutely at Kassandra with her canine ears pinned back.

    ¡°Psh, she all but insulted Liam. Which means that she insulted us too, since he¡¯s our guardian.¡± Kassandra stuck her nose up and crossed her arms over her full bust in a full on pout that looked entirely too adorable on her.

    ¡°We need to remain professional in front of Liam though. You wouldn¡¯t want him to think you uncultured, would you?¡± Rieka asked pointedly. Apparently, her barb worked as Kassandra¡¯s pout dissolved and she turned a worried look my way.

    ¡°Liam! You don¡¯t think less of me, do you?¡± She all but demanded.

    ¡°Uh, no?¡± Her concerned look morphed back into a pout and I scrambled for a better answer. ¡°I¡¯d never think less of you for defending me, Kass.¡± Her frown immediately brightened and she pumped a fist happily. With sinuous grace, she undulated across the dirt to wind in a wide circle around me. The sun sparkled on her brick red and earth brown scales in such a charming way that I honestly didn¡¯t find the action threatening at all. Which was odd in and of itself. Her tail was easily ten feet long and just as thick as her waist.

    ¡°Liam, it is good to see you again.¡± Rieka interjected as Kassandra began to hum happily while circling me. She looked a bit like a little girl skipping around her favorite adult, but that mental image was ruined by the heavy curves of her mature body. The small stature was throwing mixed signals to me that were confusing, so I had pushed it aside to focus on the wolf girl in front of me.

    ¡°Rieka. Glad to see you as well. I have to say, I was questioning reality a bit myself last night when I got home. Being summoned by you two was not exactly what I had expected.¡±

    ¡°Yea, I¡¯m not surprised there.¡± Kassandra interjected, her torso coming to a stop on my right while her tail coiled around until it was bunched behind her neatly. ¡°We looked over the circle after you left and someone had peeled up that edge and damaged the runes there. It could have gone horribly wrong, but we ended up lucking out!¡± Her smile was so unabashedly happy that I couldn¡¯t help but return it.

    ¡°Yea, that¡¯s what I was told as well. That it could have gone wrong, not that someone damaged the circle.¡± I said quickly, thinking about what Cariad had told me the previous night.

    ¡°Yes, thank you again Liam. If something else had responded rather than you, it is likely it would have just attacked us outright.¡± Rieka walked over to stand next to Kassandra, her tail still swaying slowly behind her despite her attempt to act demure. ¡°The damaged section was a portion of the array to secure the circle and prevent the summoned creature from exiting it. Something you showed that you could have done when you walked to the edge of it.¡±

    ¡°No worries. I¡¯m glad that nothing went wrong and you two are okay.¡± My simple statement got a giggle out of Kassandra and a shy smile from Rieka. ¡°Anyway, you two might not wanna stand so close. I was working pretty hard and I¡¯m sure I smell gross.¡±

    ¡°I think you smell fine.¡± Insisted Kassandra, though Rieka rolled her eyes at her friend. ¡°Does it bother you, Liam?¡±

    ¡°No, not at all. My world doesn¡¯t have anything like you two, or really any of the people here. So it¡¯s all really new to me.¡±

    ¡°Well feel free to ask any questions you might have. I hope to have a long and happy partnership with you, Liam.¡± Rieka said before Kassandra could speak and the snake-tailed woman shot her a searching and suspicious look before turning back to me.

    ¡°Anyway! Liam, we had something else we wanted to talk to you about. Gotta make the most of the mana used to summon you after all.¡±

    ¡°Of course, what did you need?¡± I had kind of hoped that they might have a request. Cariad had explained to me the previous night that while I might get a small ¡®response fee¡¯ in SP for crossing over, if I was given a task and fulfilled it, I got an exponentially larger payout that I could use for powers and upgrades. She¡¯d also explained that some of the other powers might resolve and become available once I got more SP. She¡¯d said something about it helping the System get a read on other potential powers it could unlock.

    ¡°Well, we needed to talk with you about what sort of abilities and powers you might have so we can figure out how to go about training you.¡± Kassandra said brightly while Rieka nodded.

    ¡°Training me?¡± I said incredulously. The way they had said it made me think of training a dog, which reminded me of this ¡®competition¡¯ that Lady Maia had mentioned.

    Assist your contracted companions, Kassandra Silverscale and Rieka Coldeye, in ascertaining how best to train you.

    Reward - 100 SP

    The words flared into my vision like a neon light clicking to life before vanishing once more.

    ¡°Damn it.¡±

    <><><>

    ¡°So you have the ability to shift your body and modify it, but you can¡¯t figure out how to do it?¡± Kassandra asked from her position on my right. She¡¯d coiled around me so that she was leaning on one hip with her tail wrapped around behind me, almost but not quite touching me.

    I¡¯d filled both of them in on the situation while we sat in the grass next to the practice ring. Which they had explained was for sparring or training. There were others nearby and only a handful of them were in use at the moment. While I watched, a young man waved one of the thick batons in the air and it glowed brightly before a dog with shimmering, blue-white fur popped into existence in front of him and began to lick his face.

    ¡°Basically yea¡­¡± I drawled, watching as the young man played with the obviously magical canine for a bit before he started calling out orders, which the dog responded to immediately. ¡°Man I hope that you two were not hoping to be doing that with me.¡±

    ¡°I mean, I wouldn¡¯t be against it.¡± Kassandra laughed for a moment but shook her head. ¡°But no, we figured that it¡¯d be more like¡­figuring out how to work best with your power set and what special skills you have.¡±

    ¡°Or teaching you how to fight if you didn¡¯t know how to.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I probably should have asked before, but I have some¡­blunt questions I need answered if you two are okay with it?¡±

    ¡°Sure, I don¡¯t think you¡¯d ask anything needlessly rude. Rieka?¡± Kassandra just blinked at me, her smile not failing one iota.

    ¡°Go for it, Liam. We need to be honest with each other if we are going to make this work.¡± The wolf-eared girl said from my other side and I glanced back at her for a moment before sighing.

    ¡°I have so many questions that I¡¯m not sure where to start¡­¡±

    ¡°At the beginning is usually a good spot.¡± Kassandra said cheekily and I shot her a mock frown, getting a stuck out tongue in return.

    ¡°Fine, where the hell am I anyway? I know I¡¯m not anywhere on my home planet, or plane for that matter.¡±

    ¡°Generally? You are in the Coldeye Queendom. Specifically, you are at Juneau Academy.¡± Kassandra answered helpfully. ¡°And yes, just like Rieka¡¯s last name. You have the honor of being the bonded companion of the fourth princess of the Queendom.¡±

    ¡°Not that it matters!¡± Rieka rushed to interject. ¡°Like Kass said, I¡¯m fourth in the line of succession, I might as well just be a regular girl with overbearing parents. Please don¡¯t treat me differently?¡± The last part was said with such a begging undertone that it honestly tore at my heart. The added effect of her expressive, fuzzy ears wilting made it even worse.

    ¡°I won¡¯t, Rieka. I promise.¡± The words were out of my mouth before I even considered them, but the way her fluffy tail began to whip behind her in happiness reassured me that I¡¯d said the right thing. Which put me onto my next question.

    ¡°So¡­I don¡¯t know if this is rude or not, but I have to ask. I haven¡¯t seen any other humans this entire time, all of you are very¡­different from me and while I recognize a few species, most I don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m one of the wolf-kin, though many just refer to those of us who have partial animal traits as the ¡®Kin¡¯. Kassandra is a lamia, a dwarf lamia specifically.¡± Rieka answered with a happy grin.

    ¡°It means I¡¯m a miniature version, not that I¡¯m half dwarf!¡± Kassandra insisted immediately, and I turned to see her shooting a pout at Rieka. ¡°I¡¯m not half dwarf and I am fully grown! So no short jokes! Judge me based on my actions, not my size!¡± She turned that pout onto me and I had to fight the urge to laugh again.

    ¡°Got it, not a half-dwarf. You are just a smaller lamia, but are all woman. No worries about me forgetting that, Kass.¡± I said quickly, hoping to defuse her anger. The surprised look in her eyes and the blush that popped across her cheeks was unexpected and she bit her lip with a little grin. I had the sinking sensation that she¡¯d apparently read more into my assurance than I¡¯d meant initially.

    ¡°You aren¡¯t bothered by us being different, are you? You said that they don¡¯t have any Kin or lamia where you are from?¡± Kassandra said after a moment though her eyes twinkled with mischief.

    ¡°Honestly? My ¡®things are weird¡¯ meter is so overwhelmed at this point that I don¡¯t even know what to do anymore.¡± I sighed, rubbing at my face.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Liam. We¡¯ll make sure to take good care of you!¡± Chirped Kassandra happily and I felt a gentle weight wrap around my hips and squeeze slightly. Glancing down, I realized that it was part of her snake body. She¡¯d edged close enough to wrap it partially around my back in sort of a hug. The pressure felt odd, but not unwelcome and I patted the scaled length idly, stroking her soft scales curiously. Kassandra let out a quiet ¡®eep¡¯ and blushed harder when I looked up at her.

    ¡°Sorry about that. I¡­uh¡­¡±

    ¡°No! Don¡¯t worry about it, Liam. You can touch my scales if you want. The last thing we need is for you to feel awkward around us, we need to be comfortable working with each other after all.¡± Kassandra said quickly, snatching my hand and pressing it back to her cool scales. She didn¡¯t stop blushing the entire time so I just nodded and began to rub them lightly. The muscles playing underneath my fingers felt strange as they flexed, but not in a bad way.

    ¡°That actually brings us to an important point.¡± Rieka stepped in to direct the conversation back onto a safer topic. ¡°Since you are still trying to figure out your power, we should probably focus on getting you some gear to protect yourself and use until you get a better feel for it.¡±

    ¡°Gear, yea that would be nice. I can¡¯t exactly bring anything with me after all.¡± I sighed, glancing down at my pants. It had been one of the things that Cariad had filled me in on when looking over the power options the previous night. Apparently, the System restricted what a Traveler was able to carry with them. Something about energy costs and efficiency. Basically, it held whatever I was carrying when I was transported, and would return it when I came back unless I got an associated power to create a dimensional storage space. Cariad had advised me that it wasn¡¯t rare, but it also wasn¡¯t a cheap power. It was considered a standard choice though for its utility.

    ¡°Yea, that is normal. At least for other summons. I¡¯ll have to research Travelers more. That¡¯s not one I am familiar with, but Juneau has a great library so there should be something.¡± Kassandra gave me a shy smile and let go of my hand. I left it on top of her coil and her smile widened further.

    ¡°I wanted to ask about that. Lady Maia mentioned something about ¡®Rue House¡¯ and you just mentioned an academy? Is this some kind of magical academy?¡±

    ¡°Not exactly.¡± Rieka answered quickly. ¡°While Juneau does teach magic as part of its core curriculum, it is far more than just a magical academy. It¡¯s considered one of the premier finishing schools on the continent. The next generation of nobles and youth of the well off all vie for positions here. But Juneau trains them in more than just magic, it also teaches economics, history, music, the arts, literature, and a lot of other stuff.¡±

    ¡°So¡­this is a college then? Somewhere that people go to be trained for future work or careers?¡±

    ¡°Basically yeah.¡± Kassandra shrugged with a small smile. ¡°I¡¯m studying magic, summoning, and history. Rieka?¡± The dwarf lamia easily tossed the conversation to his other side where the wolf-eared woman picked it up.

    ¡°I¡¯m studying summoning, magic, economics, music, and some combat. I¡¯m not entirely sure where I¡¯m going to end up, given my situation with my family. So I want to have a broad range of abilities to draw on.¡± Rieka¡¯s light-blue eyes sparkled brightly, like morning sun on ice, and when combined with her platinum blonde hair, gave her an earnest look of excitement.

    ¡°Fair enough. And Rue House?¡± I asked, resisting the urge to reach up and stroke one of Rieka¡¯s soft looking ears. Kassandra might be okay with me touching her tail, but Rieka was a princess after all. There had to be a level of decorum after all and I didn¡¯t want to offend her. No matter how soft they looked.

    ¡°Rue House is sort of¡­a community that we are part of? Most of the students sign up to join one of the different dormitory houses based on their primary focus of study. For example, since I was studying magic, summoning, and history, I could have joined Oak House, but they are more about combat magic and the military. My history focus also opened up Rosemary House as an option, but I don¡¯t want to spent all my time with books. I wanted to study history and go to see it in the world. Explore ancient ruins and see historical places! And to do that, I need a balance of power and knowledge. Which I was hoping summoning would give me.¡± Kassandra was quick to answer the question for me and I thought for a minute.

    ¡°So, Rue House is focused on summoning then?¡±

    ¡°Yup! That big circle that you were summoned in initially is actually owned by Rue House as a whole and Lady Maia maintains it. She was not happy to hear about the damage that had been done to the ring. She¡¯s probably been working on repairing it all day today. The others will be summoning their own partners tonight if all is well, but we got a leap ahead of all the other girls!¡± Kassandra¡¯s tail squeezed my hips again and she bounced in excitement right next to me, which sent an interesting ripple through her anatomy.

    The fact that the bouncy, half-snake woman had confirmed she was of age was extremely helpful in assuaging any guilt I might have had with such assets so close to my face. I hadn¡¯t asked her exact age, but from looking around at the others and her relative build, she had to be nearly twenty. Which meant that she was just a short, very attractive woman. Remember that, dude. She¡¯s not a kid. Do not piss off the snake lady, you don¡¯t wanna find out she¡¯s venomous or something. I reminded myself firmly.

    That was about when my brain made the connection that had been scratching at the interior of my skull for the last few minutes.

    ¡°Wait, you said all the other girls, does that mean Rue House only has women in it?¡±

    ¡°Yea, Rue House is an all female dorm house. Any of the guys who want to study summoning end up in Oak House, they accept both genders and they have access to most of the same summoning resources, but Rue House is the best for Kass and I.¡± Rieka chipped in, toying with the edge of her shirt with one hand, stealing glances at me and Kassandra every so often.

    ¡°And are all the girls here... well... like you two? Folks with animal features?¡±

    "Oh no!" Kassandra chipped in with a grin. "While the majority of races in the Coldeye Kingdom are kin like Rieka, Juneau has representation from basically all the different species in the world, at least those that will coexist peacefully. There are ogres, harpies, centaur, elves, and all sorts here."

    But no humans. I thought to myself. I''ve been summoned by monster girls and now I''m basically going to be their bodyguard...

 Chapter 6

    Apparently my little epiphany was amusing for the girls, because they spent a good bit of time giggling at me before they got back around to our discussion.

    Since my power was basically unusable at the moment, Kassandra suggested that we get me some basic equipment like armor and a weapon. Idly, I¡¯d asked about what sort of stuff they might need protection from. Given that I was in another world at the behest of two beautiful half-animal women, I had a feeling I was going to be fighting monsters and completing quests. It turned out that I was fairly on the mark.

    ¡°Sounds like a sort of work-study program, really.¡± I said as Kassandra finished her explanation to me.

    ¡°Sort of. Mana is expensive. And to practice magic you have to have the means to acquire it. Both Rieka and I could just use our own finances to purchase most of the mana that we need, but that would ruin the other half of the program.¡± Kassandra snuggled a little tighter on my right. Throughout the entire conversation, she¡¯d been edging closer, using the fact her tail was wrapped around my hips in the grass to slowly pull herself in until she was leaning into me with the end of her tail stretching out alongside my legs.

    ¡°Yea. Any mage needs to stand ready to defend the country. It¡¯s expected of those who have power to be ready to use it in defense of others. So we take missions on the weekends and holidays to practice on weaker opponents and get some real world experience.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m surprised that a princess doesn¡¯t have any royal guards with her. Or a young noblewoman. Why not hire some protection?¡± My hand had stayed on Kassandra¡¯s coil, about where her knee would be if she had legs rather than a tail, and her scales felt warmer under my touch now. Her blush at the contact had faded, to be replaced with a happy little smile.

    ¡°We could, but we can¡¯t always expect to have someone safeguarding us in the future. Guards are only as loyal as their pay after all. Part of why we chose to summon a protector and why Rieka and I pooled our resources for it.¡±

    ¡°Which is why you both wanted to bond with me, right?¡±

    ¡°Yup! That and it means we can summon you more often. As well as provide you with more gifts to help grow your powers. Though since you don¡¯t have a traditional power, it might take a bit to figure out what sort of gifts might work best.¡± Kassandra frowned cutely for a moment before shrugging. ¡°Something to figure out though.¡±

    ¡°Kass, we need to get going. Class is going to start soon.¡± Rieka said, glancing up at the position of the sun in the sky.

    ¡°Shoot! Okay fine¡­We should let you get back to your work, Liam.¡± Kassandra grumbled, pulling my arm into hers and hugging it tight. Her tail slid up and around my waist so that she could hug me with it too. I would have expected such a strange sensation to be off-putting, but it just came across as cute and endearing when coming from someone like Kassandra. She just had this way about her that made it hard to be upset about anything.

    ¡°Probably for the best. My asshole of a boss is going to give me crap anyway. Fairly certain I haven¡¯t been gone long enough to cause a problem. I can just say I had to take an early lunch or something.¡± I shrugged it off and smiled down at Kassandra. ¡°I said I¡¯d come when you girls called for me, so do it when you need me. I¡¯ll work on figuring out this power I got in the meantime.¡±

    ¡°Evenings and weekends are the usual times, we¡¯ll try to warn you ahead of time if that will change. It¡¯s a bit different with an intelligent creature as a summon.¡± Rieka added in. We¡¯d talked earlier about scheduling and since the girls attended their courses during the week, it worked out fairly well. I would just have to avoid picking up any weekend overtime.

    ¡°Sounds good. I¡¯ll see you two tomorrow to figure out some basic equipment and then we can start earning you guys the mana you need for your classwork. It doesn¡¯t hurt to have the extra on hand to summon me if you need, since the more often you summon me, the faster I can grow and get more powerful to help you out.¡± I shifted my grip to higher on Kassandra¡¯s waist and pulled her to my side in a hug that made the serpentine woman hum happily, squeezing both my arm and waist tighter. The sensation of her soft breasts sandwiching my arm was far more pleasant than the firm squeeze around my waist, but both felt good for what they were.

    ¡°Sounds like a plan. We can figure out more specifics on training later, but this is a good starting point.¡± Rieka said, an odd smile on her face while her ears tucked back just a bit.

    I was about to ask her if anything was wrong when flaring, blue-purple words flashed into existence in my vision and made me jump.

    Assist your contracted companions, Kassandra Silverscale and Rieka Coldeye, in ascertaining how best to train you.

    Reward - 100 SP

    COMPLETED

    A moment later they faded and another message flared into existence, but not glowing as brightly as the first.

    New Powers available in the System interface.

    Congratulations, Traveler.

    ¡°Huh, cool. Apparently that¡¯s my first task done. We figured out how best to ¡®train¡¯ me.¡± I snickered. Kassandra bit her bottom lip and grinned up at me with mischief in her eyes.

    ¡°I can think of a few ways I¡¯d like to train you, Liam. But that¡¯s for another time and a bit more privacy.¡± She murmured. Before I could react, Kassandra pressed a kiss to my cheek. ¡°Think fondly of us while you are gone, Liam!¡± Kassandra whispered again in my ear before she produced the metallic baton from behind her back and made a motion with it.

    ¡°Kass! I didn¡¯t get to say goodbye yet.¡± Rieka protested as I felt the tugging sensation around my waist and shoulders. ¡°Liam! Be safe!¡± Rieka called and her words stretched out like she was suddenly being pulled to a great distance as the sensation of movement caught me up.

    A handful of seconds later, I landed on my feet in the back of the semi trailer. After the clean air of their world, the musty, sweaty confines of the truck were oppressive and I coughed. That sent me off balance in my squat and onto my ass on the dirty floor.

    ¡°Fuck¡­that was a little mean, but also kinda cute.¡± I laughed, pressing my fingers to my cheek where Kassandra¡¯s lips had been a moment before. She¡¯s remarkably forward for someone you just met last night. Maybe she just likes teasing people.

    Unfortunately, my thoughtful silence was interrupted by the familiar whirring of little rubber wheels on concrete outside the truck and I scrunched up to hide better behind the trolley and its remaining stack of blue plastic totes.

    ¡°Liam! Where the hell are you?¡± Dutcher¡¯s whiny voice echoed inside the back of the truck and I scrunched down further. It wasn¡¯t an easy task since I¡¯m a fairly tall guy, but combined with the dim lighting in the truck it was at least possible to stay mostly out of sight. ¡°Fucking slackers, all of them. Where the hell is that big idiot?¡± Dutcher grumbled after a moment and I heard the whine of the Segway¡¯s tires as he wheeled off. A brief flare of anger surged in my chest at his words.

    ¡°Calling me a slacker and you can¡¯t even be bothered to walk up and down the dock?¡± I grumbled under my breath. I wanted to growl more, but it wouldn¡¯t help. Even if it did make me feel better.

    Tugging my phone out of the pocket that the System had helpfully returned it to when I came back from the other world, I checked the time. I need to ask what they call their world, I can¡¯t just keep thinking ¡®the other world¡¯ every time. I thought while comparing the time I got back to roughly when I¡¯d been summoned. It¡¯s been less than an hour since I was gone, so I could just say I¡¯d been at lunch.

    One of the few benefits that we had was a paid lunch break, though more often than not it was used to push us to cut our breaks short or work through them entirely. I was pretty sure that was illegal but no one in HR ever answered when I asked about it. I¡¯d eventually given up and just put up with it. The economy was in shambles as it was and this was a small price to pay for a job that let me afford rent. Well, it would be a small price to pay without Dutcher scooting about being an idiot.

    ¡°Okay, I need to get this work done.¡± I pushed myself to my feet with a renewed sense of purpose. I needed to focus on the here and now so I can get this done and get home. ¡°Tomorrow, I get to head back and see Kass and Rieka again and really get a feel for this thing.¡± I cheered myself on and started shifting totes as quickly as I could.

    The renewed sense of energy lasted for a good ten minutes and I was able to clear out the trolley¡¯s that had been staged for this load so far. The picker¡¯s, that¡¯s the guys who actually pull the stuff off shelves and load it in the totes before they then bring the trolley¡¯s over to me, were quick to notice the empties by my bay and hurried over to snag them and get them loaded again. I waved to Geoff, one of the pickers I actually got along with, as he hooked up his little, tugboat-like truck to the line of trolleys.

    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    ¡°There you are, Liam. Was wondering if you¡¯d gotten sick of Dutcher¡¯s fat ass and walked off the job finally.¡± Geoff laughed, his mutton-chop beard shot through with hints of gray. A squashed truckers cap with a faded Bass Pro logo on it sat jauntily on his head.

    ¡°Not yet, Geoff. Drive safe out there, some crazies on the road today I¡¯m sure.¡± I tossed my head back towards the office, where I could see Dutcher¡¯s Segway parked on its charging pad.

    ¡°Oh if only¡­I¡¯d happily run him over if he cut me off out here, but his little nerd-chariot has enough get up and go that he¡¯s dodged me yet.¡± Geoff said with a sigh, throwing his eyes to the heavens like he was begging God for an opportunity.

    ¡°Well, just make sure it looks like an accident if you do. Don¡¯t need you going to jail, I¡¯d never get anything done here after all.¡± I helped him get the last of the cars locked in and then Geoff was off to get the next load set up. Turning back to the trailer, I glanced at the loading manifest and sighed, I had to finish this layer of the truck with mostly cases of bottled water and soda. It was a pain to stack as the flimsy bottles often collapsed and that made a mess.

    Rykol Food delivered mostly to gas stations and convenience stores. I honestly pitied the drivers that had to back a big rig into a gas station just to drop off cigarettes, bottled soda, and milk. It was enough of a pain in the butt to load it up, but unloading it after trying to get parked at night? No way. I tried my best to make sure the loads were balanced and secured properly so they wouldn¡¯t shift, figuring I should do what I could to make their jobs easier. That didn¡¯t make my job any easier, but it was at least something nice I could do.

    Stopping next to the wrapped pallet of bottled water that sat on the main loading dock, I glanced over my shoulder at the rest of the dock to make sure no one was coming my way and held one hand in front of myself.

    I need to get the hang of this shifting thing¡­what was I doing wrong? I was glad that the girls had the funds to at least get me a weapon, but if I was going to actually protect them, I needed to get the hang of these powers. Who knew when they might need me and I wouldn¡¯t have time to grab a weapon.

    Focusing in on one hand, I imagined the tip of my right index finger growing harder and sprouting a claw. Just one finger. I focused on the idea of a sharp claw, like a cat¡¯s claw or an eagle''s talon. I¡¯d tried a wide range of things earlier, maybe I¡¯d have better luck with something simple and smaller in scope than my whole hand.

    At first I felt something resisting me, like a general disbelief that this was real. I threw the sensation of Kassandra¡¯s scales under my fingers at that doubt and my mind returned to the feeling of her lips on my cheek.

    The tip of my finger darkened and then extended forward into a sharp, black tip that was several inches long. The claw itself merged seamlessly into my finger like an eagle¡¯s talon, and the finger itself had bulked up some, thickening with extra muscle and the tendons needed to support the claw. All of that happened in the course of a second and without having to even consider the extra bits.

    ¡°Huh¡­¡± I muttered, flexing my hand slightly. The claw felt odd and heavy on my hand. The tip of my finger was numb like it¡¯d fallen asleep but when I tapped the claw against the pallet of water, it easily pierced the plastic wrap holding the cases in place. Using the claw like a box knife, I slashed through the layers of plastic wrap easily. Huh, okay so it works, but it¡¯s slow. Also, I only have the basics of how to fight like this. I doubt swiping at stuff like Wolverine is going to be effective, especially without his healing factor.

    I was just considering how to get rid of it, so I didn¡¯t puncture one of the bottles, when a voice made me jump.

    ¡°Liam! Where the hell have you been?¡± Aaron Dutcher¡¯s tone tried to be angry, but just came off as petulant instead.

    Jamming the hand with the claw on it into my pocket to keep it out of sight, I whirled to meet Dutcher¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Been working, was on lunch and got back a bit ago. Why, did you need something?¡± I did my best to act innocent despite my initial worry that Dutcher had seen the claw on my hand. I could still feel it in my pocket and touch it with my other fingers. I tried to focus and urge it back into a regular finger, but the suspicious look on Dutcher¡¯s pouchy, almost bullfrog looking, face made it hard.

    ¡°Lunch break. Right. I looked in the lunchroom and didn¡¯t see you there.¡± The fat man said suspiciously. He would have looked more intimidating but the Segway scooter he was balanced on just made me think of him like some kind of low-budget, video-game villain instead.

    ¡°Might have been while I was in the bathroom then. I was on break at the time, Dutcher. What did you need?¡± I tried my best to be civil, but the guy was annoying to an extreme and I was still short on sleep from the previous night anyway.

    ¡°It¡¯s ¡®Mr. Dutcher¡¯, to you Cosgrave!¡± Snapped the overweight manager, his cheeks growing more florid as his irritation got the better of him. ¡°You will respect my position or else you will be looking for a new job here soon!¡±

    ¡°What did you need, Mr. Dutcher?¡± I did my best not to sigh, though my soul died a bit inside to cave to the man¡¯s threats. I had no idea if Dutcher could actually fire me, but it was the last thing I needed right now. How fast would my world traveling escapades end if I was homeless? Would the girls still want a protector who was a hobo?

    Kassandra¡¯s kiss on my cheek played back through my mind and the soft sensation combined with the smell of her, a faint cinnamon and musk smell, bolstered my spirit.

    ¡°The driver is here for your truck. You need to get it loaded ASAP.¡± Dutcher snapped, his little eyes flaring with malicious glee.

    ¡°If he¡¯s here already, he¡¯s at least three hours early.¡± I stared at Dutcher pointedly and he just smirked back at me. I doubt the driver is actually here. I thought with a mental sigh, clearly Dutcher had decided to be a pain in the ass to make sure I ¡®knew my place¡¯. ¡°Can I get back to work?¡± I did my best to be pleasant, but apparently my lack of reaction to his orders irritated Dutcher worse, because his scowl deepened.

    ¡°When you are done here, I need you to move down and help Matheson finish loading his truck. He¡¯s also behind.¡±

    That made me bite my tongue. Matheson was one of the worst slackers on the dock. He always reeked of weed and a nasty smelling patchouli cologne that he apparently believed covered up the scent of marijuana. I¡¯d caught him rolling blunts inside his trailer twice this month already, but at least the idiot knew better than to actually smoke them inside the building.

    ¡°Sure.¡± I said flatly before turning back to the pallet, no longer caring if Dutcher was irritated at being ignored. He wanted the truck loaded quickly, so I needed to get to work on it.

    Apparently, he wasn¡¯t irritated, or at least didn¡¯t want to whine at me anymore. A minute later, I heard the whine of his scooter as it slid off. Pulling the hand with its claw out of my pocket, I focused on it intently and imagined it returning to normal once more. A few seconds later, my hand was back to normal again.

    ¡°Well that could be useful, but if I have to do it finger by finger, it¡¯s not going to be practical at all in a fight.¡± I muttered to myself.

    Remembering something, I closed my eyes and focused on the ¡®Powers¡¯ menu in the HUD that popped up. The menu dropped open and I saw that a new power set was no longer fogged out and the whole display had rearranged itself. There were three distinct tabs that popped up under the ¡®Power¡¯ menu. Body, Mind, and Spirit. Mind and Spirit were still blank, but two changes had occurred on the Body tab.

    First was the new power, sitting right next to the entry for Shape-Shifting.

    Enhance Self (Minor) - Cost: 10 SP - Increase personal stats by a single point per purchase, up to a maximum of five points per stat.

    May be selected multiple times.

    ¡°Huh¡­okay.¡± I blinked as I thought it over. I¡¯d looked at the ¡®Stats¡¯ tab the other day and it had only said ¡®calculating, please check back later¡¯. Cariad had advised that it was likely due to the fact that the System hadn¡¯t had a human Traveler in awhile and was having to calibrate to me. Navigating out of the ¡®Power¡¯ menu and over to ¡®Stats¡¯, I checked that one to confirm a suspicion.

    Name - Liam Cosgrave

    Strength - 13

    Agility - 11 (9)

    Fortitude - 16

    Willpower - 15

    Mental Acuity - 13

    Wisdom - 11

    Powers Acquired - Shape-Shifting (Minor)

    ¡°Looks like it¡¯s done calculating then. I wonder what the parenthesis on agility means.¡± I muttered to myself, still keeping my eyes shut. Another window opened with an explanation.

    Due to bodily injury, the relative score is lower than its potential peak. Seek healing or rest to recover.

    ¡°Handy. Okay, so I can start bumping stats if I want then?¡± I pushed back from the status screen for now and delved into the ¡®Powers¡¯ entry once more. I¡¯d noticed one other change in here and wanted to check into it. Now that I was thinking about it, the stiffness in my back and shoulders was likely the ¡®bodily injury¡¯ that it mentioned. Need to be careful lifting, the last thing I need is to actually be hurt and for it to get in the way of what I need to do.

    The second change was relating to my first power. Shape-Shifting was still the same entry as before, but the mastery entry had changed. Where it had read 0 out of 1000 before, the silhouette of a bar had appeared behind it and was starting to fill in with golden light. The readout read 2 out of 1000 as well. Wondering what it could mean caused another help interface to pop up.

    Mastery is the measurement of one¡¯s skill with a given ability. Practice and creative use of a System granted ability will increase mastery. Once the mastery bar is full, further upgrades and modifications will become available.

    Mastery cannot be purchased. Only earned.

    ¡°Okay, so I need to find a way to practice this then¡­maybe it gets faster the more I practice it?¡± I muttered, blinking my eyes open and lifting the first three cases of water up onto my shoulder and carrying them into the trailer. I let my mind wander while I focused on the exertion of the work. Despite the fact that Dutcher had assigned me to help keep the slacker from falling behind further when I was done here, I wasn¡¯t going to drag my heels. It wasn¡¯t the drivers fault after all, no reason to make their jobs harder.

    If I¡¯m lucky, I¡¯ll be able to unlock that Dimensional Pocket power that Cariad mentioned. I thought to myself, setting the water cases down and returning for more. Would make protecting the girls even easier if I could bring dad¡¯s old rifle with me.

    ¡°I cast ¡®gun¡¯!¡± I snickered under my breath while hefting the next set of cases up.

 Chapter 7

    Getting through the rest of Friday was a pain. I ended up loading most of Matheson¡¯s truck myself, since the kid kept vanishing off to ¡®go on break¡¯ and coming back reeking of weed. I ended up irritated enough that I couldn¡¯t focus enough to practice, even in the time when I had the back of the truck to myself. When his truck was finally loaded, I had to rush back to get the last truck on my dock done before going home. I ended up leaving half an hour late and too exhausted to do more than grab a burger on the way home and pass out. I slept hard, but I could vaguely remember dreams of someone hugging me tightly.

    The next day, Saturday, saw me waking up later than I¡¯d wanted to. The girls hadn¡¯t said more than ¡®early Saturday¡¯ when they¡¯d call me back to their world for this equipment trip, so I tried to be productive around the house. Cleaning up, running a load of dishes through the dishwasher, getting a shower in and the like.

    I¡¯d been debating if I had time to do some of my meal-prep for the next week of work when the dark-light, neon words flashed across my vision.

    Kassandra Silverscale and Rieka Coldeye have sent a non-urgent request for your presence regarding your Guardian contract.

    Transit? View summoning?

    This time, I had a bit of foreknowledge and focused instead on the ¡®View Summoning¡¯ option. A window outlined in purple light popped up with a still image of Kassandra and Rieka standing in the grass next to one of the large buildings that had been nearby when they summoned me last. Neither of them looked to be in danger and both were dressed nicely, in blouses and skirts for both of them. The color of the still image was mostly drained out, leaving it as a chemical wash of blue and purple shadows, like someone had tinted a black and white photo with the two colors.

    ¡°Glad I dressed a bit better than last time.¡± I muttered to myself, tugging the white button-down straighter on my shoulders and checking to make sure the fly on my nicest pair of blue-jeans was up. Once my ¡®preparations¡¯ were finished, I mentally swiped the preview image away and focused on the ¡®Transit¡¯ option. After a couple of seconds of focus, I felt the rushing sensation pick me up and the world swirled away.

    Landing in the grass after my third trip through the dimensions was as disorienting as the first had been, but knowing what to expect made it easier to compensate and not stumble.

    That lack of stumble was promptly remedied by Kassandra crashing into my side though and nearly knocking me on my ass.

    The enthusiastic dwarf lamia only came up to the bottom of my rib cage when she was ¡®standing¡¯ normally, but she barreled into my side with all the enthusiasm of a linebacker.

    ¡°Liam! You came!¡± She cried happily and wrapped her arms around my waist. Her muscular snake tail did the same around my legs, wrapping twice around me from ankle to knee and squeezing gently. Her arms were less gentle as she hugged me tightly, burying her face into my side.

    ¡°Whoa! Careful, Kass!¡± I protested, but it was hard to be angry or upset with the enthusiastic greeting I had gotten from the cute snake-girl. She giggled at my complaints but didn¡¯t release me, instead just rubbing her face back and forth for several moments that sent her tumble of red hair swaying. I could feel the softness of her curves against my body, but the fact we were in public and I could see more than a dozen other students walking about at this time kept me focused.

    Remember, she¡¯s a noblewoman and Rieka is a princess! Don¡¯t make them look bad, Liam! I reminded myself, carefully hugging the smaller woman back and catching Rieka¡¯s gaze with my eyes.

    ¡°Hey Rieka, how are things going?¡± I asked the wolf-eared girl. Rieka smiled gently, though there was a hint of envy in her bright blue eyes as she watched Kass¡¯ enthusiastic greeting.

    Rieka was dressed in a pale blue skirt that matched her eyes and a close fitting, white blouse with short sleeves that bunched into a small white ruffle just above her elbow. A thick, leather belt hung from her waist with two pouches and another of the metal batons hanging in a sling on her left hip.

    ¡°Good morning, Liam. Kassandra, you need to let him go eventually. People are starting to stare.¡±

    ¡°Let them stare!¡± Kassandra declared brightly, not giving up her grip on my waist. ¡°Liam is warm and feels wonderful to snuggle up to.¡±

    I considered her words and glanced around a bit. Back home, the weather was coming into mid-September, so it was beginning to cool off at night but was still pretty warm throughout the day unless you were up in the mountains. The morning felt pleasant to me, so her comment about me being warm was confusing enough that it must have shown on my face, because Rieka explained a moment later.

    ¡°Kassandra¡¯s particular breed of lamia are cold blooded. Her tribe originates from a collection of geothermal caverns actually, it¡¯s part of why she¡¯s pocket sized.¡±

    ¡°I am not pocket sized!¡± Protested the lamia in question, despite her apparent attempts to actually wiggle into my jean pocket. I could feel the rims of her spectacles digging into my chest slightly as she continued to nuzzle into it. It wasn¡¯t painful really, just a counterpoint to the softness of the rest of her.

    ¡°You kind of are, Kass. Come on, the longer we hang around, the less likely we are to find what we need to outfit Liam.¡± Rieka teased gently, her fluffy white tail swishing slightly as she prodded her friend.

    ¡°Fiiiine.¡± Kassandra sighed exaggeratedly and peeled herself off of me finally. She took a minute to straighten my shirt before unwinding her coils from my lower legs, a small blush cresting her cheeks while she glanced up at me occasionally.

    Not being used to such open affection or friendliness, I was blushing a bit as well. It might not be considered ¡®manly¡¯ to admit it, but the hug felt really good. It scratched a bit of the mental itch that I had that was telling me the girls were just being nice.

    ¡°Thank you, Kass. It¡¯s good to see you too.¡± I reassured her with a smile, which flipped her slight pout into a grin and she swayed happily on her tail before grabbing my hand and tugging me forward.

    ¡°Okay, we¡¯ve wasted enough time here, lets get moving!¡± Kassandra cheered happily. Rieka rolled her eyes but continued to smirk at her friend¡¯s back while following after us. ¡°We have gear to buy to equip Liam!¡±

    Assist your contracted companions, Kassandra Silverscale and Rieka Coldeye, with their errands today and see them home safely.

    Reward - 100 SP

    The words flared across my vision in response to Kassandra¡¯s statement and I grinned. That should be easy enough.

    The walk into town let me see more of the campus for Juneau as well as the countryside, which was illuminating.

    Juneau Academy had a sprawling campus studded with older style, stone brick buildings. The roofs of which were primarily some form of clay or slate shingle and would vary in color from building to building. All the buildings were built of the same polished, gray stone. However, the accent woods for the doors, windows, and shutters varied as wildly as the roofs did. It reminded me of a rather idyllic image of an old English college town.

    The road we followed was raised slightly and made of closely fitted stones in a manner that reminded me of the pictures I¡¯d seen of the ancient Roman roads that still endured after centuries. They were obviously well traveled, showing the wear and tear of feet and wagon wheels, but there were no potholes or missing cobbles the whole way through. A curtain wall that stood a good twenty feet tall and at least ten wide encircled the entire campus, built of the same gray stone as the buildings. I could see people in metal armor and carrying medieval weapons patrolling on the battlements above us as the road led to a large gateway that pierced the wall. Near the gate were several large buildings that had the look of warehouses and stables, which was further reinforced by the smell coming from them.

    ¡°The closest city is about a mile or so down the road. Juneau has shops of it¡¯s own, but they tend to be more expensive than is reasonable since they cater to the higher class students.¡± Kassandra explained. She¡¯d released my hand after a few minutes and was content to slither alongside us, meandering back and forth a bit while humming. I¡¯d finally gotten a chance to take in Kassandra¡¯s outfit as well.

    While Rieka¡¯s sleeves ended at her elbow, Kassandra¡¯s ran all the way to her wrist. She wore a close fitting blouse in a dark, forest-green that accented her red-brown hair and pale skin wonderfully. The bodice of her shirt was buttoned low, leaving an expanse of freckle-speckled cleavage bare. It was also accented by another underbust corset in an earthy brown that matched her scales wonderfully. She wore a black skirt that covered her generous hips and pert bottom, though I wasn¡¯t sure where it should have fallen if she had legs due to the fact that her snake tail would shift her relative height by several inches depending on how she was moving. She also had a wide belt around her hips with a trio of pouches and the same style of metallic baton in a sling off her left hip.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine. I¡¯m in you girls¡¯ capable hands for this. I¡¯d be a real ass if I complained about equipment you two were buying me. I don¡¯t want you spending too much though, since it costs you just to summon me after all.¡± I reassured her and Kassandra gave me another brilliant smile that made her cheeks dimple.

    ¡°We want to make sure you have every advantage as well, Liam. Since you¡¯ll be protecting the two of us as well. Rieka and I have limited experience with weapons, so it¡¯ll be up to you to pick what feels right for you, but we trust you.¡± The unfettered faith she had in me that was displayed in her tone made my heart swell a bit and I resolved to do my best regardless of what was to come.

    Kassandra¡¯s movement made the baton on her hip bounce slightly as she slithered in a happy little curve and it reminded me of something that we¡¯d talked about the previous day. Most of the people on the campus that I¡¯d seen before we headed out of the open gate carried them after all.

    ¡°So, I¡¯ve been meaning to ask. What¡¯s with those?¡± I pointed at the baton on her hip and then the one on Rieka¡¯s. ¡°I assume they are something for your magic, since I¡¯ve seen quite a few people carrying them, but what is it?¡±

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s right! We were going to give you a demonstration as well, so you know what to expect when we go on our first mission tomorrow.¡± Rieka answered quickly, drawing my attention back to my other side where she walked. The girls had settled into position on either side of me, with Rieka on my left and Kassandra on my right.

    ¡°And yes, Liam. As you guessed, the rods are part of how we work magic.¡± Kassandra tugged her¡¯s free of the leather holster like she was drawing a pistol and held it upright in front of her face with a flourish. To my other side, Rieka did the same but without as much showboating.

    ¡°Don¡¯t waste mana though.¡± I cautioned them. ¡°You told me yesterday that you guys have to work to earn it for your classes. I don¡¯t quite understand how that all works anyway, but if it¡¯s a limited resource, don¡¯t just throw it away showing off please?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not a waste to prepare you for the future, Liam. Besides, I wasn¡¯t planning on using more than a single iron coin¡¯s worth of mana.¡± Kassandra was quick to shoot me a reassuring smile before beckoning for me to follow her off the road.

    After leaving the walls, the road had turned from a cobbled street into one of hard packed earth only lightly marked with wagon wheels. Kassandra¡¯s scales had no problem with the dirt, and I¡¯d worn my work boots out of habit. Rieka was wearing a pair of short-heeled boots as well, so she had no issues keeping up either. I took the sensible footwear as a good sign. If Rieka had worn slippers or high heels, I might have worried but she had seemed quite practical in the past, which was further proved now.

    ¡°Iron coin worth?¡± I asked once we were in the long grass at the side of the road.

    ¡°It may be different where you are from, Liam. But here, mana is found in a natural state as either a crystal or alloyed with natural metal veins.¡± Rieka answered while Kassandra fiddled with her rod. ¡°Smelting the metal actually reinforces the alloying effect. Only certain metals will form this natural alloy, those being primarily precious metals, with iron being the one exception. Generally, the more rare the metal type, the more mana that will alloy with it naturally. The ranking is iron, copper, silver, gold, platinum, and finally holy palladium.¡± The reverence with which Rieka said the last one made me raise an eyebrow and she explained further. ¡°Holy palladium is very rare to begin with. While the mana in each metal is something that will regenerate with time, as more mana will come and recrystallize in it, the higher the capacity for mana in a metal the longer it takes to regenerate. It takes time as the mana condenses out of the air slowly, sort of like dew forming on the grass in the morning.¡±

    ¡°To give reference, Liam. Iron takes around a month of just sitting around by itself to regenerate its mana. Copper takes three months, silver is a year. Gold takes nearly five years and platinum can take up to a hundred to fully regenerate. And the amount of a given metal in one location can slow it too. A discharged mana gold can recharge faster if it is alone in a location of high mana, or slower if it is surrounded by others as they fight over the ambient mana.¡± Kassandra finished fiddling with her rod and part of the upper shaft actually shifted and folded open. She extracted a round disc of metal and offered it to me.

    ¡°Huh¡­okay, so what about raw crystals? You mentioned those as well, why not use the crystals?¡± I asked while taking the iron disc and examining it. The bit of metal had the same gray color of plain iron, but it had an opalescent sheen when I angled it in the light that made the surface shimmer. On one side was the shape of a mountain with an eye set into the side, while the other had a collection of runic marks engraved in it that shimmered a bit brighter than the metal did. I couldn¡¯t understand what the marks meant, so I could assume it wasn¡¯t writing. The fact that the translation thing I was given worked for the written word was cool as heck after all.

    ¡°Raw crystals are harder and easier to work with. They only form in areas that are charged with natural mana. Deep lakes and fast moving rivers will form water mana crystals, glaciers will form ice mana crystals, volcanoes produce fire mana crystals. On and on like that.¡± Rieka answered while I handed the token back to Kassandra. ¡°I¡¯m a lightning mage, so I could use lightning or air mana crystals. Same as Kassandra could use water or ice mana crystals, since her ice magic draws directly from water. The downside is that the crystals from opposing elements will actually hurt us to draw mana from. A fire mana crystal could seriously injure Kassandra just to try and use, while earth would do the same to me since lightning is considered part of the air domain.¡±

    ¡°So you could use the crystals, but they have additional risks?¡± I asked after a minute of consideration.

    ¡°Sort of. Actual crystallized mana is both more and less useful than the alloyed metal. Something about the metal helps to balance it out so it doesn¡¯t elementally align, so anyone can use it. Thus the demand for mana alloyed metal is higher in general. Crystals are worth a lot, but only to the right people. Usually those with that natural element, craftsmen, and the occasional summoner with an elementally aligned familiar or bond.¡± Rieka explained quickly while Kassandra got the disc slotted back into her rod and closed the frame over top of it.

    Watching Kassandra work the mechanicals of it, I could see that the rod was actually hollow with a row of the iron coins in it. A sliding shutter moved out of the way so she could touch the edge of the coins at need and I assumed she needed contact to be able to draw the mana out of them.

    ¡°That and crystals don¡¯t recharge themselves. So people prefer the metals if they can get them. That¡¯s the other reason that mages revere palladium as a holy metal. The rarity and the amount of power even an ounce of it has is enough to level mountains. No one is certain, but it¡¯s believed that the Queen has a few ounces hidden away in the royal vaults for emergencies.¡± Kassandra said cheekily, turning a grin up at the two of us.

    ¡°No comment. Even if I did know, I couldn¡¯t say.¡± Rieka said automatically with a roll of her eyes. ¡°I assume you wanted to go first, Kass?¡±

    ¡°Sure!¡± Kassandra chirped happily and turned away from us. The section of the road that we were on was bracketed on either side by tall fields of grass. A boulder sat some distance away from the road, poking up like the rounded back of some massive, gray turtle. ¡°Ice Lance!¡± Kassandra cried, flourishing her rod while pressing on one of the discs with her thumb.

    It took less than a second for an icy prism as long as my forearm and as thick around as my wrist to form just ahead of her baton, the tip glinting brightly in the early morning light. Kassandra launched it forward with a flick of her wrist and the missile leapt through the air to slam into the rounded stone, chipping off a hunk of rock and shattering into a dozen pieces, which rapidly melted away into water and soaked into the ground. It took less than two seconds to form and launch, and the icy projectile had done more damage to the boulder than a rifle shot.

    ¡°Wicked¡­¡± I muttered just before Kassandra tackled me again, this time taking me off my feet successfully.

    ¡°COLD!¡± Kassandra protested, her tail wrapping quickly around my hips and legs as she huddled against my chest. The hand that held her rod was indeed cold to the touch. I learned that when she pulled up my shirt and pressed it to my stomach.

    ¡°Kass! Be more dignified for once, please?¡± Rieka protested, but Kassandra made a sound of refusal and continued to press her chilled body against me. I fought it for only a moment, her honest distress at the chill was enough that I didn¡¯t fight too hard.

    ¡°Seems like a heck of a weakness for her, given she¡¯s cold blooded.¡± I said from my position on the grass, buried under the dwarf lamia who had finally finished warming her hand up but hadn¡¯t moved yet.

    ¡°Yea. Practice will help to focus the spell enough that there won¡¯t be a bleed off to chill her in the future. But for the time being, it does make it hard to practice.¡± Rieka sympathized, but from the look in her eyes I could tell that she was happy to not be the target of Kassandra¡¯s desire to warm up for once.

    ¡°Your turn, Rieka.¡± Kassandra shifted so that she wasn¡¯t pinning me down, but didn¡¯t unwrap my legs. The short woman was surprisingly affectionate for someone I¡¯d only met twice before and it was continually throwing me through a loop of confusion.

    ¡°Are you going to let him up?¡± Rieka shot her serpentine friend a pointed look, but her ears were still perked up and her tail wiggled slowly so I knew she wasn¡¯t as irritated as she sounded.

    ¡°Naw, the ground is still cold and Liam is helping keep me warm right now.¡± Kassandra quipped back at her, the grin not fading a single inch from her face.

    ¡°I would like to see what she does.¡± I said quietly, loath to protest enough that the curvy woman might move off of me. Thankfully, Kassandra was a problem solver. She simply shifted to the other side so that I could see the field rather than her cleavage when I turned that way. Which was good since I¡¯d been having to fight the urge to count the freckles that decorated that lovely bit of flesh.

    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°Lightning is faster than ice, but control is harder. I¡¯ve been working on precision for awhile now.¡± Rieka explained quickly, brandishing her rod for a moment before flicking it outwards. ¡°Bolt Chain.¡± She called out as the tip of her metallic rod hit the furthest point of her body. A flash of blue-white electricity shaped vaguely like a thick chain lashed out like the cracking tip of a whip. It crossed the thirty feet to the boulder in an instant and cracked sharply when it connected. The sustained crackle of electricity continued as Rieka held the connection for a moment before cutting it off. Surprisingly, the chain didn¡¯t retract or even vanish. It cut off at the end of her rod and whipped forward to hit the boulder with a second sharp crack that sheared off a bit more stone. When the dots that the bright light had caused faded from my vision and I was able to see again, there was a spot on the boulder that glowed a dull red color and a spider web of cracks radiated outwards from the impact point. A second, smaller impact point was slightly higher than the first on the boulder as well.

    ¡°Impressive. I¡¯m surprised you girls even need protection with that kind of power.¡± I breathed, glancing from the boulder back to Rieka, who was blushing now while her tail stirred furiously behind her. The little black tip looked like it was chasing the fluffy blonde mass of the rest of her tail as it flicked back and forth happily.

    ¡°Remember though, Liam. We are basically throwing money at our problems. My spell only cost me a single mana iron coin. Rieka¡¯s cost¡­¡± Kassandra squinted up at her friend who blushed suddenly, looking like she¡¯d been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure it cost at least three. Since she wanted to show off for you.¡± The accusatory tone of Kassandra¡¯s voice was backed up with amusement as the furiously blushing blonde in front of her rushed to deny it.

    ¡°I was not! Lightning magic is just more expensive in general.¡± Rieka protested after a moment but that apparently proved Kassandra¡¯s point, because she just smirked up at her friend. ¡°Fine! I wanted to make sure Liam knew he could count on both of us to defend ourselves if needed.¡± Rieka huffed, crossing her arms and stomping in a rather cute fashion, her ears tucking back in anger for the first time that day.

    As soon as they did, Kassandra unwound herself from me and slid over to hook her elbow in Rieka¡¯s and tug the pouting wolf-woman onto the road once more.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure it did that. Come on, Rieka! We need to get on our way to town to get these errands done. No slacking, Liam! It may be a beautiful day and feel good to just lay in the sun, but you can¡¯t be lazy.¡± She said airily, immediately changing the target of her teasing to me. Which worked to cheer up Rieka apparently.

    ¡°Yea, come on Liam! Don¡¯t make us wait for you.¡± The blonde¡¯s ears popped right back up as she let Kassandra tow her down the road.

    ¡°I¡¯m not¡­Oh come on, girls!¡± I protested, rolling to my feet and quickly brushing the grass off my pants before jogging after the two laughing girls.

    <><><>

    The town that we eventually arrived in was apparently named Kintos. It was a walled town that was slightly smaller than the footprint occupied by Juneau, but was far more densely populated. The road shifted back to cobblestones about a hundred yards from the gate, which was less impressive than the one at Juneau, but that also made sense since the town of Kintos likely wasn¡¯t as well funded as the big academy. According to Kassandra, who was happy to flex her history knowledge, Kintos had popped up about twenty years after the establishment of Juneau as a trading post that eventually grew in size to a full town with the custom it acquired from the nearby academy. The majority of the foodstuffs and general supplies that Juneau needed and used was imported via Kintos, so it was a thriving merchant town.

    The gate that we entered from straddled a wide road that was bracketed by well off shops. At a glance, I guessed that the better off merchants fought over the position by the gate in order to cater to the students coming from Juneau either to buy or sell things. While students could sell items they had made back in Juneau, a fair number would bring their goods to Kintos in hopes of getting paid a bit better. And while the craft of students wasn¡¯t great, according to Kassandra it did yield some items that were not as easily available on the regular market and would allow the merchants to get an ¡®in¡¯ with young folk that had potential to become even more important in time.

    The girls had moved back to bracketing me, though Rieka was on my right now. Kassandra had handed off her friend to me after walking for a bit, neatly dragging me over with one hand and replacing her arm through Rieka¡¯s with mine. This had led to more blushing from the wolf-eared woman and more than a bit of mischievous giggling from the snake-tailed one. But Rieka hadn¡¯t protested and didn¡¯t release my arm. So I did my best to be a gentleman and guide her along.

    Entering into Kintos, we joined a crowd of early shoppers moving through the street. There were people of all sorts of races walking around. Several lamia like Kassandra, but a good deal larger. More wolf-folk than any of the other kin, but I did spot people with cat, fox, bear, and hawk features as well. I thought I saw someone with butterfly wings moving amongst the crowd, but by the time I looked back the iridescent wings of the figure had vanished from view. There were also a decent mix of elves and dwarves moving about too, with the pointed ears of the former and stature of the latter being what I used to tell them apart.

    ¡°This way, Liam!¡± Kassandra called, slithering in front of me and Rieka to beckon us down one of the narrower side streets. Most of the shops on the main street were ostentatious and honestly intimidating. While both of the girls and myself were dressed well, a lot of these early morning shoppers were dressed even fancier than we were. Silks and precious metals were on display all around us, though I could tell from the badges or armbands they wore that a good number of these people were students from Juneau as well. Kassandra had shown me her badge, hidden in a leather pouch on her belt, while we walked to town. It was made of brass and had her name and house engraved on it to mark her as a student.

    Kassandra led us down the side street and away from the bustle of the main road to a small shop set up on the edge of a square around a short fountain. The rumble and bustle of the crowd had fallen behind us enough that I could finally think. Given how sparse the population in Juneau had been the small handful of times I¡¯d been there, I hadn¡¯t expected the crowds here.

    ¡°Whew, it¡¯s always such a rush to go from the countryside straight into the Eastgate Market.¡± Rieka gave voice to what I¡¯d been feeling and I just nodded in agreement.

    ¡°Yeah, but it¡¯s nothing compared to the capital''s markets. I¡¯ve only been there a few times with my parents, but they were just¡­crazy.¡± Kassandra continued to lead us up the short set of stairs in front of the shop. A wooden plank in the shape of a kite shield with a sword crossed over a hammer painted on the front of it hung over the door.

    ¡°This is the place, I guarantee it¡¯ll be the best deal we can get. Daddy told me to go here if I needed any equipment.¡± Kassandra lead the charge through the door with enthusiasm and Rieka hid a chuckle behind her free hand before gesturing towards the door with one hand.

    ¡°Ladies first.¡± I responded automatically and reached forward to hold the door open for her. Rieka gave me a half bow and ducked under my arm to go through the door, the blackened tips of her wolf ears tickling my arm as she did so.

    ¡°Uncle Silas!¡± I could hear Kassandra calling from inside the shop as I followed after Rieka, letting the door fall closed behind me. ¡°Uncle Silas, where are you?¡±

    ¡°Little Kassie, is that you?¡± An older, male voice came from deeper in the shop and then the sound of a surprised yelp followed by a laugh followed the words.

    Emerging from the short hallway that led from the doorway to a large, open room done entirely in wood. Several large oil-lamps hanging from the ceiling lit the room, and I spotted Kassandra. She was currently trying to wrap her arms around the rather broad waist of a man who was easily half as wide as he was tall and had a pair of rounded bear ears poking out of his messy brown hair. Dressed in simple linen clothes of green and white, with a dark green vest over top of it all, he had the look of a shopkeeper. And given the wares hanging from the walls and on tables around the room, he was a successful one at that.

    Weapons hung from racks on the wall or set up on the floor. Everything from swords to maces to hammers to bows. A dozen dressing dummies along one wall held different types of armor. One entire wall was assorted equipment such as bags, backpacks, torches, tools, and other things. Bundles of dried fruit and meat sat on another set of shelves next to a spinning rack full of bunched herbs that mixed their fresh scent with that of the oil from the weapons.

    ¡°Feel like I walked into a general store in a fantasy game¡­¡± I muttered to myself, coming to a stop behind Rieka who was waiting politely for the giggling Kassandra to finish her hug with the big man.

    ¡°Kassie, it¡¯s good to see my favorite magical noodle.¡± The big man laughed, the gray in his beard giving him a dignified air that was entirely ruined by the laughing Kassandra who refused to release the hug. ¡°Hello to you two as well, welcome to my shop. Any friends of Kassandra¡¯s are friends of mine. I¡¯ll be happy to help you as soon as I can get this little limpet off me.¡± The big man gave them both nods and was turning to look back down at Kassandra when he did a double take. ¡°Princess Rieka! I am¡­¡±

    ¡°Stop, please.¡± Rieka cut him off with a raised hand and a gentle smile. ¡°I¡¯m just here as a student and a friend of Kassandra¡¯s. Please, do not treat me any differently.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s being honest, Uncle Silas. Rieka isn¡¯t one to get up on her nobility or anything like that.¡± Kassandra added in quickly.

    It was actually kind of reassuring to see that I wasn¡¯t the only one that the serpentine woman was so huggy with. Though I couldn¡¯t help a bit of jealousy seeing her clinging to another guy. That sensation came out of left field enough that it startled me, and must have shown on my face because Kassandra unwound from her current ¡®victim¡¯ and immediately slithered over to us, sliding around me to throw a coil about my thighs and use it to push herself to my height and tuck an arm over my shoulders. Which had the side effect of pressing her bust into my chest as well. I slid an arm around her waist to steady her on instinct and she shot me a sideways grin.

    ¡°Uncle Silas, I want to introduce our contracted guardian summon, Liam! Rieka and I bonded with him just the other day and we are here to get him kitted out so we can start doing missions from the Academy.¡±

    The large bear-man turned his startled gaze from Rieka to me and his eyes narrowed first, then widened as he took me in.

    ¡°Guardian summon?¡± The big man inquired, giving me another once over. Rieka stepped to one side so as not to block his view and the big man¡¯s gaze took on a calculating angle.

    ¡°Yes. We summoned Liam as part of one of our classes, it happened by accident but he still agreed to work with us. He¡¯s a human!¡±

    ¡°A human? I thought they were all extinct.¡± Silas grunted, rubbing his chin with one hand while the other straightened his mussed vest.

    ¡°They are, but Liam is a Traveler, meaning he comes from another dimension actually! He¡¯s still getting used to his powers, so we need some gear for him. He¡¯s going to act as guardian for me and Rieka.¡± I watched as they talked back and forth, making a note about the whole ¡®extinct¡¯ race to ask the girls about when I had a chance.

    ¡°Interesting¡­Not every day you meet a member of an extinct race.¡± The bear-man gave me another searching look before nodding once. ¡°Okay, well if Kassie vouches for you, then I¡¯ll trust her word. The only person more clever than her in a deal is her parents, though which of them would win changes based on the subject being argued. Just make sure you don¡¯t let her get hurt and we won¡¯t have problems.¡±

    ¡°Uncle Silas! Don¡¯t threaten my partner.¡± Kassandra protested with a fierce scowl, but the bear-man just laughed and stepped back once more.

    ¡°Okay, my dear. Well, welcome to my shop. What were you thinking for weapons and equipment? I¡¯ll give you a good deal, but I can¡¯t give my stock away. Not even for you, little Kassie.¡± Kassandra blew a raspberry at the bear-man, getting another chuckle from him.

    ¡°I¡¯d never ask you to, Uncle Silas. I just want a fair deal is all.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s my girl!¡± Chortled Silas, clapping sharply. ¡°So, decent gear or good gear? How long are you planning to be using it before replacing it, and what sort of experience do you have with weapons and armor, my boy?¡±

    All three turned their gazes onto me and it was only Kassandra pressed to my side that kept me from shrinking away at the sudden staring.

    ¡°Uh¡­next to nothing with weapons actually and I¡¯ve never worn armor before. The place that I¡¯m from didn¡¯t really have stuff like this.¡± I gestured to the rack of equipment and supplies. ¡°I¡¯ve got some experience fighting with my hands, but that¡¯s about it.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡± Grumbled the bear-man, his piercing eyes digging into my soul. Kassandra¡¯s smile didn¡¯t dim though, which must have helped the large man¡¯s opinion of me because he nodded slowly. ¡°Well, without any actual training, I¡¯d recommend going with just decent gear. No reason to invest heavily into a tool that you might not be comfortable with. No training with weapons at all?¡± He asked the second part to Kassandra and she shrugged, looking to me.

    ¡°None.¡± I confirmed.

    ¡°I¡¯d recommend a mace then. Nothing complicated and all sides are dangerous on one of those. They tend to be messy to work with, but get the job done. The club was one of the first weapons created for a reason after all. They can wear you out though if you aren¡¯t used to swinging them. Tend to be heavier than swords by nature and don¡¯t have as much reach.¡± The big man hurried over to a rotating rack that held the blunt weapons and began spinning it slowly while glancing back and forth between us.

    ¡°What do you think, Liam? Does a mace sound good?¡± Kassandra turned her gaze back to me, her eyes shining expectantly.

    ¡°Honestly, I¡¯d been hoping for a sword. Always wanted to learn to use one of those, that or the axe.¡±

    ¡°No, not an axe to start with.¡± Silas shut me down immediately with a shake of the head. ¡°The axe is a finesse weapon really, such a small striking edge and how you use it. I really do recommend a mace to start you out with, but if your heart is set on a sword¡­¡± He let the words trail off and I shared a glance with Rieka and Kassandra. Both of them nodded, Rieka with an indulgent smile and Kassandra with a broad grin.

    ¡°Yea, I¡¯d really prefer a sword if you could, Silas.¡± The bear-man nodded once before digging into his pouch and producing a knotted cord that he used to measure my arm from wrist to shoulder.

    ¡°Okay, if you insist on a sword then I will see what we can do for you. There are several options.¡±

    <><><>

    We ended up going with a straight-bladed weapon that Silas called an ¡®arming sword¡¯ that was surprisingly light for its size. The weapon was around three pounds in my hand, but nearly three feet long which worked out well for my tall frame. The armor was simple enough, I had to choose between a heavy linen jacket that hung to mid thigh and was lined with metal strips for extra protection or a leather jerkin with the same metal strips to reinforce it. Deciding to err on the side of caution, I went for the leather. Silas threw in a belt to put the sword on, as it came with a sheath already. While the girls took care of dickering on the price with him, I tried on the leather jerkin. It took a bit to figure out how to wear it, as the interior was lined with linen and wool padding to soften the blows. It creaked slightly while I got it settled and was tight across the chest, but it was ¡®second hand¡¯ after all, having been something Silas had bought off of a retiring guard.

    ¡°Looks good on you, lad.¡± Silas said after accepting a handful of the shimmering coins from the girls. I tried not to stare, both wanting and not wanting to know how much the girls were investing in me. Instead, I just resolved myself to do the best that I could to make sure that it was worth their coin.

    ¡°Thanks, it¡¯s a little tight but that¡¯ll just take some getting used to.¡±

    ¡°Aye, it¡¯ll loosen up as the leather warms up some. Kassie, where are you three heading for your first mission?¡± Silas turned his attention back to the snake-tailed woman. I¡¯d learned during the haggling that she wasn¡¯t actually his niece, though she still insisted on calling him uncle. Apparently, Silas was an old friend of her parents and had settled into Kintos several years ago to sell to the students, travelers, and monster hunters that came to the more wild areas around Juneau for their hunting.

    ¡°Kobolds. There¡¯s been a sighting of a nest only a few hours from town at one of the old ruins. So nothing super dangerous, since we only have a day to do it. But it¡¯s something that needs to be taken care of and should cover our mana costs for most of the week.¡± Kassandra shrugged before slithering over to inspect the jacket I was wearing. She tugged on one corner and then another to straighten it before smiling up at me. ¡°Looking good, Liam! I¡¯m sorry that we can¡¯t get you something better¡­¡±

    ¡°No, it makes sense not to invest too much. Besides, I don¡¯t want you two burning through your available money anyway, since you need it for your classes.¡± I squatted down some so that I was on the same height as Kassandra. She smiled and rested her arms on my shoulders while studying me with those intense, slitted eyes of hers from behind her silver-rimmed spectacles. ¡°You two are investing in me, every time you summon me. I need to show that the investment is worth it.¡±

    ¡°I know you are worth it, Liam.¡± Kassandra cooed quietly and I had to resist the urge to kiss the cute redhead. Everything about her posture told me that she wanted a kiss, but I knew that it was too soon. That and the middle of a shop floor was not the right place for it. Also, I was having reservations about the speed at which I was developing affection towards this girl.

    ¡°I just have to prove you right then.¡± I responded, pulling her into a light hug, being careful not to press the metal parts of the armor into her. Kassandra had no such hesitation and crushed herself to me with a happy hum.

    We spent a bit more time in the shop chatting with Silas, but a few more customers arrived so we made our excuses and headed back out. The stop had only taken part of the day, so the girls spent the rest of it showing me around the town and getting a feel for the area. I even spotted a familiar face, the large-eared mouse girl that I had seen that first night under Rue House. She was haggling with a book-seller and looked busy, so I didn¡¯t point her out to the girls.

    With our shopping done, we had a late lunch of steamed buns at a booth in the main stretch of town. Sitting on the sun-warmed stone benches and just watching people go by was definitely interesting, and not just because of the difference in scenery from all the strange and interesting people.

    It was actually while I was people watching that I spotted the young woman glaring in our direction. She had triangular, fox ears in a deep, russet red poking out of her brown hair. It took me a minute to figure out where exactly her venomous gaze was aimed, but I realized that she was glaring at Kassandra, rather than me as I¡¯d expected. I almost pointed her out to the girls, but she vanished into the crowd a moment later.

    Huh, I wonder who that was? I thought to myself. She looked young enough to be one of the students. I¡¯ll have to keep an eye out for her in the future.

    ¡°So tomorrow, we have a bit of a walk to get to the mission site.¡± Rieka said, bringing up the mission for the fourth or fifth time since we left Silas¡¯ shop. She¡¯d been mentioning it off and on when we had time, as if she was nervous and wanted to confirm details again and again. ¡°So we will likely summon you early in the day and then head out. The road itself is safe enough, but it would be better to travel with you there just in case, Liam.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s sensible. I don¡¯t see why we shouldn¡¯t do that. How early were you thinking? Sunrise?¡±

    ¡°Boo, that¡¯ll be super cold.¡± Kassandra grumbled and Rieka sighed.

    ¡°She¡¯s right. As much as I¡¯d like to say we should head out at sunrise to give us plenty of time, it¡¯ll be better to wait for it to warm up a bit. Say an hour or two after sunrise?¡±

    ¡°Sounds good to me. You two will summon me before you leave Juneau, right?¡± I asked pointedly, staring at Rieka. She nodded without hesitation.

    ¡°Yea, it¡¯ll cost a bit more mana to maintain you, but it¡¯s worth it as I said earlier.¡±

    ¡°How much mana does it cost anyway?¡± I¡¯d been hesitating to ask this question earlier, but I knew I¡¯d feel better if I could track how much I ¡®owed¡¯ the girls, since these summons were how I would grow my own powers.

    ¡°About a mana silver to get you here, then a mana iron an hour after that.¡± Kassandra shrugged, talking through a mouthful of lamb and potato bun. I blinked in surprise at that.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that quite a lot?¡±

    ¡°Not really. Some of the folks who ended up with stronger base summons have to expend mana gold to bring them around. A mana silver is a steal for now. Plus, once we kick things into higher gear, we should be able to make that no problem. You have to spend money to earn money after all.¡± Kassandra shrugged and swallowed her mouthful. She somehow had managed to talk without spraying bits all over the place or flashing what she was chewing. Must be a skill taught to noblewomen?

    ¡°Fair enough then. How much is a mana silver worth anyway?¡± I still wasn¡¯t sure if I really wanted to know, but I couldn¡¯t help my curiosity any more.

    ¡°A mana silver is enough to feed a normal family of four for roughly six months, if they are careful. Longer if they have a garden or own a farm.¡± Rieka said quietly, glancing meaningfully at Kassandra then back at me.

    I almost choked on my food at that. I¡¯d known that they were worth quite a bit, but not to that extent!

    ¡°She just said feed, Liam.¡± Kassandra chastised. ¡°A mana silver would cover expenses for that whole family for maybe a month if you include rent and food as well as other expenses. Also, that number changes depending on where you are in the Queendom. In the capitol it might only last a week. Out here in Kintos? Month and a half, maybe. Our tuition is measured in gold at Juneau. So don¡¯t sweat it too much!¡±

    ¡°Okay¡­¡± I still had to fight a roiling stomach thinking that they had to pay roughly my monthly salary just to summon me for a day. I guess it¡¯s good that they are well off, but I need to make sure they get their money¡¯s worth out of this.

    After we finished our food, the girls suggested we head back to Juneau as they needed to check over their own equipment to prepare for the mission tomorrow, so we ambled back. A few carriages passed us on the road and I caught another person glaring at Kassandra, a wolf-kin this time and a young man. He just glared though and didn¡¯t do anything, so I ignored him for now.

    As soon as we walked through the gateway back onto Juneau campus, words of purple light flared in my vision.

    Assist your contracted companions, Kassandra Silverscale and Rieka Coldeye with their errands today and see them home safely.

    Reward - 100 SP

    COMPLETED

    Going to have to look into my abilities later. Was too tired yesterday and too distracted today. Need to be ready for tomorrow. I thought as the words faded out of sight.

    Kassandra insisted on another hug before releasing me, giggling when I rubbed the top of her head lightly.

    Rieka also pressed in to give me a farewell hug, her ears twitching as she squeezed me. She¡¯d smiled proudly while looking at me in my armor and with the sword, but there was a hint of jealousy in her eyes as well when she saw me stroking Kassandra¡¯s head.

    My left hand automatically stroked the top of her head lightly, right between her ears, while we hugged.

    ¡°Thank you, Rieka. I¡¯m going to do my absolute best for you girls.¡± I murmured to her, squeezing with one arm. She¡¯d stiffened the moment my hand touched her head and I was worried at first that I¡¯d misunderstood her envy. But then Rieka melted and leaned into me, turning her head slightly so that one soft ear brushed my hand. I gave her another stroke and rubbed the base of one ear lightly.

    Rieka let out a happy little groaning noise before abruptly pushing herself away from me, blushing furiously.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry if I over¡ª,¡± I started to say but Rieka shook her head furiously.

    ¡°It¡¯snothingLiamIenjoyeditgoodbye!¡± Rieka said in a hurry before producing her baton and making the same flicking motion Kassandra had done the previous day.

    The rushing sensation of travel enveloped me just as I heard laughter from Kassandra, right before the light blocked everything else I could see.

 Chapter 8

    Reappearing back in my living room a moment later, I patted my chest and waist where the gear that the girls had bought me had been sitting only moments before. The leather jerkin and weapon belt were gone, leaving only my sweaty clothes behind.

    ¡°Wonder if they are stored for me while I¡¯m gone, like my phone and wallet, or if I just drop them?¡± I muttered. ¡°The girls can tell me when I return, I guess. They were standing there when I was sent back after all.¡± Shrugging, since there wasn¡¯t much of anything I could do, I glanced around to try and figure out what it was that I had been working on before the girls had absconded with me.

    ¡°Meal prep, that¡¯s what I was doing¡­¡± I snapped my fingers and began to walk towards the kitchen. However, the motion made my sweat-sticky clothes peel against my skin and I winced. ¡°Okay, wearing armor is cool but, ew. I didn¡¯t realize how much it was making me sweat. Guess I need a shower first.¡±

    <><><>

    I¡¯d just finished with the shower when the edges of my vision flashed a neon yellow once. Not sure what it meant, I closed my eyes and focused on the System interface to see if it was the culprit, given it was normally the one causing flashing lights in my vision.

    That¡¯s right. I was going to look at that Enhance Self power too. I reminded myself when my eyes landed on the headings in the interface. The ¡®Message¡¯ tab was flashing, so I focused on that and it dropped open a moment later.

    Cariad

    Hey, Liam! We just got notice that you¡¯d returned from another summoning. Back-to-back summons to your first contract it seems? I was hoping to drop by and check in with you, to make sure you were doing okay. Are you free? My supervisor also wanted to come by and apologize for what happened.

    It took a moment to figure out how to input a response. Apparently all I had to do was think ¡®respond¡¯ and then it would start entering in my thoughts.

    Liam

    Sure, I¡¯m just hanging around the apartment doing meal prep for next week. Wasn¡¯t a big trip this time, but we are planning on doing something more major tomorrow. Your supervisor is welcome if he wants to come along. You¡¯ve been nothing but a help to me so far, I¡¯ll make sure he knows that.

    Cariad

    Thanks! We¡¯ll be there in a few minutes. Mr. Cerebaton also wanted to meet you to get a feel for what kind of person you are. He might be a bit gruff, but he¡¯s nice.

    Liam

    I trust your judgment, Cari. See you guys soon.

    With that taken care of, I quickly got dressed in a clean pair of jeans and a gray t-shirt. I¡¯d been dressing like this for awhile, since the kind of work that I did got my clothes especially grubby and tended to leave holes in the shirts. No reason to damage my good shirts when I could get a pack of ten of these for a buck each after all. It¡¯d become a habit now, and the small handful of graphic t-shirts I had were occupying a dusty corner of my closet now.

    There came a knock at my door while I was rinsing the rice that I planned to use for meal prep and I quickly dried my hands and went to open the door.

    ¡°Hey, come on in.¡± I said as I pulled it open. Cariad stood right outside in the hallway, without a care in the world that others might see her. She was dressed in the same style of open-necked blouse with a pencil skirt, though this time the skirt was gray and the blouse was a dark blue. She had her leather folio tucked under one arm and her long, strawberry-red hair hung behind her like a perky waterfall that curled at the tips in defiance of its own weight.

    ¡°Thank you, Liam.¡± Cariad said with a broad smile and stepped through into my apartment. The man that followed after her was much taller and I hadn¡¯t noticed him standing behind Cariad at first, since he kind of blended in with the wall until he moved. ¡°Liam, this is my supervisor, Mr. Cerebaton. Mr. Cerebaton, this is Liam Cosgrave.

    ¡°Good afternoon to you, Mr. Cosgrave.¡± The big man rumbled as he ducked down to get through the doorway.

    He had black hair cut short in a professional style and was dressed in something that crossed over between the frock coats and noble outfits I¡¯d seen earlier in the day with Kassandra and Rieka, and a business suit. His outfit was in a light faun color that accented his dark green skin well. Bright yellow eyes, only the one pair for Cerebaton it seemed, flashed under deep brows as he inspected me. His eight foot frame barely fit through my apartment door, though not because of his height, it was the extra two or so feet of antlers that rose like a gnarled crown over his head. Cerebaton was also wide enough that he could have easily stood in for the door itself if there came a need for such a thing. Much like Cariad, he wore a set of gloves over his hands, though his were white silk. Besides his face and neck, not a scrap of skin was exposed to the air.

    ¡°Afternoon, Mr. Cerebaton. Please, make yourselves comfortable. The couch is a bit lumpy but it does the job well enough. Not sure if the kitchen chairs will stand up to someone of your size.¡± I gestured to the tiny living room that was off my combination dining room/kitchen and the big man nodded slowly. He was apparently very aware of his antlers, because he kept the motion slow and sidled along to find a seat without poking a hole in the ceiling.

    ¡°You mentioned that you were doing something already, don¡¯t let us interrupt you, Liam. We can talk while you do your meal prep. Travelers are busy people after all. May I use your table?¡± Cariad asked gently, a small smile on her slate-blue face.

    ¡°Sure, go ahead. Would either of you like some coffee or something? Juice? I don¡¯t have any tea unfortunately.¡±

    ¡°Juice would be good.¡± Cerebaton grunted, shifting on the couch to try and get comfortable. The sight of a rather stern-faced green giant in a tan suit was just strange, but not the strangest thing that had happened to me lately. No, that¡¯d be¡­huh. Not sure if it¡¯d be Cari popping out of nowhere on the side of the highway or getting tackled by an affectionate dwarf lamia¡­I thought before shrugging and glancing towards Cariad with a raise of my eyebrows.

    ¡°Juice is fine for me as well. Though again, don¡¯t waste any nice cups on us as they likely won''t survive the encounter.¡± She bowed her head lightly, making her bright red hair sway before she set her folio down and opening it up.

    ¡°I¡¯ll need to invest in some disposable cups then, especially if I get the pleasure of seeing you often. Still not sure what the whole dynamic is going to be with you being my ¡®case-worker¡¯ as it is.¡±

    ¡°It depends on your needs actually, Mr. Cosgrave.¡± Cerebaton inserted himself into the conversation deftly. ¡°Ms. Davies is an employee of the DSR first and foremost. Her duties are fluid though. Travelers are normally assigned a case-worker to monitor them and their interactions with the System, as well as assist with any questions. Though normally a single DSR operative has several Travelers on their workload at a time. Due to your¡­unique situation, Ms. Davies is currently assigned to you exclusively.¡± The big man¡¯s voice was a gruff rumble, but he was polite. I could see his yellow eyes dancing about the room, moving from me, to Cariad, to the hallway, back to me.

    He¡¯s wary, I wonder if he¡¯s worried about Cariad being here. I mean, if it wasn¡¯t for the whole ¡®my touch would corrode your existence¡¯ thing, I¡¯d be concerned about her being around this neighborhood by herself too. Even then, I¡¯d prefer not to risk it. No idea if someone might take a shot at her thinking she¡¯s some kind of hallucination or monster. Enough drug addled idiots out here.

    ¡°Before we start that. Did anyone see you guys coming up here? I¡¯d like to think that humanity is an understanding group of people, but I¡¯m pretty sure that¡¯s an outright lie.¡± I asked, fishing out a bottle of cherry juice from the fridge and filling two of the plastic travel mugs that were also company swag, remembering my conversation with Cariad with a smirk. I should start saving bottles or something too, that might help.

    ¡°No, we were unseen arriving. No need to worry about someone from your government coming to knock on your door.¡± Cariad replied brightly and I noticed Cerebaton¡¯s lips turning down in a slight frown, but I was more focused on the blue-gray skinned woman at my kitchen table as I set the mug of juice down next to her.

    ¡°Not what I was worried about, though I¡¯m glad for that part too. I don¡¯t exactly live in the nicest area. I would rather you not have to deal with the worst of humanity if someone on a drug bender happened to see you on the stairs. You are an attractive and well dressed woman, and there are more than just drug addicts that might prey on a woman.¡± I said gently and Cariad gave me a warm smile in return.

    ¡°Thank you for your concern, Liam. I will keep it in mind in the future. Be reassured that I have means to defend myself should something happen. And today I was accompanied by Mr. Cerebaton as well. With him present, nothing would be a real threat.¡±

    ¡°I can imagine.¡± I laughed before walking the dozen steps to the couch where the big, green man was seated and setting the mug down in front of him. ¡°Thank you for looking after her today. She mentioned that you wanted to apologize for what had happened to me, but it¡¯s not necessary.¡±

    ¡°It is entirely necessary, Mr. Cosgrave.¡± Cerebaton replied gravely. His expression was quite serious, though I thought I saw approval in his eyes when he glanced towards Cariad and then back to me.

    Guess I made a good impression expressing concern for his underling? I wondered silently.

    ¡°What happened to you was a disaster and something that the DSR was put into place specifically to prevent from happening. The fact that it happened anyway is nothing short of mortifying. Ms. Davies told me that you had already managed to form contract bonds with two denizens of the world you were sent to though?¡±

    ¡°Yes, a pair of young women who had been performing the summoning ritual. They were hoping for some kind of protective spirit, and asked for my help. That was one of the reasons that I agreed to embrace this whole ¡®Traveler¡¯ thing.¡± I headed back into the kitchen to finish rinsing the rice.

    ¡°And the other reasons?¡±

    ¡°Mostly it was for the girls¡¯ benefit, but I can¡¯t deny that the idea of earning magical powers hooked me hard.¡±

    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    ¡°That is fair as well. And good that you have some personal motivation too. Altruism is good, but if you rely on only it to motivate yourself then it is all too easy to fall to resentment.¡± The big man cautioned, his gruff voice holding a note of approval.

    ¡°I wanted to ask you about your current plans too, Liam.¡± Cariad had finished laying out her paperwork and finally taken a sip of her juice. She hummed happily, licking her lips. ¡°Oh this is good! Anyway, you have a supply of SP at this point. Not a lot, but you do have some. And I did see the flag on your file that the System had opened a new power to you.¡±

    ¡°Do you do this for all new Travelers?¡± I dug out the defrosted chicken breasts from the fridge then began rinsing and trimming them. I did take a minute to reflect on how odd my life was. I had two extra-dimensional entities in my house and here I was preparing chicken and rice while these two suited creatures talked about magical powers granted by dimension-hopping shopping errands. Daemons, I think Cari called them¡­

    ¡°No. Most Travelers are actually inducted as part of a family legacy or organization on their home planes. Earth was quarantined, as you were told before. So you wouldn¡¯t have a point of reference for most of, if not all of, this. That and we have been seeing a sharp increase in damage to the dimensional membranes from people being yanked off their home planes for varied reasons.¡± Cerebaton sighed from his spot on the couch, taking a sip from the mug I¡¯d given him delicately so he didn¡¯t spill on his suit. ¡°That is part of why Ms. Davies is assigned to you exclusively, for now. She will monitor and assist you as needed, while taking on smaller tasks on the side when not busy.¡±

    ¡°Good to know. Wasn¡¯t sure if I was getting special treatment because I¡¯m a human or because of the situation.¡±

    ¡°Sort of both, actually.¡± Cariad said with a nervous glance to her boss, who just nodded for her to continue. ¡°Humans from your universe have been off the valid list of Travelers for a while. The fact the System itself granted you Traveler status without any input from the DSR means that it clearly thinks that the time has come for that to end. So we want to ensure our due diligence to be ready if more human Travelers start popping up. Not something you need to worry about though. It¡¯s our problem to deal with, and not yours.¡±

    ¡°Okay. So I guess I had a question about this new power that popped up. It was called Enhance Self I think?¡± I paused for a moment to close my eyes and reference the interface once more to be sure. ¡°Yea. That¡¯s the one. It¡¯s talking about stat points and enhancing my body, but I have no idea how all that is supposed to work. Do I just¡­assign points and it buffs me? How does that equate to my physical or mental health? I¡¯ve played enough video-games that I have an idea of what the different stats mean, at least via the tomato analogy.¡±

    ¡°Tomato analogy?¡± Cerebaton asked curiously. ¡°I know what a tomato is, but not what you mean.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s an aging Internet thing to explain your stats in a game. ¡®Strength is being able to crush a tomato. Dexterity is being able to dodge a tomato. Constitution is being able to eat a bad tomato without a problem. Intelligence is knowing tomatoes are fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put a tomato into a fruit salad. While Charisma is selling a tomato based fruit salad.¡¯¡± I rattled off quickly. ¡°The stats mentioned from the interface are different, but I can guess. Fortitude is close enough to constitution that they would equate. Mental acuity sounds like intelligence to me, while willpower¡­well it makes sense that it is ones resistance to influence. I¡¯m guessing charisma isn¡¯t shown because its more about how you interact with people, rather than attractiveness?¡±

    ¡°An apt summary. Willpower would be your ability to resist throwing a tomato at someone you don¡¯t like, or punching someone who threw one at you. To follow your analogy.¡± Cerebaton chuckled, showing off perfect teeth.

    ¡°Fair enough then. So how does it work?¡± I asked, getting the oven preheated and setting the chicken breasts out to be seasoned. I wonder if Kassandra likes chicken¡­not like I¡¯d get a chance to bring the girls anything for a while yet. Still no sign of that transport ability Cariad mentioned. I thought while shaking the spicy lime seasoning onto them that I liked.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t a tomato based fruit salad just salsa?¡± Cariad spoke up for the first time in a bit, her forehead wrinkling cutely as she thought.

    ¡°Found the bard¡­¡± I laughed, getting a confused look from both of my visitors, though Cariad waved it off after a moment to answer my question.

    ¡°The ability you mentioned is a standard one. If it¡¯s not the first one unlocked, it¡¯s the second. At least once the System gets adjusted to your body and the physical potential of your race. While it is hard to quantify exactly how much each point is worth, you can generally extrapolate from your personal experience what they are each ¡®worth¡¯ as far as enhancement. Be aware though that stats like strength do more than just enhance your musculature. They improve your joints and tendons too so that you can properly wield the strength.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s also important to balance your stats. Too much of one will leave you unbalanced. All the strength in the world won¡¯t help you dodge a blow or be able to hit a target, only dexterity can do that. Fortitude is needed for both, as you will eventually be moving faster and hitting harder than your body can naturally handle. So don¡¯t forgo fortitude either.¡± Cerebaton chipped in, taking another sip of his drink after rotating the mug so the dissolved portion of the lip was away from him.

    ¡°Okay, so what would you recommend then? I have around two hundred SP to spend, and I could drop it all into the Enhance Self power. I did figure out how to get Shape-Shifting to work by the way, it just takes too long and is relatively minor changes at first.¡± While waiting for the oven to finish heating up, I set out containers and then leaned against the counter to wait.

    ¡°Not a bad idea.¡± Cariad tapped her lips with the tip of one gloved finger. ¡°Investing in your base stats is always solid. And that ability doesn¡¯t have a mastery effect, since it¡¯s just base enhancement.¡±

    ¡°You mentioned in your message to Ms. Davies that you were planning on a larger contract tomorrow. I assume your contracted summoners informed you ahead of time for something?¡± Cerebaton interjected, setting the now half-dissolved cup on the end-table next to him and watching me intently with those bright yellow eyes.

    ¡°Yea, the girls have a sort of¡­work-study thing that they have to do? They run errands and do missions for the academy they attend and are paid in mana. Apparently it forms crystals?¡± I shrugged helplessly. I was still a bit lost on the whole ¡®mana¡¯ thing after all. My only experience was video games and some tabletop stuff, and the systems were wildly different.

    ¡°Ah yes, one of those worlds. Some dimensions allow the body to retain a pool or reservoir of mana in the body, and others it forms physically. Mana is a strange thing in how it acts, changing its nature depending on its surroundings.¡± Cerebaton nodded, his antlers bobbing and nearly putting a hole in my wall. ¡°Well, it sounds like you will have a reliable source of jobs coming in then. Smaller ones, but still steady. That will give you a good power curve on your growth. Investing in your stats and learning skills will help bridge the gap. Until you get a storage ability that is. At that point, technology becomes a concern. Do be careful to not upset the local technological landscape too much.¡± He said the last part with a heavy note of warning in his voice and I nodded.

    ¡°Yea, I can imagine how badly it can mess things up to add something like guns to the mix if they are still using swords and bows. Which they are.¡±

    ¡°Not just that, Mr. Cosgrave. You are only one of thousands of Travelers active at any given time. There are many hundreds of thousands of dimensions that are looked after by the System. The odds of you coming into conflict with another Traveler are small, but not ignorable. The DSR does not interfere in such things, our entire job revolves around ensuring the dimensional membrane remains intact and continues to keep the dimensions separate from our own native space too.¡±

    ¡°What Mr. Cerebaton is trying to say is more than that, it¡¯s best to keep a low profile. While Travelers tend to leave each other alone, if you start rapidly messing with the advancement in a given world, it tends to send up a signal flare to other Travelers. And if your actions threaten their interests, conflict can occur.¡± Cariad broke in, her hands folded in front of her and a serious look in her eyes. Cerebaton nodded his agreement with her assessment.

    ¡°Got it, no sharing guns around. Try not to throw their technological scale out of sync.¡±

    ¡°That isn¡¯t to say that you can¡¯t give it a push. Many Travelers give civilizations a nudge. However, if you drop a stack of physics textbooks on a magical researcher? It will be rather obvious. But if you are in an area that hasn¡¯t discovered the secrets of steel? That is easy enough to rationalize that you can lead them to it without a worry.¡± Cerebaton took over the conversation once more. I had a brief moment where the line from Conan: the Barbarian ran through my head about the riddle of steel, but I managed to suppress the desire to quote it.

    The oven gave a sharp ding that it was done preheating and I hurried to get the chicken breasts in and cooking. The rice was simmering nicely on the stove as well, so now was the inevitable waiting point of cooking.

    ¡°I think¡­I might wait until after our first job to decide if I should invest in the Enhance Self power or not, if that makes sense?¡± I said after a moment or two of consideration. Cerebaton gave me a raised eyebrow and a questioning look, while Cariad smiled trustingly. ¡°I need to see what they are up against. The girls are very capable themselves and my own power is something that I need to practice. A lot. Stats might help carry the difference, but I¡¯m not sure exactly what I need.¡±

    ¡°Fair point. But enhancing your stats will also make things safer for you too.¡± Cariad cautioned, standing up from the table finally and walking over to collect the damaged remains of Cerebaton¡¯s cup along with her own. She brushed past me to the kitchen to set them in the trash, after making sure the dregs of their juice were poured down the sink.

    The daemon woman being that close to me brought with her the scent of peaches mixed with tart cherries from her drink. Peach perfume? Interesting choice¡­ I would have been more distracted by her presence if it wasn¡¯t for the grumpy green giant sitting on my couch still watching us, so I focused on him instead and asked a question.

    ¡°What do you think, Mr. Cerebaton?¡±

    ¡°I think you know what is best in this situation. Waiting or using them now is equally risky. The System rapidly applies the enhancements over the course of a few seconds, but it takes hours to days to fully realize the improvement and even longer for the body to adjust to them. Waiting is probably the best option, but only by a slight margin. The reason being this: if you greatly enhance your physical traits now, you might throw yourself off in a key moment tomorrow when your body is either more, or less, responsive than you expect.¡± The big man said after a moment of thought.

    ¡°Mr. Cerebaton is an active field agent when he has time, so I¡¯d trust his word on this one.¡± Cariad agreed, brushing past me again to settle into her seat once more.

    ¡°Barely, Ms. Davies. Most of my time is taken up managing our office after all.¡± Cerebaton sighed with a level of wistfulness that surprised me. The big man had the build of a professional wrestler and the grim expression of a Marine, but his neat suit gave the vibe of a dedicated office man. Once I got past the green skin and his antlers, he had the vague feeling of a retired soldier to him, one who was itching to get back into the ¡®fun stuff¡¯.

    The realization, as well as Cariad¡¯s advice, tilted the scale in favor of his words and I nodded once.

    ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll hold off for now. Tomorrow¡¯s mission will give me an idea of where I need to improve and I can use the rest of the week to get used to the new stats.¡±

    ¡°Probably good. There are usually three things that will trigger the System offering new power sets.¡± Cariad shifted some of her papers around on the table before collecting one and reading off of it carefully. ¡°First of all, your mastery of one skill will chain into opening new branches along that same tree. Second, total SP invested; since it acts as a conduit for the System to study your genetic potential. And lastly is total SP accrued, as that is a measure of how long you¡¯ve been operating. The more you have, the longer the System has had to acclimate to you, obviously.¡±

    ¡°Another advantage that existing Traveler families have. Their genetics are well mapped out and they have a much better idea of what they can do.¡± Cerebaton tacked on before fishing into one of his pockets and producing a polished silver disc the size of my palm and glancing at it. ¡°Ms. Davies, we need to get back to the office. I have another meeting in an hour and your shift is over already. Mr. Cosgrave, did you have anything else you wanted to ask us?¡± He directed the last part towards me and I shook my head, glancing at the window to see the sun already dipping under the mountains.

    ¡°Nope. Nothing worth keeping Cariad from going off duty or you from your work. Also, please just call me Liam. I¡¯m not a formal person by nature and it feels odd to me.¡±

    ¡°Very well, you may address me as Cerebaton at your need. I do not bear a family name.¡± The big man rose to his feet like a tree shooting out of the ground in one of those time-lapse videos. ¡°Please, contact either of us if you have further questions or need feedback. Cariad will be in touch with suggestions or if anything seems off from our side to ensure the System integration goes smoothly for you.¡±

    ¡°Sounds good. I hope you two have a good evening. I¡¯ll let you know if anything comes up.¡± I helped Cariad gather her papers and get them packed away before I saw them to the door. Cerebaton went out first, glancing to either side after he ducked clear, with Cariad following after him. She paused to give me a smile once she was through the doorway.

    ¡°Be safe, Liam. I look forward to working with you.¡± She said, her second set of eyes flicking open for a moment, the electric blue iris¡¯ startlingly pretty against her skin. I was about to respond when the oven timer went off. I glanced back at the sound instinctively, then turned to say goodbye and they were gone already. Not like, ¡®I saw them heading down the stairs¡¯ or anything.

    They were just gone as if they¡¯d never been there.

 Chapter 9

    Excitement made it hard to sleep that night. Even after the long work week and the exertion of going out with the girls on Saturday, as well as the meeting with Cariad and Cerebaton afterwards.

    I wanted to be fully rested and ready to go, but also needed to figure out what my plan was. That ended up with me down a rabbit-hole researching sword techniques and the like on my phone. What finally worked to get me to fall asleep was turning my attention to practicing the slow-motion application of Shape-Shifting that I was trying to master.

    The intense focus and intent ended up making my brain sluggish enough that I fell asleep eventually. Unfortunately for my comforter, I fell asleep with eight of my ten fingers tipped in sharp claws. Waking up clutching a shredded comforter and surrounded by downy fluff was startling enough that I panicked for a moment, before I remembered and had enough context to be able to get my hands turned back to normal once again.

    I made a quick potato and egg hash for breakfast and sat down at the table to look over my stats and skill one more time to see if there were any clues that I might be able to glean from it.

    Shape-Shifting (Minor) - Allows the user to draft minor changes to the body based on animals he knows of. Changes such as: thickened skin and fur, advanced hearing, improved night sight, claws, or increased muscle mass. Cannot assume full animal form or even a half form yet. Unable to mix more than two animal¡¯s features at a time. No more than a total of five pounds of additional mass may be added or removed.

    Mastery - 23/1000

    The fact that it mentions a full animal form or half-form already bodes well for the future. Though no clues on a stat that I could use to boost the speed that it takes effect in. Is it fortitude because my body is changing, mental acuity to imagine it, or willpower to focus? The big limitation at the moment is the weight of the shifting. Five pounds isn¡¯t a whole lot and the girls primarily need me for combat reasons. I thought to myself before grabbing my phone and doing some research.

    It turned out that the almighty Internet had a few ideas for me to apply and a lot of random facts about animals. I learned that sperm whales had skin as thick as fourteen inches, which was something I¡¯d never thought about but made sense given their size.

    Following the line that the sword would make a decent weapon, and I had no better idea of how to use claws in a fight than I did a sword, I researched natural armor and hit on something that was surprisingly efficient for its weight: Crocodile hide. Apparently, it was dense enough to stop bullets from penetrating, though I figured that only applied to the older crocs rather than smaller, younger ones.

    The armor that the girls had bought me was a leather jerkin that covered the torso and upper thighs but not the arms. Doing some research revealed that five pounds of hide wasn¡¯t a lot, but it was something that could add a bit of armor to my arms. While focusing, I ended up touching the symbol on my right forearm that had appeared when I bonded with Kassandra and I felt a flood of mischievous energy from the mark. I could almost imagine the brunette snake-girl giggling as she led me down the street the previous day, which was a mental image that made me grin as well.

    I was still trying to figure out how to approach adding the scales to my skin when the edges of my vision flashed with the dark-light, purple color and words scrolled over my vision, blocking out my view of the mug of cold coffee sitting in front of me.

    Kassandra Silverscale and Rieka Coldeye have sent a non-urgent request for your presence regarding your guardian contract.

    Transit? View summoning?

    I didn¡¯t even hesitate and hit the ¡®Transit¡¯ option with a mental assent and felt the rushing sensation of movement envelop me.

    A moment that stretched out into three passed before the sensation of motion and whirl of colors stopped and I landed in grass just off the cobblestone road that led out of Juneau. The curtain wall loomed high above me and I could see a trio of guards peering over the edge curiously at both me and the girls.

    ¡°Liam!¡± Kassandra¡¯s happy yell was all the warning I got before she tackled me again. Despite the warning, I wasn¡¯t quite ready and she knocked me sprawling onto the grass.

    ¡°Kass! So that¡¯s why you asked me to hold his gear.¡± Grumbled Rieka from nearby, her icy-blonde ears flicking in irritation where they poked out of her carefully braided hair.

    ¡°Good to see you two again.¡± I grunted while buried under Kassandra¡¯s, not inconsiderable, weight. For someone who was a ¡®dwarf¡¯ breed of her species, Kassandra was still nearly ten feet long and her tail was densely muscled. Most of her weight came from that scaly length. Her human torso was small enough that I could easily lift her, I just had to find a safe hand-hold on her curvy body. A curvy body that was currently pressed to my chest and wiggling back and forth in a sinful fashion that was very distracting.

    ¡°Are you ready to head out, Liam?¡± Kassandra asked, her eyes dancing with amusement while her voice had a tinge of lustful purring to it. She was propping herself up on my chest, not enough that her boobs weren¡¯t pressing me, but just enough that they were resting there and I could feel her hard nipples through the soft material of her top. At the same time, her snake tail and broad hips were sliding back and forth innocently, like they were just trying to find a comfortable spot so that every inch of her long tail could rest on me.

    ¡°Nope. You gotta let me up for that.¡± I replied, trying to use humor to keep myself from showing my obvious arousal at her actions.

    ¡°Aww.¡± Kassandra pouted down at me, her eyes twinkling behind the little, silver-rimmed spectacles she was wearing currently. The look left her full of a more mature blend of mischief that made it more urgent that I either get her off of me, or distract myself before I made things awkward.

    ¡°Why do you wear those?¡± I asked curiously, focusing in on the accessory in a desperate attempt to resist the rising erection that she would be unable to miss with her current position.

    ¡°Because she¡¯s nearsighted. Kass, seriously. Let him up. People are staring at us.¡± Rieka answered my question in an exasperated tone. ¡°Hello, Liam. Welcome back. We need to get a move on if we are going to make it to the mission location and back before dark.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s right.¡± Kassandra sighed, giving one last wiggle and shooting me a wicked grin when she felt the growing bulge of my erection under her. I¡¯d tried, and obviously failed, so I just blushed. Despite the fact she was half snake, the short woman was all feminine allure and curves. She just had extra curves where a human would have legs.

    Kassandra slithered off of me finally. She and Rieka gave me a hand up from the ground. Rieka helped me get the leather jerkin on and secured while Kassandra got the sword buckled onto my waist. They chatted as they did so, and while I did notice a few passersby staring as they walked, there weren¡¯t that many people out and about at this time of the day.

    ¡°So yea, I wear my glasses when I expect to have to see a fair way off. I¡¯m not blind at a distance, but it makes aiming easier.¡± Kassandra explained while she tightened the arming belt and made sure my sword was set right.

    Once the girls were done fussing over me, we headed out the gate. There were a few early risers heading for Kintos at this time of day, but the girls guided us onto a turnoff that I had missed previously.

    While we walked, they filled me in on the job and the System popped up a prompt finally with how to earn the SP from this summon.

    Assist your contracted companions, Kassandra Silverscale and Rieka Coldeye, with their mission and see them home safely.

    Reward - 300 SP

    Huh, wonder if the increase in value is due to the amount of work I¡¯m doing? Or the danger? I thought to myself as we headed down the turnoff.

    The open plains that surrounded Kintos and Juneau academy gave way to a scrubby forest that rolled with the hills under it. The trees were kept back from the road enough that it felt secure, but there were many turns to the road as it wound through the hills. Which made sense as the road took a path that allowed it to avoid as many of the inclines as possible. While we walked, the girls talked about tactics and plans. Apparently, the mission pay would depend on how many of the kobolds they had to clear out. The report was just a sighting of the creatures when they attempted to waylay a caravan coming from another town along this road.

    ¡°Yea, Broadshore is a port town down this way. A fair amount of trade goes back and forth. Kintos sends them grain and farm foods, while Broadshore ships fish and seafood. It¡¯s only a day or two trip, three if you have a really big caravan.¡± Rieka explained while Kassandra slithered along. We¡¯d been walking for around two or three hours at that point and the girls had been taking it in turns to lead the discussion.

    ¡°Interesting. How big is the Coldeye queendom anyway?¡±

    ¡°Big enough. We share borders with three other independent lands, as well as the northern wilds. Four if you count the island kingdoms.¡± Rieka answered. ¡°If you were looking for an exact size, I couldn¡¯t tell you. It¡¯s not something that I know, though I¡¯m sure that the tax officers are the most likely to have that complete information, since they have the reports from the different fiefdoms.¡±

    ¡°I was just curious. Back in my world, they have the different nations measured down to a close estimate of square miles, though I¡¯m not sure exactly why they do it. My guess is to firmly establish borders now that measuring something like that is possible.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s silly. If they are worried about establishing a border, they should build a wall or something.¡± Kass laughed, her voice a tinkling bell of amusement.

    Both she and Rieka were dressed in similar outfits to the previous day, blouses and skirts in simple but sturdy cloth rather than silks. They both carried their rods, which was what they finally explained to me that the metal batons that held the mana infused coins were called, as well as several pouches and a small pack each. Kassandra was wearing a deep burgundy blouse cinched in at her waist by another underbust corset that rode high on her ¡®hips¡¯, as well as a short skirt of an earthy brown tone to match that portion of her scale pattern. Rieka was dressed in a dark-blue tunic with long sleeves and a knee length skirt of dark brown, plus a set of sturdy boots. All in all, they cut much more respectable figures than my tattered work jeans and scratched up steel-toe boots poking out from under the leather armor, but that was a given since they were natives.

    ¡°Fair enough. I know of at least one nation that tried to do that, but I don¡¯t think they ever finished it.¡± I couldn¡¯t honestly remember if the Great Wall of China was ever finished, I could only remember that it was massive.

    ¡°Magic helps with that sort of thing too. You mentioned that there wasn¡¯t any magic in your world, right Liam?¡± Kassandra twisted so that she could look back at me without stopping her forward slither. The movement of her scales and the pattern of the red and brown made the movement hypnotizing and I glanced up to find her smirking at me like she¡¯d caught me staring at her ass.

    Which she kinda did. I thought wryly. Kassandra didn¡¯t seem offended though, she just smirked a bit more before turning back to the road.

    ¡°So, how far out was the sighting? Should we be keeping watch?¡± I asked after a moment of silence, the slowly rolling hills and trees made me a bit nervous since they blocked obvious sight lines. I¡¯d played enough shooter games when I was younger to feel exposed, but the girls were unconcerned. The short forest of trees was growing ever taller as we went, and colorful birds in a variety of sizes would flock overhead on occasion. Their shapes looked odd to me though. I saw the normal crows and blue-jay type of birds, but there were a handful that vaguely reminded me of flying manta-ray¡¯s, but they moved too quickly for me to get a good look at them.

    ¡°Oh, another hour or so, but I did some digging when I picked up the contract from the jobs hall. The ruins that we believe to be their nest are some ways off the road and are coming up in a bit. We should start keeping an eye out for a cart track that leads to it. Some folks with larger caravans like to camp there so they keep it cut back. However, if monsters have made it into a den, we need to clear it out before the next big merchant caravan comes through and tries to use it.¡± Rieka explained, gesturing to the right side of the road. ¡°The maps I looked at had an old, but scouted, ruin recorded in that direction.¡±

    ¡°Are there a lot of those?¡± I asked curiously, double checking that I had a clear draw on the sword at my hip.

    ¡°Oh loads. There are ruins all over the Coldeye queendom, as well as the rest of the world. Our world isn¡¯t a safe one, Liam.¡± Kassandra answered this time, toying with her rod where it hung in its holster at her side. ¡°We do our best to carve out a place to survive in it, but monsters, magical disasters, and even the predation of other kingdoms tear chunks out of each other. The borders are riddled with damaged and ruined keeps and strongholds, especially along the border to the wild lands up north and the western border we share with the Emirate. We¡¯ve been dealing with raids and fighting over the border for¡­I don¡¯t remember how long to be honest.¡±

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    ¡°At least seven generations of my family sitting on the throne. So around two hundred years. Our kingdom existed before then, but we came into conflict with the Emirates in the time of my ancestor, Queen Gretta, who¡¯s war-title was ¡®Glacial Wrath¡¯.¡± Rieka threw in as well. ¡°The conflict with the northern wilds is more stop and start, since the tribes there like to raid our borders for supplies and slaves. We alternate between peacefully ignoring each other and then conflict for a few years before it repeats. They usually can¡¯t overcome our border fortresses, but occasionally one of their raiding bands avoids the patrols or they get really lucky and smash a border fort. It¡¯s been pretty solid since the Ironclaw Clan took over the passes. That lets us focus on the flatlands more, at least that¡¯s what my elder sister said.¡±

    ¡°Interesting. You mentioned sharing borders with a few other countries, can you tell me about them? I¡¯m also curious about these Emirates.¡±

    Rieka was about to answer my question when Kassandra stopped moving suddenly. Since she was slithering ahead of us, that resulted in us nearly stepping on her trailing tail. Looking up to see what had stopped her, I saw that she was staring into the tall grass on the side of the road with an intent focus.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Rieka asked, her voice a hiss. She¡¯d already drawn her rod from her side and was scanning our surroundings, so I drew my sword as well.

    The sword had felt good yesterday while we were in Silas¡¯ shop, but now it felt awkward in my hand as I stepped forward as quietly as I could to stand in front of Kassandra and scan the forest.

    ¡°Thought I heard something.¡± Kassandra murmured after a long moment of waiting. She slowly drew her rod from the hip holster as well, scanning the trees to either side of us with intense focus.

    We stood there for another few seconds, listening closely to the surrounding forest. I strained my eyes and ears trying to catch whatever sound that had set Kassandra¡¯s attention off, but I couldn¡¯t detect anything. Rieka¡¯s fluffy ears rotated and twitched while she listened closely as well.

    ¡°I don¡¯t hear anything. And I mean anything.¡± Rieka muttered after a few more seconds. ¡°No birds, no animals. Not even the bugs.¡±

    ¡°Yea, something¡¯s out there. Last time I felt like this, a drug addict tried to jump me with a knife.¡± I muttered, the creeping sensation up my spine a familiar and unwelcome sensation.

    Movement in the brush on the right side of the road had me lunging forward to get between Kassandra and whatever it was, bringing the sword around automatically like I was swinging a bat. I hadn¡¯t even figured out what I was swinging at yet, just that it was moving fast and coming right at us.

    The creature that lunged out of the brush was just short of waist high on me and covered in a mixture of muddy brown and green scales. A head not unlike a scaly shark sat on narrow shoulders. It gnashed vicious teeth in a wide mouth, while lunging forward with a crude wooden spear.

    ¡°Liam!¡± Kassandra yelped as I pushed past her. She tried to back up only to run into Rieka and bowl the wolf-girl over. I was moving on autopilot though and focused on staying in between the girls and the creature as it ducked my first swing and jabbed at me with the splintery end of the spear. I could see that it was just sharpened wood, but it still looked vicious. The spear caught in my armor and didn¡¯t penetrate, though the hit was firm enough that I stumbled and missed the backswing with my sword.

    The creature bobbed to one side, hissing even louder and tried to lunge past me towards the girls, who were fighting their way upright. Off balance, I couldn¡¯t get my sword swung around in time, so I kicked wildly at the creature. Surprisingly, the kick caught it in the ribs and sent the creature sprawling in the grass with a squeal of pain.

    Turning on it, I raised the sword in my hand and brought it swinging down on the little beast like I was trying to split a log in half. The creature gnashed its teeth at me and tried to block with the spear held across its body. The sword hit it and, while it didn¡¯t cut through the spear haft like you would expect it to from anime or a movie, the momentum of the blow slammed the spear haft downwards on top of the creature¡¯s chest. The top half of my sword buried itself in the little bastard''s face in an explosion of blood and shattered bones.

    Hot, sticky blood splashed onto my face and I froze like that, sword held in a two handed grip and buried in the little monster¡¯s still twitching body.

    I just killed someone. The thought raced through my head like a particularly drunk bumblebee. I just¡­cut his head in half¡­ My stomach roiled in protest and I felt the little breakfast I¡¯d been able to eat start to rise up in my throat. My pulse rushed in my ears and my head spun in response to this revelation.

    I¡¯d been in fights before, I had scars on my body from them after all. Getting stabbed or cut with a knife sucked, but the worst I¡¯d done in those situations was break someone''s arm or crack a jaw. You couldn¡¯t go around killing people back home, even in self defense. That sort of thing just didn¡¯t fly. I¡¯d gotten blood on myself before, but it was always such a mix with my own usually that I couldn¡¯t tell who it belonged to. But this time¡­

    My stomach did another roll as I felt the hot liquid run down the edge of my lip.

    Come on, Liam. You and the girls came out here to kill these things after all. If this is one of those kobolds they were talking about that is. Or was this just some kind of weird, native child species and you just murdered someone who was playing in the woods?

    That thought was enough that I couldn''t hold it back anymore and I promptly vomited to one side in the grass, my whole body rejecting the idea. I didn¡¯t let go of the sword, but I swiped at my face with one hand to try and clear the vomit away and ended up smearing blood all over it instead.

    ¡°Liam!¡± Kassandra¡¯s scream sent ice down my back and I whirled to check on them.

    During my little scuffle with the monster, a half dozen more had emerged from the brush on the other side of the road and were racing towards the girls. Kassandra was gesturing wildly with her rod and launched a spear of ice into one while Rieka did the same with a short flash of lightning.

    ¡°Ice Lance!¡±

    ¡°Bolt!¡±

    The spells claimed the lives of two of the scaled bastards, but the other four were still in motion and closing fast.

    Any hesitation and the fear that I had just killed someone''s kid, promptly vanished as I saw bloody murder on the little beast¡¯s faces. Fresh energy surged through me and it shoved the dregs of panic down into a hole for now and replaced it with anger.

    I¡¯ve had it happen before, when I had to fight someone unexpectedly. The sort of instinctual lashing out of violence and rage to defend yourself. I¡¯d heard it called ¡®caveman instincts¡¯ or some other such garbage. One guy told me that he would ¡®see red¡¯ when he got pissed off. I honestly thought it was a load of crap to explain a bad temper honestly. When I felt that surge of anger and violence in my gut, it was as cold as ice and I acted with extreme focus.

    Ripping the sword out of the first body, I lunged towards the approaching enemy in three large steps. That put me between the girls and the monsters. The fact that also put me in the way of their spells was not something I thought about though. All I could think of was protecting them, like I¡¯d promised.

    Again, I gripped the sword like a baseball bat and swung it from right to left in front of me. One of the little monsters ducked and lunged forward, stabbing into my thigh with his gnarly, wooden spear. The guy next to him didn¡¯t react though and caught my sword in the side of his head.

    With a whunk like slamming a knife into a watermelon, the top half of the critter¡¯s skull separated from its head and sprayed more gore into the air. I yanked the sword back towards myself and then raised it overhead to slam the flat of the blade into the head of the one that stabbed me. Squealing in pain, it let go of the spear in my thigh and backed up.

    Another spear jabbed into my left hip, finding the slit in the armor and burying itself high in my thigh to hit the bone of my pelvis.

    Roaring again in pain and still gripped with that icy focus from before, I let go of the sword with my left hand and snatched hold of the spear as the beastie pulled it out of me. A quick jerk backwards tugged it off balance and I slammed the sword into it again with all the finesse of a pissed off carpenter driving a nail that had already led to three bruised fingers. The creature went boneless when the sword hit it, again getting caught by the flat of the blade rather than the edge, but the blow still being enough to knock it senseless.

    Three of the four were distracted, and that was when the fourth decided to try and take me down from behind.

    I heard Kassandra shout again, but I couldn¡¯t hear what she was saying until I felt the impact in my back, just to the left of my spine. It knocked me forward and I almost fell to my knees. The two spear wounds were already leaking blood and making my legs weak, but the blow to my back thankfully hadn¡¯t penetrated my leather armor.

    I spun around to deal with the little bastard. He managed to deflect my heavy, chopping swing with the haft of his spear. Though it tore the weapon out of his hands, my sword stuck in it as well and put me off balance. This was apparently part of his plan, as the little bastard jumped at my throat, his wide mouth scissoring open to snap sharp teeth at me. I knew if he got hold of me, he¡¯d rip my throat out. Then he¡¯d go for the girls.

    The girls! My mind screamed and my focus narrowed on that approaching mouth. Protect them! My instincts screamed back.

    I didn¡¯t think, I just acted. I swung with my left arm as hard as I could, and punched him in the open mouth like his uvula was a speed bag. This caused that mouth to slam shut over my arm and he should have bitten my forearm off. Instead, I just felt a dull pain as the teeth impacted my forearm before I managed to shake the spear off my sword and bring it around to run through his skinny body.

    Shaking the dead creature off my left arm, I quickly checked for injuries from those vicious teeth. I was stunned to find a knobbly layer of mud brown and algae green scales covering my forearm like a loose gauntlet. Blood dripped from a dozen small cuts, but the monster''s sharp teeth hadn¡¯t penetrated more than a tiny bit into my arm.

    The crack of lightning echoing brought me back to reality and I whirled around to find that the very first one, the one that had dodged then gotten bonked for his trouble, had tried to repeat his companions'' attack, only to get caught midair with one of Rieka¡¯s lightning spells.

    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­not dead yet.¡± I muttered to myself and turned to stab my sword into the other one I¡¯d clubbed earlier, just to make sure it was dead. Then I stabbed the others again just to be sure. At least I¡¯m pretty sure that was why I stabbed them. It might have been the fact I was feeling rather lightheaded at the moment from the blood loss. The spinning about had dislodged the other spear from my thigh and the three sets of wounds all worked together to leak my blood about.

    ¡°Liam!¡± Kassandra¡¯s voice penetrated the fog and I whirled, ready for another attack but she was rushing towards me with her rod out and concern in her eyes, not fear.

    ¡°He got stabbed at least once from what I saw Kass. Do what you can to patch him up, I¡¯ll stand watch.¡± Rieka ordered, jogging along behind her friend. The wolf-kin¡¯s tail was puffed out in concern and her face was set in a mask of anger, aimed at the dead creatures.

    ¡°Where are you hurt, Liam? I¡¯m sorry you got hit, they managed to get a lot closer than I expected. I¡¯d have warned you if I could have. I¡¯m so, so sorry!¡± Kassandra babbled rapidly, tears streaming down her normally smiling face. The fear, concern, and tears threw me. I¡¯d never seen someone so concerned for my well being. The throbbing of my wounds didn¡¯t let me stay distracted for too long.

    ¡°Hip, leg¡­and arm.¡± I grunted. Stabbing the tip of the sword into the turf next to me so it was close at hand, I tried to put pressure on both of the larger wounds.

    ¡°Okay, I can handle that. It¡¯s going to get cold for a minute, Liam. Water can heal wounds, but my magic always manifests with ice.¡± Kassandra smiled wetly, her lips trembling, before gesturing with her rod. ¡°Waters of life, renew and replenish.¡±

    My wounds, previously hot and achy, went cold immediately. Like someone had taken a fistful of ice and pressed it into the injured flesh. I bit back the urge to scream as the pain itself seemed to freeze and then fade away slowly. There was still a bone-deep ache in both spots, but when I pulled my hands away there was only bloody skin and torn cloth in both places. Checking my forearm showed that the teeth marks were gone too, though the thick hide and it''s dense scales remained.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Kassandra¡¯s question drew my gaze back to her and I blinked a few times before I figured out how to answer her question.

    ¡°Physically, yea. Emotionally, I¡¯m not sure.¡± I glanced at the first creature that I¡¯d killed and the pile of vomit next to it. The fear and loathing that I¡¯d felt in that moment was gone now, replaced with a numb certainty that I¡¯d done what I needed to do.

    Up until that point, I hadn¡¯t really come to terms with what being a protector for these girls had meant. But now it was quite literally painted on my face. The blood there was cooling and it made my skin crawl. Glancing over to both Kassandra and Rieka, I did feel a minute amount of satisfaction that neither of them had any blood on them and were both unmarked by the fight.

    My resolve hardened in my gut at that moment and I let out a cleansing breath before grabbing the sword out of the dirt and turning to find some grass to wipe it on, before sliding it back into the sheath at my side. Turning back to Kassandra, I found the dwarf lamia watching me with concern in her bright eyes, tear stains still marking her cheeks.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine, Kass. Don¡¯t you worry. I¡¯d give you a hug, but I¡¯m a right mess right now and I don¡¯t wanna get blood on your clothes.¡± I gestured to the blood all over me and she bit back a little laugh, nodding in understanding. I could see the concern in her eyes still as she scanned me from top to bottom once more.

    Hoping to distract Kassandra from her worries, I kicked one of the dead monsters before looking up at her.

    ¡°Kobolds? Or did we end up with a random encounter?¡±

    ¡°Yea, those are kobolds. Either they are getting more impatient for prey or there are more of them than expected, since we ran into some this far out.¡± Kassandra sighed, her teary expression turning to one of anger as she glared down at the dead monster.

    ¡°Okay, do we have any idea how many there might be? These nearly did me in, after all.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because they got the drop on us and we were being lazy.¡± Rieka said before turning back to shoot me a concerned look. ¡°Sorry as well, Liam. I should have been paying better attention. Any time we are outside of the city or the academy, we need to be better about keeping watch. I¡¯ll do better in the future.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, Rieka. We all messed up here, but we made it through. Do we need to do anything with these?¡± I nudged one of the bodies with the toe of my boot and she nodded.

    ¡°Yea, we should at least move them off the side of the road some ways. The wild animals and other monsters will deal with them quickly enough but we don¡¯t want to draw them actually onto the road.¡± Rieka grimaced as she looked down at the one who¡¯s head I¡¯d cut in half and moved to put her rod away.

    ¡°I got it.¡± I said automatically and she stopped, looking at me in confusion. ¡°Look, I¡¯m already a mess, so I can take care of it. You girls keep watch for me, okay?¡± I still felt like a bit of a failure for what had happened. I¡¯d frozen, then thrown myself into the fray like an idiot and gotten hurt. We¡¯d gotten out of this okay, but I was going to need to work on my fighting skills more so that I can do better in the future. Going to have to be extra careful, since the girls seem insistent on finishing this mission off. I mean, they need to now. They¡¯re already in the hole equipping me. Every time they have to cast magic, they are digging themselves deeper. Since magic literally costs money here.

    My thoughts swirled into what I could do to improve as I focused on dragging the bodies out of the road. I kept my right hand on the handle of my sword, ready to draw it if something happened, while I dragged with my left. The scales on my left arm and hand actually helped because they muted the sensations of touching something as gross as a dead body.

 Chapter 10

    Kassandra and Rieka kept a careful watch while I disposed of the bodies. Both fortunately and unfortunately, the little monsters were naked. So I didn¡¯t have to search pockets for supplies or anything of value. But I did have to deal with kobold dicks flopping about as I dragged them into the brush. Thankfully, they had stumpy tails coming from their backs as well, and I found that those tended to be easier to use as a handle than a limb while dragging.

    What I wouldn¡¯t give for a looting power. Just ¡®boop¡¯ and you get loot. I thought to myself. Maybe if I¡¯m lucky, the System will give me something like that. I can always hope, right?

    The morbid thought made me shudder slightly as I dumped the last scaly body in the bushes about thirty yards into the trees. Returning to where the girls stood watch on the blood-stained soil of the road, I grimaced when the drying blood on my face flaked off and made my skin itch.

    ¡°Oh Liam¡­¡± Kassandra winced when she saw me brush at it and immediately started digging through her small pack. ¡°Hang on a second. I wasn¡¯t thinking and I¡¯m sorry. I forgot you don¡¯t have a bag of your own. Rieka, we need to put together another supply pack for him too if we are going to be doing this the right way.¡±

    ¡°Supply pack?¡± I questioned as Kassandra produced a small bundle of linen, either a bandage or a handkerchief I wasn¡¯t sure, and soaked it with water from a skin that she pulled from the same pack.

    ¡°Squat down.¡± She ordered imperiously and I knelt on the side of the road to make it easier for her. Gently, Kassandra began to wash the blood from my face with the wet cloth while Rieka explained.

    ¡°A pack like ours. It has general supplies in it. Things like food, water, medical supplies, rope, emergency camping gear. Most people only bring them for longer missions, but Kass suggested that we bring them even for shorter trips like this. Never hurts to be prepared and it also helps us get used to moving and working with them.¡± Rieka turned around and bounced slightly, making the small pack on her back shift too. This also made her tail and bottom bounce distractingly, though her butt was harder to make out through the skirt than if she¡¯d been wearing leggings.

    ¡°Makes sense.¡± I muttered dumbly.

    ¡°Keep your mouth shut, Liam. The last thing you want is kobold blood in there.¡± Kassandra chastised gently. I did as she asked and remained quiet while she wiped the worst of the blood from my face. I could still see the tear tracks on Kassandra¡¯s cheeks, now darker because of the road dust stuck to them. When she finished cleaning up the worst of the blood, she tossed the stained rag away and got out a second one that she began to wet to get the rest. I took that from her hands before she started. Kassandra pouted at me for a moment, then froze when I dabbed the tear stains off her cheeks quickly.

    ¡°There, now you are back to your normal, pretty self.¡± I told her quietly before offering her the rag once more. ¡°Didn¡¯t want to use the bloody one on you, so I had to wait till you got a new one.¡±

    Kassandra stared at me in surprise before a faint blush hid her freckles for a moment. She accepted the moist bit of cloth back tentatively and went back to work getting my face clean. Rieka watched over us the whole time, smirking slightly when I caught her glancing our way.

    It was only a minute or two later that Kassandra declared I was as clean as I could get for now and that we could get moving. We continued down the road at a slower pace, remaining quiet and watchful the entire time. Both girls had their rods out, so I drew my sword again and gave it a quick once over for any damage. The edge looked fine to me, no nicks or divots in it, but I found a spot that appeared dulled from cleaving into the skull of the one kobold. The edge there wasn¡¯t as bright as the rest, but it was only a small section.

    Going to have to get a whetstone or something to sharpen this up. I¡¯ll have to ask the girls later for it. I thought to myself, and added ¡®how to sharpen a sword¡¯ to the growing list of things I was going to have to learn in the coming future to help keep the girls safe. I glanced down at my scale-covered left arm and flexed my fingers, making the skin crinkle oddly. And figure out how I did this so much faster. Was it because I was focused on protection? Or because I researched it heavily before I came here? Whatever, YouTube can help with researching to test that, I guess.

    Thankfully, there were no more surprises hiding from us as we followed the road. An overgrown side-path branched off the road after only fifteen or so minutes of walking. Rieka motioned for us to stop as soon as she spotted the offshoot.

    ¡°There, that track should lead back to the ruins and the campsite near it. I don¡¯t know if any of the little buggers are watching the track or not, but we should check and do so carefully. Give me a minute to sniff around. Liam, stay back and be ready to move if I yell. Kass, watch the trees.¡± Rieka ordered with a firm scowl on her face.

    I was going to protest her heading off like that to scout, but Rieka had already ducked off the road and into the trees. Her platinum blonde hair did not make blending in easy, but she kept low to the ground and I only saw the occasional flash of the pale hair since her clothes helped her blend in. Stealth has to be hard with her fur and hair like that¡­I wonder if they have camouflage here? Maybe a cloak or something, a hood would be easy enough but I also wonder if it¡¯d be too hot. My thoughts ran away on tangents as I worried while she was gone.

    Kassandra and I waited with weapons ready. The dwarf lamia stayed close to my side, her long tail coiling around me in a half circle at my back while I focused on Rieka as she crept through the brush. It was an odd balance of Kassandra both guarding and hiding behind me. It tickled the primal part of my mind that had been floating closer to the surface since the initial clash with that first set of kobolds.

    After a few minutes, Rieka¡¯s head popped out of the brush and she motioned us forward. I alerted Kassandra with a pat on the hip and we hurried to meet with Rieka.

    ¡°No sign of guards, though I did find a spot in the brush that looks like someone was using it as a hide, it also stunk of kobold. So either there are less than I though; they are changing who is watching; or the watchers were moved up to that ambush spot they hit us at.¡± Rieka hissed when we got closer.

    ¡°What¡¯s the plan then, boss?¡± I squatted down next to Rieka in the brush and Kassandra wound around both of us so that she was at our backs but still close enough to listen.

    ¡°Keep off the track and to the brush. We need to be quiet as we approach. If they were more dangerous or smarter monsters, and we had more time, I¡¯d recommend we hang back and try to pick off a couple of guards to thin their numbers. But I¡¯m sure we can handle this. Liam, can you lead the way forward? Kass and I can get through far narrower spots than you can, so you need to set the pace.¡±

    ¡°Makes sense, going off path like this means that we are going to be slowed by the brush. Assuming we aren¡¯t going to just start hitting them as soon as we get there, right? Need to observe first?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Keep an eye out for traps as well. Kobolds are infamous for setting them.¡± Kassandra whispered and I nodded in agreement.

    ¡°Before I forget, it might be worth getting hoods or cloaks in the future.¡± I suggested, glancing between the two striking women. ¡°You moved really well through the brush, but your hair color isn¡¯t natural in this environment and it made it easy to spot you. Kass would have a similar issue, but not as badly as her red hair isn¡¯t as sharp a contrast.¡± Rieka bit her lip as she considered what I¡¯d said, clearly thinking it over before nodding once. The motion made her ears flop back and forth adorably and I had to bite back a smile.

    ¡°I¡¯ll look into it. Even short capes with hoods would work well and help break up the outline of a person. They were discussing it in tactics class when describing scouts the other day and it is a cheap answer to the problem. Thank you for pointing it out, Liam. I just wish we¡¯d thought of it sooner.¡± Rieka said a moment later, the disappointment in herself obvious on her expression.

    ¡°Hey now, none of that.¡± I said immediately. ¡°You are still learning and this is our first mission after all. As long as we walk away from it and learn, we¡¯re good. Just means we have to keep further back to avoid being seen for now.¡± My words lifted her spirits immediately and Rieka¡¯s fluffy tail wagged several times before stilling once more.

    ¡°Told you he¡¯d be good for us.¡± Kassandra giggled quietly, nudging her friend with one shoulder.

    ¡°I never doubted it.¡± Rieka shot back primly before falling into laughter herself. Once the girls had themselves under control once more, we set out.

    Sneaking through underbrush is a lot harder than they make it look like in movies. The leather armor both helped and didn¡¯t, as it would keep me from getting scratched by branches, but also lead to a few louder noises of whipping branches and scraping wood on leather. My boots cracked twigs occasionally, but I did my best to step on only rocks or soft grass to ensure I wasn¡¯t hitting anything brittle enough to snap loudly. The girls were close behind me with Kassandra in the middle and Rieka at the rear and both of them were far quieter than I was.

    If we¡¯d walked on the actual path from the road, it probably would have only taken three to five minutes to get to the campsite by the ruins. Sneaking took twice that long, but ended up paying off as I spotted the bobbing of movement in the brush ahead of us. I gestured for the girls to back up and slipped behind a tree just as another kobold waddled up the track of the wagon trail with another of the crude spears over his shoulder. He paused partway up the road and peered around for a moment before carefully stepping over a section of leaf-strewn ground and continuing on.

    Trap there, I bet. I thought to myself as he continued past. He was a good ten feet away with his back turned now and I glanced back at the girls. Rieka caught my eyes and pointed at the wandering one and made a gesture across her throat, then pointed at herself and quirked an eyebrow. I shook my head. Sure, she could use magic to deal with the monster, but none of her spells had been silent. Kassandra¡¯s were far quieter, but less likely to kill immediately. A cry for help would be just as bad as a crack of lightning on a cloud-free day.

    I cast around and found several rocks wedged into the dry ground at the base of a tree. Prying them loose, I glanced at the retreating monster and then the trees around us.

    In a video game, I could just hit a button to whistle and patrolling idiots would walk over to just stand there and wait to be knifed. But I doubted it would be that easy with something like this. While the little monsters hadn¡¯t been super intelligent, they knew how to build traps from what Rieka said, so they weren¡¯t all dumb.

    My mind hit on a different idea that was far more likely to work. I had to act fast though before the kobold got too far away.

    I tossed the rock across the path and into the bushes off to his left and just behind him. That made him freeze and whirl about to stare into the bushes, spear at the ready. He prodded at the bushes lightly with his spear and continued to peer into it for several seconds before turning back and starting back up the road with a sort of shrug to his shoulders. That was when I tossed the second stone just a little further back down the path from the first.

    The kobold whirled and threw his spear with surprising ferocity before charging into the bushes where the sound had come from. There was some crashing about before he emerged with a sulk and a spear with a broken tip in his hand.

    I¡¯d been using the time that he was distracted to creep closer to the side of the narrow wagon trail, so when he started back down the path with his spear on his shoulder again, I was ready and slightly ahead of him now.

    Stepping out from behind a tree, I jammed the sword into his chest and twisted firmly to stir the blade around. The scaled monster let out a squeak of surprise and pain, flailing about to try and bring his spear around to stab me. I yanked the sword out and kicked him to one side. I got a smack on the shoulder from the haft of his spear rather than a stab when I followed after him as his flailing continued.

    The sword blow had taken him in the lungs and all he could do was let out a wheezing squeal that I silenced quickly with a stomp and another stab. This kill had been a lot cleaner than my first few, I only had a few small drops of blood on my armor and hand rather than liberally painting my face. My stomach rolled at the fact that I¡¯d just murdered this creature, but I stuffed it down. The girls. I reminded myself. You are doing this to protect them. They said these creatures were a threat and you trust them. I forced that thought deep into my subconscious, pointedly ignoring the pessimistic voice that reminded me that they could just be manipulating me and I¡¯d only known them for a handful of days at this point.

    It only took a moment to roll the body off the road and into the trees. On an impulse, I took the splintery spear with me and used the sword to put a better tip on it.

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    ¡°Liam!¡± Rieka hissed as I crept back down the wagon-track to the section covered in leaves and stirred them with the spear lightly. Hidden under the leaves were a collection of small twigs, shattered glass from what looked like wine bottles, and little animal bones that would make a heck of a racket if someone stepped on them.

    Noise trap. Okay. I thought to myself and hurried back to the girls.

    ¡°Noise trap in the middle of the road. Wanted to see if they¡¯d put anything more dangerous there.¡± I explained at the questioning looks that the girls both gave me. Kassandra nodded in understanding, her inquisitive, brown eyes darting back to the road then to me again. I could see¡­pride in them? Was she proud of me? The thought was so surprising that I had to put it aside to process later.

    ¡°Okay, that¡¯s good then. We can deal with it later.¡± Rieka nodded and gestured for us to get moving.

    We continued to parallel the wagon-trail for another several minutes before the trees began to thin out. Ahead, I could make out the outline of a square building covered in forest detritus, lichen, moss, and worn with time. We continued to approach until the undergrowth began to fall away even more and stopped to observe.

    The clearing was maybe a hundred yards across and barely a third of that was taken up by the ruined building. It had been square at one time, maybe two or three stories tall and made of a dull, red stone. The rest of the clearing was a meadow of grasses with a large bramble slowly taking over the open space from the tree line. The campsite was snuggled up against one side of the ruin, clearly taking advantage of the ancient building as a shelter from the elements. A large, central fire-pit sat between the end of the wagon trail and a section of earth pounded flat from what I guessed were the milling pack-beasts of whatever merchants or traders traveled the road and used the place to camp.

    There were several additions after the fact that were all the kobold¡¯s doing, since I doubted that most traveling merchants would hang a corpse up by its feet on one wall like it was a trophy. I saw maybe a dozen of the scaled monsters milling around or lazing in the shade of the ruined structure. As I watched, two wandered over to the hanging corpse and began gnawing on it, just ripping off a few mouthfuls of meat before walking back to flop in the shade.

    ¡°Oh gods¡­they must have caught a traveler or a peddler.¡± The disgust in Kassandra¡¯s tone combined with the sight of the body was all I needed to lose whatever remained of my hesitation about dealing with these creatures. I could feel the disgust at seeing a body hung up like that boiling in the back of my mind, right next to the quiescent horror from killing the first kobold and the others. But thankfully, it was content to lurk in the back of my mind for now.

    ¡°Kass.¡± Rieka hissed, drawing the dwarf lamia¡¯s gaze back to her. ¡°Focus! We need to eliminate these things so they don¡¯t hurt anyone else.¡± Kassandra¡¯s expression hardened and she nodded. Something told me that the shorter woman had a quietly simmering pot of horror in her mind too, though she seemed to be coping with it better than I was. Probably due to being used to this kind of thing. I wonder how Rieka is holding up so well. I glanced at the friendly wolf-kin woman and bit back a sigh. I could see the stress in her eyes and the way her whole body trembled while her ears folded back on her skull. She was just as angry and stressed as I was, but holding onto it better. This wasn¡¯t something even college-aged people should be exposed to without help, and while I was only older than them by a few years, I wasn¡¯t really any better equipped to handle it than they were. But I had to do my best.

    ¡°Okay, how do you girls want to do this? I don¡¯t know what all you are capable of, but I¡¯m happy to play distraction or a lure to get them somewhere you can strike them. We can do this, we just need to work together.¡± I pushed the conversation back on topic and the girls both shot me grateful looks. I just had to hope I looked composed.

    ¡°If you are willing, Liam. I can summon up a rather efficient spell that will stun them in a small area. Lightning is good at that. It¡¯s making the bolts strong enough to kill that drains extra mana. Kass, if you can stand by to get any that we miss or try to run?¡± Rieka shook herself as she spoke, a motion that sent her fluffy ears flopping cutely, and then turned to the dwarf lamia. Kassandra nodded resolutely and gripped her rod firmly. Any hesitation or concern on Kassandra¡¯s face was gone now, replaced with a quiet fury and resolution.

    ¡°I¡¯ll happily stand between you two and danger. It¡¯s what I¡¯m here for. Do I need to leave the sword behind? Metal attracts electricity after all.¡± The first part of my statement got a softening look from Kassandra and a smile from Rieka, before the wolf-kin shook her head in denial at the second part.

    ¡°No, keep your sword with you, just keep it out to the side and down at first. Do not keep it close to your body. I¡¯ll send the spell up and over you. We need them to clump up as much as possible so go in loud then start to back up to draw them together. I¡¯m going to have to rely on you to finish them off while they are stunned. I doubt you have any hesitation in doing so, given what you did a moment ago.¡± Rieka explained, clearly meaning the moment back on the wagon trail when I¡¯d ambushed the last kobold. I felt a brief shiver of worry run through me, but the steady confidence in Rieka¡¯s gaze told me that she did not judge me for my actions, and that allowed me to stuff that worry down into a hole again.

    ¡°No. Not when they kill and eat people like that.¡± I gestured towards the hanging corpse but did my best not to look at it. ¡°Say when you are ready.¡±

    <><><>

    Our plan actually went off without a hitch. Which was a relief after being ambushed on the road earlier.

    I came bursting out of the bushes, throwing first the captured spear and then rocks at the more distant kobolds to make sure they saw me. The group reacted in different ways, some of them screeching in surprise, others howling, and a few snatching up weapons and throwing them at me. Their camp was only in disarray for a handful of seconds before the bulk of the group charged me en-mass. I started to backpedal and drew my sword, keeping it away from my body and down as I¡¯d been instructed.

    ¡°Storm Net!¡± I heard Rieka call from behind me as the kobolds closed at a scamper. A glittering orb of crackling lightning arced over my head like a lazily thrown beach-ball. The kobolds tried to skid to a stop when they saw it, but Kassandra had apparently decided to chip in.

    ¡°Ice Slick.¡± A moment later, the grass under them froze and they slipped on the remnants of dew that had been on the ground. It was only a moment of unsteady footing, but it caused the group to bunch up a bit more and Rieka¡¯s spell slammed into them with a rather anticlimactic zot sound. Most of the group fell to the ground, trembling and thrashing as their muscles locked up.

    ¡°Now Liam!¡± Rieka called and I rushed forward with a growl. There wasn¡¯t much finesse to what I was doing. I stabbed and hacked at the twitching monsters, doing my best to kill or mortally injure them before they got to their feet while doing my best to not chop off my own foot at the same time. It wasn¡¯t honorable or fair, given that they were disabled, but I didn¡¯t care. My entire focus was protecting the girls and I¡¯d shoulder this burden for them. The fact that the monsters had been eating someone like a side of ham helped quash my concerns about fairness and honor.

    The sword was getting heavy after only a minute or so of swinging, it was a sort of exertion that I wasn¡¯t really used to. My muscles protested, but I kept at it as best I could while resolving to find some way to practice so I was better at this the next time the girls called on me. The kobolds were slowly getting their muscles under control but I moved as quickly as I could to ensure that they were not a threat.

    At least this is better than just mindlessly playing video games. Or doing overtime¡­fuck, I¡¯d much rather fight monsters than load trucks. The thought crossed my mind and I strangled a laugh, as this was not the time to be laughing.

    Two of the kobolds were far enough from the pack that the shock didn¡¯t put them down and they tried to run, but Kassandra¡¯s icy lances caught them in the back and brought them down.

    It took less than a minute to finish the grim work, but over a dozen kobolds lay dead in a pile at our feet as a result. Even then, the girls approached warily and we scouted out the ruins to make sure there weren¡¯t more in hiding.

    The ruins themselves were just ancient stone. The main floor showed signs of being used as a campsite for a long time, with old fire pits and refuse piled around. All of the fire pits were cold and full of ashes, even the larger one outside. The basement walls were collapsed in places, showing that there had likely been a pantry down there at some point, but it was also much smaller than the main floor. The stairs that lead up to the second floor were carved out of the same type of stone that was used in the wall. The entire building was open to the environment, since one corner had collapsed some time in the past. The rest of the building was mostly undamaged other than the ravages of time leaving bare stone studded with lichen.

    And the blood of course.

    The hanging corpse was the first thing I tended to. Since this was a regular campsite, there was a supply of firewood stacked in the corner that the kobolds had apparently been ignoring. I tried not to look closely at it, given the large bite marks taken from the corpse had disfigured the body heavily. At the girl''s suggestion, we wrapped the body in a scrap of tarp we found and took it up to the roof of the building, which was clear save for some piles of dead leaves. Using the firewood from below, we built a funeral pyre for the unfortunate, which Rieka started with a quick strike of flint and steel into the dry tinder. None of us said anything, but we left the pyre to burn up on the roof of the all-stone building. Isolated like that, I was fairly sure it wouldn¡¯t have a chance of spreading.

    The kobolds were tossed into the trees unceremoniously and I got another face-washing from Kassandra while Rieka dug through the accumulated things the kobolds had brought with them. It turned out that the traveler they had waylaid was likely a peddler, since she found a large pack that had jewelry and trinkets made of bone and shells, as well as a collection of polished stones. A small sack of coins was tucked into the bottom of the pack. The kobolds had shredded the backpack, scattering the loose objects around while likely looking for food in it. None of the other camping supplies had survived their claws and teeth.

    ¡°What do we do about all this?¡± I gestured to the jewelry and oddments sitting around on the ground, as well as the sack of simple copper and silver coins that Rieka was tossing up and down in one hand.

    ¡°We could leave it, or take it with us. Monster attacks happen, and people die in the wild all the time. Generally, anything found in a monster den is considered fair game or reward for those that come to eliminate them.¡± Kassandra said quietly. The dwarf lamia had stuck close to me the entire time we were here. I could see she was shivering slightly in the shade so I stepped closer to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders to pull her against my hip, being careful to not get blood on her clothes. She gave me a small smile and leaned into the one armed hug.

    ¡°Yea. The fate of that poor soul is unfortunate, but that is the way of the world. The wilds between towns are not safe, and should only be traveled by the prepared.¡± Rieka agreed, tossing the sack of coins again before tucking it into one of her own pouches. ¡°Let¡¯s collect what we can. At this point, anything would be helpful. I am sorry again, Liam. We should have equipped you better.¡±

    ¡°Hey, I didn¡¯t even get stabbed that time, so I¡¯m good.¡± I tried to be jovial, but Rieka just shook her head.

    ¡°I would have preferred if you didn¡¯t get stabbed the first time. I¡¯d meant to ask before, your left hand?¡± She indicated the hand still covered in crocodile hide, which was draped over Kassandra¡¯s shoulders while the dwarf lamia leaned into my warm side.

    ¡°Yea, just kinda happened before while we were fighting the first time. I haven¡¯t bothered trying to reverse it yet, since we needed to fight. Figure it¡¯ll be something to deal with when we are safe.¡±

    ¡°Fair enough. But why only that arm? Why not both?¡±

    ¡°Size constraints. The ability needs to be trained up and it takes a lot of mental focus to do even small changes.¡± I shrugged and Kassandra wiggled against my side, drawing my attention back down to her.

    ¡°Focus can take time to develop. You should exercise your mind with puzzles or mind games. That can build your mental acuity and increase your focus.¡± She suggested with a small smile.

    I paused for a moment and then closed my eyes to check the System interface, specifically my ¡®Stats¡¯ page.

    Name - Liam Cosgrave

    Strength - 13

    Agility - 11

    Fortitude - 16

    Willpower - 15

    Mental Acuity - 13

    Wisdom - 11

    Powers Acquired - Shape-Shifting (Minor)

    There it is, mental acuity. I wonder... I thought to myself, remembering the ability that had opened up recently. If I spent some points and boosted my mental acuity, would that increase the speed I could focus and make changes? Worth a try at least, but later. I put the thought back on the shelf for now and gave Kassandra another quick squeeze. She let out a little ¡®eep¡¯ of surprise and turned a grin up at me.

    ¡°What was that for?¡±

    ¡°You gave me an idea that might help me train this skill up to something useful. I need to practice the Shape-Shifting power if I am going to master it, and my contacts told me that mastering it is how I unlock the next step in its progression. Now I need to come up with ideas of how to train it on the sly while doing other things.¡± I explained, and Kassandra¡¯s smile blossomed into a grin.

    ¡°Do you have to be looking at something to change it?¡± Rieka suggested, looking up from where she¡¯d been inspecting the thick hide on my arm. ¡°If you are trying to be subtle about it, you could wear gloves and do a similar change to this, or even a long-sleeve shirt?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s perfect, Rieka!¡± She blushed at my praise and her ears flicked to either side. The motion was so reminiscent of my friend¡¯s dog that I reacted automatically and shifted my hand up to pat her head, right between her ears.

    Rieka¡¯s blush deepened at the motion and I remembered her embarrassed reaction from the last time I did this. I was about to apologize and stop, but she pushed her head up into my hand in a clear request for more attention, so I kept at it. I wonder if it''s a species thing?

    Kassandra glanced between us with a small smile on her lips, shooting me a wink and a little thumbs up. Having the girls this close and the quiet moment of connection actually helped settle the boiling cauldron of anxiety in the back of my mind, and I had a feeling it did the same for the girls too.

    We stayed like that for another few minutes before Kassandra sighed and gestured towards the bits of simple jewelry on the ground.

    ¡°We should collect this and be on our way. Rieka, did we need to bring evidence of the kobold extermination back with us?¡±

    Kassandra¡¯s words snapped the distracted wolf-kin out of her daze and she growled under her breath.

    ¡°Yes¡­damn it. I forgot about that. They want tail tips for each kill. That is going to be gross¡­¡±

    ¡°I got it. I¡¯ve got the sword after all. Gonna need to be sharpened later though.¡± I took my hand back from Rieka¡¯s head, getting a little whine of disappointment from the wolf girl, which made her blush again.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that, Liam. We¡¯ll make sure it¡¯s taken care of. Let¡¯s get started on this, I¡¯m getting cold being in the shade.¡± Kassandra urged, and we set about our tasks.

 Chapter 11

    Removing the tail tips of the kobolds was a gristly thing, but I took care of it first. We piled the bits of meat into a cloth that the girls recovered from the remains of the peddlers pack. With that done, we gathered what we could of the remaining wares and got ready to head out.

    ¡°I wish that there was somewhere I could wash properly. Walking back feeling this sticky is going to suck.¡± I muttered when we made a last check of the ruins to ensure there wasn¡¯t anything else there. The rooftop pyre had already burned down to coals as well, since we¡¯d taken almost two hours to pick through things and deal with the bodies as a group. After the more coordinated fight, the girls and I didn¡¯t want to split up. They stood watch for me while I collected the tail tips of the kobolds and I returned the favor while they looked for anything extra of value they could turn for a profit.

    ¡°There is a river a bit back in the trees. It¡¯s why this is a preferred campsite.¡± Rieka gestured to the woods that came up behind the ruins. Since the ancient stone building was off to one side of the clearing rather than in the middle of it, the tree line actually got fairly close to the building.

    ¡°Would you mind if I washed up real fast?¡±

    ¡°Not at all, but you should make it quick. We want to make it back before sundown so we can turn in the proof of kills. I am not hanging on to them until tomorrow.¡± Kassandra said, wrinkling her nose and nodding to the bloody bundle. She then lead the charge into the trees with me close behind her. Rieka followed behind me and all three of us were silent as we walked, still thinking over the entire encounter.

    The river that Rieka had mentioned was only about ten feet across and relatively shallow, it only took a bit of looking to find a good spot for me to climb in and wash real quickly.

    ¡°Could you two turn around while I clean up?¡± I asked them, peeling off the leather jerkin and setting it by the rivers edge. My shirt was stuck to my skin now and felt gross from the sweat and the blood that crusted the cloth from my injuries. I spent a minute poking the spots where I¡¯d been stabbed by spears, but they were as fully healed as when I¡¯d checked after Kassandra cast the spell on me.

    ¡°No can do, Liam.¡± Kassandra said, drawing my eyes back to her in time to spot a lascivious grin on her face. ¡°We have to keep watch in case something tries to sneak up on you in the river after all.¡±

    ¡°Kass!¡± Rieka hissed, promptly blushing and turning away slightly. But the wolf-kin woman didn¡¯t turn her back fully either, I noticed. I was about to protest but a memory of the chewed body hanging there came back to me and a shiver ran down my spine.

    ¡°Fair enough. I¡¯m just washing up real fast though. The blood on my clothes really bothered me.¡± I said at last and shrugged. A hint of regret passed over Kassandra¡¯s face, no doubt blaming herself for my injuries earlier. I¡¯d have to find a way to reassure her that I didn¡¯t blame either her or Rieka for that. I¡¯d made my own mistakes and gotten hurt.

    Working quickly because the water was going to be cold, I stripped off my boots and shirt before wading into the water. I wasn¡¯t really worried about my clothes being wet, since they needed to be in order to clean them. I balled my shirt up and used it as an improvised wash rag after getting as much blood out of it as possible. Scooping water up to scrub the blood in my jeans did little to actually remove the stain, instead just spreading it around.

    ¡°Damn¡­these might be trashed.¡± I muttered to myself before wringing as much water out of the shirt and returning to the shore.

    Kassandra had spent the entire time staring. Her look of guilt had faded away to a content smile as she sat with her arms crossed under her chest, shelving her bust quite appealingly in the close fitting blouse she was wearing. Rieka, on the other hand, was blushing furiously and actually doing a good job of keeping watch next to her, but I caught her sneaking a glance at me while I tried to swipe the water off me as much as possible.

    I used my stained shirt to scrub the blood off the leather as much as possible. The treatments that had been done to the armor actually helped prevent it from staining. Once that was done, I glanced down at the stained and ruined shirt before rinsing it out as best as I could and then wringing it dry once more.

    ¡°You are going to put that back on?¡± Kassandra asked in a bemused voice.

    ¡°Armor is going to chafe otherwise. And I¡¯m not up to the task of using Shape-Shifting to thicken my skin to the point where it wouldn¡¯t bother me. Not yet at least. Gonna practice that though. Thanks for the idea on that, Rieka.¡±

    ¡°Oh it¡¯s nothing! Happy to have helped.¡± Rieka replied quickly, still blushing and stealing more glances at my bare chest. A little self conscious, I started to put the shirt on when Kassandra spoke up.

    ¡°Not yet, Liam!¡± She insisted and slithered forward, I paused with the still wet shirt over my head and waited as she came to a stop in front of me, a wicked smile on her lips. ¡°You promised me a hug earlier but didn¡¯t wanna get blood on my clothes. No more blood on you now, so can I get that hug? It¡¯s only fair that you help me warm up now, since we¡¯ve been in the shade of the trees waiting for you to finish washing. And I¡¯d like to not get wet either, at least from the river water.¡±

    Considering her statement for a moment, I didn¡¯t really see a problem with it. Sure, I was a bit embarrassed to be hugging someone with my chest bare like this. But after being stabbed a few times and killing that many creatures, the embarrassment was minor really.

    And honestly, I could use the hug too. I was holding it together for now, but only because of the relative danger of our location. The trembly and weak feeling of adrenaline leaving my system had come and gone already, leaving behind a hollow sensation that I was still struggling with.

    ¡°Come on up here then.¡± I tossed the shirt aside onto a bush and held my arms out to her. Kassandra squealed happily and lunged upwards on her long tail to wrap her arms around my chest and bury her face in my neck, being careful not to smash her spectacles into me too much. Her snake tail wriggled happily behind her before it coiled around my waist, wrapping twice around my hips and squeezing tight to support her. I had to lean back a little to remain balanced on the loose stones that made up the river bank. Kassandra may have been small, but I was continually reminded that she had quite a bit of mass to her body with the addition of nearly ten feet of tail.

    ¡°Mm, warm.¡± Kassandra hummed happily into my neck and I couldn¡¯t help the smile that statement produced. I hugged her back, enjoying the close feeling from her snuggling into me as well as the steady, squeezing pressure of her tail kneading my midsection. The roiling emotions from the day that had been lurking in the back of my mind calmed a bit more and I felt the stress of what I¡¯d done fading too. That hollow sensation began to fill in, slowly but surely.

    It¡¯s for the girls. You promised to protect them after all. The thought floated through my mind again and I squeezed Kassandra a bit tighter, to which she responded by squeezing me back a good deal stronger. The muscles in her tail were not to be disregarded after all. You need to get better. Figure out how to use this sword they got you and practice this Shape-Shifting power you got. They got too close to the girls earlier and if I get hurt, that¡¯ll just be easier for them to get hurt. Another surge of protective instinct welled up in my chest and I resolved to do better.

    The hug continued for several minutes until Kassandra finally sighed into my chest and began to unwind her tail to disengage.

    ¡°That was nice, thank you Liam.¡± She hummed while smiling contentedly once she settled to the ground once more. ¡°You should try it, Rieka. I feel ready to take on more kobolds if we had to!¡±

    ¡°You want a hug too?¡± I offered the blonde princess and she bit her lip slightly, seriously considering it.

    ¡°Do it, Rieka! Liam got hurt protecting us, the least you could do is give the man a hug!¡± Kassandra urged, her contented smile twisting into a teasing one while she slithered out of the way. Kassandra¡¯s statement had the desired effect though and Rieka stepped up to give me a quick hug. I returned it carefully, not wanting to spook the more shy girl. Rieka¡¯s ears tickled my cheek slightly when they shifted, but her tail wiggled happily behind her so I knew she was enjoying it. With that bit of reassurance from both girls, the hollow sensation in my chest closed up entirely and I felt back on a more even keel once more.

    With the hugs out of the way, I got dressed in the armor once more. Kassandra protested, suggesting that I walk back bare-chested to give the clothes time to dry, but caved when I reminded her that we were still in dangerous territory and I needed to be ready to protect them. For all her teasing, she was a serious and intelligent girl after all.

    We stopped in the ruins clearing just long enough to make sure the pyre was finishing up before heading out to the road. I used my sword to hack off a couple of leafy branches and we used them to sweep away the kobold¡¯s noise trap, partially to prevent injuries to any horses coming through and also to prevent Kassandra from cutting her underbelly on any glass pieces or sharp bits.

    ¡°My scales are actually pretty strong. I could go over glass without a problem, but sharp metal would cut through them.¡± Kass explained, glancing over at my arm which was still covered in crocodile hide. ¡°Not as strong as those scales, I think. But still good enough that I generally don¡¯t worry about it while I¡¯m traveling through town or on campus.¡±

    ¡°How do you handle mud and the like?¡± I couldn¡¯t help but ask, since I needed a distraction from collecting the tail tips from the kobolds we¡¯d already tossed into the bushes by the road back by the ambush site. The girls would be paid by a headcount after all, so we needed to make sure they made the most of this.

    ¡°With reluctance and a special type of scraper pad. It¡¯s kind of like the type of curry-comb that they use on horses or centaurs. I have one mounted by the door to my rooms in the dorm and my parents have one at their house. I just slither over top of it and that brushes off the worst of the dirt and mud. Otherwise, I just have to take a bath.¡± Kassandra wrinkled her nose and shrugged helplessly. ¡°Not much else to do about it. Thankfully, the roads are generally hard packed enough that it doesn¡¯t turn to mush easily and most towns have cobblestone streets. Just part of life for lamia. I try to avoid mud though, since it tends to be really cold and if I¡¯m not careful, cold can really hurt me.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, how sensitive are you to the cold? Does using your ice magic actually hurt you? I know you mentioned it before but we got sidetracked.¡± I asked while we got back onto the road and got going again.

    ¡°Depends on how cold it is and how fast I¡¯m exposed to it.¡± Kassandra shrugged, slithering along on my right while Rieka walked on my left. We all kept our eyes moving to ensure we didn¡¯t fall prey to any more ambushes. ¡°As far as my magic goes? It can chill down certain body parts, but I¡¯d need to be slinging a lot of magic to actually be dangerous.¡±

    ¡°If you practiced more, you could prevent the chill from spreading.¡± Rieka said with the air of someone repeating themselves.

    ¡°But I hate being cold!¡± Kassandra protested petulantly.

    ¡°You should have someone set up a fire or brazier near you, so you can warm back up. It¡¯d be worth the time investment if you can get a better handle on your magic for the future. The last thing you need is to be wet and have to use magic that chills you even further.¡± I suggested and Kassandra sighed, nodding along reluctantly.

    ¡°I should, yea. I know if I get better mastery of the ice magic, I¡¯ll be more resistant to drops in temperature too. It¡¯s just¡­very unpleasant. If I get too cold, my mind starts slowing down and it¡¯s really hard to think. I hate that feeling.¡±

    ¡°You could just wrap Liam up to use as a heater and practice your magic then. I¡¯m sure he¡¯d be happy to keep an eye on you and he¡¯s definitely warm enough.¡± Rieka teased, but Kassandra¡¯s eyes lit up with excitement.

    ¡°Yea! That sounds like a great idea. Would you be willing to do that with me, Liam?¡± Kassandra practically begged, turning her best puppy-dog eyes on me.

    ¡°As long as it doesn¡¯t put a strain on your mana supply, I¡¯m happy to help out. Still getting used to the whole ¡®mana is money¡¯ here and all that.¡±

    ¡°Yea, it does take some getting used to, but it is worth it. As you saw earlier today. A regular group would have likely sustained more injuries and then had to spend the rest of the day hunting down fleeing kobolds in that same situation. With us, it was over in a matter of a minute or so.¡± Rieka reminded me. ¡°It also balances out some in the gearing, since we don¡¯t need as much equipment as a soldier. Just our rods and either mana-infused metals or crystals.¡±

    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    ¡°Do you actually need the rods to use magic? I didn¡¯t see a spot for you to put a crystal inside them. Speaking of, did you need to swap out the spent coins?¡± I glanced at the rod on Rieka¡¯s hip and then over at Kassandra¡¯s. They were shaped roughly like an old-style police baton, just a metal cylinder about a foot and a half long with the sliding portions to expose or hide the mana-infused coins that made up the core of the rod.

    ¡°That¡¯s a good point. I meant to do that while you were washing, but with Kassandra distracted I wanted to keep a better watch.¡± Rieka stopped and drew her baton from her waist. Kassandra did the same, though the dwarf lamia girl grumbled under her breath about not being distracted.

    The two girls twisted the catches on their batons and folded them open. The ¡®hinge¡¯ seemed to be built into the top of the grip and they folded up to a ninety-degree angle to expose the stack of iron coins in the rod. Kassandra¡¯s stack still had about a fourth of them glittering with the oil-slick effect that told me the mana in them was still good. Rieka¡¯s was about half full of charged coins. It only took a handful of seconds for them to extract the spent coins and tuck them into one hip pouch before pulling fresh coins from another and replacing them.

    ¡°To answer your question, Liam. There is a slot in the handle for a mana crystal here.¡± Rieka finished first as she had to do fewer coins. She turned the baton around and held it out to me so I could see the flared base of the baton that looked like it could hold a large marble or a bit of quartz crystal. ¡°For ease of storage and transport at least. Most folks don¡¯t like to flash that around unless they are going into a fight though. We can use magic without the rod, it¡¯s just easier to direct with it. Also¡­Kass, trade me.¡± She fished out a small handful of the mana-infused iron coins and held them out to the dwarf lamia, who blinked behind her silver-rimmed spectacles.

    ¡°What? Why?¡±

    ¡°You spent a chunk on healing Liam up. That¡¯s not something I can do, so you had to shoulder the cost of it. This is my share. We are kind of sharing the use of him after all.¡± Rieka replied bluntly. Kassandra smirked at her and bobbed her eyebrows suggestively.

    ¡°Sharing the use of him? I mean, I¡¯m not against it as long as Liam is okay sharing.¡± She teased, which made Rieka blush but the wolf-kin woman didn¡¯t take her hand and its load of coins back. Kassandra continued to smirk at her friend for another few moments before nodding and accepting the coins, counting out a few and then replacing them with regular iron coins and handing the rest back to Rieka. ¡°There, that is half. We have to make sure we take care of our human, so I¡¯m happy you are willing to split costs like this.¡±

    ¡°I almost changed my mind with that last joke.¡± Rieka huffed, separating the coins into their respective pouches and tying them closed once more.

    ¡°Who says it was a joke?¡± Kassandra replied cheekily. Rieka¡¯s fluffy ears had been relaxed before, but they shot upright now and her tail fluffed up in surprise behind her.

    ¡°I¡­what¡­no¡­what?¡± She stuttered, her cheeks now flaming with a blush while Kassandra laughed gaily. I chose to keep silent instead and guided the girls to start walking.

    <><><>

    Kassandra continued to tease Rieka for a good half an hour while we walked, though we all remained watchful. Though Rieka was too distracted by her blushes to be really paying attention.

    Once we made it out of the foothills forest and back into the more open and rolling plains around Juneau and Kintos, the girls relaxed even more. Given that we could see further over the grasslands, relaxing made some sense but I was still watchful. We¡¯d stopped to eat some of the meat and vegetable filled buns that the girls had bought the previous day and packed. It was mid-afternoon now and we were several hours past lunch, but none of us had felt hungry after dealing with the kobolds.

    ¡°I don¡¯t look forward to eating actual trail food. Dried meat and fruit is good, but there is something just so wonderful about a hot meal.¡± Kassandra sighed wistfully while chewing on her food.

    ¡°You just aren¡¯t looking forward to slithering out of your warm bed when we actually have to get up early on overnight trips.¡±

    ¡°Overnights?¡± It took a bit of skill to drink out of a waterskin, but I was figuring it out after dumping some down my front. That had amused Kassandra, though she¡¯d shrieked in protest when I flicked water at her in revenge.

    ¡°Yea, eventually we are going to have to go further from Juneau to complete missions. On top of needing to pay for mana for our education, we also need to complete certain types of missions depending on our majors. Since Kass and I have magic and combat in our majors, we need to do longer range and dangerous hunts. Kass will need to visit and document ruins to study for her history coursework too.¡±

    ¡°Huh¡­well as long as you let me know ahead of time, I have some vacation saved up that I can use to make that happen if you need me.¡±

    ¡°Oh we need you.¡± Kassandra interjected so fast it made me jump in surprise. ¡°You¡¯ll have to stay over. To help guard the campsite and us as well.¡±

    Rieka and I both turned to stare at her and Kassandra did her best to smile innocently at us.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Yea¡­something tells me you just want another heater.¡± Rieka drawled and we both laughed at Kassandra¡¯s earnest nodding in response to that statement.

    ¡°I¡¯m still curious why you don¡¯t have guards, Rieka. I know you said before that you could hire them, but one would think a trained set of guards would be better.¡± I mentioned something that had been bothering me for a while now.

    ¡°I could hire guards, that is true. But it also ties into why we do these missions. We need experience and being able to support ourselves is a good start. Both Kassandra and I could draw on funds from our lands, but that is tax money that could be better used reinvesting in our people. So we are trying to leave those funds alone and act as ¡®normal¡¯ students without those advantages.¡± Rieka explained carefully as we continued to follow the road over the grasslands.

    ¡°That¡­makes a bit more sense. I was just wondering about the cost, wouldn¡¯t it cost less to hire competent guards than to summon me?¡±

    ¡°Not at the moment. A truly skilled guard is compensated higher than a summon, and there is no guarantee that they would reinvest that money into protecting their charges. As a summon, your power will grow the more you work with us. It allows you to grow alongside us. I admit, it¡¯s a bit of a gamble, but I think it¡¯s paying off.¡± Rieka gave me a sunny smile that made my heart twinge a little.

    ¡°Oh it¡¯s definitely paying off. You saw him in the stream as much as I did. Our Liam is a hunk already and I can¡¯t wait to see him develop even more.¡± Kassandra butted in to tease us both. Rieka blushed again but didn¡¯t refute her statement, while I just considered their words.

    <><><>

    Turning in the trophies was surprisingly simple. The girls had picked up the contract from the Hunt and Trade Hall in Kintos. It was a source for a lot of the extra work that the students at Juneau got since it had a smaller branch actually on campus for sharing specific information and locations of various monsters that might have useful supplies for the students of different disciplines. Apparently, crafters would put in orders for materials and reservations for rare monster parts if they were found. It reminded me a lot of an ¡®adventurer guild¡¯ from a few of the games I¡¯d played, but more focused on the commerce side of things.

    ¡°Well that was worthwhile.¡± I murmured as the girls divided the mana-infused coins between them. The job had paid out four of the mana-infused gold coins and a dozen infused silver.

    ¡°Yea, it¡¯s a good step to recoup costs for sure. Not sure if it was worth the risk in the moment, but in the retrospect it is.¡± Rieka tucked the gold into a slender, leather pouch that she had extracted from inside her shirt before slipping it out of sight once more. She¡¯d decided to crowd in close to me to hide the motion from others in the corner of the Hunt and Trade Hall, which had the benefit of giving me a view down her shirt that I was sure was unintentional. She was far to shy to be giving me a show intentionally, so I did my best to not stare at the soft curves during their brief exposure.

    ¡°The trinkets we brought back will probably bring in a few more silver. I put in the notice at the desk about the dead peddler, so if someone has a guess as to who it might be, they¡¯ll be informed. I didn¡¯t see a wedding band or anything, so it¡¯s unlikely they left any family behind.¡± Kassandra was doing something similar to Rieka, but rather than tucking the gold pieces into a pouch, she folded down a portion of her underbust corset to reveal a stitched in pocket which she slipped them into. Apparently the garment didn¡¯t have the solid boning that most corsets did, instead acting more like a close fitting vest combined with a belt. She did the same as Rieka, using me as a shield to block the rest of the room from seeing. Kassandra shot me a wicked grin from her much lower angle. She¡¯d not bothered to button the top of her shirt this entire time and swayed slightly to make her pale, freckled mounds shake.

    ¡°Scamp.¡±

    ¡°Never claimed to be anything else.¡± She grinned again before slipping the silver into a smaller pouch on her hip. ¡°So we are set for the next few weeks for classes with this, but we should plan for more next weekend too. No reason to not have the supplies on hand in a pinch. I know I have at least three spells that need a gold worth of mana to cast, and I¡¯m sure Rieka has more. Plus, if we can get enough for a dimensional bag, that¡¯ll help a lot. Especially when it comes time for overnight trips.¡±

    ¡°Yea, I doubt it. That kobold one was an oddity. The fact that the reward was so high on it was likely because a number of richer merchants want to use the road. A couple of gold to clear out the problem is cheaper than hiring bodyguards for their wagon caravans.¡± Rieka replied, glancing up at me. ¡°Like I mentioned earlier, guards can be really expensive.¡±

    ¡°We didn¡¯t see anyone at all today while on that road, was that weird?¡± I asked while thinking.

    ¡°Hard to say. The trip is long enough that most take it on horseback. If there was a report of the kobolds already out, then I bet folks were waiting to travel until they were taken care of. Also, you noticed there weren¡¯t any houses, farms, or villages off the road to? The road is mostly just to connect Kintos to the port if I remember right. So regular trade is mostly foodstuffs, but the port is used to ship other things too.¡± Kassandra shrugged.

    ¡°Well, either way. I¡¯m glad you girls got the coins you needed to fund your studies. Also makes me feel less like an unrepentant mooch with you buying gear for me. Too bad I can¡¯t take anything back with me. A couple of those gold coins, regardless of mana content, would likely be enough to cover my rent for most of a year if they are at least an ounce each.¡± I sighed, remembering my thoughts while we had been fighting the kobolds earlier in the day.

    Paying the bills fighting monsters would really be an interesting way of making a living. Hell, at this point anything would be better than having to go back and deal with Dutcher.

    ¡°Too bad it costs mana to keep you here, Liam. Or else I¡¯d offer to let you stay with me instead. Would be nice to have you around all the time.¡± Kassandra winked up at me.

    ¡°Kass!¡± Rieka protested, a blush coloring her cheeks at the dwarf lamia¡¯s blunt statement, no doubt the wolf-kin woman¡¯s imagination was running away from her as it continued to darken.

    ¡°What? It would be nice, plus then Liam could focus on training with his ability and the like. You can¡¯t tell me that you wouldn¡¯t love to have him around all the time, even if you just appreciate the figure he cuts.¡± Kassandra purred, leaning into me and pretending to nuzzle into my chest. A motion that was ruined by the leather armor I was still wearing.

    ¡°We are around other people and in public!¡± Rieka continued to protest, glancing around at the different townsfolk that milled around us. Her protests were honestly gathering more attention than Kassandra¡¯s quiet insinuations, but Rieka didn¡¯t notice that part of it.

    ¡°I mean, that¡¯s the entire reason I¡¯m not climbing up Liam like a tree right now.¡± Kassandra giggled at her friend, who looked ready to combust.

    ¡°Okay, Kass. Enough teasing Rieka.¡± I interjected calmly and Kassandra sighed, but nodded.

    ¡°Fine. But I really do want to climb you like a tree right now. You did a good job today and should be rewarded.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll take your thanks in reward for now, Kass. Rieka does make a point that this is a bit of a public setting for such things after all.¡± I reminded her gently and Kassandra sighed again, more heavily this time.

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll just put it on your tab to show my appreciation for later. I think, once we get back in the green as far as costs go, we can try and set the consumed coinage aside for you if you do get a transport ability.¡±

    ¡°No, we can figure that out when we get there. For now, you girls take the funds. I¡¯m getting paid in power after all.¡± I shot them a wink. The message had come across my vision when I¡¯d handed over the tail tips of the kobolds earlier.

    Assist your contracted companions, Kassandra Silverscale and Rieka Coldeye, with their mission to eliminate the kobolds and see them home safely.

    Reward - 300 SP

    COMPLETED

    With another 300 SP on hand, I now sat at exactly 500 SP in my ¡®wallet¡¯ as I was thinking of it in the System interface. I need to look closer at the Enhance Self thing when I get back. It¡¯s only mid-afternoon and while I¡¯m wiped out from the walking, it¡¯d be worth it to check it over.

    Thinking of the power reminded me of the crocodile skin on my left hand and I glanced at it. We were back in town and safe, so while the girls headed out the door, I focused on my hand and urged the skin to return to normal. It took almost ten seconds to do, but the scales faded away and were replaced with my skin.

    ¡°Now I just gotta get to the point that I can do that even quicker.¡± I muttered to myself, following after the girls. I did notice the irritated gazes of a couple of people standing on the other side of the hall following them, specifically Kassandra. Looks like Kass wasn¡¯t as quiet as she thought she might have been earlier. The people glaring at her and Rieka looked rather offended, but then again if this was anything like the middle ages of Earth, it was fairly puritanical in mindset.

    One of the folks glaring looked familiar though, but I couldn¡¯t place her. I wasn¡¯t able to stay and study them, as the girls were already moving quickly and I needed to keep up while they went about selling our other ¡®loot¡¯.

    I mostly spent the time keeping watch for them while they sold the bits of handmade jewelry off to a bulk vendor, though I did take the opportunity to check on the progress of my Shape-Shifting power. Navigating to the stats page, I was happy to find that the mastery rating for ¡®Shape-Shifting (Minor)¡¯ had increased drastically.

    Mastery - 223/1000

    Huh, apparently using it in a fight helped a lot. Or maybe it was leaving the shift in place? I¡¯ll have to experiment some.

    ¡°Liam! Come on, let''s go get something as a treat before you have to head back.¡± Kassandra¡¯s voice brought me out of my thoughts and the grinning dwarf lamia grabbed one of my hands to tug me down the street towards what looked suspiciously like a bakery. Rieka followed after us with a laugh.

 Chapter 12

    The feeling of hot water cascading over my head was almost enough to make me collapse on the spot in my shower. The loofa-cloth that I scrubbed with made my entire body tingle happily at finally being able to remove the sticky sensation of sweat and blood off my skin.

    ¡°Washing up in the stream helped, but I need to figure out if they have anything that would work like this. Something to add to that pack they said they¡¯d put together for me.¡± I muttered, scrubbing the roughly textured cloth over my side where I¡¯d been stabbed with the crude spear. The injury was fully healed, not even a scar remained behind at this point. Which, I reflected, was a good thing. If this first mission protecting the girls was anything to go on, I was going to end up getting hurt again. The fact that Kassandra could just patch me up with a spell was good. However, the fact that it cut into their budget made it bad too.

    How did Kass describe it? They have a ¡®spell budget¡¯ that they are trying to remain inside of. Healing me eats into that, which means they may not have the funds to join in later. And they are already in a deficit from summoning and equipping me. We made decent headway in that department today, but that could easily change. Plus, they have to make enough of a ¡®profit¡¯ in mana to fund their studies each week. I thought while I scrubbed my body. Kass told me to not worry about it, and just let them manage it. And I should. It¡¯s not my place to be dictating their finances after all. The fact that mana is money there just makes it hard to accept extra spending like the healing on me. So I need to be better prepared in the future.

    I spent another ten minutes just enjoying the hot water in the shower and considering what I could do to improve for the future. Bringing a gun with me would help, I already had those after all. But there was no guarantee I¡¯d be able to deal with problems before they closed to melee distance. If the kobolds had broken and run from the gun, it would have prevented my injury. However, we¡¯d have had to chase them through the trees at that point. But that was moot because I couldn¡¯t bring a gun with me. Not yet at least.

    Thinking about transferring items and the powers reminded me of something Cariad had said before; one of the ways that the System would unlock powers was as a result of me investing the points that I earned. I was currently sitting on five hundred points that I hadn¡¯t spent. Which brought to mind the connection I¡¯d made earlier about how one of the stats might actually help with Shape-Shifting.

    Not sure what was going to happen when I started messing with my physiology, I got dried off and left my tiny bathroom before heading into the living room. I only bothered to throw on a set of pajama bottoms out of habit.

    Seated on my couch, I closed my eyes and regarded the System interface. The tabs were just as I remembered them and I started to open my stats page to check the numbers before sighing. I was stalling.

    You promised you¡¯d look after them. I reminded myself with a growl. In a fit of self-directed anger, I shoved my mind to the ¡®Powers¡¯ tab and to the untested power I¡¯d spent so long considering.

    Enhance Self (Minor) - Cost: 10 SP - Increase personal stats by a single point per purchase, up to a maximum of five points per stat.

    May be selected multiple times.

    Not letting myself hesitate, I activated the power five times in rapid succession and the counter in the upper right hand corner spiraled down from five hundred SP available to four hundred and fifty.

    Nothing happened after that, but on a hunch I went back to my stats page and noticed that each of them had a +/- flashing next to them now. Committing to the decision, I mentally tapped the + next to ¡®Mental Acuity¡¯ five times and the number thirteen rapidly spiraled up to eighteen. A message popped up over my stats after that.

    Processing changes¡­ ¡­ ¡­ Changes applied to Travelers body.

    New neural pathways are being forged.

    Maximum effect of Enhance Self (Minor) has been applied to the status Mental Acuity.

    To improve further, unlock the next rank of Enhance Self.

    It is recommended that the Traveler rests to allow System time to make changes.

    ¡°Well crap. That means I can¡¯t experiment with it yet.¡± I grumbled under my breath.

    Sitting alone in my quiet apartment, I could only hear the faint sounds of Mrs. Kowalski¡¯s Jeopardy playing through the wall on full blast and the distant sound of an argument from another of the neighbors'' apartments.

    ¡°Fuck it.¡± I grunted and went back into the interface. I had plenty of SP to spend and nothing else I could buy just yet. Digging back into the ¡®Powers¡¯ tab, I carefully counted out the activations until I had spent the maximum amount of points on the power that I could, another twenty five activations and the power went silver in my interface. Flipping back to the Stats page let me dump five points into each of the other five stats as well.

    As soon as I activated the last one, the Stats page vanished and another System message scrolled over my vision in brilliantly glowing purple lights.

    Traveler had applied maximum bonuses to all stats from the power Enhance Self (Minor).

    Traveler is advised to eat and then immediately sleep as the System will begin making comprehensive enhancements to their body.

    Not a second after I finished reading the first message, another appeared under the first.

    Enhance Self (Minor) has had the maximum amount of SP invested into it.

    As Enhance Self (Minor) is a flat enhancement of the base Traveler, the ability is considered mastered.

    A flare of gold light had me opening the ¡®Powers¡¯ tab once more and Enhance Self (Minor) was now lined in gold, rather than silver.

    ¡°Huh, neat.¡± I muttered, scanning the page for anything else that had changed. Nothing had, so I opened my eyes and the System interface faded away. ¡°Might as well do what it recommended. I¡¯m bushed from the fighting. Some food would be good.¡±

    Getting up, the world spun around me as my body reacted far faster than I¡¯d expected. The System was already at work making the changes in my body and I had to be careful as I moved. The sensation that I was moving faster than I should have, combined with the rest of the world moving a bit slower, was very disorienting.

    It took a bit of work to get to the fridge and grab one of the tupperware containers I¡¯d put my prepped lunches into. I didn¡¯t trust myself to actually cook anything at the moment.

    While eating, I got my phone and started watching videos about sword fighting and history, figuring that it might help me improve, even slightly.

    <><><>

    I learned several things both that evening and the following morning.

    The first thing I learned was that YouTube was probably not the best source of information for practical sword skills, as anyone could post whatever they wanted without having any kind of official background. A lot of what I saw while eating gave conflicting information, so I¡¯d chalked it up as something I needed to research in more depth when I had time, which I promised to do right after work the next day.

    The second thing I learned was that using the System to enhance your body while you slept was both cool, and painful. Apparently increasing all of my stats at once put quite a strain on my body. Something I only realized in hindsight with my enhanced wisdom the next morning when my entire body ached like I¡¯d spent hours in the gym.

    I knew that some of it had to be the results of the previous day¡¯s adventure as well, but parts of me hurt that really shouldn¡¯t have. The improved mental scores told me that the most likely culprit was the Enhance Self power. I also got a more pleasant surprise while I was laying in bed that morning groaning.

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    New Powers available in the System interface.

    Congratulations, Traveler.

    Navigating to the ¡®Powers¡¯ menu showed me a new entry that branched off of the, now golden, Enhance Self (Minor) power.

    Enhance Self (Lesser) - Cost: 50 SP - Increase personal stats by 5 points. These points can be spread out after, up to a maximum of ten points per stat beyond (Minor) effects.

    May be selected multiple times.

    If the previous tier was not fully exploited, that opportunity is not lost. Previous tier will become unavailable once max points are allotted from it.

    I¡¯d prodded the skill for more information regarding the last part, as it hadn¡¯t manifested until I had already fully ¡®exploited¡¯ the previous tier, but it hadn¡¯t given me anything to work with. Without much time before work, I¡¯d been forced to hurry and get dressed.

    The improvements to my physical strength and reflexes were surprising. I¡¯d improved most of my base stats by between thirty and fifty percent overnight. I remembered that Cariad had said it would take a bit for my body to fully accept the enhancements and be able to utilize them, but I could already feel the benefit as well as see it in the mirror.

    The spare tire I¡¯d been carrying around my waist from eating too much fast food was gone, leaving only a thin layer of padding over my abdomen. My arms had gained an inch or more of muscle overnight and improved definition. I did have some concerns about what might happen if I boosted the stats even more. I had enough left over SP to add another twenty points to myself, with a cap of an additional ten points to any one stat. The idea of increasing my base by a further fifty or more percent was both tempting and a little concerning. I resisted the urge by focusing on the fact I needed to get used to what I had first. Where did the additional muscle mass come from though? There is no way I had that much spare protein in the food I ate last night? I thought to myself as I stared at my thicker biceps in the mirror. Magic, it¡¯s the only answer. How did you get swole? Totally not steroids or drugs, it¡¯s just magic folks!

    Work put my new willpower ability to the test as well. Dutcher was his normal annoying self, hovering when he could and pestering me at random. The little idiot continued to ride his nerd chariot around and would pop up at random to offer ¡®advice¡¯ on how to load the truck.

    ¡°You should set the water cases on the bottom, Cosgrave. Heavy items always go on the bottom. The totes are lighter and can go on top. You¡¯d think that with as long as you¡¯ve been loading trucks, you¡¯d know something as simple as that.¡±

    I bit back a growl of irritation and ignored him, continuing to shift the totes into place to form a flat wall that would help support what lay behind it.

    ¡°Are you listening to me, Cosgrave?¡±

    ¡°Nope. Just doing my job, Dutcher. There is a reason I do it this way.¡± I responded bluntly without looking up at the pudgy silhouette of the man balancing on his segway at the entrance to my trailer.

    ¡°Fine, if you aren¡¯t going to take the advice I¡¯m giving, then there is nothing I can do to prevent the complaints from the drivers that I¡¯m sure will come as a result.¡± Dutcher shot back, offended venom thick in his voice.

    Once again exercising my improved willpower, I ignored the attempted insult and just kept working. A minute later, I heard the quiet whine of Dutcher¡¯s Segway as he scooted away from the end of my truck.

    ¡°Knob-goblin.¡± I muttered under my breath. Now that Dutcher was gone, I could go back to focusing on what else I¡¯d been doing while loading.

    Since I couldn¡¯t watch videos or do research while on the clock, I probably could have holed up inside the trailer out of sight and fiddled with my phone but my integrity wouldn¡¯t let me, I was practicing my Shape-Shifting as Rieka had suggested. Wearing long sleeves sucked, since the already warm trailer was even hotter now with the exertion of movement. Thankfully, my improved endurance was helping as well too.

    Underneath the long-sleeve flannel, the skin from my wrist to my elbow on my left arm slowly hardened and thickened until it had transformed into the scales and hide of a crocodile.

    Lifting up another stack of totes carefully, there was no way of knowing for sure how heavy each stack was going to be until I actually lifted it after all, I shuffled over to set it down while also focusing on returning my arm to normal once more.

    It turned out that the increase in mental acuity had helped. Not by a ton, but it had helped. The shifting change to my arm only took around two seconds to complete in one direction. I had to focus, but it was easier. The shifting in combat had been faster, but I¡¯d also been hyper focused on protecting myself and the girls while here I was splitting my attention.

    Walking over to the pallet full of case waters, I checked to make sure no one was standing at the open end of the trailer before focusing on my right index finger. It took less than a second while I was actually focusing on it without any distractions. A claw sprouted from the tip of my finger that was black and glossy, like that of a hawk or an eagle. Using it like a box knife, I drug it over the plastic wrap. The talon wasn¡¯t perfect for cutting, apparently natural claws and talons didn¡¯t have much of a slicing edge to them. I already had plans to research dinosaurs and other clawed animals as well to see what I could do to improve myself more. At the moment it was just utility use though, beyond the improved defenses from adding the thicker animal hide.

    I just hope I don¡¯t end up having to bite people¡­the best natural weapons I¡¯ve seen in the animal kingdom are always teeth and I really don¡¯t wanna know what kobolds taste like. I thought idly before urging the claw to return to a finger once more before hefting several cases of water up and carrying them to stack on top of the totes. I refused to load things like Dutcher had suggested because the plastic that the water bottles were made of was so thin it wasn¡¯t able to support much weight, and if one or two bottles crushed, everything on top of it would fall over. I¡¯d explained it to him in the past, but he continued to think his method was superior because he¡¯d come up with it.

    Maybe I can grow horns¡­or antlers like Cerebaton has. I¡¯d be more down for that than biting something. I thought while walking back to grab more of the cases of water. The section that I was currently loading would need several dozen of them so I was just counting as I went, I could scan them in when it was done. Thinking about Cerebaton¡¯s antlers brought my mind back around on the track of the slate-blue daemon woman that was my caseworker and a thought occurred to me. Checking to make sure the coast was clear, I paused with my back to the entrance of the trailer and closed my eyes before navigating to the message tab of the System interface.

    Liam

    Hey, had a quick question for you, Cari. The first mission I went on with the girls was rough, made it through fine but it highlighted that I don¡¯t really have the knowledge I need to protect them properly. And Earth isn¡¯t really the kind of place you can learn to fight with a sword easily. I know it¡¯s a long shot, but do you have any ideas of things I can do to close the gap? I¡¯m making progress on Shape-Shifting, but it¡¯s not quick enough for me.

    With the message sent to Cariad in hope she might have a solution or idea, I walked back towards the pallet of water where it sat on the dock. I had barely made it ten steps before the edges of my vision flashed to signify a message had come back. Grabbing three cases quickly, I hurried back into the truck and checked it.

    Cariad

    Of course, Liam. This is why I¡¯m here after all, to help you get settled into the situation you find yourself in. Congratulations on the successful mission, as well as on mastering an ability. The System only noted that you had mastered your first one. I¡¯m betting that it was Enhance Self (Minor) since that one is a lot easier to master than Shape-Shifting (Minor) is. What sort of help did you need specifically? I am guessing that, since you mentioned learning sword fighting, you want to improve your weapon skills?

    Liam

    Yea, that is the issue. I ended up using the sword the girls bought me more like a baseball bat than anything else. The shopkeeper we bought it from actually recommended a mace for me, but I wanted a sword¡­now that the girls spent the money on it, I need to learn to use it properly. I was trying to research it on the Internet last night and videos can help, but the problem is that there aren¡¯t really any ¡®sword masters¡¯ around. Not real ones anyway, the closest I found were guys who trained in weapons along with martial arts, but I don¡¯t have that kind of time. I need to focus on weapon training specifically. I did learn how to use Shape-Shifting to give myself stronger skin though, and that has paid off.

    Cariad

    I¡¯m glad that you are keeping in mind protecting yourself, Liam. That is a very important consideration to have. If you are looking for something with weapons though, I¡¯d recommend contacting Mr. Cerebaton about it. He might have a business contact he can leverage to get you help. He¡¯s actually just walking across the office right now. Let me ask him!

    I set the stacked water down and kept working, wondering if Cariad¡¯s boss might have an idea of what could help. The idea that the big man might have business connections to someone on Earth that could train me was surprising. Then again, it wasn¡¯t the strangest thing I¡¯d thought of. That was currently taken by the image of Cariad sitting in a traditional office space with a number of other strange people that were Daemons as well. Given the difference between her and Cerebaton, I could only imagine what others of her species looked like. Maybe five minutes later, the edges of my vision flashed and I closed my eyes to check the messages.

    Cariad

    Mr. Cerebaton said that he¡¯d be willing to tutor you himself actually! You just have to meet him around six tonight at the city park nearest your apartment. He wants to see where you are in skill level before fully committing to it.

    Liam

    Cari, I appreciate his offer but how is that going to work? Someone his size and¡­well color is going to stick out like a sore thumb at the city park.

    Cariad

    Oh don¡¯t worry about that. Mr. Cerebaton has a bit of Shape-Shifting as well, so he can disguise himself. Just meet him by the gazebo in the middle of the park. He said he has some training equipment that he can lend you at the very least.

    Liam

    Thank him for me, would you? I plan to thank him tonight, but please pass that to him in advance.

    Cariad

    Of course! Anything else I can help you with?

    Liam

    Only if you can tell me what I have to do to unlock some way to transfer items. I¡¯d be able to protect the girls better if I had a gun I could bring.

    Cariad

    Not something I know, unfortunately. It¡¯s considered a ¡®regular¡¯ power for most Travelers as far as the System is concerned, but when it becomes available is entirely up to the individual.

    Liam

    Okay, thanks a bunch, Cari. Have a good one.

    Cariad

    You too, Liam.

    ¡°Huh¡­training with Cerebaton? That¡¯ll be¡­interesting.¡± I muttered while rubbing my eyes. I¡¯d been pressing them closed in focus while messaging Cariad and now I had sparkles dancing in my vision.

    ¡°Cosgrave!¡± Dutcher¡¯s squeaky bellow made me sigh in exasperation and I headed over to find out what the idiot wanted this time. He only used that particular bellow when he had some task he wanted to assign to an unfortunate.

 Chapter 13

    The park that Cariad had mentioned was one that I was familiar with. Before work got to the point where I was just so exhausted that I¡¯d collapse into bed after a long day, I used to come here to run on the nature path around the pond.

    It honestly wasn¡¯t much of a park. I think the local children¡¯s soccer league got more use out of it than anybody else in the neighborhood, and even the soccer nets were looking pretty tattered at this point. Two large fields sat on the west half of the park, while the eastern half was taken up by the smattering of trees that ringed a little pond. A gazebo sat between the two of them, closer to the pond side. It made for a decent picnic spot as long as the local teens weren¡¯t using it to hang out and smoke in.

    It was close enough to my apartment that I left the truck there and walked over after I got back with work. The extra points in endurance had paid off already. Today had been a bit rough for work, but I still had enough energy that I could have done another half shift at least.

    ¡°Wonder how many points I need to add before I don¡¯t have to sleep?¡± I muttered to myself as I approached the gazebo in the park. It was a large, two story wooden affair that was painted a light tan in color with wooden shingles for the roof. The entire building was maybe thirty feet across, and the lower area was actually just storage for the picnic tables that would be set out if someone actually rented it for an event or something. Normally they were locked away out of sight in a storage space there. I¡¯d only seen it actually rented once before, but people had parties here often enough that there were several large trash cans already set under the somewhat-wobbly stairs that lead up to the open air second floor.

    ¡°Liam, come on up.¡± A voice called to me as I came to a stop at the base of the stairs. Looking towards the voice, I spotted the speaker readily.

    When I¡¯d last seen Cerebaton, he was easily eight feet tall and nearly half that wide, with a rack of elk antlers that added another two feet to his height. Now though, he looked more like someone training for a modern reboot of Rocky, but not for the main role. Instead, Cerebaton looked a lot more like Drago from the same movie. Pale skinned with blond hair and a chiseled jaw. He still had the same muscular build, just compacted into a six and a half foot frame rather than the eight foot tall one. He even had the same spiky, flat-top hairdo that Drago did for the movie. He was dressed in a skin tight lycra shirt in dark green and a pair of jogging pants rather than his normal business suit.

    ¡°Cerebaton?¡±

    ¡°Yup, come on up. I heard most of it from Ms. Davies, but I wanted to hear it from you as well.¡± The big man¡¯s voice was even deeper in this form, so I hurried up to meet him.

    The upper floor of the gazebo was actually fairly clean. Last time I was up here, it had been littered with old beer cans, cigarette butts, and assorted trash. Cerebaton was standing towards the center of the clear space with a wooden replica of an arming sword in each hand, one of which he tossed to me.

    I dropped it. I did try to catch it, but it was close enough to look like a real weapon that my brain went on autopilot, screaming that that the blade was sharp and I tried to grab for the handle.

    ¡°Okay, so you are at least safety conscious.¡± Cerebaton sighed. He held the other copy of the same wooden weapon at the ready. ¡°Ms. Davies told me that you wanted to improve your sword skills to act as a stopgap until your abilities grow?¡±

    I picked up the dropped practice weapon and checked it for nicks or scratches before realizing it was going to get beaten up anyway with what Cerebaton was obviously planning. So I got my grip settled and squared up with him before I answered the question.

    ¡°Yes and no. The world that the girls are calling me to is more¡­sword and sorcery I suppose? I would love to just bring a gun with me and call that good, I¡¯m sure I could protect them a lot better with even just a pump-action shotgun.¡±

    ¡°But you don¡¯t have access to the Dimensional Pocket ability.¡± Cerebaton finished the statement with a nod of understanding. ¡°We are going to spar in slow motion. Do not swing hard or fast, just focus on keeping a steady motion and show me how you move. I need to know what I¡¯m working with.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡± I made a clumsy lunge at him, moving at what I estimated to be a quarter normal speed, which felt like a sluggish crawl to me. I still felt off balance by the weighted replica, and that was further exacerbated by Cerebaton smoothly blocking with his weapon, moving slowly as well.

    ¡°It¡¯s smart to have training in weapons like this anyway, you never know when you will need to be quiet. Human firearms are loud and flashy after all. They have their place in some situations, but in others it is less good.¡± Cerebaton coached as we moved from slow clash to slow clash. This close, I noticed that his eyes were still the same bright yellow as they had been when he was in his regular form.

    ¡°Yea, I had to take down one kobold on the quiet, since the girls'' spells would have been too loud and drawn others to us or not guaranteed a silent kill. I don¡¯t know when I¡¯ll get that ability to store stuff to move between worlds. It could be tomorrow, it could be in six months from now. I might never get it. I don¡¯t wanna risk one of them because I was being lazy.¡± I answered, moving to chop down at Cerebaton¡¯s thigh. He shifted it easily out of the way and flicked his sword up to tap my wrist lightly, still moving in slow motion but managing to surprise me. The motion had all been in his wrist, he hadn¡¯t even shifted his shoulder at all, just rolled his wrist and let the weight of the weapon guide it.

    ¡°Good, being a protector requires proper polish and dedication after all. You will need to learn a martial style as well, to properly master your Shape-Shifting in combat. Have you been practicing to smooth its growth?¡± We reset as Cerebaton asked that and continued.

    ¡°Yea, off and on when I have time. I need to do some research to get animal examples with the traits I want. The problem is that most animals in the human world keep their deadliest weapons in their mouths and I really don¡¯t wanna go biting monsters.¡±

    ¡°It is rather disgusting, and sometimes dangerous depending on the animal. Some are toxic after all, so you will need to rely on your local experts to let you know if it is dangerous. Especially if you are going to be working with these two for a long time.¡± Cerebaton waited for me to lunge forward and turned into the lunge, using his blade as a shield to guide it away as he came around with his free arm to throw a mock elbow into my head. ¡°Remember, your blade isn¡¯t your only weapon. The inexperienced will focus on it and forget that you have other methods of attack. Moreso for you, since you can add them on the fly.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡±

    We went silent for the next half hour as Cerebaton put me through a series of spars that showed me just how little I knew about swords. I tried a few of the tricks from the YouTube videos that I¡¯d seen that were worthwhile, but my grip on the sword was still unsteady and Cerebaton defeated them every time. His expression remained carefully neutral the entire time. The evening fell in around us and the city streetlights popped on with a quiet buzz, moths beginning to swarm around the yellow lights.

    After the first half hour, Cerebaton called for us to take a break and I was glad for it. Sweat was pouring down my face and my arms were trembling from the exertion of swinging the weapon around in slow but steady motions. My shoulders protested the added strain as well, not being used to dealing with the odd weight of the sword. While I leaned against one of the posts supporting the gazebo roof, Cerebaton rubbed his chiseled jaw with one large hand while he stared into the distance.

    ¡°I can teach you enough that you can start to develop your own style.¡± Cerebaton said after a long moment of silence. ¡°There are established sword styles, but they would stymie your growth in my opinion. Due to the fact that your body is malleable, you will have opportunities that others will not. You just need to be able to see them and learn to use them.¡±

    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°Such as?¡± I panted, using the practice sword as a cane to support myself while I worked on getting my breathing under control.

    Rather than answer me clearly, Cerebaton held his sword out with a flourish and made several strikes in midair to illustrate his range of motion. He paused and gave me a pointed look, before repeating them all and his arm literally folded in reverse like his elbow didn¡¯t exist at all. It doubled his effective striking range and changed the angles he could swing at if needed.

    ¡°Just one trick I picked up by combining weapon work with the amount of Shape-Shifting that I have mastered. The challenge will be finding your moment to strike, as well as inspiration for what you could do. Hardening parts of your body to protect from impact or slices, covering your hand in an organic gauntlet to catch and deflect a weapon strike.¡± Cerebaton lectured as he continued to move through a smooth series of strikes that made me think of a martial arts kata. ¡°Your limits are the creativity you put into it, and how much you are willing to practice and research options.¡±

    ¡°Fair enough. How much is it going to cost me for lessons? I need to know more than ¡®pointy end goes in the other guy¡¯ with weapons and how they work before I start improvising.¡± I had managed to get my breath back and stood up, shouldering the practice sword once more while Cerebaton brought his form to an end.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to pay anything. I can bill this back to the DSR as overtime to help resolve the issue caused by the laxity of one of our employees. At least for now. Bringing you up to speed and on your way as a Traveler is important enough that no one will question it.¡± Cerebaton shrugged slightly, though I saw a slight smile on his thin lips. ¡°The real question is going to be how dedicated you are to this? I believe I can spare you two nights a week for a few hours. More than that will cause issues though. This will give you the foundation to start building on and allow you to practice on your own the other nights. For now though, I can guarantee my help for a few months at that rate.¡±

    I considered it for only a moment before agreeing with a nod. I needed all the help I could get. From the fluidity of his motions it was clear that the daemon knew what he was doing.

    ¡°Where do we start?¡±

    <><><>

    Cerebaton drilled me for another two hours, well into the evening and past the point the park was normally closed. The dim light from the nearby street-lamps illuminated us enough that I could keep up, but after it got too dark to spar, he just worked me through drills. Given it was the first night, he focused on a series of exercises that would help the sword feel more natural in my hand and guide me to swing it properly. Cerebaton also spent a bit of time teaching me a drill that I could do at home.

    ¡°There are six general quadrants you can attack from. Above, the sides, and from below, on the right and left sides of each.¡± Cerebaton explained slowly, pointing to his right and left shoulders; the right and left sides of his hips; and then patting his right and left thighs. ¡°If you number them off from one to six, going from right to left before dropping down and repeating, you have your attack zones. Right shoulder is one, left is two, right hip is three and so on. Anywhere in those quadrants can be targeted, but the motion is roughly the same for each zone. For now, just go through it in slow motion, striking the zones one through six. The goal right now is to make the motion of swinging the sword more natural for you. Eventually, we will start doing it during a duel. I will call out zones for you to attack and you are to select a target in that zone and do your best to get past my defenses.¡±

    ¡°Won¡¯t that condition me to attack certain places if people are shouting numbers at me?¡± I asked while making slow, chopping attacks into the air in a one through six pattern, throwing a single swing at each of the zones while Cerebaton watched to make sure I was keeping my strikes organized.

    ¡°Not something that happens during fighting. And, if we do it right, you¡¯ll only be responding that way to my voice doing it. I highly doubt there will be a reason for us to fight, unless you decide to do something stupid with Ms. Davies.¡± Cerebaton had relaxed as we practiced, the normally stiff and serious attitude that I¡¯d seen before on him fading away as he slowly worked up a sweat while we clashed. That serious glare came back in full force in a moment though. His face was stiff with the promise of injury or death and his tone cold.

    ¡°Cariad is a good person and someone I consider a friend. No worries there.¡± I reassured him, focusing on the drill I was going through rather than his glare.

    ¡°Good, I just wanted to make sure my point was clear regarding my subordinate. She actually wanted to be here to make sure I wouldn¡¯t ¡®bully¡¯ you, did you know that?¡± The seriousness fled like a bird taking flight, being replaced with idle amusement. I had to fight not to sigh in relief at the change in mood, so I decided to add to the levity.

    ¡°Were you planning to bully me? Is this bullying? My bruises would say yes.¡± While we had been sparring at slow speeds, Cerebaton would occasionally whack my legs or arms if I fell out of the stance he had been training me to use.

    ¡°No, bullying would be just forcing you to spar with me at full speed. I¡¯ll save that for at least our third appointment.¡± Cerebaton sent me a grin that was full of wicked amusement and the promise of a bruised ego. Thankfully, I wasn¡¯t worried about it. My ego could take a back seat for now, any injuries it received would be worth it the next time I had to step in front of the girls to protect them.

    ¡°Is it ridiculous that I would rather fight monsters than work my day job, if I was given a choice?¡± I asked out of the blue, the question having been simmering in my chest and the back of my mind since Sunday. The last twenty four hours hadn¡¯t really helped settle it.

    ¡°Two strikes, one-one, one-two, one-three.¡± Cerebaton began calling out, his expression going thoughtful as I moved into the now familiar part of the drill.

    He let me run through the drill once fully before he responded.

    ¡°Not really. Some people are born for slower paced lives without the threat to their survival and the challenge of the world. There is nothing wrong with that. But some people.¡± He gave me a pointed look. ¡°Some are born with the spirit of the storm within their blood. Restless harbingers of violence and battle that feel strangled in times of peace. But they are needed as surely as those who can embrace rest and peace with open arms, as someone must stand watch atop the walls of society to protect those who are still growing. I think you are just more at home within the strife than most of your kind.¡±

    ¡°Poetic.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s something that has come up. My people haven¡¯t fought a war in a very long time, but we haven¡¯t truly been at peace for just as long. We skirmish along the borders of reality, clashing sometimes with empires, cults, and peoples who seek to destabilize their reality or others for things as lofty as a divine mandate, and as lowly as petty revenge. So even if I wanted to embrace peace and just push paper behind a desk, it¡¯s not likely something I would get the choice over.¡± Cerebaton shrugged after he finished speaking, as if he had come to terms with his lifestyle some time ago.

    Silence ensued for another few minutes while I went through the exercise again.

    ¡°It¡¯s reassuring to know I¡¯m not weird then.¡± I said, finishing with a matching pair of strikes into the number six zone.

    ¡°Oh, rest assured Liam. You are quite weird.¡± Cerebaton cracked a grin at me that made his yellow eyes dance mischievously. ¡°I mean, think about it. You travel between dimensions at the beck and call of entities not of your species. Your body is malleable in a fashion that would give scientists and geneticists aneurysms just to consider, let alone if you were to demonstrate it for them. Add in the fact that you spent your weekend fighting monsters, before going back to your regular day job. You then use a dimension-spanning mystical supercomputer to contact another extra-dimensional entity for sword lessons.¡±

    ¡°I suppose when you put it that way, I¡¯m pretty weird.¡± I laughed in response. Cerebaton chuckled along with me, a rich and deep sound that made me think it would be the sort of noise a bison might make if the animal could laugh.

    ¡°Well, you should wrap up here. Go home and take a hot shower, but make sure to switch it back to cold for at least a minute before you get out. That will help your muscles not be as sore tomorrow.¡± Cerebaton coached when he finished laughing. ¡°Take the practice swords with you, they are safe to remain here. I will meet you here in two days for your next session. I need to do some shuffling with my schedule to open up set evenings, so the dates during the week may change, but I can swing at least two nights a week to help you get on your way.¡±

    ¡°Thanks Cerebaton. I owe you one.¡± I accepted his practice sword and stacked it with the other one. I¡¯d need to bring a gym bag or something to wrap around them. Even made of wood, walking down the street with a pair of swords over my shoulder was going to look odd and attract attention.

    ¡°Nonsense. I¡¯m being paid overtime by the department for this, and you have the right mindset. Plus, if you excel then it will reflect well on my newest subordinate. I am rather happy with how hard Ms. Davies is working right now. Expect to get a surprise from her sometime soon.¡± Cerebaton waved off my thanks with a small smile.

    ¡°A good surprise?¡± I asked, but he just continued to smirk at me mysteriously.

    A car backfiring on the street nearby pulled my gaze away from him, and when I looked back to where Cerebaton had been standing in the middle of the gazebo, he was gone.

    I couldn¡¯t help the snark at that moment though. While clomping down the stairs from the gazebo to the ground, I grumbled under my breath.

    ¡°Does he think he¡¯s Batman or something?¡±

 Chapter 14

    Tuesday morning saw my whole body aching and feeling rather creaky when I got out of bed. The workout with Cerebaton the previous night, combined with a full day of work, had done a number on me even with my improved endurance. Thankfully, Cerebaton had given me some stretches and exercises to do in the morning to help loosen up. The memory of Kassandra¡¯s tight hug helped to remind me why I was doing this and motivate me to keep with it.

    During the work day I checked the mastery bar for my Shape-Shifting ability regularly. With the practice from the previous two days, both at home and when I could sneak it at work, the bar was edging upwards steadily. It was now in the mid four hundreds. Dutcher was acting like an ass again, constantly coming over to ¡®check¡¯ on me and remind me that ¡®if I was going to go on break, I needed to be sure to let him know¡¯. I bit down the urge to remind him that he didn¡¯t, in fact, need to know I was on break, since I didn¡¯t have to ask him for the right to take a break. I crammed the irritation into a hole and papered over it with the memory of going shopping with Rieka and Kassandra the previous Saturday.

    Wednesday was a repeat of Monday for the most part. Work annoyed me, but I continued to make steady progress on the front of my Shape-Shifting. I¡¯d made sure to go through the ¡®one to six¡¯ drill, as Cerebaton had called it, the night before and he continued working with me on the drill while we discussed options on further stat increases.

    ¡°Better to not burn up the points yet. Your Shape-Shifting is moving along at a good clip and you never know what your contractors will need. Better to remain adaptable for now, especially with you learning a new skill. If you go through another massive stat bump like you did before, then it will sabotage what you are learning now.¡± Cerebaton coached me while continuing the drills. I did my best to focus on the swings he was describing. The big man had taken the task of being my target, so I was getting the feedback of actually striking something rather than just swinging through the air.

    ¡°Fair point. I hope to have the initial mastery done for the minor rank of Shape-Shifting by the weekend. I¡¯m hoping it increases the mass I can shift, since five pounds isn¡¯t much to work with.¡± I panted, the clack of wood on wood echoing through the darkened park. I wondered idly why we hadn¡¯t had someone come to investigate the noise yet. The park didn¡¯t have the reputation of being a nice place in general, but teen¡¯s still used the soccer fields and hung out here. Not once had they come to investigate the two grown men whaling on each other with sticks. Maybe they are smarter than I am about something like that.

    ¡°Enjoy the speed at which you are moving right now. It will slow down as you increase in ranks. The System has its own way of measuring how well you utilize an ability and it will not let you progress to the next stage until you fully understand the one you are at.¡± Cerebaton then stepped back to let his own weapon fall to one side. The Drago look-alike was only sweating lightly, but I was glad for the reprieve and let my tired arms fall to my sides.

    ¡°I just wish I could shift away the ache in my muscles.¡± I sighed, using my sweat-soaked shirt to scrub at my dripping face.

    ¡°It is possible, at higher levels. The pain is a combination of lactic acid and muscle tears. Given time, you will be able to use the ability to heal or close injuries. Be aware though that your body is still going to be injured and you will still need to take time to heal. We aren¡¯t natural shifters with undetermined biomass that can be drafted to work in different fashions. You and I both have organs necessary to survive and they will still experience trauma if you are say¡­run through with a sword. You can just keep yourself from bleeding to death a bit easier. If I were to cut open your arm and you sealed it by changing the skin to a shell that covered it, the flesh beneath would still need time to heal.¡± Cerebaton cautioned, pulling a gleaming watch that looked a lot like a Rolex out of a pocket. ¡°Enough resting. I need to go over your exercises for the weekend. We meet again on the second day of your workweek, your Tuesday I believe it is called.¡±

    ¡°Got it, boss.¡± I sighed, hefting my practice sword into place and preparing for the instruction to come.

    <><><>

    Cerebaton¡¯s list of exercises to supplement the sword drills I was already doing put me further into the mindset of Rocky, given the amount of sit ups, crunches, leg lifts, and other types of abdominal workouts he wanted. We¡¯d actually discussed it and come up with a few ideas of ways I could work in extra movements at work to further exercise muscle groups that would add power to my swings. He¡¯d also urged me to start running again when I could, in order to build up my wind.

    I¡¯d cruised through work on Thursday in a bit of an exhausted fog. After finishing the weapon exercises with Cerebaton, I¡¯d jogged back to my apartment and immediately put the workout to use. I regretted that the next day, waking up with sore and trembling arms, as well as an abdomen that insisted I was an idiot of epic proportions for the work I¡¯d demanded of it. Work wouldn¡¯t wait though, so I dosed up on what my army friends fondly called ¡®Vitamin M¡¯ and headed in to my dreaded Day Job.

    Being exhausted was probably the only reason I didn¡¯t take a swing at Dutcher for the snide comments he made about being unprofessional in my dress. The fact I was in blue-jeans and a t-shirt, same as I always wore, was enough that Dutcher decided to take exception to it today. It didn¡¯t matter that none of the others on the dock had ¡®professional wear¡¯ on, or that the company didn¡¯t require it, he just decided to poke at me about it, constantly.

    Being as tired as I was, my patience was thin but my ability to care was even thinner. I just focused on work and got through the day. Apparently, that was the best choice. Refusing to rise to his bait had Dutcher escalating the verbal harassment as far as he could go, until the supervisor for the pickers ripped him a new one. I didn¡¯t get to hear it, but Geoff filled me in on it when he brought the next load of trolley¡¯s around for me to offload into the trailer.

    ¡°You should have seen it. That fat idiot was sweating bullets when my supe¡¯ threatened to bring HR in here because he was harassing you so much.¡± Geoff laughed. The mutton-chopped man pronounced ¡®supe¡¯ as ¡®soop¡¯ and I found that insanely amusing for whatever reason.

    ¡°Happens. Dutcher just gets a bug up his ass sometimes. I just ignore it. Arguing back just gives him a reason to whine to management about one of his loaders not being a ¡®team player¡¯. And they listen to him for some reason. Thanks for the heads up, Geoff.¡±

    ¡°Any time, Liam. You have that issue of being one of the bigger guys on the line, so of course the little dude with something to prove has to bug you to ¡®assert dominance.¡¯ No one remembers that big dogs don¡¯t need to bark after all.¡± Geoff agreed with a laugh, tipping his battered Bass Pro hat at me before directing his little train of empty trolley¡¯s off to load them up for someone else.

    ¡°Big dogs don¡¯t need to bark.¡± I muttered to myself, kneading my sore abdomen in thought. The mention of dogs had reminded me of Rieka and how the soft-spoken woman was shy and reserved most of the time, but assertive when the need came around. ¡°I guess little snakes like to hiss though.¡± I smirked to myself at the thought of Kassandra pouting up at me, her eyes twinkling with hidden amusement but having to feign indignation anyway.

    Sighing, I got back to work. Focusing on the work and my practice would help anyway. Though I did stop to check the mastery bar on Shape-Shifting. Just as Cerebaton had warned me, it had ground to a crawl now a little past eight hundred of the thousand. I could modify the skin on my forearm into thick crocodile hide in less than a second now with half a thought. Claws popped readily from my fingertips as well, while I worked, I let my mind wander of what might be needed to prove ¡®mastery¡¯ over the ability to the System so that it would fill the rest of the bar in.

    <><><>

    Kassandra Silverscale has sent a non-urgent request for your presence regarding future work with her and your other companion.

    Transit? View Summoning?

    The message popped into my vision while I was in the shower and I quickly shut the water off. Grabbing the towel from the rack by the door, I quickly dried off while focusing on the ¡®View Summoning?¡¯ option.

    A small window popped up while I tried to balance on one leg to dry off the other and it showed Kassandra curled up by a roaring fireplace in a cozy looking room with wood flooring. Given that there was a square, four-poster bed with privacy curtains against one wall, as well as several tables and a large, round couch spread around the room and stacks upon stacks of books on every surface, I guessed that it had to be her bedroom. The still image showed Rieka sitting in one of the nearby chairs with a bundle of what looked like paper in her hand as well.

    ¡°Crud.¡± I muttered while stumbling towards the bedroom to dress quickly. Tossing on a pair of jeans and a shirt without bothering to put on underwear, socks or shoes, I gave my hair one last quick scrub before hitting the ¡®Transit?¡¯ option mentally.

    A tugging sensation around my chest and the feeling of rushing wind in hair that didn¡¯t move surrounded me before I felt hardwood under my bare feet.

    ¡°Liam!¡± The cheering cry of the dwarf lamia I knew was the only warning I got, but thankfully she was in front of me rather than out of sight and I was able to brace when she threw herself at me in a hug.

    Kassandra¡¯s small torso slammed into my chest and was followed by her long body. The impact was enough that it knocked me back a few steps but didn¡¯t knock me over this time. Kassandra¡¯s arms wrapped around my chest and she rubbed her face there while giggling as I hugged her back.

    ¡°Hello Kass. Good evening to you as well, Rieka.¡± I laughed as well, helping to support the very clingy dwarf lamia while she wrapped her long body around me.

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    The last time she¡¯d done this, she¡¯d knocked me over and I struggled to support her weight. With the improved strength and agility though, I was able to support her while she hung on me, though it wasn¡¯t easy.

    ¡°Good evening to you as well, Liam.¡± Rieka replied with a gentle smile, her fluffy ears perking up like two platinum-blonde peaks that had been brushed with just a bit of ink. I could hear the quiet swish of her tail in the chair behind her as well.

    ¡°We missed you, Liam!¡± Kassandra pouted up at me, her bottom lip protruding comically. She wasn¡¯t wearing her spectacles at the moment, so her slitted, brown eyes were unobstructed as she examined me. Her button nose wiggled slightly and she leaned in to sniff at my chest for a moment. ¡°You smell different, Liam.¡±

    ¡°Kass! That¡¯s not very polite to point out.¡± Rieka protested, going red at her friend¡¯s blunt statement.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t say it was a bad smell! Just different.¡± Kassandra protested, her snake-body having finally finished coiling around me and squeezed gently around my hips as she wriggled higher like a snake climbing a tree. Though I was reminded for some reason of the little video of the tiny hognose snake wrapped around a person''s finger and just slithering in a circle.

    ¡°I just got out of the shower. You are probably smelling my body-wash is all.¡± I reassured both her and Rieka that I wasn¡¯t offended. ¡°So, what¡¯s up? The summoning notice said that you two wanted to discuss future work?¡±

    ¡°Boo.¡± Kassandra grumbled. ¡°I don¡¯t want to talk about work, Liam is warm and comfy.¡±

    ¡°Ahh, but if we talk about work first? Then the business is out of the way and we can relax without worry.¡± Rieka said quickly, apparently used to riding herd on her friend¡¯s impulses. Kassandra took a moment to consider this before nodding.

    ¡°Fine, but I don¡¯t wanna let go.¡± She pouted up at me again and I could only laugh and shrug.

    ¡°She didn¡¯t say you had to. Hold on, Kass.¡± She grinned and then clung tighter to me, her coils squeezing just strong enough that it was a little hard to breath, but I was able to carefully crab-walk over to the rounded sofa and settle onto the edge since she¡¯d made it around my upper thighs and hips. Once I was seated, Kassandra proceeded to adjust her wrap so that her torso was behind me and her arms draped over my shoulders. This had the added effect of pressing her generous bust against the back of my head. She wasn¡¯t wearing one of her regular underbust corsets this time, just a loose shirt in a soft burgundy color and a short skirt for modesty. Rieka was dressed similarly, in just a shirt and some loose pants rather than skirts. I had a feeling that these were likely akin to pajamas for them, but brushed the thought off. There was no way two young noblewomen would be just wearing PJ¡¯s and summon someone, let alone me, to a bedroom.

    Though that bed is big enough for all three of us with room to spare. I suppose it makes sense with Kass¡¯ size.

    I shook my head to dislodge the thought and tried to focus on Rieka. Meanwhile, Kassandra¡¯s coils around my waist began to squeeze and relax rhythmically, never too tight but like a slowly repeating hug that again reminded me of that little hognose snake from the video.

    ¡°As Kassandra said earlier, we did miss having you around, Liam. I do wish that there was some way to allow you to spend more time here without having to continually channel mana into the spell. It¡¯s more efficient if we ¡®pre-charge¡¯ it for a set time, but then you just get sent back when the mana runs out too.¡± Rieka shrugged, her ears wilting slightly as she explained.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, Rieka. I missed you two as well.¡± This statement got an excited yip from Kassandra right in my left ear and Rieka smiled, but they let me continue. ¡°And I think I get it. It¡¯s cheaper to fill the meter up at once rather than just adding a quarter when it runs low.¡± The blank looks both girls gave me was enough to tell me that the parking-meter analogy was a miss. ¡°Nevermind, I get what you were saying though.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll have to fill us in on that later, I¡¯m curious what you meant.¡± Rieka¡¯s ears popped back up again and I nodded.

    Not sure where to put my hands with a lamia wrapped around my waist and pressed against my back, I let my hand settle on the coil in my lap lightly. Kassandra¡¯s sudden intake of breath made me freeze, but she squeezed me gently with both her arms over my shoulders and her coils to let me know it was fine.

    ¡°Sure, so did you do that tonight? Pre-charge it?¡±

    ¡°Yea, we have you for two bells of time before the mana runs out and it¡¯ll return you automatically. We can send you back early if you need, though.¡± Rieka squinted across the intervening distance, her fluffy tail stilling behind her as she looked me over. ¡°Are you okay, Liam? You look exhausted¡­¡±

    Her statement got Kassandra to wiggle around and under one of my arms to look up at me as well, her gaze intent as she examined my face. Hoping to head off any concerns from the two of them, I spoke up immediately while shifting the arm that she was tucked under across Kassandra¡¯s shoulders and stroking her hair lightly.

    ¡°Just tired from the week and new training. I¡¯ve been doing a lot of practicing with my Shape-Shifting ability as well as sword practice. It¡¯s just taking a bit to adjust to the new normal is all.¡± I did my best to be serious and earnest while all I could smell was the cinnamon and somewhat musky smell I had come to recognize as Kassandra¡¯s natural scent.

    ¡°You need to rest, Liam. Practice makes permanent after all. You need to have the energy to do it right, not just do it.¡± Rieka scolded gently, with Kassandra nodding along quickly but not retreating either, content now to lounge across my lap for a bit.

    ¡°I know, Rieka. I also know that, if the cost of keeping you two safe is a few nights short of sleep and some muscle soreness? I¡¯ll happily pay that price.¡±

    My statement got a soft smile from both girls and a tighter squeeze from Kassandra, who slipped back behind me finally to resume her spot draped over my shoulders. The slow kneading of my midsection actually got a quiet ¡®pop¡¯ from my spine, which drew a groan out of me in response and a giggle from Kassandra.

    ¡°Okay, just make sure you don¡¯t push yourself too hard. If you are doing this to be able to protect us, it defeats that purpose if you are too tired to do it.¡± Rieka admonished a bit longer before smiling. ¡°Anyway, to why we summoned you.¡± Rieka brandished the stack of ivory parchment in her hand that she¡¯d been holding in the still when I¡¯d used ¡®View Summon¡¯.

    ¡°We have more missions to do!¡± Kassandra¡¯s voice was excited, but also quiet enough to not deafen me. Something I appreciated, given she had her chin on my shoulder. I¡¯d expected to be hot with her clinging this close to me, especially with the fire going in the fireplace, but her scales were cool to the touch and it felt like she was acting more like a heat-sink. Must be related to her cold-blooded nature, I guess?

    ¡°I assumed. What¡¯s the plan then?¡± I didn¡¯t react as my vision flashed and a message scrolled into my view.

    Assist your contracted companions, Kassandra Silverscale and Rieka Coldeye, with planning their weekly missions.

    Reward - 20 SP

    My easy assent and question brought a bright smile to Rieka and her fluffy tail began to bounce behind her, the quiet ¡®shush-shush¡¯ of her fur against the chair a counterpoint to the crackle of the fire.

    ¡°Nothing as big as the last one we went on. Mostly harvest and collection this time. We need to hunt down a few animals causing problems near town, harvest a few more for ingredients, as well as locate materials for some vendors and craftsfolk in town.¡± Rieka flipped through the sheets of paper and I could see that they had some pictures of animals or plants on them. ¡°The biggest one is going to be hunting down a nest of flame serpents. A hunter spotted them while he was checking his traps and reported it to the Academy, as the serpents have a high mana concentration and need to be disposed of properly. No one wants a forest fire breaking out if the nest gets too big.¡±

    ¡°Flame serpents?¡± I leaned forward to look at the sheet that Rieka held up. A drawing of a snake that had a rounded head was placed next to a sketch of an elf and a wolf-kin to give an example of scale. The creature was about half the length of Kassandra and about as thick as my bicep. I squinted at the script and the scribbles rearranged themselves in my mind as the translation power the System used went to work. ¡°Huh¡­fire breath? That could be an issue.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, depending on their size. Larger nests mean older serpents. Older serpents have longer and hotter fire-breath abilities and are larger. It¡¯s why they pushed it to the Academy immediately. Kassandra¡¯s ice magic will actually come in quite handy for this, since its ice will hold up long enough to damage them and the chill will hurt them even more given their nature.¡± Rieka explained. ¡°We just need to divy up the tasks to which days it¡¯ll be. Also, we needed to check which day you were going to be available to help us, Liam.¡± Rieka set the stack of parchment on the small table next to her and picked up a delicate porcelain cup full of some dark liquid that steamed slightly. I guessed it was tea from the color and cup style, but wasn¡¯t sure.

    ¡°We know that you have a job and a life to handle back home, so we don¡¯t wanna impose on you too much.¡± Kassandra¡¯s words tickled my ear and sent a shiver through my body. A shiver that she reacted to by squeezing me tightly for a moment then relaxing.

    ¡°I¡¯m free both days. You girls call me whenever you need me and I will show up.¡± I asserted immediately, patting the top coil of Kassandra¡¯s tail that sat in my lap. ¡°Nothing I¡¯m doing back home is worth either of you taking a risk just to avoid inconveniencing me.¡± Kassandra¡¯s happy squeal was just shy of deafening, given she was still on my shoulder, but worth it in my mind. The hug that came afterwards made my back pop again and that felt just grand, but not as nice as the feeling of her breasts pressing into my back.

    ¡°Okay, we¡¯ll summon you back in two days to head out on the first batch. I really think that we should dedicate a day just to the flame serpents. We might have to go hunting to ensure that we got the entire nest and that could take time.¡± Rieka suggested, the smile splitting her face brilliant.

    ¡°Works for me. I trust you two to call the shots. I¡¯m just here to give you the best chance you can after all.¡± This statement got another happy coo and snuggle from Kassandra.

    Assist your contracted companions, Kassandra Silverscale and Rieka Coldeye with exterminating the Flame Serpent nest.

    Reward - 300 SP

    The second message popping into my vision surprised me. I hadn¡¯t ever gotten a new assignment while still working on another one.

    I wonder if it¡¯s because this one is a planning mission? I thought to myself, stroking Kassandra¡¯s scales gently with both hands. Maybe. So much about this System is still so new. It¡¯s not even considering the fact that I¡¯ll have to be summoned back on that day. Or is it just counting on that? I really wish this System thing had a guidebook. I sighed in exasperation, which got another squeeze from Kassandra and diverted my thoughts onto a happier track.

    The fact that the dwarf lamia was so affectionate and cuddly with me was starting to hammer a few points home. Two of which were digging into my back while surrounded by soft pressure. It was obvious from her flirting that there was interest there, but I hadn¡¯t had a chance to do anything about it thus far. I¡¯m not going to be an idiot or anything. But it does cost them literal money to bring me here. I reminded myself firmly. You need to focus on getting the work done quickly and efficiently, when that is done you can flirt with the cute snake-girl. And maybe the wolf-kin girl too. Who knows how they do things here, I need to get more information and not pass judgment or have expectations either¡­

    I glanced at Rieka to see a bright smile on her face, the rapidly wiggling tail behind her, and her perked ears. She caught me watching and blushed slightly, biting her lip.

    ¡°So first the flame serpents, then any others we can do on the same day depending on time left. Then finish off anything else the next day? I¡¯m free all day for the whole weekend, so just let me know when to expect the summon.¡± I suggested, hoping to divert her back to the subject at hand so as not to embarrass her more. Rieka may be assertive when she needs to be, but her shy side keeps coming out in such cute ways.

    ¡°Yes, that sounds good. What do you think, Kass?¡±

    ¡°Liam¡¯s idea works for meeee.¡± Kassandra sang, squeezing me again with her coils. The dwarf lamia was clearly content with the plan as long as she continued to get her cuddles, which was fine by me.

    Assist your contracted companions, Kassandra Silverscale and Rieka Coldeye with planning their weekly missions.

    Reward - 20 SP

    COMPLETED

 Chapter 15

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I appreciated the amount of damage something like that could do when you two described them to me.¡± I muttered, peeking around the tree at the scorched bit of hillside ahead of us.

    ¡°Flame serpents are dangerous. But don¡¯t worry, Liam. I¡¯ll protect you.¡± Kassandra bumped into my hip with her shoulder, shooting me a playful grin.

    ¡°That¡¯s my job, don¡¯t go taking it away from me.¡± I protested, patting the top of her head lightly so as not to mess up her curls. Kassandra hummed happily and leaned in my touch, while Rieka just rolled her eyes from her spot further back in the trees.

    The girls had summoned me back earlier that morning and we¡¯d headed out to deal with the flame serpents. I was again surprised at the fact that there was a dangerous creature like this within walking distance of Juneau, as well as the fact that students were expected to be able to deal with it. Kassandra had explained a bit more while we had followed the road to the foothills where the trees showed up and then went overland along the foothills to try and find the particular little valley where the creatures had been sighted, using a few landmarks that the hunter had given with the report.

    ¡°Basically, we get the first shot at these contracts. But the Hunt Guild does have its own specialists who go out to clear away dangerous monsters that stray too near settled places. Juneau might be well stocked on scions of noble houses, but only certain majors are required to actually have field experience. If someone wants to join the army, the easiest way to earn experience is to take hunting contracts. We do it because it helps supplement the mana budget, as much as the need for experience. Basically they let us pick the contracts we want, then the guild handles the rest.¡± Kassandra had explained, with Rieka adding her two cents.

    ¡°The monsters of the wild don¡¯t care if you are trained or innocent when one of them happens to attack someone who is just out for a walk. My mother, the Queen, wanted all of her children to be able to defend themselves so that we would be prepared if our guards were ever unable to watch over us. Plus, since we are all mages, it is important to observe and learn from these creatures. Raw steel is forged into a blade with heat and hammering after all.¡±

    It still bothered me that two young women were allowed to wander the countryside to hunt monsters, not just because they wanted to but also because they needed the pocket money, though less so for their grades. The fact that one was a princess was even stranger when added to the fact that I¡¯d never seen Rieka with a guard of any sort. With both girls agreeing about how dangerous the world outside city walls was, just firmed my resolve to look after them. I don¡¯t know, maybe it¡¯s just a small kingdom? I mean, they were easily able to deal with the kobolds. Remember, don¡¯t judge what you don¡¯t know or understand.

    Shaking my head, I brought myself out of my musing and nodded towards the burnt hillside.

    ¡°Are we sure that is where the flame serpents are nesting?¡±

    ¡°Sure as we can be. The burn looks fresh and I did some research on them. They prefer bare stone and earth, as it absorbs more heat in the sun as well as from them. Grass and foliage accumulates dew and they don¡¯t like that.¡± Rieka answered while Kassandra was enjoying her headpats. The wolf-kin girl¡¯s ears were relaxed, though I could see that her eyes were following my hand on Kassandra¡¯s head with a bit of envy.

    ¡°Okay, we need to get closer to see them and figure out what to do next.¡± I glanced back up at the hillside and then across the field that lay between us. The grass here was long, maybe knee deep. Deep enough that the serpents could be hiding in it, but I doubted that given what Rieka had said about them not liking dew.

    ¡°We could follow that dry stream-bed. It¡¯s not deep but it¡¯ll give us a bit of cover. Well, me and Kass at least.¡± Rieka had stepped up on my other side to peek around the thick tree as well. She indicated a small line in the land that I had initially disregarded. Considering it again, I had to agree.

    ¡°That sounds like a good idea. Our best bet, now that I think about it.¡± I said after a minute. ¡°I can bend low to try and keep out of sight. What¡¯s the plan for engagement?¡±

    ¡°Kass is our star player here. She can do the most damage with her ice spells. Lightning will hurt them, but not kill as easily as ice will. If we get a large number of them, I can stun them like I did the kobolds. Otherwise, I need to channel it to do better damage. Them being low to the ground actually makes that harder, as the earth resists lightning and can shield them.¡±

    ¡°Damn straight I¡¯m the star.¡± Kassandra puffed up her chest with a broad grin that made me smirk in response.

    ¡°Yes you are, Kass. So we need to focus and give you the opportunity to shine. I¡¯ll lead. Rieka, can you cover the rear?¡± I turned my attention back to the pale, wolf-kin woman and got a nod of assent from her.

    ¡°Sure. I¡¯ll let you know if I see or smell anything out of place.¡±

    ¡°Sounds good. Let''s get moving and see if we can do it without anyone getting hurt and with minimal resource costs. That¡¯s my goal.¡± Doing my best to be subtle about it, I gently patted the top of Rieka¡¯s head. The blush that immediately blossomed on her cheeks had me worried until I saw the happy squint to her eyes and the furious way her tail whipped back and forth. Rieka had switched from skirts to a pair of close fitting, tan pants of a sturdy linen for our trip off-road. Her boots went as high as her knee and were clearly well worn from use. Kassandra was still in skirts, for obvious reasons relating to the impossibility of a lamia wearing pants, even a dwarf breed.

    The distance from the tree line to the dry stream bed was only about thirty feet and we covered it at a careful trot. I already had my sword out and held to one side while I scanned both the hillside and the field around us. Just because it wasn¡¯t likely that the flame serpents were hiding in the grass, didn¡¯t mean that I could be lazy.

    The two nights of training with Cerebaton had helped the sword feel more like a weapon in my hand, rather than a chunk of metal to beat people with. While it didn¡¯t feel natural, and neither did my armor for that matter, it did feel better at least. I¡¯d preemptively shifted the skin on my left forearm into crocodile hide again for some extra protection, and that feeling was surprisingly comfortable by comparison.

    I made a bit of a racket going through the grass, enough so that I didn¡¯t even hear Kassandra following close behind me or Rieka behind her until I came to a stop in the dry stream bed and they slid down the bank into cover behind me.

    The sides of the former stream were high enough that I only had to bend over partially, rather than squat down to stay out of sight. The bed itself was a mixture of dirt and stone that made for some uneven footing but it wasn¡¯t unstable thankfully. Pausing to ensure the girls were close behind, we started to follow the stream bed closer to the hillside that we believed the flame serpents were nesting in.

    It took another fifteen or so minutes of careful walking before we were able to get a better view of the scorched hillside and what lay beyond it. And I was glad for Rieka¡¯s suggestion of approaching unseen.

    The other side of the hill was just as scorched as the one we¡¯d seen, but with a few notable differences. One being a low, open-mouthed, stone cave in the side of the hill, as well as a couple of large, flattish boulders that lay below it. Half a dozen of the flame serpents were out sunning themselves on the rocks. I could see a heat distortion rising above them that confused me until one of the serpents lifted its head and opened its mouth to blow a tongue of flame over a stretch of rock next to it. The serpent then slithered about to stretch out on the freshly heated stone and go still again. All of the snakes were a dull red in color, like coals in a fire, without any patterning to their scales.

    ¡°Ah¡­and that makes sense why they are a fire danger. I¡¯m glad they had boulders here. I imagine it would cause even more damage than this little flash burn if they were just blowing it into soil, or a forest floor.¡± I muttered, peeking through the grass on the bank.

    ¡°Exactly. Six shouldn¡¯t be a problem, though they are small enough that I think they are juveniles. I am betting that there are at least two larger ones, probably in the cave.¡± Kassandra pressed herself to my back, using her muscled tail to push herself up higher so she could see the snakes. ¡°I think I can hit most of them from here, do we want to engage them that way?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d rather not chance them charging us and setting the grass here on fire. It¡¯s dry enough already that I¡¯m frankly astonished it¡¯s not burnt yet.¡± Rieka urged from my other side and I nodded in agreement.

    ¡°The fire line stops about forty feet ahead of us. That¡¯ll give us about sixty or so feet between us and them if we get clear of it. Not a whole lot of time to pick them all off.¡± Kassandra murmured quietly, the concern obvious in her voice.

    ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m here. I agree with Rieka though. Staying here gives us a surprise attack and a fire safe area to stand in. But if they get a good brush fire going? It¡¯s going to be devastating and dangerous for us. The trees are only about a half mile back the way we came and if it gets going hot enough then it could do even more damage.¡± I urged, reaching back to pat her on the side of her serpentine lower half. The brief intake of breath from Kassandra was right in my ear and impossible to miss. I realized that the part of her serpentine body I was patting was more akin to her butt than her calf like I¡¯d been intending. I was about to apologize when she leaned more firmly into my back and I felt something soft hit the back of my ear for a moment. Did she just kiss my ear?

    ¡°I¡¯m glad to have you here to look after us, Liam.¡± Kassandra purred and I felt that soft, warm sensation once more before she leaned back. ¡°Liam is going to be the noisiest of us. I hate suggesting you put yourself in danger, but if you lead the charge, they¡¯ll focus on you as the threat and let us surprise them. Rieka, can you stun the ones on that closer boulder?¡± Kassandra pointed to a football shaped outcropping that had two of the flame serpents coiled up on it. I nodded in understanding at her request for me to go first.

    Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

    ¡°Can do. Do you want to get a surprise shot in?¡± Rieka had been holding her baton at the ready the whole time and she slid the cover open so she could press her thumb to the mana-infused metal tokens inside.

    ¡°Ready, Liam?¡± Was the answer Kassandra gave and I felt my heart lurch in my chest. Excitement coursed through my body at this. I knew I wasn¡¯t ready to fight with a sword yet, but it was that or claws. The sword gave me more range, and the girls needed me to look after them. If being the distraction and bait let them do this, then I was ready.

    Our attack was heralded by a quiet chant from both girls and a muffled crack of lightning.

    The serpents immediately stiffened and flailed about to orient on the threat. The two closest to us continually flailed as the crackling net of lightning caused their muscles to seize. The four that were further up the hill hissed in fury and launched themselves down at me as I crashed up through the grass to come to a stop maybe ten feet into the clearing of scorched and blackened grass. Having an enemy coming down a hill at you wasn¡¯t ideal, but I settled the sword over my head in a position that I remembered Cerebaton calling a ¡®high guard¡¯ and held my crocodile-skinned forearm forward as a shield.

    Man, a shield would be nice right now. The thought raced through my mind without warning and I shoved the distraction away as the first ice lance crashed into the serpent leading the charge. The tea-kettle screech the creature made was startling in its own right, but the flame serpent actually came apart while it thrashed and tried to pull the spear of rapidly melting ice from its body. The ice was apparently cold enough that it had flash-frozen the portion of the body it had impacted and the snake''s attempts only saw it tear itself to pieces.

    Two more lances of ice lashed out, hitting another two snakes and killing them as they charged directly at me. The two on the rock were still twitching but seemed unable to move at the moment. Barely ten seconds had passed in that time and I stood ready to intercept the fourth and last one that was mobile, when the full-sized flame serpent emerged from the cave hissing and blowing fire like a World War II generation flamethrower.

    The juvenile serpents were only as thick as my forearm and maybe six feet long. The parent was easily as thick as my thigh and twice as long. It¡¯s gaze fixed on me and the creature let out a rattling hiss that was accompanied by a billow of fire before it joined the charge.

    ¡°Kass, hit the big one if you can!¡± I called before jogging forward to meet the lone remaining juvenile as it charged.

    The loss of it¡¯s siblings didn¡¯t slow the flame serpent down and it spat a small burst of fire at me that was similar in heat and appearance to someone briefly shooting spray deodorant through a lighter. The fact that it likely wouldn¡¯t do more than singe the hair off my head didn¡¯t help me resist the urge to duck away from it. Something that the snake was determined to take advantage of.

    The juvenile struck at me with a hiss and I reacted instinctively, lashing out with the sword in a chop as if I was swinging at the number three zone, or left hip on a human opponent. Attacking down would only see my weapon hit the ground and that would damage the edge, swinging up would put it out of position, so I¡¯d planned for a horizontal swing from the outset, which was what had the sword ready when I needed it.

    I felt the blade impact the creature''s scales and jerk from the weight of the blow before something hit my chest like a thrown tennis ball. Glancing down through dazzled eyes, I realized my blow had beheaded the snake, taking the top eight or so inches off its body as well as the head with it. The head that was still trying to bite me as it tumbled down my chest to land at my feet.

    ¡°Crap!¡± I swore and kicked it away frantically. I didn¡¯t know if they were venomous and I was cursing myself for not asking the girls before we started. Another bellowing hiss yanked my attention up once more and I spotted the larger, mature flame serpent barreling down on me. It had a pair of icy javelins sticking out of its hide, but either its size or the heat of its breath was enough that they weren¡¯t flash freezing the creature''s body like it did with the smaller ones. They did, however, draw the creature''s attention away from me. It was angling to slither around me to get to the girls and I couldn¡¯t allow that.

    ¡°Hey, dryskin you forgot your lotion!¡± I yelled, lunging to try and intercept the big snake. It was moving fast though and curved out to get around me. ¡°Your mum was a handbag and your dad was a pair of cowboy boots!¡±

    Trying to get its attention was failing though, as another icy javelin hit the creature a glancing blow to the head that drove it face first into the dirt. A moment later, a crack of lightning hit the beast as Rieka got a spell off too and the serpent''s body seized up as well, but not as spectacularly as the juveniles. But it did slow it down enough that it gave me the time I needed to close with it and I brought my weapon down in an overhand chop at the back of its neck. The blade bit deep, but despite the weight of my blow, it didn¡¯t sever the monster''s head. It did bury itself several inches into the animal''s flesh and glanced off bone with a toe-curling sensation that rattled up the length of the blade and into my hands.

    The blow must have severed the creature''s spine though, because it went limp after that. The head continued to hiss and blow gouts of flame over the ground for a bit while blood gouted out of the wound. I yanked my sword clear and dodged backwards, keeping a wary eye on it to ensure it wasn¡¯t faking and didn¡¯t try to go for the girls again.

    Turning back to check on those same girls, I saw Kassandra launching another ice lance in an arc over my head, her face set in a grimace of concentration as she aimed it back up the hill. Rieka was standing next to her friend, focused in the same direction as well. They¡¯d cleared the stream and were partway through the still grassy area to the battle zone, ready to head either direction as needed. Neither of them saw the furrow in the grass that was moving rapidly towards their backs from the far side of the stream. I could see flashes of red in the grass occasionally that told me another of the serpents were coming, and the size of the disturbance was enough to tell me it was likely another mature adult.

    ¡°Girls! Behind you!¡± I yelled, hurrying towards them and swinging around the still thrashing head weighed down by the limp body. There was only about twenty feet between us right now, but I felt like I was running through thick mud, my legs refusing to move as fast as my brain demanded of them.

    Kassandra¡¯s eyes widened and she turned about just in time to see the form of another flame serpent, larger than the one we¡¯d just finished, rise up from the grass on the other side of the dry stream. The creature breathed a gout of fire that would put a flamethrower to shame, but the distance between it and the girls was still too great. Instead, it just set the grass between them and the dry stream on fire while the creature slithered down into the stream and up into the still burning grass, murder in its beady eyes.

    I managed to make it to the girls before the mature serpent did, but only just barely, urging them back towards the already blackened battlefield and out of the area threatened by the newly burning grass.

    The creature didn¡¯t try its fire breath again, instead lunging towards us with its maw wide open and long fangs extended. Kassandra slammed a spell out, the ice lance shattering one of the creature''s teeth and knocking its head aside. Rieka¡¯s lightning spell raked the creature''s side, leaving my already ringing ears even worse off. Neither was enough to finish it off though as they backpedaled to get behind me.

    Rearing back, the twelve foot long serpent glared down at us malevolently for a moment before it dodged the next ice lance that Kassandra threw. Taking that opportunity, it jetted out a gout of flame directly at the petite, dwarf lamia. Not thinking, I shifted to put myself directly in the line of fire, quite literally into the line of fire actually.

    The heat hit my chest and abdomen, since it was aimed at the shorter Kassandra. I immediately felt my skin begin to blister and knew I had to act quickly. The serpent was already within range and I lashed out automatically with my sword in that same horizontal chop that I¡¯d used on the first one, while shielding my face with my shifted left arm.

    A sensation of impact told me I¡¯d hit. A moment later, a second boom of thunder told me Rieka had gotten her next spell off. Another crunch of ice impacting something told me Kassandra was adding in and I blinked to clear my eyes. My face was screaming in pain and so were both my arms, but it was fading rapidly as adrenaline dumped through my system. A crunchy sensation around my head told me that my hair was probably heavily singed.

    The flame serpent responsible was sprawled backwards, a notch in the side of its head from where my sword had impacted. One of Kassandra¡¯s ice lances was sticking out of its eye on the opposite side, while lightning continued to play over the creature making it twitch several times before it went entirely limp.

    ¡°Liam!¡± Kassandra¡¯s cry finally got through my ringing ears and I turned to look at the tearful dwarf lamia.

    ¡°You okay?¡± I asked through suddenly dry lips.

    ¡°I should be asking you that!¡± She demanded, pointing at me and I looked down. The blast of fire had singed my leather tunic and blackened it in several spots. I could smell burning skin and hair and my arms stung and burned too. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you more badly burned?¡± Kassndra didn¡¯t quite crash into me, but her scaled coils wrapped loosely around my legs as she peered at my scorched forearms and face. ¡°Your poor hair¡­¡±

    ¡°Kass, see what you can do for his burns. I¡¯m sure he doesn¡¯t feel them yet but they¡¯ll make themselves known soon.¡± Rieka ordered, turning back to the now still serpent on the ground. ¡°I¡¯ll keep watch, then we need to go finish those two left on the boulder above.¡±

    ¡°Got it, milady!¡± Kassandra sassed her friend, getting an eye-roll in repayment while the wolf-kin stood watch. ¡°Hold still, Liam. You are an idiot, you know! You didn¡¯t have to dive in front of me like that.¡±

    ¡°Of course I did, Kass.¡± I did as she ordered and stood still, only squatting a bit so she could look closer at my burns. My skin felt tight, like a balloon inflated underneath it. The fact all I could feel was a stinging sensation worried me and I darted a look at my crocodile-hide covered arm, which had a few raised blisters already showing on it. The pain of the initial burns had been intense, until the adrenaline dump had washed it away. Now though, the tingling was returning. ¡°I¡¯m here to protect you two, so my place is between you and danger.¡±

    ¡°Liam¡­¡± Kassandra cooed quietly, her eyes moist as she bit her bottom lip. ¡°That is the sweetest thing I¡¯ve heard in a while¡­unfortunately the effect is ruined because you don¡¯t have any eyebrows.¡± Her words first brought me up, then slammed me back into the dirt. But her lips pressing on mine lightly dusted me off once more.

    ¡°Just doing what you summoned me for.¡± I said after we separated.

    ¡°You are doing far more than that and you know it.¡± Kassandra grumbled and began to brandish her rod. The pain was starting to finally come through the shock and my whole body began to protest as that tingling turned to rippling pricking sensations and the feeling of burning.

    ¡°We will have to find a way to pay you back for going above and beyond. Again, we should have kept a better watch on our surroundings.¡± Rieka commented from her spot on the other side of us. I could hear the quiet swish of her tail back and forth and guessed she was keeping an eye on the flame serpents further up the hill. Kassandra was right in front of me, and a delicate blush rose up to paint her face before she shot me a cheeky wink, shimmy slightly to make her breast jiggle in her close-fitting top.

    ¡°I can think of a few ways that we could repay him.¡± Kassandra¡¯s voice was thick with sexuality, and when combined with the lusty twinkle in her eye, I forgot about the fact her lower half was a snake and what complications that might present.

    ¡°Kass! I was meaning cookies or something!¡± Rieka¡¯s voice cracked with surprise, the wolf-kin finally having caught on to where Kassandra was going with the idea.

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t.¡± Kassandra made sure to dismiss any possibility of there being a misunderstanding with her words while the cool sensation of her healing spell sunk into my body and washed away the pain there. ¡°I want to make sure our champion is well rewarded for looking after us after all.¡± The heat in her gaze sent my imagination spinning and helped distract me until the spell finished mending my injuries.

 Chapter 16

    Apparently, being ¡®well rewarded¡¯ by Kassandra meant that she was going to increase how much she flirted with me and become even more clingy. For now at least.

    Not that I was going to complain about it.

    Finishing off the two stunned flame serpents wasn¡¯t an issue. Removing the heads for the claim trophies also doubled for extra profit for the girls. Apparently, the fangs could be used by some craftsmen and while the flame serpents weren¡¯t venomous, their fire breath was aided by a chemical pouch that was placed roughly in the same spot as a venom sac would be on a normal snake. Thankfully, the girls brought a sack this time.

    Returning to town, we were also able to knock off one other task along the way, stumbling across another animal that we¡¯d been requested to hunt. Thankfully it wasn¡¯t nearly as dangerous as the flame serpents. Rieka was able to bring the river antelope down with a single spell that stunned it long enough for me to finish it off with minimal damage to the pelt.

    Rieka and I ended up transporting the river antelope on a carry pole while Kassandra managed the sack of snake heads. The dwarf lamia kept pace beside me so she could continue to flirt with me in the guise of checking on my ¡®burns¡¯.

    ¡°Again, I¡¯m sorry about your hair, Liam. That was just bad luck on your part.¡± Rieka called from her point in the lead, shooting an apologetic smile over her shoulder. I wasn¡¯t too bothered at this point, between Kassandra¡¯s flirting and watching Rieka¡¯s tail swaying happily over her sculpted bottom, my hair was a small price to pay for a successful day.

    ¡°Hey, I¡¯d rather take one for the team and lose my hair than either of you girls have to deal with rocking a bald look.¡± I replied genially. Which was true. The fire had crisped my hair to the point where it had crumbled and fallen out entirely, all except for a small patch on the back of my head, which I resolved I would be shaving when I got home. ¡°At least my head is nice and smooth, no lumpy spots. Your ears are far too charming with your hair coloration to be without it.¡± I buffed the top of my scorched bare head to make the point and Rieka laughed while blushing furiously.

    ¡°Smooth, Liam. You are going to have her eating out of the palm of your hand in no time.¡± Kassandra complimented me with a wink, not a single bit of jealousy showing on her cute face. Shrugging, I smiled down at her in return.

    ¡°Hey, I¡¯d settle for being trusted. I heard about how hard it is to trust someone who doesn¡¯t have eyebrows.¡±

    <><><>

    ¡°Okay, I have to say it. The shaved look is better with the extra bits trimmed off. Consistency makes it work.¡± Kassandra giggled as we wound through the early morning bustle of Kintos.

    The girls had sent me back Saturday night and I¡¯d immediately set about making my new ¡®hairless¡¯ style look intentional. Unfortunately, even with it being the later half of summer, there was no way I¡¯d be able to cover it up at work. A stocking cap would probably kill me from heatstroke and I didn¡¯t own any ball caps. But I pushed that off for a ¡®future me¡¯ problem instead.

    It was Sunday now and I¡¯d been summoned back, this time for some more relaxed ¡®adventuring¡¯ to clean up the rest of the notices. I¡¯d gotten the ¡®mission complete¡¯ notice from the System the previous day, when we¡¯d finished eliminating the flame serpents. That put me back up over 500 SP, but with nothing to spend it on for the moment. I was still holding off boosting my stats again to avoid being thrown off balance. Cerebaton¡¯s advice was ringing in my mind and I¡¯d actually been considering if it would be better to just slowly boost my stats, rather than doing massive increases at once. That way my body could slowly acclimatize to its new normal. Something that I¡¯d decided to run past Cerebaton at my next practice session with the daemon in his human disguise.

    ¡°I agree. Though I do also empathize with what Liam said yesterday. Seeing someone without eyebrows is just strange. It would make it hard to trust him if we didn¡¯t already know we could.¡± Laughed Rieka, her tail stirring up a storm as she walked beside me, opposite Kassandra. That fluffy banner occasionally bumped into my legs as it wafted back and forth, it was honestly cute to have such an obvious signal of Rieka¡¯s current mood.

    ¡°Glad that my actions are helping counter the loss of credibility that my eyebrows¡¯ fiery demise created.¡± I sighed with a roll of my eyes. ¡°So what¡¯s the plan for today? Hopefully something low-key, I dunno if my armor is going to hold up to much more.¡± I tapped the singed front with my fingertips meaningfully.

    ¡°Oh don¡¯t worry about that. The leather is still supple, it just got scorched. Uncle Silas has an oil that will make sure it''s only cosmetic. The fire didn¡¯t burn through the leather, we just need to make sure it doesn¡¯t go brittle and crack. We can get some on the way back today. I¡¯ll make sure it''s treated during the week between classes.¡± Kassandra reassured with another broad smile that made her eye squint behind her silver-rimmed spectacles. The dwarf lamia was once more dressed in a black leather underbust corset and silken top, this time in a dark blue, with a neat skirt of a matching shade to protect her modesty. The whole ensemble worked well with her red and brown scales.

    ¡°Probably good, we don¡¯t want our protector looking disreputable.¡± Rieka agreed with a grin to show her teasing.

    ¡°Hey, a knight in shining armor is someone who¡¯s never had their mettle tested.¡± I fired off with a quip that my dad had told me before that stuck with me. ¡°I don¡¯t care about looking a bit battered, it shows that I¡¯m doing the job you girls contracted me for. As long as the function doesn¡¯t suffer, then I¡¯m good.¡±

    Kassandra decided that was worth a hug and hung us up for a bit in the middle of the street, thankfully no one complained we were blocking them as she popped my back with her thanks.

    ¡°I still think we should look at upgrading your armor when we get a chance.¡± Rieka said as we headed through the northern gates of Kintos and out into the plains that surrounded town. The only people on the road this early were a handful of merchants passing by and some students from Juneau heading out on their own missions. I also spotted a double handful of serious looking teens and young adults with the badges of the Hunt guild that were kitted out with weapons and armor, rather than the metallic rods for magic use. They must be one of the teams handling dangerous monsters that stray too near town, or at least the ones that the students at Juneau don¡¯t snatch up.

    ¡°Upgrading would be good, but imagine how much trouble I¡¯d have been in if my armor had been made of metal?¡± I reminded Rieka, doing my best to not think about what hot chain-mail would have done to my skin. The wolf-kin shivered as well at the thought and nodded quickly.

    ¡°That is a good point. Maybe a shield then? Something to deflect stuff like that would be good and you could always drop it in a similar situation if it got too hot.¡±

    ¡°That would work¡­I¡¯ll talk to Cerebaton about it. He¡¯s the one helping me train with the sword in my off time. If he thinks adding a shield to the mix would be good, I¡¯ll start working with him on it and we can look at it next week?¡±

    ¡°Damn it!¡± The sudden bout of cursing from nearby made all three of us jump and we whirled to see a young woman kicking at the ground in frustration some distance from the road. From what I could see, she could only have been a mouse-kin due to the obvious size of her ears and a long tail I saw dancing behind her. ¡°There goes another three silver worth of mana. What am I doing wrong!?¡± The small woman bounced in frustration, literally bounced up and down. She cleared nearly a foot of space in the air with each frustrated hop. Her long tail, nearly twice as long as she was tall and tufted with black hair at the end, whipped back and forth in frustration. Her ears were large and expressive, and absolutely covered with piercings that jingled merrily while she bounced in anger.

    ¡°Jane?¡± Kassandra called and the little mouse woman froze in place for a moment before darting a look towards us. ¡°Jane! It is you! What¡¯s wrong?¡± Kassandra slithered around me to cross over and leave the road, heading to check on the other girl. Rieka and I followed after, with Rieka explaining to me in whispers.

    ¡°Jane is also from Rue House, you might remember her from that first accidental summoning, she was there for that. She¡¯s also a classmate of ours for a few classes.¡±

    Thinking back, I did remember a mouse girl with large ears, though there were enough surprises that night that I didn¡¯t remember much in the way of details other than the ears.

    ¡°Miss Silverscale! I am so sorry if I bothered you and Princess Rieka.¡± The formerly animated and cursing mouse girl was now standing stiff as a board and darting glances between all three of us. Her tail wasn¡¯t still though, lashing rapidly and nervously behind her like a snake striking at random. She was dressed in a simple blouse and knee-length skirt combination in a dark gray and tan that actually helped her blend in with the long grass that was browning in the late summer heat. This close, I noticed she had her hair cut short on the sides and styled into a compact, fluffy mass that looked halfway between a pompadour and a mohawk between her large ears.

    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    ¡°Nonsense, Jane. You didn¡¯t bother us at all. And I told you to please call me Kass.¡± Kassandra insisted, coming to a stop nearby and letting us catch up. ¡°Now, what''s wrong? Maybe we can help?¡±

    The mouse-kin¡¯s expressive eyes darted from Kassandra to Rieka and to me again before going towards the city guards for some reason. All the while she gnawed on her bottom lip. I wanted to reassure her that she was safe, but before I could find the words, she clearly came to a decision.

    ¡°I¡¯m having trouble summoning the bonded creature I got.¡± Jane said quickly, as if admitting it was some kind of failure and she wanted to confess as quickly as possible before she lost her nerve. ¡°I bonded with a sylph once the summoning circle was repaired. The little bint just refuses to come to me when I call for her. I have missions I need to complete, but it isn¡¯t safe to go out alone. I thought with her to scout and look out for me, I could get in and out with my retrieval tasks.¡± Jane heaved a sigh at the end of her rant, her long tail flicking back and forth behind her like a wind-swept pennant.

    The tail itself was actually rather hypnotizing. Even whipping about, the long appendage added several feet to her height. Since she had to be at least five and a bit feet tall, that made for a very long tail. Forcing myself to focus on the tail¡¯s owner and not the appendage, I saw a girl nearing tears of frustration. And apparently, Kassandra saw the same thing and scrambled to do what she could to help.

    ¡°Oh Jane, I¡¯m sorry that it¡¯s giving you trouble. Is there anything we can do to help you out?¡± Rieka added her agreement with a nod, stepping up to stand next to Kassandra.

    ¡°Am I doing the summoning wrong? I thought it was just a normal conjuration spell once the contract was formed¡­¡± Jane sighed, digging into a small shoulder bag she¡¯d been carrying to pull out a leather-bound notebook, which she flipped through and held out to Rieka. I noticed the mouse-kin woman was leaning more towards Rieka than Kassandra, but my dwarf lamia companion didn¡¯t seem to care, shuffling over to peer at the diagram on the page over Rieka¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°No, that looks right. It¡¯s the same that we¡¯ve been using to summon Liam.¡± Rieka said after a moment. I peeked over their shoulder to find a simple circle with a handful of runes drawn into it, rendered onto the page in ink.

    ¡°Do you have to draw that on the ground?¡± I asked curiously, the question making the mouse kin jump in surprise. Her eyes widened as she looked past the two girls and up at me. She bit first her bottom lip and then her top lip in sequence, looking rather adorable doing it while bouncing from foot to foot anxiously.

    ¡°I channel the diagram into the spell. It¡¯s drawn by the magic using my rod and then the summon is supposed to appear in it.¡± She answered nervously, peering up in curiosity. Jane¡¯s eyes were a dark brown, nearly so dark they were black and they watched me with focused interest. ¡°Are you really a human?¡±

    ¡°Last time I checked I was.¡± I gave her a gentle smile, hoping to reassure her. Jane giggled sweetly at that before turning her question back to the girls.

    ¡°So, have you two ever had your summon fail? I know that it is hit or miss with whether or not a summon will respond to a call at first, until you build rapport with them. But she hasn¡¯t come once since the initial summon¡­¡±

    Kassandra stared at Jane dumbly for several seconds before turning to Rieka, who was equally surprised. Both of them looked back at me, which caused Jane¡¯s gaze to dart back to me as well.

    ¡°I hadn¡¯t thought about that actually.¡± Kassandra muttered, blinking owlishly behind her silver-rimmed spectacles. ¡°Liam, you haven¡¯t ever turned down one of our summons, have you?¡±

    ¡°No, why would I?¡± I was more surprised that they were surprised over it, I had made them a promise after all?

    ¡°Because you didn¡¯t want to, or didn¡¯t feel like it?¡± Jane supplied, her gaze locked on me intently.

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± Was my intelligent response.

    ¡°Seriously, Liam. Why is it that you have been so willing to come and help us like you have? I¡¯m not complaining, mind you. I just¡­summons normally don¡¯t do that. I hadn¡¯t thought about it until Jane mentioned it.¡± Rieka glanced me over once more before locking eyes with me.

    ¡°I mean, I promised I¡¯d protect you girls. That means whenever you need it. Not just when I feel like it.¡± I shrugged. They continued to stare so I decided a bit of levity and some charm might break them out of their stunned silence. ¡°You two do so much to make sure I¡¯m informed of when you¡¯ll need me next. That helps as I can plan around it. Plus, it¡¯s easy to respond to requests for help from such beautiful ladies, especially for a guy like me.¡±

    ¡°Liam!¡± Kassandra¡¯s laughing exclamation of my name was just enough warning for me to brace myself before the dwarf lamia launched herself at me like a striking snake. Which was a rather apt analogy given her species.

    Forewarned, I braced and caught her so that the move again failed to knock me over. Instead, the giggling dwarf lamia wrapped her coils around me and buried her face in my neck while her arms and tail squeezed my middle firmly.

    Jane had actually hopped back two steps when Kassandra launched herself, her hands up near her mouth in horror that slowly melted into confusion as she watched me hugging the girl back. Rieka just rolled her eyes, though a slight blush dusted her cheeks.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯ll help Jane with her summoning, Liam. Buttering up your summoner only works for the summon after all.¡± Rieka sighed when Kass continued to cling to me. ¡°Thank you for the compliment though. Kass, let him go please. We are right outside of town and you¡¯ll get a bad reputation clinging to a man like that in public.¡±

    ¡°No! Liam is warm and I like hugging him like this. Besides, it¡¯s Liam! It¡¯s not just any man.¡± Kass protested and blew a raspberry at Rieka, getting a laugh from the other woman who gave up at that point.

    ¡°Fine, I know getting you away from something warm is a battle not worth fighting at times. Sorry, Liam.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure I can accept this great burden.¡± I replied with dignity that made both of my contractors laugh and Jane blink in confusion. ¡°Seriously though, when the girls send me a summon, I just get a notice requesting I respond. It does mention it¡¯s a ¡®non-urgent¡¯ summon though. Is there a way to attach a level of importance to your summoning? I don¡¯t know if your summon is just ignoring you to be lazy or not, but she may not realize it''s important. Did you mention to her the plan for today?¡± I said the last part to Jane who blinked again and groaned, rubbing her face with both hands while her shoulders slumped.

    ¡°No, I didn¡¯t even think of telling her. She can¡¯t really talk back, she just chirps like a bird when I talked to her before. But she did seem to understand me. Damn it¡­¡± She heaved another sigh before flipping through the notebook to find another circle. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m going to try an urgent summon. I really really need this one to work, I¡¯m already dipping into my emergency funds for class. I need to get some more mana to start rebuilding that and I don¡¯t wanna fall behind on the practical work.¡±

    ¡°Okay, we will let you focus on that. Please, feel free to ask if you have any problems.¡± Kassandra actually released me with her arms so she could turn and address Jane, her voice filled with earnest concern for the mouse-kin woman. Her coils stayed firmly wrapped around my waist though and I had to lean back to keep balanced as she moved.

    ¡°I appreciate it, Miss Silverscale. If I can¡¯t get this to work though, I¡¯m going to have to figure out something else I can do to supplement my mana income.¡± The determined look on the mouse-girl¡¯s face was rather cute, given the fact she kinda looked like a cross between a librarian and a goth with her outfit and piercings.

    ¡°All right. Good luck on this, Jane.¡± Rieka added before nodding back to the road.

    Since Kassandra didn¡¯t seem willing to unwrap me yet, I started to walk carefully towards the road. The sort of wide-legged waddle was enough to get a giggle from the snake girl and she shifted her tail¡¯s grip a little higher on my hips to support herself. It was difficult to walk over the grass with the added weight throwing my balance off, but once we were back on the hard-packed road it got easier. Not by much, but easier.

    ¡°I hope it works for her.¡± Kassandra murmured once we¡¯d made it a few hundred feet down the road.

    ¡°I do as well. After making the commitment of a summoned creature like this, she needs to find a way to work with it if she¡¯s going to complete the coursework needed to get a pass. It is a high-risk, high-reward strategy after all.¡± Rieka added as well.

    ¡°And we are definitely getting a high reward with Liam!¡± Kassandra cheered, wrapping her arms around my head and pulling my face into her chest. I had to stop walking because I couldn¡¯t see anything besides freckled skin and her blouse. Even that went dark as she crushed my head into her bosom.

    ¡°Kass, you are going to suffocate the poor man¡­¡± Rieka¡¯s words were muffled by the soft flesh surrounding my head.

    ¡°Oh, he¡¯d die happy if I did, but you know I¡¯d never hurt our Liam.¡± Kassandra shot back from above me, though she did loosen her grip on my head enough that I could breath.

    ¡°Good, we are going to need help. Sovereign Oak is not light weight in general and the carpenter wants as much as we can bring back.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure Liam is good with wood.¡± Kassandra teased lasciviously as well. She did uncoil after another few steps to instead slither along the road beside me, apparently having had enough of riding me like she was pretending to be a cute, snakeskin backpack. We chatted about the classwork that the girls were doing and I tried again to explain to them what my job entailed. The fact that I ensured food supplies were delivered around town sounded nice, but the fact that I spent my whole day loading ¡®giant carts¡¯ confused them.

    Kassandra interrupted me trying to explain how the trolley¡¯s and their tugs worked for moving supplies from storage to the trucks to ask me another question that caught me by surprise.

    ¡°Liam, I was wondering something. Rieka has to return to the castle next weekend to deal with official business, so I was going to take that weekend to work on my other studies. We were going to talk to you about it on the way back today, but I had an idea that I wanted to run past you.¡±

    ¡°Oh? What¡¯s that Kass?¡± I turned my attention back to the red-headed dwarf lamia next to me and she smiled up at me brightly.

    ¡°I know that we need to keep summoning you to build you up, so I don¡¯t wanna just leave you hanging on the weekend if you are free. It might not be worth as much, but would you want to come on the first day of the weekend to visit me? I¡¯m sure we could find something interesting to do around town. At the worst, you could help me get some practice with my spells. Besides, I want to make sure you know how much we appreciate your work protecting us.¡± She asked shyly and I couldn¡¯t help but grin at this new side of Kassandra. She was normally flirty, brash, and very open but now she was rather reserved and the counterpoint to her normal behavior was adorable.

    ¡°It¡¯d be better if we stuck close to the campus anyway, no need for us to take unnecessary risks when the team is down a person after all.¡±

    ¡°So is that a yes, Liam?¡±

    ¡°Did you expect me to say no?¡± I was honestly confused at the question, which led to me not noticing the grin on Kassandra¡¯s face when I agreed. I didn¡¯t miss the tackle though when it came. She managed to take me off my feet this time, with a happy squeal and another body-wrapping hug while Rieka laughed her head off.

 Chapter 17

    ¡°So on your Sunday trip, you only got half what your Saturday trip produced, despite completing several tasks?¡± The question from Cerebaton was relatively innocuous, something that no one would have paid much attention to. The fact that he was swinging a wooden sword at my unprotected head was a greater demand for attention than the words being spoken, at least to me.

    Thankfully, the wooden shield that I had in my left hand helped me deflect the blow to my head, but didn¡¯t stop the light slap to my thigh that came right after. The stinging pain was enough to throw me off balance, but not enough to drop the shield, which gave another ¡®thunk¡¯ as it deflected the third strike. Cerebaton had agreed that having general knowledge of a shield would be good, but not something to heavily focus on since I¡¯d be using my Shape-Shifting the most often in the future and it wouldn¡¯t do to become reliant on the shield.

    ¡°My bet is that the System is rating it by difficulty. The flame serpents were clearly a more present threat, and thus you were more heavily rewarded.¡± Cariad was leaning against one of the posts on the edge of the gazebo, watching as her boss did his best to tag me somewhere tender with that wooden sword. Which he did a moment later when he caught my elbow in just the right spot to send tingles up and down the limb and I lost my grip on the sword, sending it clattering to the floor of the gazebo.

    ¡°Ow! Mother of¡­¡± I swore, shaking the limb to try and get feeling back in it. Cerebaton stepped back, giving me a chance to recover while he shouldered his sword.

    ¡°Likely yes. Or it is because the System knew exactly what it was rating for in the assignment of rewards. We are still learning new things about how it has decided to operate every year and we¡¯ve been working with it for thousands of years.¡±

    ¡°Nonsense¡­¡± I panted. ¡°You don¡¯t look¡­a year over thirty¡­Cerebaton. Can¡¯t have been¡­that long.¡±

    The joke made both of the daemons pause before Cariad giggled. It was only when Cerebaton snickered as well that I knew my joke had gotten through.

    ¡°Not what I meant, but I think you knew that.¡± Cerebaton gave me a firm glare that would have been intimidating if it wasn¡¯t for the smirk on his lips that appeared a moment later. ¡°But my point still stands. Maybe try and have your contractors clearly state what you are being summoned for when you arrive, that way the System can hook on to it when it generates your reward criteria.¡±

    ¡°Here, Liam. You look thirsty.¡± Cariad was beside me before I¡¯d even noticed her moving and already offering me the water bottle that I¡¯d brought. Since I had a free hand from losing my sword, I accepted it and took a deep drink from the old Powerade bottle. ¡°He isn¡¯t pushing you too hard, is he? That last hit looked like it hurt.¡±

    ¡°No, I asked for this. A couple of bruises are a small price to pay and I know Cerebaton wouldn¡¯t actually hurt me. He¡¯s got enough skill that I¡¯m confident that even without gear I¡¯ll be fine.¡± I said after finishing my drink. Cariad accepted the bottle back with a small smile.

    ¡°You should be wearing protective gear when we spar in earnest. I¡¯ll see about acquiring some for the future, but now it¡¯s time to go back to the drills.¡± Cerebaton arrived beside us with my practice weapon in his hand. ¡°We will be doing the one to six, two strikes. Follow the pattern.¡± He started while holding the practice sword out for me to take, but Cariad interrupted before I could grab it.

    ¡°Just don¡¯t push yourself too hard, Liam. You work too hard training and you¡¯ll burn out, then who will look after your contracted?¡± Cariad reminded me and I could only nod in agreement. ¡°I¡¯m just glad that Mr. Cerebaton isn¡¯t pushing you too hard. He has something of a reputation of demanding a lot of his underlings.¡±

    ¡°Miss Davies, I have complete confidence that those under me can live up to my demands.¡± Cerebaton¡¯s stern statement had the other daemon standing up straighter, sending her strawberry colored hair bouncing as it hung below her waist.

    Cariad wasn¡¯t disguised like her boss, instead standing there in her usual outfit of a white blouse and pencil skirt plus gloves and stockings. Her slate-blue skin meshing well with the professional outfit and accented by her strawberry colored hair.

    ¡°I know that, Mr. Cerebaton. But Liam is my client and I have to look out for his best interests in all things.¡± Cariad replied smartly, her tone polite but unyielding. Cerebaton nodded once before returning his attention back to me.

    ¡°Miss Davies is correct to be concerned about your endurance levels though. If you hadn¡¯t explained the loss of your hair as the result of defending one of your companions, I¡¯d be worried that your mental state was having issues.¡±

    Sighing, I rubbed the itchy stubble that was showing my eyebrows growing back in. It wasn¡¯t fast, but it was finally starting to happen at least.

    ¡°You and several folks at work thought the same thing. I had to sell them on the idea that it was an accident with a propane grill that singed most of it off and that I shaved the rest to let it grow naturally. My asshole of a boss won''t stop taunting me about it all day today.¡± Which was true. Dutcher had continued to make snide comments every time he rolled past on his Segway about how I didn¡¯t know which end of a propane grill was the hot one.

    ¡°Seriously? Was no one concerned that you were hurt?¡± The offended concern in Cariad¡¯s voice on my behalf brought a smile back to my face.

    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°A few guys were. Most used it as an opportunity to tease me. What matters though is that they dismissed it and didn¡¯t ask too many questions. The last thing I need is someone insisting on knowing exactly how it happened, or remembering I live in an apartment building that doesn¡¯t allow folks to have propane grills.¡±

    ¡°A fair point. But something else you may not have considered?¡± Cerebaton butted in, tapping the top of my training shield with the sword he was holding out to me, which I accepted. I stepped to the center of the gazebo and took up my ready stance while Cariad retreated to her spot by the wall. It was dark enough that no one would notice her different skin tone up here, I was pretty sure of that. She¡¯d also reassured me that she had her own ways of avoiding detection should a normal human wander by.

    Cerebaton waited until I was in position before he continued to speak, working my way through two swing combos of the one to six drill again.

    ¡°You have the ability to modify your body, why not shape-shift the hair back into place?¡±

    The question threw me immediately and I nearly fell over when the swing deflected oddly and threw me off balance.

    ¡°I can see the idea did not occur to you then.¡± Cerebaton¡¯s voice was neutral, but I could see the smirk on his face. He had switched back to acting as my target dummy, blocking the incoming strikes in the pre-arranged pattern. ¡°Recover and begin again.¡±

    ¡°I hadn¡¯t thought about it, no.¡± I said carefully in between strikes while we worked back through the exercise once I¡¯d reset my balance.

    ¡°Why not? Humans are just another type of animal after all. And body hair is relatively light-weight to experiment on.¡± Cerebaton asked, not showing any difficulty in having to block my swings. But that wasn¡¯t the point, I wasn¡¯t trying to power through them, just swing accurately for now. Building muscle memory was more important than hammering on him like I was beating on an anvil.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­¡± I said and let my body act on its own while I thought it over before voicing my thoughts. ¡°I think¡­because of the fact that the power only mentions shifting and not adding to it.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Does it?¡± Cerebaton questioned with a carefully schooled expression, not giving anything away. Which made me think I¡¯d missed something important, but I had to focus on the exercise first. I waited until I finished the cycle with two swings to the six position before stepping back and lowering my shield. I closed my eyes and delved into the System interface to review the power in question.

    Shape-Shifting (Minor) - Allows the user to draft minor changes to the body based on animals he knows of. Changes such as: thickened skin and fur, advanced hearing, improved night sight, claws, or increased muscle mass. Cannot assume full animal form or even a half form yet. Unable to mix more than two animal¡¯s features at a time. No more than a total of five pounds of additional mass may be added or removed.

    Mastery - 873/1000

    ¡°Huh¡­¡± I muttered quietly before opening my eyes and banishing the information. I focused for a moment and tensed my forehead. The sensation of the shift was familiar now, the rippling of my skin as the crocodile hide that I used as armor shifted into place had gotten me used to it at this point. After the rippling sensation stopped, I reached up to brush my knuckles across my returned eyebrow while Cerebaton nodded.

    ¡°Care to fill me in on the revelation?¡± Cariad called from her spot out of sword reach.

    ¡°The ability actually states a maximum mass that can be added or removed. I¡¯d forgotten about it entirely since I¡¯d been focusing on using it to armor a limb up till now. I only focused on the limb itself, not the weight, though I had thought about it when I was coming up with the type of hide I could use. I guess I was fixated on the idea that I had to be shifting something that was actually there, and with no hair, there was nothing to shift.¡± I explained before focusing once more. A moment later I felt that same prickle and the hair was gone again.

    ¡°Why did you remove them?¡± Cerebaton asked as I squared up with him once more.

    ¡°Everyone at work already knows I burnt off my eyebrows. Showing up tomorrow with them grown back would only raise questions.¡± I started the same pattern once more, and the clack of wood on wood was the only sound for several minutes.

    ¡°Not doing it for work makes sense, but why not leave it for now?¡± Cerebaton asked after I¡¯d gone through the drill again and was starting over from the top.

    ¡°Limitations. If I can only mix the traits of two animals on top of my own, why waste one of those two on something like hair? It¡¯ll grow back. I¡¯d rather leave the two open to have both the armored hide and claws in the case of an emergency, rather than something vanity oriented like my hair. That might change as the ability develops, but I¡¯ll deal with that when I get there. I need to focus on boosting my mastery first.¡±

    ¡°It should be relatively easy at this level. Just continue to use it and try different features. Maybe include some from your contractors as well? Things about them that you are familiar with at this point?¡± Cerebaton suggested, looking thoughtful. ¡°I worked on becoming familiar with the widest base of possible shifts when I was working on it. Maybe we should see about adding in the occasional shift while you are practicing. Hardening your skin on open areas that will receive blows and the like.¡±

    ¡°That would require a level of focus that I¡¯m not sure I¡¯m ready for yet.¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t know until you try. That¡¯s what practice is for after all.¡± Cariad called from the sidelines. ¡°I know I just said you shouldn¡¯t push yourself too hard, but take a moment to think about the potential, Liam.¡±

    I was about to reply when the edges of my vision flashed brightly and a message scrolled across my vision. Rather than the normal fluorescent purple, this one was a bright and glowing red.

    Kassandra Silverscale has sent an urgent request for your presence regarding her physical protection.

    Transit? View summoning?

    ¡°Shit, I have to go. Urgent summoning.¡± I said quickly and dropped the sword and shield. Cerebaton reacted immediately, catching them and nodding once.

    ¡°Go! Deal with the situation. We can finish this discussion another day.¡±

    ¡°Let me know if everything is okay!¡± Cariad called from the side but I was already mentally hammering that glowing Transit button as hard as I could. At the same time I was focusing on my hands, causing thick talons to sprout from my fingers while the world whirled away from me.

 Chapter 18

    I landed in grass and immediately whirled to look all around me, searching for whatever threat was there and to locate Kassandra.

    It was late evening, the sun had set some time ago and there wasn¡¯t much light in the area to see by, but I could tell that I was on Juneau¡¯s campus from the nearby buildings and the distant silhouette of the curtain wall that encircled the campus. I could hear people talking and laughing from a distant path that had a group hurrying along it.

    ¡°Liam.¡± The voice came from behind me and quavered oddly. Spinning around again, I caught sight of what I¡¯d missed at first. Kassandra was sprawled on the grass a few feet away. I dove to my knees next to her.

    ¡°Kass, what''s wrong?¡± I demanded, already shaking my hands to dismiss the claws from my fingertips so I could check her over, as I couldn¡¯t see any threats around us at the moment.

    ¡°Cold.¡± Kassandra chattered. I was close enough now to see that her entire body was shaking and her clothes were soaked through. It took only a quick touch to confirm that she was dripping wet and freezing. As I watched her whole serpentine body thrash like she was trying to convulse or drag herself towards the road, but the chill in the air was sapping her strength. I saw fragments of ice in the grass nearby as well, but they were melting away already. The air temperature was chilly with the sun down, and being wet wasn¡¯t helping at all.

    ¡°Shit, that¡¯s right. You¡¯re cold blooded. I need to find a way to warm you up.¡± I muttered as I laid a hand on her neck. I could feel her pulse there, but it was slow and weak as the chill robbed her body of the heat needed to function. I had absolutely no idea how this happened or how much it could harm Kassandra. I just knew that I needed to fix the problem, and quickly. A message flashed over my vision but I mentally slapped it away to focus on her.

    She¡¯s cold, needs to warm up. She always talks about how warm I am. I thought rapidly and yanked my sweat-soaked t-shirt over my head before scooping the furiously shivering dwarf lamia up in my arms and pressing her against my chest to try and share what body-heat I could.

    Her clothes were so cold and icy that I almost screamed in surprise. Living in Colorado, I¡¯d gotten used to the cold winds and chilling winters. The combination of cold and wet made it feel like I¡¯d just belly flopped into an icy river that was seconds from flash freezing. The sole grace was that my body was steaming from my workout, that kept the chill just this side of debilitating. Kassandra¡¯s arms shifted from clutching at her own chest to weakly hanging on to my shoulders and she buried her face in my neck.

    ¡°Room.¡± She croaked weakly. ¡°Fire to warm. Two¡­two oh¡­three.¡± Her whole body gave another shuddering shiver and I felt her tail try and wrap around my hips like she normally did when she hugged me, but she couldn¡¯t seem to make the muscles tense enough to hang on.

    ¡°I got you, Kass.¡± I murmured, using one arm to pull her small body against my chest and then used the other to grab her coiled serpent body and toss it around my hips. Shifting the hand at her back to the other arm, I hefted her tail around her back then slung the last of her length over my shoulder to keep it from dragging on the ground. This also helped hold her in place as it wrapped across her back and then up over my shoulder, so it pressed her into me.

    With my passenger secured. I started waddling towards the road ahead of me. I remembered vaguely what Rue House looked like, and that there were plaques near the doors. I just needed to get closer so I could read them properly.

    The group that I¡¯d heard talking on the road was already out of sight, but I cleared the distance to get back on the path fairly quickly at my lumbering pace. Despite Kassandra¡¯s small size, the added length of her serpentine body made her extremely heavy. So heavy that I doubted I could have done this before enhancing my strength stats.

    That thought had me trying something I had considered before but not applied. I felt the muscles in my thighs and calves swell in size slightly as I pushed extra mass to them and their associated tendons. An extra five pounds of muscle won¡¯t do a ton, but I need everything I can get.

    Moving became slightly easier after that. I felt Kassandra¡¯s coils tighten just a bit more around me as she tried her best to burrow into my chest. Whatever she¡¯d been covered with, because it was obvious she¡¯d been utterly doused from how wet she was and I just hoped it was water, had soaked through my pants and was now making my shoes squelch as I stomped pointedly along the path. Kassandra continued to shiver furiously as the wind picked up in the courtyard and I felt the chill of the cold liquid on my skin even more.

    Thankfully, Rue House wasn¡¯t far. I spotted the familiar shape of the building and hurried to the door, checking the brass plaque to confirm I was right. The door was secured with one of those old thumb latches that you pressed down on and it lifted a bar inside to unlock the door. I had to shift my grip on Kassandra to press the latch and push on the door. This, unfortunately, had the effect of leaving only my hand on her butt to support my burden. Kassandra made no protest though, just clinging a bit tighter as she continued to shake.

    The door, however, wasn¡¯t willing to work with me. The latch clunked, but didn¡¯t move more than a tiny bit. Shifting Kassandra, I tried again with my other hand. Pressing down on the lever that should have lifted the bar inside and disengaged the lock. It again clunked loudly, but didn¡¯t move enough to actually unlock. It¡¯s like someone locked the door from the inside¡­ I thought and my patience ended at that point. Kassandra¡¯s shivering was getting worse and I could feel her coils loosening once more around me as she started to lose consciousness. So I did the only thing I could think of at the moment.

    I took a step back, hitched Kassandra further up on my hip, and then gave the door an almighty kick right at the latch.

    There was a crunch of breaking wood and a faint shout of surprise before I gave it another kick. I normally wouldn¡¯t be able to put so much power behind a kick without over-balancing, but with the addition of Kassandra¡¯s weight to my own I could put a great deal more force behind the blow. The second kick did the job. Both of my ankles were screaming in protest from the strain being put on them, one for the weight and the other the impact, so I was glad when the door swung open with a crash of splintering wood and I hurried inside.

    The interior of Rue House was set up much like I would have imagined a wild west style saloon. The first floor was mostly taken up with individual study tables and social spaces, with well padded chairs scattered all around and lots of polished hardwood. A pair of stairs, one to each side of the room, led up to the second floor that overlooked the main room. A third and fourth floor did the same thing, leaving the center of the room open to the air so that one could look over the balcony and into the main room easily. Doors marked the walls on the second through fourth floors showing where each of the dorm rooms were and I started to the nearest set of stairs, ignoring the yelling coming from what I guessed were other residents of the building.

    ¡°Kass!¡± Rieka¡¯s voice cut through the chaos and caught my attention when I hit the bottom of the stairs and looked up, seeing Rieka all but flying down the stairs towards me. ¡°Liam?! What are you doing here?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s freezing, Rieka. I need to get her to her room and get her warmed up. Don¡¯t know what happened to her, I just got an emergency summon and arrived to find her soaked and freezing in the grass.¡± I relayed rapidly, doing my best to keep my tone even as the shouting from below got louder while people demanded answers and shouted threats, but no one seemed willing to chase after me.

    ¡°The door?¡±

    ¡°Pretty sure someone locked it, and I wasn¡¯t going to take the chance.¡± I didn¡¯t stop moving as I stomped up the stairs. Rieka glanced between me and the crowd of other students, some of which had their spell rods out and were pointing them towards us.

    ¡°I¡¯ll deal with them. Kass¡¯s room is over there, the door''s unlocked already.¡± She indicated a room just a short distance away that shared a wall with the front of the building. ¡°Get her warmed up. Kass, hang on. Liam¡¯s got you.¡± Rieka squeezed past me as I turned to hurry down the corridor. Kassandra¡¯s shivering had slowed down now that we were out of the wind, but it still felt like I was holding an armful of limp and cold spaghetti.

    I left a trail of wet footprints and small puddles while I headed to the door that led to Kassandra¡¯s room. Thankfully, Rieka¡¯s statement was right and it wasn¡¯t locked.

    When I pushed the door open, I found the familiar bedroom that I¡¯d seen the last time I¡¯d been summoned for a ¡®planning session¡¯ with the girls. A tea set was laid out at the table by the large, squishy couch with another chair next to it. A small stack of books was piled onto the table and the embers of a fire were glowing in the fireplace. Light was provided by a pair of crystal spheres sitting on the table next to the books. The baseball-sized spheres glowed with a steady light that served to illuminate the room fairly well.

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    ¡°Guess Rieka was waiting for you, Kass.¡± I muttered as I hefted my soggy burden onto the couch. Kassandra clung to me limply, her fingers digging into my back.

    ¡°Cold¡­Liam.¡± She managed to squeeze past numb lips. The pale skin of her face and chest were tinted just the slightest bit blue.

    ¡°Hang on, we need to get the wet clothes off you.¡± I grimaced as I said that, but Kassandra nodded jerkily, giving her consent.

    Living in cold weather that got snow like I did taught me about dealing with hypothermia. Wet clothes were a huge no-no, and without internal body heat, I had to work quickly to get Kassandra warmed up. That meant that we needed to get the cold and wet things off and I couldn¡¯t spare the time to accommodate modesty by bringing someone else in to change her clothes. My brain was still in full ¡®emergency mode¡¯.

    Thankfully, the clothing Kassandra was wearing wasn¡¯t super complicated. The short skirt came loose easily with a series of buttons along one hip and I tossed it onto the floor by the fire. Removing the underbust corset took more work, because Kassandra wasn¡¯t able to help me figure out the laces and toggles. She just curled up and shivered while I worked. Getting it and her shirt off left her bare to the slightly warmer air of the room, but her pale skin was still wet. I tossed the soggy clothes by the fire before snatching a blanket off the foot of the bed and using it to quickly scrub her down to get as much liquid off her skin as possible. That done, I snagged the large, fluffy comforter off the bed and hurried back to her. The whole time, I did my absolute best to not stare at her curvy figure or the dark pink nipples that crowned the soft curves of her breasts where they peeked out from behind her arms. Kassandra was very well endowed and I now knew without a doubt she didn¡¯t wear a bra. Shaking my head, I focused instead on how I could help her recover, growling to myself under my breath as I thought. Caveman brain can go sit in the corner. Getting her warm is more important than boobs, damn it.

    I only paused long enough to toss a few more logs onto the fire from the rack that sat by the fireplace before I skinned out of my pants and underwear in order to remove any sources of wet and cold. Equally bare now, since my shirt was still lying in the grass outside, I hopped up onto the couch and settled in the center just behind Kassandra. With the fire and the blanket, she would warm up quickly. At least I hoped that she would. But I wasn¡¯t going to take any chances.

    It took a bit of wrangling to get Kassandra¡¯s still limp coils around me once more, but I had her against my chest in short order with her coils wrapped around my hips and lap and the blanket draped over top of us to enclose as much body heat as possible. I did my absolute best to not think about the hard pebbles of her nipples pressing into my chest, or the softness of her bare skin on mine. The last thing I needed was to make this awkward by popping a boner when she was draped over my lap like this. Instead, I focused on rubbing her back, sides, hips, and tail as much as possible to boost her heat by friction. Slowly, her chilled flesh began to warm up once more.

    ¡°Liam¡­¡± Kassandra¡¯s voice was soft, weak even, but she wasn¡¯t chattering as much now. ¡°Thank you. Sorry.¡±

    ¡°No! No apologies for this.¡± I growled as I squeezed her tighter to my chest. ¡°You needed help and I came. I don¡¯t want to think about what would have happened to you if I hadn¡¯t gotten there quickly.¡±

    ¡°Hibernation.¡± Kassandra muttered, her body still shaking with the occasional shiver. She buried her face into my neck again and clung to me with a bit more strength. ¡°Froze. Saved me.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll always come if you need me, Kass.¡± The words were out of my mouth before I thought about them, but they weren¡¯t untrue. I¡¯d known her for less than two weeks, but that hadn¡¯t stopped a deep affection from growing for the energetic and friendly dwarf lamia, or for her shy and reserved friend Rieka. I didn¡¯t know where this friendship was going, but I resolved to see it through. Kass didn¡¯t respond, just clinging closer to me. I was happy to feel her coils tighten, as the increasing heat was slowly restoring her strength.

    Rieka arrived a few minutes later to find us swathed in blankets. She had a spell rod in each hand, one of which she set onto the table next to me and the other she slipped into the holster on her hip.

    ¡°I went out to look and found that in the grass.¡± She said by way of explanation. ¡°Since almost all the coins in it were discharged, and the ground nearby was soaked with freezing water, I assumed it was Kass¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Mumbled the dwarf lamia from inside the folds of the blanket. Only the top of her head was poking out and the mass of red curls were slowly drying and fluffing out once more. Rieka glanced over at the fireplace and moved to stir the fire with the iron poker from the rack next to it. The logs had caught and the fire was rising finally, emitting a billow of light and heat into the room in response to being moved about. She also spotted the soggy clothes lying on the floor next to the fireplace and shot me a questioning look.

    ¡°When someone is freezing to death, the last thing you want is wet clothes. Bare skin is preferable, as it makes it easier to warm them up.¡± I explained quickly and a furious blush crashed onto Rieka¡¯s face.

    ¡°So, are you two¡­?¡±

    ¡°Yup.¡± Kassandra purred, wriggling closer and squeezing me with a bit more strength in her long tail. ¡°Liam is waaarm.¡±

    ¡°I think she¡¯s going to be okay now.¡± Laughed Rieka, sitting down on the edge of the large couch. ¡°I want the whole story though, Kass.¡±

    ¡°Dunno. Someone hit me with a water spell while I was coming back from an errand.¡± Kassandra¡¯s words were muffled by her hair, so I took a moment to brush it back so we could hear her better. ¡°I conjured an ice spell to defend myself, thinking I was being attacked. Ended up chilling the water on me a lot and I panicked. They panicked too, I heard cursing and then people running. Called Liam when I realized I couldn¡¯t move well enough to get back. Prank that got out of hand.¡±

    I picked up the story there, filling Rieka in on what I saw when I arrived through to the point where I found the locked door downstairs, since she knew what came right after that. The wolf-kin woman nodded slowly as she listened, her ears twitching occasionally.

    ¡°Okay, that explains the door. The folks down in the common room just said someone kicked the door in for no reason and they saw you come charging through. We are lucky everyone was so surprised that they didn¡¯t know what to do, someone might have hurt you out of fear. Honestly, it startled enough people that they didn¡¯t react right away, which gave me time to explain.¡±

    I had been intending to say something, but Kassandra¡¯s coils tightening around me squeezed the words out. Instead, I just hugged her back and let Rieka continue.

    ¡°Lady Maia had the door repaired with a spell in no time. She told me to check on you and then report to her what I found out. You two okay for now while I go fill her in? Last thing we want is her to come in here and find you both naked.¡± Rieka¡¯s eyes darted towards the two of us once more and her blush reappeared. I tugged the blanket a little higher to hide my bare chest better. Kassandra was back doing her little ¡®squeeze, relax, squeeze¡¯ kneading thing with her tail, which told me she was feeling much better, but said nothing.

    ¡°Yea. Go fill her in on what happened. I¡¯ll stick around until Kass is feeling better.¡± I reassured Rieka. The wolf-kin nodded quickly before rising to her feet. A moment later, Kassandra and I were alone again in the room, the only noise being the quiet sound of her breathing and the crackle of the fire.

    ¡°Thank you again, Liam.¡± Kassandra¡¯s voice was quiet enough that I almost missed it.

    ¡°Of course, Kass. Never doubt I¡¯ll come for you.¡± I squeezed her back and heard a quiet, tearful sniffle coming from her. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°I lied to Rieka a bit. I know the girls who did this.¡± Kassandra¡¯s voice was far more reserved than I¡¯d ever expected to hear from her.

    ¡°Who?¡± The word came out as a growl and I clutched her protectively to me. The knowledge that she was naked under the blanket entirely disregarded as I turned my glare towards the door, almost hoping the mischief makers would show up again.

    ¡°Another noblewoman by the name of Josephine and her group.¡± Kassandra murmured quietly. ¡°They¡¯ve been causing problems for me for a while because of my friendship with Rieka. They don¡¯t think a ¡®scalie¡¯ like me should be hanging around the princess. They were taunting me and told me to stop monopolizing the princess, and when I refused, one of them doused me with water for daring to refuse ¡®the Lady Josephine¡¯ anything.¡±

    ¡°Does Rieka know?¡±

    ¡°No. I don¡¯t want to tell her about it. She¡¯d blame herself for problems befalling me because of her. You know she would.¡± Kassandra burrowed her face into my neck and sighed. ¡°This would have just been a prank, but I reacted to defend myself and the ice magic got away from me. I really need to practice more¡­¡±

    ¡°I told you, Kass. You call and I¡¯ll come. You need me to play heater while you practice, I will. I¡¯m certainly not complaining right now.¡± I brushed the hair back from her face again and, on a hunch, pressed a kiss to her temple. The dwarf lamia in my lap giggled quietly before sighing happily and squeezing me tighter.

    ¡°Okay, Liam. I¡¯ll do that¡­thank you again for saving me.¡±

    ¡°Anytime, Kass.¡±

    We sat in silence for several more minutes while the heat of the fire soaked into the room and I finally had time to check my interface. The message that had distracted me earlier was at the top and then a second one had come in later regarding the first.

    Assist your contracted companion, Kassandra Silverscale, by stabilizing her condition.

    Reward - 50 SP

    The second message was the same, only with the ¡®completed¡¯ tag attached to it. A third and fourth message were there too, both of which I was quite pleased to see.

    Power Shape-Shifting (Minor) has achieved Mastery 1000/1000.

    New Powers available in the System interface.

    Congratulations, Traveler.

 Chapter 19

    I stayed with Kassandra for another half hour before Rieka returned to check on her. Kassandra had fallen asleep with a smile on her face while curled up in my arms. I spent the time studying my interface and inspecting the new options that appeared. Rieka promised to check in with me if there were any problems and was in the middle of explaining the chaos that my entry had caused when I was sent back to Earth because the ¡®timer¡¯ ran out. The first time that had happened actually, as the girls normally sent me back manually.

    Unfortunately, I left my clothes behind when I vanished off Kass¡¯ sofa.

    By the time that I made it back to Earth, both Cerebaton and Cariad had already left. I hadn¡¯t expected them to hang around, so it wasn¡¯t all that surprising. Landing bare ass on the wooden floor of the gazebo was really surprising though. I panicked a bit at what had happened until I made the connection that the mana for the summon must have run out.

    Having to streak back to the apartment made me glad of two things. The first was the late hour, no one was around to see me. The second was that while my clothes got left behind in the other world, since I¡¯d taken them off, my keys had not been. The fact that I landed on them when I fell over up in the gazebo was not my proudest moment, but it definitely ensured I didn¡¯t leave them or my wallet behind.

    It wasn¡¯t until I got home and had a chance to think that I realized I could have sent a message to either of the daemon¡¯s and they would have likely been able to get me some clothes. The fact that Cerebaton and Cariad seemed to take quite a bit of delight out of popping into existence without warning and vanishing just as mysteriously was something that I¡¯d been getting used to after my practice sessions and the various meetings I¡¯d had with them. Cerebaton seemed to take particular delight in finding ways to vanish like he was auditioning for the role of a bat-themed masked avenger.

    As late as it was when I got back, I was still pretty wired from the mixture of adrenaline and relief that came from rushing to Kassandra¡¯s aid and having to kick a door in. I was doing my best to not dwell on the lengthy snuggle I¡¯d had with Kassandra to help bring her body temperature back up to a safe range.

    Sitting in my dingy living room in a pair of workout shorts I¡¯d grabbed off the floor of my room, I stared up at the ceiling and turned over what had occurred that night already. I¡¯d nearly not been strong enough to carry Kassandra to where she could get warm again. I had been practicing as often as I could with my powers, but it almost hadn¡¯t been enough.

    But it was enough this time. I reminded myself. That and the memory of Kassandra clinging to me was enough to stave off the worst of the self recriminations. At least long enough to remember the system messages that had popped up and the changes to the powers available. I¡¯d been reviewing them before I¡¯d been sent back, but landing on my bare ass had driven that right out of my head. Can¡¯t really complain, having to streak home would distract most folks. I really need to get that dimensional backpack ability or whatever, if only to ensure I never have to do that again. I thought while watching the shadows play over the popcorn ceiling of my living room.

    Deciding that I should review the powers again so I could sleep on it, I closed my eyes and focused on the System interface that popped up. The available SP total in the corner now read seven hundred and twenty. Focusing on the ¡®Powers¡¯ tab had it opening up to display new information.

    Just as when I¡¯d finished allocating and spending the points of Enhance Self (Minor), the entry for Shape-Shifting (Minor) was now outlined in gold. The mastery bar for the power was now filled in and the word Mastered was printed over top of it. What was new though was the addition of a line linking the entry to another just below it.

    Before now, the entry for the Body section of the ¡®Powers¡¯ tab had only Enhance Self (Minor) and Shape-Shifting (Minor). When I had finished off the minor rank Enhance Self, that one had linked directly to an improved version. Now, with the mastery of the first rank of Shape-Shifting, the tree expanded further downwards and also outwards. I could see four more distinct ranks to Shape-Shifting though I could only read the next one¡¯s details. At least I was pretty sure that they were ranks of the base skill based on their position. In addition, I could tell that several entries branched off the main line of Shape-Shifting as well, but I couldn¡¯t read them, they just were blank squares with a blur that resembled text but was unintelligible. So I studied what I could.

    Shape-Shifting (Lesser) - Cost: 400 SP - User is able to draft moderate changes to the body: altering weight, adding natural armor, claws, fangs, and secondary features. Basic partial shift is limited to no more than twenty pounds of additional mass that may be added or removed. Unable to mix more than two animal¡¯s features at a time.

    ¡°Twenty pounds¡­now that would give me some room to work with.¡± I muttered to myself as I reviewed the information once more. If I could cover my forearm with leathery hide for only five pounds, I could probably cover both and most of my chest for twenty. Or even shift an entire limb into something totally different. ¡°Twenty pounds would be a good deal of extra muscle as well. I wonder if that was what tipped it over¡­Just drafting the extra mass into part of my regular body rather than shifting part of my body into something else? I had only really been focusing the full changes into other things rather than getting creative¡­¡±

    I had to restrain the urge to select and purchase the upgrade immediately. Reviewing my other options confirmed that I still had the next rank of Enhance Self available. Checking the Mind and Spirit tabs showed the same as what I was seeing on the Body tab. There were entries here, divided into tiers that I could recognize, but none that were visible yet beyond fields that were filled with out of focus text that I could only hope would refine as time went. I could see two distinct groups in Mind and another two in Spirit.

    I waffled on it for another ten or so minutes before deciding to commit. Shape-Shifting had shown itself useful on several occasions, and being able to add the extra fifteen pounds over what I had now would only help. I would need to get more creative with the use of it to keep it growing, and I knew how to go about doing that.

    Selecting Shape-Shifting (Lesser) and activating it got another message to pop up from the system.

    New power acquired.

    System will begin applying changes.

    It is advised that Traveler rests to expedite this process.

    Mastery 0/1000

    That left me with another three hundred and twenty points. I reviewed the options again and nothing new had shown up, so I decided to try and push the creative envelope. It only took a moment to review Enhance Self (Lesser) and do some math before deciding on a plan.

    Enhance Self (Lesser) - Cost: 50 SP - Increase personal stats by 5 points. These points can be spread out after, up to a maximum of ten points per stat beyond (Minor) effects.

    May be selected multiple times.

    If the previous tier was not fully exploited, that opportunity is not lost. Previous tier will become unavailable once max points are allotted from it.

    Since I had another three hundred points to spend, I tapped Enhance Self (Lesser) six times before navigating to my stats screen. I already had an idea of what I wanted to do with the thirty points I had to spend now. I could either spread them around like I¡¯d done the first time, or concentrate them in a way that would hopefully help me grow quicker.

    Being able to add up to twenty pounds of additional mass would hold my physical stats for now. What I needed was more intelligence and creativity, so I slotted ten points each into the Willpower, Mental Acuity, and Wisdom. If I was lucky, these would help me get more flexible in how I applied the ability and help the mastery bar grow to get to the next rank, which was where it started to branch out more.

    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    With that done, I reviewed my stats one more time before confirming the points expenditure.

    Name - Liam Cosgrave

    Strength - 18

    Agility - 16

    Fortitude - 21

    Willpower - 30

    Mental Acuity - 28

    Wisdom - 26

    ¡°Brain is my biggest muscle for once.¡± I chuckled before opening my eyes. I waited a moment while the ceiling spun around me as the System started making the changes to my body and mind that would enhance my stats. Only when the world stopped twitching did I rise and head to bed. I knew I needed sleep to be able to function for work tomorrow. I fired off a quick message to both Cariad and Cerebaton to let them know everything was okay and that I was back.

    It is nice that they are doing so much to help out and keep in touch. They could have easily been far more hands off if the daemon¡¯s wanted to. The DSR doesn¡¯t seem like it normally gets into the day to day with their Travelers after all.

    That was the last thought to cross my mind as exhaustion snatched me up as soon as I crawled into bed. I passed out just as the pillow touched my face.

    <><><>

    The increase in willpower was useful, since it was one of the only things that kept me from bitching out Dutcher the next morning.

    ¡°That¡¯s just how it is, Liam. Matheson called off, so I need you to pick up the slack.¡± The chubby idiot gave me a grin that I¡¯m sure he thought was endearing, but really just made me want to punch him in the throat.

    ¡°And why is it that I have to load both my share of trucks, and his?¡± I asked carefully, doing my best to not yell at the pompous idiot as he rolled along next to me while I walked to my dock and dropped my lunch bag on the small plywood table by the gate.

    ¡°Because I know you can do it, Liam. You are the hardest worker on the dock here and I don¡¯t think anyone else would be able to pull this off.¡± Dutcher¡¯s voice was honey sweet with compliments, but the daggers in his piggy eyes told me it was anything but. ¡°Senior management will be doing a walk-through of the docks today and I want to make sure everything is just right. If we have drivers in here complaining their trucks are late, we are all going to look bad.¡±

    You mean you are going to look bad. I thought but didn¡¯t say. Instead, I put my newly increased wisdom to use before offering a compromise.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, Dutcher. I might be able to pull this off as a one time thing, but I don¡¯t think I could sustain it. There needs to be a better solution in the future. Also, I¡¯ve been dying for some vacation time actually, but haven¡¯t settled on the days yet.¡±

    ¡°You pull this off and I¡¯ll make sure you get the time off you need, Liam.¡± Dutcher¡¯s smile was probably supposed to be genial, but all I could see was greed in those eyes. He was lying through his teeth, I could just feel it. Also, I didn¡¯t miss that he ignored the idea of having a better idea for the future.

    ¡°Can you tell me why we don¡¯t just divide up Matheson¡¯s workload so that we split the trucks between the others here? I know we have like eight docks, and seven guys can split the trucks easily.¡± I suggested, hoping to at least get his tiny mind working on a solution that wasn¡¯t ¡®dump it all on one unfortunate peon¡¯.

    ¡°They couldn¡¯t keep up with my hardest worker. I know you can do it, Liam. Besides, you¡¯re neighbors with Matheson. It¡¯ll be easier for you to hop over and work on that trailer while the others focus on keeping their area¡¯s neat for when the supervisors are here.¡± Dutcher continued to slather on compliments like he was dishing up ice-cream, I didn¡¯t need my increased mental skills to know he was sounding a bit desperate and I had to wonder if he¡¯d already tried this on some of the other loaders and been told to pound sand.

    Ultimately, it was the temptation presented by Dutcher promising the time off that convinced me. I just had to hope he delivered on the time off request. For a brief moment, I toyed with the idea of just quitting if Dutcher didn¡¯t keep his word. It would be so satisfying to throw in his face, but I had to be realistic. That would be a bad call. I didn¡¯t have the savings to do something like that.

    Staring at the empty trailer already backed to my dock, I gave it one last think before agreeing. I could bust tail and get all six trucks loaded that would come out of these docks today, though I¡¯d be dead on my feet tonight. Since I didn¡¯t have training with Cerebaton until tomorrow, and I just had the upgrade to my Shape-Shifting power, I was fairly certain I could do this. Especially if I started using the trick of adding more muscle mass to my body so I could lift more in one go.

    ¡°Okay fine, I¡¯ll see what I can do.¡±

    ¡°Good man, Liam!¡±

    <><><>

    I managed to get all the trucks loaded, but it wiped me out something fierce as a result. I¡¯d never maintained that level of exertion for that long before and my entire body was sore by the end of the day. Getting home and feeling like someone had scooped my guts out with a teaspoon had me messaging Cariad for information while sprawling on the couch and waiting for my arms to stop hurting.

    I¡¯m just glad I don¡¯t have to hold my hands out like I¡¯m typing, I can just¡­message with my brain using the System. I grumbled internally as I navigated to the messaging system and sent off my question. Cariad was quick to respond, as usual.

    Liam

    Hey, I think I overdid it at work today. Do you know if this Shape-Shifting power has any side effects for overuse?

    Cariad

    Oh, yes! Like any power from the System, it has a point where you can overdraw it. Those lines can stretch with time and practice though. Think of it like a new muscle that you are working out. What did you do?

    Liam

    Recently upgraded to the next rank and it gave me more mass to play with. Put it into use at work today to boost my bodily strength and I¡¯m feeling beat.

    Cariad

    I¡¯m just theorizing here, but it is likely that the additional mass might have put more strain on your body, especially when you removed it. Your muscles produce lactic acid when they are overworked and that is slowly processed out. If you added a large amount of additional muscle mass and then worked them hard all day but removed them before that could be processed, it put extra strain on your normal tissue.

    Liam

    That makes a surprising amount of sense. I hadn¡¯t had time to experiment with the changes or see what else can be done, I just slapped on the extra muscle so I could do the work I needed to. It didn¡¯t push the Mastery up by much, only about twenty points.

    Cariad

    Remember what Cerebaton told you. Mastery is about being creative with the powers, not just using them over and over again. You need to experiment and explore more, find unique ways to combine the ideas. You¡¯ll still make gains for a while doing the same thing, but creativity is rewarded.

    Liam

    I would happily experiment more, I just have to get them to stop hurting.

    Cariad

    I would recommend a hot bath and early bed. Make sure to stretch really well before bed too so you don¡¯t wake up stiff.

    Liam

    Already the plan. I just need to motivate myself to do it now rather than stay on the couch.

    Cariad

    Just think about how impressed your contracted girls will be when you show off the new power this weekend. You seem rather attached to those girls, so that should help motivate you!

    I smirked at that message and thought about it. The mental image of Kassandra¡¯s intelligent, brown eyes opening wide in surprise as I showed off the increased options I had for my abilities would be rather pleasant. Though the memory of her cuddling into me and her naked chest against mine was even more pleasant of a distraction. Shaking that thought off, I responded to Cariad.

    Liam

    Just the one this weekend. Rieka needs to take care of personal stuff, but Kassandra sounded like she wanted to get some practice in for her magic so she wanted to work with me on that. I have a feeling I¡¯m going to be relegated to being nothing more than a heater while the cold blooded girl works on her ice magic.

    Cariad

    Oh woe be upon you, a cute girl cuddling up with you while you get to watch her do magic. :P

    The little smiley face at the end of Cariad¡¯s message made me laugh, which actually set off a cramp of protest in my abdomen that hurt a surprising amount.

    Liam

    There are far worse fates, for sure. Are you going to swing by practice tomorrow with Cerebaton? Make sure he¡¯s not bullying me too much without you around?

    Cariad

    Probably. I want to hear all about what happened to Kassandra, it sounds like things aren¡¯t just simple with your girls. Remember that you aren¡¯t from their society though, be careful not to judge actions too harshly until you have the full story.

    Liam

    Anyone who pulls tricks that could endanger someone¡¯s life like that deserves to be punished. Whether that is by me or by the school administration will be seen. I¡¯m rather protective of them after all.

    Cariad

    A blind man could see that. Go rest up and remember to stretch! I¡¯ll talk to you tomorrow, Liam.

    Liam

    Night Cari. Have a good one.

    Opening my eyes to banish the System interface, I spent another half an hour laying on the couch just turning over the strange events that were happening in my mind. Life was definitely more odd than it had ever been to this point, but it was also more interesting than ever too. Deciding that Cariad¡¯s suggestion of a hot bath was probably a good one, I got my creaky self up and moving.

    To be honest, the bath was hardly relaxing. I kept imagining sharing it with a certain redheaded dwarf lamia and the happy noises she¡¯d make in the hot water. The fact the tub was so small meant that we¡¯d be cuddling up again. Normally I wouldn¡¯t let myself daydream about things like this, but it did help keep any worries at bay about her condition.

    Taking a bath gave me an idea though and I ended up spending another hour making a list of a few different skills I wanted to learn that might come in handy in the future. While knowing how to sharpen a sword wouldn¡¯t help me in a fight, the knowledge would ensure my gear was properly maintained and it would be one less thing the girls would have to take care of for me. And that was only one example that I scribbled down on the yellow legal pad I kept my grocery lists on.

    I still had the occasional worry about Kassandra and Rieka¡¯s current state, but during my list making, I spotted the runic tattoos on my left arm again. The same tattoo¡¯s that had appeared when I¡¯d bonded with the girls weeks ago. Rubbing my thumb over the one that was for Kassandra, I swore I could feel a sense of contentment from it, and that went a good deal further to helping me relax enough to sleep when I finally went to bed.

 Chapter 20

    Friday went by in a blur. The improved stats were showing themselves useful already. While I couldn¡¯t do much studying for ideas while I was loading trucks at work, I was able to work on the practical Shape-Shifting as well as multi-task by listening to some audiobooks on survival subjects. It was definitely harder than actually researching and studying those subjects with diagrams or hands on practice. I found that when I finally sat down to study them, the information that I¡¯d been listening to made more sense when I applied it practically.

    The same thing occurred when I went through the sword drills in my living room that evening too. While my body was still getting used to the maneuvers, my mind was easily able to keep up. Thankfully, either Cariad or Cerebaton had managed to get my practice gear back into my apartment after I¡¯d had to abandon it to go look after Kassandra. I wasn¡¯t sure how they did it, but figured it had to be something related to how they kept appearing and disappearing when I wasn¡¯t looking. The weapon routines were getting to be second nature as I practiced, my memory and recall enhanced by the improved stats helping a lot and I was making faster progress than I thought I should.

    Saturday morning dawned early. I was up and ready to go with the dawn. Which meant that I spent the next several hours wandering the house and trying not to worry until the expected summoning notice came through.

    Kassandra Silverscale has sent a non-urgent request for your presence.

    Transit? View summoning?

    I didn¡¯t hesitate and mentally tapped the ¡®Transit¡¯ option where I stood in the middle of my hallway. A moment later I felt the jerk around my torso of something snatching me up to whisk me away.

    I landed smoothly an indeterminate amount of time later. The whirling sensation rapidly faded away and my stomach barely reacted now to the dizzying sensation. I glanced around quickly to assess the situation.

    The opulent furniture and familiar decorations told me that I was in Kassandra¡¯s room. This was only further confirmed by the happy squeal and rustling of scales that preceded what I was beginning to think of as Kassandra¡¯s trademark hug/tackle/constriction as the dwarf lamia hit me from the side with a laugh.

    ¡°Liam!¡± Kassandra cried happily, her serpentine tail wrapping around my hips and waist as she circled her arms around my chest and squeezed hard enough that my back popped. Thankfully, I was able to catch her rather than be bowled over. Instead, I only lurched a few steps from the impact and hugged her back while laughing.

    ¡°Hello Kass, good to see you up and about again. Was worried about you.¡±

    ¡°Sorry I didn¡¯t call you back to tell you sooner, I wanted to save the mana so that I could afford to spend more time with you today!¡± Kassandra¡¯s words were a bit muffled as she rubbed her face into my chest, though she paused to peek up at me with one eye glimmering from amongst her fluffy curls.

    ¡°Rieka promised to let me know if there was a problem, I assumed that no news was good news.¡± Kassandra appeared to be reassured at this and went back to rubbing her face in my chest while giggling, her serpentine half squeezing me gently as she continued to snuggle in closer.

    ¡°Not that I¡¯m complaining about the welcome, but are you okay? Should you be moving around this much?¡± I carefully sidled over to the large couch that Kassandra had used the last time I was here and settled onto it with my giggling passenger.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, Liam. You got me all warmed up before it could be an issue. Thanks again for that. I could have really gotten hurt if I¡¯d spent too long chilled that badly. I would have slipped into hibernation, like I said. But out in the open like that? My blood flow would have continued to slow and it could have caused damage to my body. While lamia can hibernate, being forced into it quickly is dangerous and can kill.¡±

    ¡°That seems like a heck of a weakness, Kass.¡± I said gently, brushing some hair out of her face. She smiled up at me before responding.

    ¡°Yea, it is. But most lamia breeds tend to stay in very warm places anyway and not all of us are cold blooded. Only some of the subspecies. It was just a collection of events that conspired to make it bad. I¡¯m just glad that this area doesn¡¯t get snow during the winter. The warming spells on my clothes are costly enough.¡±

    ¡°You said before that it was because you lost control of the ice magic it got that bad too?¡± I asked curiously. Kassandra didn¡¯t seem like she was going to let me go anytime soon, so I just settled in for a wait until she¡¯d had enough.

    ¡°Yea. I know we joked about it before but I do need to practice more. It¡¯s just so hard. I hate being cold. I hate how it makes me feel¡­but this is the direction my magic chose to take. If it¡¯d been up to me, I¡¯d have practiced fire or earth magic, even water alone would have been nice. But my natural mana aspected to ice when I started to learn and there was nothing I could do about it.¡±

    ¡°Aspected?¡± I asked curiously, my free hand settling on the scaled back of her body where it draped over my lap and traced the scales there, getting a happy hum from Kassandra.

    ¡°When a mage starts their training, they learn how to wield a specific type of magic. That type depends a lot on their nature and bloodlines. Most of Rieka¡¯s extended family works in water magic. The royal family all wield ice magic. It¡¯s in their name, ¡®Coldeye¡¯, after all.¡± Kassandra shifted enough so it was more like she was sitting in my lap with one shoulder tucked into mine while she explained, giving my hand more room to work as it ran along the top of her serpentine body. Her tail continued to do the rhythmic ¡®squeeze, relax, squeeze¡¯ thing every so often, but it didn¡¯t bother me. Heck, popping my back actually felt great earlier.

    ¡°But she¡¯s got lightning magic.¡± I said after a moment of silence when she didn¡¯t continue and Kassandra nodded.

    ¡°Yea, it¡¯s as uncommon as ice or the other ¡®evolved¡¯ aspects. One of her ancestors had air magic, which is what leads to lightning. It just presented itself in her recently. She used to get teased for it a lot, I¡¯m sure there were some questions about her legitimacy since she didn¡¯t wield the family magic. Nobles can be real bastards sometimes when they think they have something they can use against you for their own ends.¡±

    ¡°How rare are these ¡®evolved¡¯ aspects?¡± I couldn¡¯t help my curiosity about magic. It had been something I was fascinated with for a long time. I hoped that the System would eventually unlock a magic for me to use too.

    ¡°Magic normally comes in the four base elements: Fire, water, air, and earth. There are ¡®evolved¡¯ versions of each that delve into deeper specializations of magic. Ice for water and lightning for air, for example. There are also ¡®primal¡¯ elements, like light, dark, time and entropy. Rarely we will see a mage who is aspected into one of those primal elements, usually light or dark. I¡¯ve never even read of an ¡®entropy¡¯ mage but there was one reference to one who could affect time.¡± Kassandra explained rapidly, her eyes dancing with excitement and the vertical slits flaring slightly as she talked.

    ¡°Fascinating. So basically, Rieka has a different type of magic than is considered ¡®normal¡¯ for her family and people have caused problems because of it?¡±

    ¡°Basically.¡± Kassandra shrugged, blinking slowly up at me. I thought for a moment before I responded.

    ¡°So what can I do to help?¡± Kassandra sighed happily when I started rubbing her back with my other hand and didn¡¯t respond immediately.

    Being cuddled by a beautiful woman was not exactly something I was used to. Kassandra¡¯s insistence on it had worn me down at this point and I couldn¡¯t say that it bothered me. I just had to be careful not to get lost counting the cute freckles that dappled her exposed chest or her cheeks. She was dressed in a milk-pale shirt and a brown leather underbust corset today and the line between her skin and the shirt was distracting as all get out.

    ¡°At the moment? Nothing really. The only way you¡¯d be able to help would be if you could use the same magic as us and act as a tutor. Or if you could provide us with mana to practice with by ourselves.¡± Kassandra said finally, shrugging slightly. ¡°Right now, the biggest help you can be is what you are already doing. You protect us and give us a chance to practice our spells in earnest. We can earn the extra mana for practice while we do the missions. Practical spell use is worth far more than extended time on the practice range.¡±

    ¡°Okay, and what about heater duties?¡± I teased with a grin, getting a sparkling smile back from her.

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s still a given.¡± Kassandra laughed and her tail gave me another firm squeeze. ¡°I¡¯m going to need you to warm me up regularly, even after I master my spells. Rieka and I want to go on longer excursions in the coming weeks. Some of the best paying missions take longer than a day trip can handle, and it gets cold at night.¡±

    ¡°Well, hopefully I¡¯m of more use than just a hot water bottle.¡±

    ¡°Oh far more use than that. You make a very comfortable pillow as well.¡± Kassandra teased me, rubbing her cheek into my chest again.

    ¡°And you, dear Kass, make for quite a nice belt. Though you seem to be more barnacle than snake with how much you like to cling to me.¡± I teased back, patting one of the coils wrapped around my waist.

    ¡°Does it bother you?¡± Kassandra¡¯s suddenly serious tone surprised me and I immediately looked up to meet her eyes. She was biting her lip lightly and her silver-rimmed spectacles glimmered in the light from where they balanced on her nose, knocked slightly askew by her exuberant welcome but still straight enough to see through.

    Reaching up, I straightened those spectacles on her face, getting a small smile from the serpentine woman before I answered.

    ¡°Does a beautiful woman hugging and clinging to me bother me? No, I cannot say that it does. Even if you are just stealing my body heat.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not the only reason!¡± Kassandra protested vehemently, but I was reassured to see her eyes twinkling happily again.

    ¡°Oh? What¡¯s the other reason?¡± I continued to play dumb and was rewarded by the slight blush that crossed her cheeks.

    ¡°I like doing it. And I think you are quite the handsome man, Liam.¡± Kassandra answered before pressing her lips to my cheek.

    The soft sensation of her kiss fried my brain for a moment and Kassandra took that opportunity to slip from around me. Her scaled tail uncoiled to follow after her as she slid to the ground and away, shooting me a coy smirk over her shoulder.

    ¡°Come on! I need to get some practice first, then I want to take you into town. We have a dozen hours before the mana I infused into the summoning runs out. As much as I¡¯d enjoy spending it snuggling with you, we should do something so you get your compensation too.¡± Kassandra urged and that was all the System interface needed to present me with a prompt.

    Assist your contracted companion, Kassandra Silverscale, with her training and accompany her into town.

    Reward - 100 SP

    ¡°Uh, okay. Sounds good to me.¡± My ready agreement got a squeal of excitement from the dwarf lamia. She wiggled happily while snatching her things off of a side table and throwing a belt around her hips with the holster for her spell rod and pouches of mana coins. With that secured, Kassandra slid over to a rack by her bed that held the leather armor I was familiar with and the sword the girls had bought for me.

    ¡°Oh this is going to be fun. We can have lunch in the market, and then maybe dinner at one of the restaurants in town! In between, we can shop around and take a look at some clothes and things for you. We can also start looking for camping supplies and anything else that might help. Come here, Liam. I¡¯ll help you get your armor on!¡±

    <><><>

    Helping Kassandra practice her magic was as interesting as I¡¯d hoped, though it was slightly awkward for me. I had known, in the back of my mind, that the whole ¡®heater¡¯ thing hadn¡¯t been a joke. But thinking about it and having it happen were two different things. Kassandra made no bones about the fact she expected me to help keep her warm while she worked on her ice magic, and wasn¡¯t in the slightest concerned with folks staring at us.

    The practice range was just that, a range. It had a dozen ¡®lanes¡¯ built of stone with a line of different colored blocks to mark where the lane started. The ceiling was high and vaulted to allow for plenty of space, but the building itself was fully enclosed with only a few windows for light. Most of the light was provided by crystal-sphere lamps like I¡¯d seen in Kassandra¡¯s room. The targets were large stone pillars that were set out at different distances from the starting line and, according to Kassandra, enchanted to resist damage. The section of the practice range that we were in reminded me of a rifle course that I¡¯d visited with my father several times to learn to shoot. Though here we were without the supervision of an instructor and it had far more solid walls between the different lanes.

    There were three other people in the range when Kassandra led me in, two of which barely glanced up at us while a third was in the middle of swapping discharged coins for fresh ones and nodded to greet us.

    ¡°Good morning, Miss Silverscale. Who is this you have with you?¡± The woman stepped over to greet us while her fingers nimbly swapped out the discs.

    ¡°Hello, Lady Valda!¡± Kassandra chirped with a broad grin before glancing back at me. ¡°Liam, this is Lady Valda Ironclaw, she¡¯s a student here as well. Lady Valda, this is Liam. He¡¯s my bonded guardian, the result of that summoning accident that you¡¯ve probably heard people talking about around campus.¡±

    While Kassandra chattered away, I studied the ¡®Lady Valda¡¯. She was tall, almost as tall as I was, and well muscled. While Kassandra was full in all the right places and Rieka had the build of a gymnast who didn¡¯t forget her curves, Valda had a build that reminded me somewhat of Cerebaton. Thickly muscled legs clad in tight pants of a dark, subdued brown lead up to a trim waist that tied into a broad set of shoulders supporting a generous bust and well muscled arms. Valda had a sword at her waist and looked intimately familiar with the weapon, though she was carefully slipping discs of shimmering metal into one of the spell rods that I¡¯d seen Rieka and Kassandra using with an ease of long practice. She also had dark green scales that ran up her arms, while her hands were covered in the same. Thick claws protruded from her fingertips and were covered in leather caps that attached to an odd, glove like cover that left most of her hand bare but her fingertips. It honestly reminded me of the shooting gloves that I¡¯d seen a few archers use to protect their fingertips.

    If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°Ah, so this is the mysterious ¡®human¡¯ that you and Princess Coldeye bonded with?¡± Valda gave me an appraising once over that, surprisingly, didn¡¯t leave me feeling self-conscious while Kassandra confirmed her question. ¡°I appreciate you looking after my classmates, Liam. I admit that I did not know what to expect. I¡¯m not a resident of Rue House, so I wasn¡¯t there to witness it, but I share a few classes with Princess Rieka and Miss Silverscale and I admit I wondered...¡±

    ¡°No worries, Lady Valda. I¡¯m happy to look after both of them. My only concern is ensuring that I am good enough to do so. They asked for a protector and got me, so I¡¯m going to do all I can to be the best protector possible.¡± I responded with a nod that got a small smile from the severe-looking, scaled woman.

    ¡°Commendable. I won¡¯t take up more of your time though, since you are here to practice.¡± Valda held one hand out and I reached out to do the same. Rather than shake hands, she gripped my forearm. A bit of memory from a History Channel special about ancient customs reminded me that this was considered a precursor to a handshake and that kept me from freezing up. Instead, I returned the forearm grip with an equally firm one. Even with their leather caps, I could feel her claws dig into my skin slightly but not in an aggressive fashion. That got me thinking as we separated and I debated if it would be rude to ask what had come to my mind.

    ¡°Come on, Liam. Let''s get set up.¡± Kassandra urged, tugging on my other hand. ¡°Thank you again, Lady Valda.¡± Before we could be separated, I decided to chance it.

    ¡°Actually, before we part ways. I hope it¡¯s not an imposition but would it be possible to see your claws without their coverings?¡± My impression of this woman was that she respected honesty and seemed like a nice person, so I hoped I hadn¡¯t just overstepped. Valda studied me curiously for a moment before nodding once.

    ¡°I do not mind.¡± She let the sentence trail off as if waiting for an explanation. When none was forthcoming, she shrugged. It only took a quick tug and flick of her wrist to pull the leather caps off her claws and expose the sharp, glittering claws. She held her hand out to me, palm down, like a lady showing off a ring and I bent to inspect her fingers and claws carefully. They looked wickedly sharp and came to a thick tip that reminded me of a wide-bladed knife. The claws didn¡¯t retract like a cats, but were clearly built in as part of her finger and added almost an inch to the end of her elegant fingers. Unlike most of the claws and talons I knew of, they actually seemed sharp on the inner edge too, rather than just a piercing/puncturing tool like most natural talons on Earth.

    I studied them for half a minute before nodding and giving her a smile of thanks.

    ¡°I appreciate it. I was curious about those gloves you wore and assumed that they¡¯d be covering something impressive as well. I can understand why you wear the covers though, I imagine you would have to be careful with them to be able to handle delicate things. They act like sheaths, am I right?¡±

    ¡°You are not wrong in that. I wear the caps almost all the time to avoid clawing holes in my clothes or books. Though it is an advantage to always have something to defend myself with.¡± Valda replied with a small smirk. ¡°My people are a warrior breed after all. Those who think we are disarmed quickly learn their folly.¡±

    ¡°I can imagine. Have a good day.¡± I nodded to her once more before turning to follow a slightly blushing Kassandra to one of the lanes on the far side of the range from the others.

    ¡°What was that all about?¡± Kassandra hissed once we were further away. ¡°Asking to see her claws¡­if Lady Valda wanted to, she could have construed that as a challenge, Liam!¡±

    ¡°Would have still been worth it.¡± I hugged the short woman with one arm to comfort her and she shot me a confused look.

    I glanced over my shoulder to check that no one was watching and held up my right hand in front of my chest, blocking it from the view of the others. Focusing intently on the mental snapshot I¡¯d taken of Valda¡¯s clawed hand, I pushed the Shape-Shifting power to work. It took a few seconds, but thick claws sprouted from my fingertips to match the razor-sharp weapons that Valda had, though slightly larger to fit my bigger hands. Scales like Valda¡¯s, but a red-brown in coloration, sprouted as well to cover my hand like a close fitting glove.

    Kassandra¡¯s slitted brown eyes grew as wide as saucers as she stared at the claws before reaching out tentatively to touch them.

    ¡°Careful, Kass. They are just as sharp as Valda¡¯s are.¡± I cautioned and Kassandra stopped her hand for a moment before carefully touching the backs of the claws, tapping them lightly with her fingers before tracing the scales. The sensation was muffled through the scales, but the claws gave nothing other than a faint echo like tapping on a table.

    ¡°How did you do this?¡± Kassandra muttered before shaking her head, the motion making her curly mane of red hair bounce. ¡°No, I know the answer to that. Liam, this is amazing! You could only do a skin change to protect your arms before though?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been practicing. The ability improved the other day. If Valda can actually use those claws as weapons, and I figured she could because of the covers, I thought it might be worthwhile to get a close look and see what I can do with them as well. Plus, it gives me something to work on while you are practicing too.¡± I smirked down at her. Kassandra¡¯s eyes fell back to my hand, and she carefully began tracing the scales there again.

    ¡°These scales¡­Liam did you copy my scale pattern too?¡± Kassandra shot me a mock offended look that I saw through almost instantly. Mentally pushing the urge to change my hand back, I brushed the backs of my, now pink again, fingers against one of her cheeks lightly.

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I? They are some of the prettiest scales I¡¯ve ever seen and I know they do a good job protecting you.¡±

    I¡¯d thought Kassandra¡¯s blush had been strong before, but now it got even brighter as her skin fought to match the dark red of her hair.

    <><><>

    Practice on the range for Kassandra started out with her launching a spell or two, then coming over to have me help warm her hands and arms up. Once she got into stride though, I just settled in a cross-legged seat on the ground while she wound her coils around me and just let her practice. It was a little embarrassing, since a few other students came in to practice and stared, but Kassandra ignored them and I took up the same tactic as well soon after. This allowed me to focus on the practice of borrowing Valda¡¯s claws while also helping Kassandra keep from freezing during her own practice.

    We spent around an hour like that before Kassandra declared she¡¯d ¡®blown her budget¡¯ for practice and it was time to get out of there. I¡¯d helped swap out the mana infused coins with the spent ones in her rod, letting the cold-blooded serpent woman warm her hands on my neck while I did my best to not shout at her chilly fingers. Kassandra insisted that the practice should eventually get her to the point where she could keep the chill contained in the spell itself, only her natural temperature sensitivity was causing problems at the moment.

    Heading back out onto the grounds, we ambled along the road that led down and out of the campus and along the way to Kintos. Judging from the sun above us, we¡¯d missed lunch but neither of us minded. Kassandra kept close, slithering along sedately at my side while we ambled along the road. The occasional carriage would pass us going either direction. I focused on talking with the serpentine woman while we discussed her classes and all the homework she¡¯d have to deal with tomorrow. Apparently, several of her courses were ladling on reading and essays at the moment, since it was still early in the term. Hearing about how her different magic classes operated was fascinating.

    We made it to Kintos and were browsing the street stalls when trouble found us. Honestly I should have expected it, given how well the morning had gone and my normal track record for things happening.

    Kassandra was watching a man turn skewers of roast meat and vegetables on a rack above a bed of coals while explaining what the different meats were when someone spoke out from behind us, their voice carrying over the rumble of the other shoppers moving and talking around us.

    ¡°Oh look, the slinky little worm is studying how to cook from the street vendors. Maybe she¡¯ll have some useful skills for when she¡¯s out on her tail.¡± A snide female voice spoke out. I¡¯d been intending to ignore it when I noticed Kassandra flinch at the voice.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure she¡¯s got plenty of useful skills, just none that she could peddle anywhere respectable, other than an alley or street corner.¡± Another voice said from behind us and that got me turning, but Kassandra was already moving.

    ¡°Liam, don¡¯t.¡± She had her hand clamped on mine just as I gripped the hilt of my sword, her voice low and firm.

    ¡°That¡¯s right, mud noodle. Keep your pet on a short leash.¡± Now that I was turned far enough, I could see who was speaking. There was a trio of wolf-kin clad in rather nice dresses standing a few feet away in the street. Their attractive faces were marred with sneers at the moment though and that ruined their looks in my book. I could see others standing behind them of a mixture of races, but not speaking. Instead they were just watching the entire encounter. The woman in the center of that group looked a little familiar, but I couldn¡¯t quite place her though she was another wolf-kin.

    ¡°Josephine, you need to keep a better muzzle on your lap dogs. I have already reported what happened the other night to Lady Maia. Don¡¯t think that I won¡¯t take the matter further if your lot try it again.¡± Kassandra¡¯s voice held far more venom than I¡¯d expected someone her size or personality to carry. ¡°The only reason I stopped Liam is because I don¡¯t see a reason to involve the city guard.¡± She was directly addressing the one that I pegged as the ringleader, the familiar looking one in the middle of the group who was pretending to ignore us.

    ¡°Big words for a low-noble slut that¡¯s been hanging around the Princess. You should have taken our warning the first time, Siltscale. You reek of the mud of the lower city you were born in, you can¡¯t blame someone thinking you needed a bath.¡± Sniped one of the three cronies that had been insulting Kassandra earlier, her dark-brown ears laying flat in hair of the same color.

    ¡°Were these the ones from the other night, Kass?¡± I did my best to keep my tone even. The group that backed the three talking was nearly a dozen strong and all of them were well dressed, but only these three were talking. ¡®Josephine¡¯ kept watching with a disinterested look on her face, not bothering to respond to Kassandra¡¯s words, though she did glance me over. The look of contempt in her eyes made my lip turn up in a snarl.

    ¡°Yes, they were¡­Liam, no!¡± Kassandra had answered me first before turning to look back at me. It was only her throwing herself in front of me that stopped me from finishing my own lunge.

    My left arm had already shifted, since she still had a hold of my right to keep my sword sheathed. The same claws and scales I¡¯d spent the past several hours practicing while Kassandra worked on her spells emerged from my forearm, though far larger than before. I¡¯d been midway through an open-handed motion that would have been a slap, if not for the four inches of shimmering black claws that tipped a hand large enough it would have made a grizzly bear proud. My blood was boiling with anger at these people and it had affected the Shape-Shifting ability by pouring all twenty pounds of alterable mass into my arm, bulking it, my hand, the claws and the scales up in size a good three stages.

    ¡°Kass, I¡¯m your protector. These idiots endangered your life with their stupid prank.¡± Even I was surprised with the growl I made then, but I was able to keep that surprise off my face easily enough. Rage was far stronger at the moment after all. Movement around us had stopped as all the other shoppers had turned to stare and those nearby were slowly backing away. The three taunting girls were white as sheets while ¡®Josephine¡¯ was actually paying close attention now, the avarice in her eyes obvious to see as she looked me up and down like a puppy she wanted to buy out of a shop window.

    ¡°Yes, but please, not like this. Not now.¡± Kassandra murmured urgently and her grip on my right arm tightened slightly. ¡°Please, Liam?¡±

    The ¡®please¡¯ took the wind out of my sails and I exhaled before looking down at Kassandra. Her intelligent eyes darted to one side before locking on mine and I glanced over to spot a trio of guards in armor pushing through the crowd.

    ¡°Oi, what¡¯s going on? Fighting isn¡¯t allowed in the market. You got a problem, take it outside the city.¡± Called the guard in the lead, an obvious badge of rank on his chest marking him as their leader.

    ¡°No problem, officer.¡± I answered quickly, shaking my hand and letting the shift fall away. This allowed my arm to shrink in size again, the only remaining sign of it was my tattered sleeve as the seams had blown when my arm swelled. ¡°Just explaining proper decorum to people who think it is appropriate to insult my charge.¡± Kassandra let out a sigh of relief when she saw my arm shift back and turned to the guards with a respectful nod to add her part.

    ¡°Thank you for arriving when you did, sirs. Words were exchanged and tempers were running high.¡± Kassandra¡¯s words worked to de-escalate the situation and the guards began to relax. One of the trio of sniping wolf-kin decided that she didn¡¯t want the situation to calm and that it was time to speak up.

    ¡°I demand you arrest those two! They nearly assaulted us!¡± The wolf-kin shrieked, pointing at the two of us, which got her two companions nodding as well.

    ¡°Oh, stuff it you.¡± Support came just as quickly for us as the interruption had come, and from a surprising quarter. The food vendor behind us finally looked up from his work at carefully roasting the meat and vegetables on a stick. ¡°You three started heckling my customers and are driving business away with your fight. You three started it and you nearly got smacked for insulting the little lady. I was planning to do something if he didn¡¯t, he just beat me to it.¡± The food-vendor was a rather broad shouldered man with short, curved horns that dove down into the curly, mutton-chop beard that framed his face. He nodded to the guardsmen in greeting and locked eyes with the sergeant. ¡°Gordon, these three were berating the young lass and are trying to stir the pot further to involve your boys. The only crime I see here is three young women who never got a proper punishment from their parents growing up and decided to try and cause a fuss.¡±

    The nodding heads of several other vendors in the street was all the evidence that the guards needed and they ushered the protesting trio away from us. Josephine¡¯s group melted back into the crowd as well, leaving the trio to their own devices and the mercy of the guards.

    ¡°Thank you for that, sir.¡± Kassandra turned her attention back to the grilled meat vendor and he gave her a broad smile that showed off square teeth.

    ¡°Not a problem, lass. I¡¯m glad you stopped your man there though. Not saying those three didn¡¯t need a good slapping, but drawing blood like that in the street would cause more problems than it would solve. Would instill some respect though, so might be worth it.¡±

    ¡°Something to consider should they try it again, then.¡± Kassandra returned his smile before leaning into my hip. The anger was still rubber-banding around inside my chest and I wasn¡¯t sure what to do with it. Kassandra pushing into my side allowed me to get hold of the anger and dump it into a corner for the moment. I let my right arm fall over her shoulders protectively, getting a happy sigh from the dwarf lamia.

    ¡°Something indeed. Now, what can I get you two?¡± The grinning vendor¡¯s eyes bounced from my arm around Kassandra¡¯s shoulders to her face and then to mine. I just rolled my eyes, I was sure that this was going to turn into a rumor in town but there wasn¡¯t anything I could do now. Instead, I focused on making sure Kassandra could put the moment behind her.

    <><><>

    ¡°Thank you again for standing up to them, Liam.¡± Kassandra murmured as she gave me another back-cracking hug, this time with just her arms rather than using her tail too. We¡¯d had our fill of street food and then wandered the town, talking and just enjoying the afternoon. There was a lot to talk about and Kassandra had filled me in on more about that group. Apparently Lady Josephine thought rather highly of herself and had collected a group of followers with similar mindsets. This worked because she was the daughter of a duchess, and it wasn¡¯t hard to find those who were happy to follow her lead. Those same followers had decided to harass Kassandra for her friendship with Rieka when they had the chance, because they believed the princess shouldn¡¯t be wasting her time with a low-noble like Kassandra. Kassandra still wasn¡¯t sure which of them had doused her the other night, but she was fairly certain that it had to be one of them, given the snide comments and what she could remember.

    ¡°Anytime, Kass. You know I¡¯ll always come when you call me.¡± I returned the hug. Due to our difference in height and the fact she wasn¡¯t using her serpentine tail to wrap around my waist this time, I bent down so that I could give her a real hug in the hall outside her rooms at Rue House when we got back.

    ¡°I know, Liam. That¡¯s why both Rieka and I like being around you so much. You are supportive and protective of us because that¡¯s just what you are. I think that you¡¯d be this way even if we weren¡¯t your bonded.¡± Kassandra kept the hug going and nuzzled into my neck.

    ¡°You¡¯d be right. You two are good people and deserve to be treated well. Certainly better than those twits were.¡±

    ¡°So noble, Liam. Thank you for training with me and for accompanying me today. I have to work on my classwork tomorrow, but Rieka and I will summon you back for a chat partway through next week to plan the weekend, okay?¡±

    ¡°Sure thing, Kass. You call, I¡¯ll come running¡­flying¡­however the heck it is I actually show up when I respond to a summon.¡± I reassured her and she dissolved into giggles at that. Once she¡¯d mastered herself once more, Kassandra pushed back slightly to meet my eyes. She kept her arms around my neck in a light hug and bit her lip for a moment before leaning in and pressing a kiss to the corner of my mouth.

    ¡°Thank you, Liam. For looking out for me like you did, both before and today.¡± She murmured in my ear before muttering a quick chant that I recognized.

    ¡°Such a tease.¡± I managed to blurt out before the tugging sensation of movement wrapped around my torso and yanked me away. The last thing I saw before reality whirled around me was a blushing Kassandra smiling at me.

 Chapter 21

    I¡¯m going to need to ask Cerebaton about more or different drills I can do. I thought while wiping the sweat from my forehead with a towel.

    The early Sunday morning light streamed in through the window and filled my living room. I¡¯d pushed the furniture back to make space earlier in the week and hadn¡¯t bothered to return it to the normal spots since then. This gave me barely enough room to swing the weighted wooden sword that I used to do the drills without hitting a wall. Practicing had fallen seamlessly into my routine already and it had quickly become something to fill my idle time with when I had energy.

    Need to keep practicing. Building muscle memory takes time after all. Wish I had the ability to spar with someone though. Would make this even quicker. I resumed my ready stance with the sword held above my head and parallel with the ground. I¡¯d work with the faux shield next, it was something I was still learning to use but didn¡¯t prefer. I liked having my off hand open to be able to shift if needed. Taking a deep breath, I let it out slowly and began the drill once more, working through the strikes and focusing on moving the weapon smoothly through the strikes.

    I¡¯d gotten most of the way through the drill when the edges of my vision flashed and bright words raced into view. While this wasn¡¯t unfamiliar, since it happened several times a week when I was summoned to the other world, I was surprised to see them today.

    Rieka Coldeye has sent a non-urgent request for your presence.

    Transit? View Summoning?

    ¡°Rieka? Wasn¡¯t she visiting her mum for family business?¡± I muttered before mentally tapping the ¡®View Summoning¡¯ option to see if it would shed any light on the situation.

    The image that popped up was of Rieka, dressed in a smart looking top with full sleeves and a high neck as well as a skirt that fell to mid-calf. Since the color was washed out in the image, I didn¡¯t know what the shades of the outfit were but she appeared to be standing in the middle of a large reception room and was alone.

    ¡°Well, at least she¡¯s okay. Might as well check on her.¡± I set my gear to one side, no reason to drop it on the floor, and gave my hair and face a quick swipe with the towel before toggling the Transit option.

    A surging sensation of movement and whirl of colors had me landing in that same room and directly across from Rieka. This time though, a strange taste ran across my tongue in addition to the light and movement. It turned out that her outfit was a brilliant sky-blue in color with a wide belt of white leather. The room that we were in had tall windows that opened onto an elaborate garden that was full of life. I could see a few gardeners tending to it even now. The temperature in the room was actually rather warm, considering I¡¯d been working a sweat up in my air-conditioned apartment.

    ¡°Liam, I hope I didn¡¯t interrupt anything¡­What are you wearing?¡± Rieka¡¯s words brought me back to the moment and I glanced down at my baggy workout shorts and the tanktop that I¡¯d been exercising in. The top was nearly soaked through with sweat and the shorts clung tightly in that way only the lycra or satin could.

    ¡°Exercise clothes from my world. I was working on sword drills since Kassandra said she had homework to do. What about you? Are you doing okay? I thought you¡¯d be meeting with your family today.¡± It only took another quick glance around for me to realize the opulence of the room we were in. While the dorm and Kassandra¡¯s rooms had been nice, this place screamed the kind of subdued wealth that made me think of colonial magnates and aristocracy. Even the chairs and couches in the room looked to be covered with either fine leather or soft cloth and edged in immaculate looking hardwood.

    ¡°Oh, that would explain your¡­um¡­state.¡± Rieka blushed slightly as her eyes darted all around the room before settling onto me again. I got the feeling she was eying my arms and the scars there, exposed by the tanktop like they were. She bit her lip lightly and I could see the white flash of her tail stirring behind her excitedly.

    ¡°Yea, sorry about that. I didn¡¯t think either of you would be needing me today and didn¡¯t want to make you wait while I changed.¡± I peeled my sweat-sticky shirt away from my chest with a grimace. Surrounded by all this finery, the fact my shirt was clinging to me like I¡¯d just gotten hit with the garden hose was actually making me self-conscious. Wafting the cloth allowed some airflow and the muggy air helped cool the sweat a bit.

    ¡°So¡­what''s up?¡± I said after another few moments of awkward silence. Rieka jumped in surprise and the slight blush that had been coloring her cheeks darkened.

    ¡°Ah, I am so sorry, Liam. I was just¡­I mean¡­I am so sorry about that.¡± She stuttered rapid fire. The combination of her ears flicking wildly and the blush gave her the image of a dog that had been chasing its tail before smacking firmly into a piece of furniture and now it didn¡¯t know what to do.

    ¡°No worries, Rieka. I told you that I¡¯d come when you called and you called for me. What did you need?¡± I said gently. Part of me wanted to give the worried girl a hug, but I didn¡¯t think she¡¯d want a sweaty hug from me right now, especially not in a dress that beautiful.

    ¡°I¡­uh¡­¡± Rieka shook herself and then cleared her throat before nodding. ¡°Come with me, Liam. I need to go outside so I can focus.¡±

    ¡°Sure?¡± I followed after Rieka as she spun about and headed through the absolutely massive oak doors set in one wall. The doors were carved all over with a scene of snow capped mountains and led into the adjoining hallway. The hall went along with the same design as in the previous room. Pristine, white walls dotted with expensive art. Hardwood floors with long carpets to pad them. Occasionally, a small table would break up the space with either a vase of flowers or a small display of some piece of art, sculpture, or pottery.

    We passed two sets of guards, one male and one female in each set, in well fitted scale armor and open faced helmets. They all carried swords on their hips and a spear in one hand. The guards would bow slightly to Rieka as we walked past before eying me warily. No one challenged us as Rieka led the way, though I could feel the pointed stares of the guards digging into my back.

    Probably wondering about the clothes. If Rieka was startled by them, then I¡¯m sure these folks have no idea about lycra, spandex, or poly-cotton blends. I thought while following the still wiggling banner of Rieka¡¯s fluffy tail. I had been worried at first, but the steady wagging of that fluffy mass was enough to reassure me she wasn¡¯t upset.

    My summoner headed through a set of open doors and out into the sunlight. Emerging behind her found us in a small courtyard that surrounded a large and ancient tree laden with red fruit each half the size of my fist. There were several wrought iron benches that were scattered around the courtyard, mixed between those sitting directly in the sun and in the shade of the tree. A slight breeze stirred the air in the courtyard, sending the smell of warm fruit and cut grass through the air.

    Rieka paused halfway from the door to the tree and took a deep breath before letting it out again with a relieved sigh. The stiffness she¡¯d been carrying during the march through the halls faded and her tail dropped limp behind her once more.

    ¡°Oh that is much better.¡± Rieka sighed a second time before turning around to look up at me, her hands folding behind her back as a playful smile crossed her lips.

    ¡°What¡¯s better?¡±

    ¡°I just needed some fresh air, that room was so stuffy.¡± Rieka brushed my question off quickly. Her canine ears flicked once, the lightly blackened tips shimmering in the bright sun while her platinum blonde hair looked like a honey colored cloud around her head.

    It took a minute for me to make the connection and now I was the one blushing. ¡°Oh crud, I¡¯m sorry. I must stink like a dumpster. I didn¡¯t think about that, Rieka. I¡¯m sorry.¡± I took a step back and glanced down at my sweat-stained clothes in a new light. I¡¯d forgotten that my companion had far sharper senses than me. I probably stank to the woman in front of me, and she was a princess to boot. And you showed up like this in what is likely her family home. The family home of royalty. Idiot.

    ¡°What? No!¡± Rieka protested immediately and sprang to cover the distance between us even as I retreated. ¡°Liam, you don¡¯t stink! I mean, I can smell your sweat, but it¡¯s not bad.¡± She had the hand of mine that had been on my shirt between her''s before I could do or say anything and I wasn¡¯t about to yank my hand out of her grip so I stopped retreating.

    ¡°Not bad?¡± I asked automatically, not really understanding what she meant. I¡¯d been to enough public gyms to know that sweat was sweat and it all stank. Not to mention I knew what my laundry smelled like at the end of the week.

    Rieka¡¯s blush, which had been fading, returned with a vengeance and she shook her head. ¡°No, it¡¯s not bad, just distracting. Come on, let''s go sit under the tree. I want to hear how Kass is doing. That¡¯s why I called you after all. You said she was working on her coursework?¡±

    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°Yea, that¡¯s what she told me yesterday after I helped her with her spell practice.¡± I let Rieka lead me over to one of the benches under the tree. The thick smell of ripe fruit was even stronger here and I recognized the dark red orbs hanging above us as some type of plum. Rieka pushed me to sit on one end of the bench before plopping down across from me, her eyes shimmering with excitement and her blush fading once more.

    ¡°Oh? You two were working on her magic yesterday? Did it go well?¡± Her question caused a message to flash before my eyes, informing me that I had my assignment.

    Assist your contracted companion, Rieka Coldeye, by answering her questions.

    Reward - 50 SP

    ¡°Huh.¡± I muttered and Rieka turned her head slightly to one side in curiosity, making those black tipped ears of her''s flop adorably. Holding back the urge to reach out and stroke them, and reminding myself that despite her resemblances to and enjoyment of such treatment that she wasn¡¯t a dog, I answered her question. ¡°Sorry, System message. Anyway, you were asking about what we got up to yesterday?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I dislike that I had to skip two days of classes for this, but my mother insisted I make a trip out here to deal with some family business. Kass seemed fine when I left, but I had some time so I was hoping you could catch me up on what was going on? I only have an hour or two though, if you don¡¯t mind?¡± Rieka¡¯s ¡®puppy-dog¡¯ eyes should have been classed as a weapon by themselves, because I folded immediately.

    ¡°Sure, I¡¯m happy to fill you in. So it started with Kass doing her usual attempt to knock me on my ass¡­¡± While I started to catch Rieka up, I noticed that two of the guards that had been staring at us in the hall earlier had come to stand on either side of the open door that led back into the large home. They kept their distance so I just focused on my companion. I was here for her after all.

    <><><>

    ¡°So she said that the name of the woman was Josephine? And she didn¡¯t do anything, did she?¡± Rieka¡¯s expression was a mixture of irritation, scorn, concern, and thoughtful all at once. She¡¯d shifted in her seat so she was facing me more directly and her tail had curled around her to settle into her lap, letting her slowly finger-comb the fluffy mass. I had respected Kassandra¡¯s previous request to not tell Rieka outright that Josephine¡¯s crowd had been harassing her, but the event was public enough that she¡¯d hear about this part eventually, so I chose my words carefully.

    ¡°That¡¯s what Kassandra told me. It might have gotten rough but the city guard were quick to step in and the vendor was good enough to testify on our behalf. Kass. She thought that they might have been the ones to soak her, but wasn¡¯t entirely sure.¡± It took me the better part of an hour to tell the whole story because Rieka would peel off on a tangent with a few questions on occasion and got into a fit of giggles at the idea of Kassandra literally curling around me like a warm rock while she practiced. She¡¯d been impressed when I showed her the claws that I¡¯d lifted from Lady Valda and agreed that it was a good call and kept coming back to that thoughtfully.

    ¡°Valda¡¯s people are actually one of the country''s staunchest allies. They guard the eastern passes that lead out to the wild plains. Their clan keeps the others from raiding our people. In return, we supply them with food and armor. They are adept warriors, though some say they are only a step above the savages themselves.¡± The distaste on Rieka¡¯s face and in her voice made her stance on that obvious as well.

    ¡°She seemed like an honorable and polite person to me, though we only talked for a moment. Unlike the others who were teasing Kassandra. Hope she¡¯s doing okay.¡± I looked upwards, watching the small snippets of sun that made it through the tree branches as they danced over the ripe, red fruit above us.

    ¡°It¡¯s cute how much you worry about Kass.¡± Rieka¡¯s words brought me back to earth and her wicked grin encouraged me she was just teasing.

    ¡°I worry about both of you, I¡¯m supposed to protect you after all.¡± I returned and Rieka nodded quickly.

    ¡°And you do a good job of it, and are improving every time we take you out. My only concern is that your abilities will soon grow to the point that we might not be able to afford to summon you as often as we¡¯d like. As you grow in power, the cost to call you will increase too. And I¡¯m sure that Kass would be disappointed if her favorite heater wasn¡¯t able to spend as much time with her as she wanted.¡± The last comment was said with such wicked confidence that I couldn¡¯t really argue it.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure she¡¯d find a way. And if it starts getting too expensive, I¡¯ll find a way to lower the costs. I¡¯ve had more fun with you and Kassandra in the last few weeks than I have in years. Plus, these powers are super interesting to use. I feel more fulfilled being you and Kass¡¯ guardian than I ever did at my current job.¡±

    ¡°That is gratifying to hear.¡± The regal voice that interrupted made all playfulness drop off of Rieka immediately and she launched herself to her feet immediately. I was also in motion as soon as the concern showed on her face, but thankfully Rieka said something before I did anything foolish.

    ¡°Mother, I didn¡¯t hear you approach!¡±

    ¡°That was my intention, my daughter. I heard that you were sitting in one of the secluded courtyards with an unidentified man who was clad in revealing clothes. I came to check on you.¡± The woman who spoke was obviously Rieka¡¯s mother, which made her the Queen of this area and it was obvious she was a queen that ruled by far more than just circumstances of her birth.

    She was a few inches taller than Rieka, but still a bit shorter than me. Like her daughter though, she was slender and athletic but with more refined features and the wisdom that comes from age and hard choices showing in her bright blue eyes. She was dressed in a close fitting gown of gray silk that made me think of a winter stormcloud that was set with pearls and sapphires along the bodice and waist. A thick iron scepter that was almost the same length as the spell rod that Rieka carried at her hip hung from the woman¡¯s waist on a jeweled chain. It had the sturdy look of something that could be used to club someone if they irritated the serious woman, as well as likely having the ability to channel magic too. The aura of competence was further enforced by the small handful of hair-thin scars on her hands and muscled forearms. Unlike her daughter, her long and fluffy tail was entirely blonde, an even lighter shade than Rieka¡¯s, and there was no black tipping to her ears either.

    ¡°Mother! This is my guardian companion, Liam. I summoned him so that I could get a report on his other partner and my friend, Kassandra Silverscale.¡± Rieka was blushing furiously at her mother''s implication that she was ¡®spending time with a man¡¯. From the carefully hidden mirth I could see in the older woman¡¯s eyes, I had a feeling that this was a mother teasing her daughter as well as checking up on her. That mirth faded as she glanced in my direction.

    ¡°Ah, that would explain how he got inside an interior courtyard without the gate guards seeing him or recording his entrance¡­¡± The queen said coolly and I gave my best bow and charming smile while Rieka finished the introductions through her blush. There was iron behind those eyes that made me think that Rieka¡¯s mother still had suspicions about my being here.

    ¡°Liam, this is my mother, Queen Gemma Coldeye.¡±

    ¡°It is a pleasure to meet you.¡± I tried to make my response as genteel as possible. Gemma gave me a regal half-nod in greeting that felt well rehearsed. Rieka remained stiffly standing at attention, her eyes darting between us in concern, though she relaxed some when her mother nodded to me.

    ¡°So you were conferring with your summoned guardian¡­rather than meeting an illicit boyfriend for a romantic chat? That is good to hear.¡± Gemma¡¯s sharp gaze danced over her daughter and Rieka stiffened again, her ears lying flat in irritation.

    ¡°Yes, mother. Liam is a human. There was a bit of an accident at Juneau during the summoning ritual and he was called by mistake. He graciously agreed to bond with Kassandra and I anyway and has been an immense help in protecting us while we trained at the academy and left the grounds for different tasks. I have mentioned this to you before, mother. He is not my boyfriend.¡± Rieka explained stiffly. Her mother sniffed, obviously still suspicious. So I decided to weigh in on the side of my companion. I was supposed to protect her after all, and that wasn¡¯t just against kobolds or monsters. I suppose nosy mothers counted too, even if they were queens.

    ¡°I¡¯m known as a ¡®Traveler¡¯, Queen Gemma. Whenever your daughter or my other bond summons me, it helps my powers grow. Even if that was not the case, I would still happily fulfill the role they asked of me.¡± To make an example of said power, I held up my right hand with my palm facing back towards me and focused. The same claws that I¡¯d been showing Rieka earlier sprouted from my fingertips before vanishing into normal fingers once more. After a moment, I sent a ripple of the red-brown scales that matched Kassandra¡¯s down my arm as well. ¡°We work together to look after each other. She called and I came earlier, to discuss future plans as well as update her on the status of her friend.¡±

    The display seemed to ease some of the Queen¡¯s concerns and her gaze turned speculative before studying her daughter again, her arms crossed over her front and cupping her cheek with one hand.

    ¡°That is quite interesting. I¡¯m glad that my daughter has someone to look after her as well. I¡¯d like to hear more about your work together¡­but I must have a private word with my daughter, so it will have to wait. Family business.¡±

    ¡°Mother?¡± Rieka gave her a confused look, which had me guessing that this must have been different from the ¡®family business¡¯ that had been the reason she¡¯d been called back to speak to her mother. I remained quiet for now, just observing the byplay between the two of them.

    ¡°Call it a test as well then.¡± Rieka¡¯s mother¡¯s eyes hardened slightly. ¡°If this is your summoned companion, I would also like to see proof. Since you have already summoned him, send him home. That will serve as all the proof I need to confirm your claims and ensure that I don¡¯t need to punish any guards for letting a man sneak into the private apartments of the royal family.¡± Rieka¡¯s face fell at her mother''s words but she nodded once before turning back to me, clearly understanding what her mother was saying and also what she wasn¡¯t. I could tell she was going to apologize but I spoke first to reassure Rieka.

    ¡°I have no problem proving your daughter¡¯s claims, Queen Coldeye.¡± I used her family name to add more formality to the statement before turning to my summoner. ¡°Rieka, it was good having a chance to speak with you like this. I hope the rest of your day is pleasant and your trip back to Juneau is safe. Call me if any of that changes. Kassandra and I did some shopping and planning for our next outing, but we hadn¡¯t decided on anything firmly because we wanted to include you in that. I look forward to speaking with you later in the week to finalize plans.¡± The look of worry on Rieka¡¯s face dissolved into a smile when she realized I wasn¡¯t upset at being dismissed by her mother like this and she nodded.

    ¡°Thank you, Liam. You always look out for us, so I know that it will go well. You have answered all the questions I had at this time, so your mission is complete.¡± Her words caused glowing letters to flash over my vision for a moment before clearing.

    Assist your contracted companion Rieka Coldeye by answering her questions.

    Reward - 50 SP

    COMPLETED

    ¡°I could do no less.¡± I replied formally. Rieka had her spell rod out a moment later and used the incantation to send me back. I watched her mother¡¯s eyes widen in surprise moments before the surge of travel and movement yanked me away into the maelstrom of colors. Again, I felt a strange taste run over my tongue that was impossible to describe beyond that I somehow was able to taste the color mauve.

    Landing back in my living room, I glanced around for a moment before shrugging. Might as well keep going, then get a shower. Was a good break. First some water though, because that flavor thing was super weird¡­

 Chapter 22

    ¡°Two, four, one, five!¡± Cerebaton called out in rapid succession and I swung the practice sword to attack his shoulder, hip, shoulder and then thigh in the corresponding zones that he had called out. Cerebaton parried the swings with calm indifference despite the strength I was using.

    We¡¯d stepped up to full speed drills to end the night and Cerebaton was working me hard. I don¡¯t know what sort of wood the practice swords were made out of, but despite the battering we were giving them, they didn¡¯t appear damaged in the slightest though each blow echoed in the dark confines of the gazebo.

    ¡°Good, one, three, three, four.¡± Cerebaton chanted out the next combo and I struck automatically, focusing on the zones he designated and bringing my practice sword in to aim a strike in at each of those zones. The fact that I knew Cerebaton would find a way to block didn¡¯t matter, I was focused on doing my best to get past those blocks and maintain good form.

    This continued for another five minutes before Cerebaton called for a break.

    ¡°You are doing much better, Liam.¡± The Drago-look alike said with a broad smile, resting his practice sword on his shoulder.

    ¡°I feel like the stat boosts are helping me pick the basics up much faster.¡± I sighed, taking a deep drink from the water bottle that I¡¯d brought with me.

    ¡°Not surprised, you boosted the whole set of stats the first time, then your mental stats to their second max later right?¡± I nodded in agreement to his question and Cerebaton grunted once, rubbing at the sculpted jaw of his disguise. ¡°Yea, memorizing the patterns would be easier as a result. At least for human-shaped opponents. Once you memorize the angles of attack though, you can start adapting to non-human shapes as the weapon will feel more natural to you.¡±

    ¡°Wanted to ask about that. Any idea when it¡¯ll unlock the next rank of Enhance Self? Do I need to max this one?¡± I shifted slightly and winced when a bruise on my thigh twinged where Cerebaton had gotten past an earlier block.

    ¡°Should be a threshold of SP acquired or spent. That¡¯s what it was for me. You need to max at least one stat of those it measures, then hit a threshold. You can bypass the threshold by maxing all your stats, or just wait. Any reason you haven¡¯t upped your physical stats to match?¡± Cerebaton answered with a shrug.

    ¡°Just wanted to give myself time to adjust to the first boost before adding another. Plus, I burnt through most of the SP I¡¯d earned thus far doing that much. I wanna save up more before I spend anything else. Getting Shape-Shifting (Lesser) burned most of the spare that I¡¯d built up thus far.¡± I glanced down at my right hand and focused intently for a moment.

    My fingertips shimmered before shifting into razor-sharp claws of a hard, black material like those I¡¯d seen on the Lady Valda previously. They weren¡¯t very long, but they were quite sharp. My fingers also thickened a bit, as did my wrist. I hadn¡¯t specifically thought about the supporting muscles and skeletal structure needed for the claws, but the ability clearly knew what was needed and worked to include it when I didn¡¯t focus on suppressing it.

    ¡°Good, keep practicing and it will become second nature. You should start thinking about how you can include attacks and defenses with your body, as well as your weapon. I know you had considered a shield for your off hand, but I still think it would be better to leave that hand free to shift into what you need it to be. You can add a second weapon or armor that limb to take a hit.¡± Cerebaton said while he nodded to the claws on my hand. ¡°You will shortly be coming up against the ¡®wall¡¯ for just shifting back and forth to increase your mastery of the skill. I know that once you rank it up again, you will not be able to earn mastery just from that, you will need to start using it in new and creative ways. Part of why I let my skill with it drop off. I had too many other things I needed to practice at the time.¡±

    ¡°Like what?¡±

    ¡°Magic, swordsmanship, law, and the business side of my job. The Shape-Shifting was a useful tool, but it wasn¡¯t my main one. And just because it is the first one in your toolbox, doesn¡¯t mean that it has to be the focus. Give it time and think about it. For now, it is good to focus on it as you grow and expand your skills. Once you improve more, you¡¯ll have the opportunity to branch into new skills. Realize though, the cost of skills starts to expand exponentially as you get to higher ranks. It¡¯s easy to dabble relatively cheaply, but you will need to have a plan.¡± Cerebaton went silent as he stared at his hand gripping the hilt of his practice sword for a long moment before he looked up with an inscrutable expression in his eyes.

    ¡°What is it?¡± I asked, keeping my practice sword on my shoulder and remaining wary. It wouldn¡¯t be the first time he¡¯d decided to just attack me mid-conversation during training.

    ¡°Liam¡­you have fought and killed monsters for your contracted and you told me how you stressed and fretted over the humanoid ones. Have you given thought to what might happen if your wards are ever challenged by bandits or those of a more¡­familiar shape?¡± Cerebaton asked gently, his intense eyes watching carefully. I had wanted to brush the question off, but his words reminded me of the kobolds. The fear, loathing, and worry about what I¡¯d done came surging back. As well as the faint taste of vomit in my mouth from my reaction to killing them.

    ¡°I¡¯ll do what I have to.¡± I bit out, shaking my head in an attempt to dislodge the thoughts. Cerebaton remained silent for several more moments as he considered me.

    ¡°Killing someone, especially an intelligent creature, is not easy. But the world your contracted come from is not a peaceful one from what you¡¯ve told me. Do not hesitate or you may regret it. Trust in your girls to warn you if you were about to make a mistake.¡± He said after the silence stretched. ¡°And if the burden of having to kill bothers you, I will listen as someone who has had to make that choice as well. It¡¯s not an easy burden to bear.¡±

    My eyes snapped up to meet him again and he nodded once. There was no judgment in his expression, just understanding. I wonder how many people Cerebaton¡¯s had to fight and kill. He mentioned before that he¡¯s been part of various engagements his entire life. People causing problems and trying to invade places¡­I can only imagine what he¡¯s seen and had to do.

    The idea that he¡¯d seen war or conflict and was willing to listen if I needed to talk was surprisingly reassuring. With Kassandra and Rieka, I needed to be strong to protect them. And yes, I¡¯ll admit I didn¡¯t want to look weak in front of either of them. Cariad was a friend, but I also wanted to be strong in front of her too, call it toxic-male attitude or whatever but I didn¡¯t want to take the chance of any of the girls I was close to thinking less of me.

    Cerebaton was rapidly becoming someone I felt I could trust and thought of as a friend, a friend with a sadistic streak but still a friend. I wonder¡­Behind his stern expression and hard eyes, I thought I could see just a bit of the weight that taking lives had left on the big daemon. A ghost that clung to him like a cloak, weighing down those shoulders ever so slightly.

    I was about to ask about what he¡¯d seen in the past, what made him offer me the opportunity to talk, when the edges of my vision flashed with a dull, purple light before a message only I could see scrolled into view.

    Rieka Coldeye has sent a non-urgent request for your presence regarding a discussion with her.

    Transit? View summoning?

    ¡°I recognize that look.¡± Cerebaton chuckled, his serious expression dropping away into amusement. ¡°You seem to have a knack for your contracts calling you during practice.¡± The big man glanced at the watch on his wrist before shrugging.

    ¡°It¡¯s non-urgent¡­¡± I started to say but Cerebaton waved it off.

    ¡°Go, find out what they need. We were almost at time anyway. I will tidy things up for you here.¡± The daemon in human form held his hand out for the practice sword and I passed it over to him before mentally selecting the Transit option on the interface.

    A moment of motion, sound, and color blending together and I landed in a well appointed room that reminded me of Kassandra¡¯s personal room, though without the giant, round couch that she had. That and the color scheme included far more white and silver rather than the dark hardwoods and leather of Kassandra¡¯s rooms.

    ¡°Liam, glad you could come by. I just wanted to have a private word with you.¡± Rieka¡¯s voice drew my attention away from studying my surroundings and I turned in time to see the grinning wolf girl tuck something into a pouch at her waist. Probably the mana-infused metal she used to summon me. Still kinda weird to me that they have to use that rather than a mana pool like those anime or games had. Then again, what do I know? I can only shift my body around, not cast magic.

    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    ¡°Heya, Rieka. Sorry if I¡¯m a bit of a mess, I was just wrapping up my sword training when your summon came through.¡± I gestured to my sweat-stained t-shirt and workout shorts by way of explanation.

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry about that.¡± Rieka¡¯s ears fell to either side and she frowned in regret while looking away. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to interrupt your training, Liam. I had hoped you were already finished.¡±

    ¡°I was almost done anyway, so what¡¯s up Rieka? Everything okay?¡± The depressed puppy look that she had going was enough to already have me moving towards her with my arms open to give her a hug. Rieka darted a glance up at my face again before accepting the hug with a small, happy sigh. I could feel the soft fuzz that decorated her platinum-blonde ears tickling my cheek as they perked up once more. The hug was quick and she was smiling again when we separated.

    ¡°Sorry about that, Liam. I was just¡­well it¡¯s been an odd few days for me. I wanted to talk to you about what happened a couple of days ago.¡± Rieka gestured towards a pair of leather-covered chairs that sat near the fireplace, where a small fire crackled happily.

    ¡°Sure, what about it?¡± I asked, settling into one of the chairs while Rieka sat in the other. She took a moment to arrange her blue skirts around her before she looked me over intently, obviously taking the time to consider her words.

    ¡°I just¡­wanted to ask you to not mention that you met with my mother the other day. And not to mention that she was prying about me spending time with a ¡®man that snuck past the guards¡¯.¡± Rieka said after her moment of silent consideration.

    ¡°Okay¡­¡± I didn¡¯t really have a problem not bringing it up, since it wasn¡¯t exactly something that you would just drop into conversation, but I had a feeling that there was likely more to the issue than she was stating. The questioning tone I used was enough to prompt Rieka to start speaking again.

    ¡°I just don¡¯t want Kassandra to worry about it.¡± She said quickly, biting her lip in concern.

    ¡°Why would Kassandra worry? I mean, I get it. Parents ask awkward questions and are generally nosy about who their kids spend time with. I can only imagine it being more of an issue for royalty after all. I have no problem keeping that quiet, I just don¡¯t get why Kassandra would worry?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not the big issue. I just¡­¡± Rieka frowned down at her hands before sighing and locking eyes with me. ¡°Liam, I don¡¯t want Kassandra to misunderstand why I summoned you without her around.¡±

    ¡°Okay? So just let her know it was to touch bases and check up on her.¡± I shrugged, still not quite getting what the problem was. I reflected at that moment that this had to be something to do with a cultural difference that I just wasn¡¯t aware of. Given their choice of clothing and the environment was more akin to the medieval ages, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised at all if there was a difference here that I just wasn¡¯t aware of.

    ¡°You aren¡¯t getting it, Liam.¡± Rieka huffed, scowling in a fashion that would have been intimidating if it wasn¡¯t for the fluffy tail that wrapped around her back to drape over her lap. A fluffy tail that she was carefully finger combing in her anxiety while it flopped slightly.

    ¡°I¡¯m a guy, Rieka. I tend to not do so well with insinuations. Can you just throw it out there for me? Plainly? I don¡¯t want to hurt anyone''s feelings because I don¡¯t know what is going on or if there is some kind of social expectation that I am not aware of.

    ¡°Look, I don¡¯t want Kassandra to be jealous or misunderstand. She likes you.¡±

    ¡°Well yea, I can tell that much. I figured if she didn¡¯t like me, she wouldn¡¯t hug me so often. Let alone her attempts to tackle me in greeting.¡±

    ¡°Not just like, like. Kassandra fancies you, Liam.¡± Rieka growled, her icy-blue eyes flashing in irritation. ¡°She¡¯s got it bad for you, Liam. She¡¯s always talking about you and I can guarantee that while she is affectionate with others, she¡¯s never gotten as attached to someone as fast as she has to you.¡±

    Rieka looked ready to continue her explanation when a loud thump came from the doorway and we both jumped in surprise.

    ¡°Rieka! How could you just say that!¡± Kassandra¡¯s shout of protest preceded her as she burst into the room and slithered to confront the two of us.

    ¡°I guess that keeping it a secret doesn¡¯t matter anymore.¡± I muttered, finally understanding what Rieka was saying. I shifted to stand, hoping to intercept the charging dwarf lamia and defuse the situation. The last thing I want is to make this more awkward. I thought before holding my arms wide and smiling down at the blushing redhead. ¡°Hey Kass! How¡¯s my favorite snuggle-noodle?¡±

    The distraction worked surprisingly well. Kassandra shifted her attention from the anger directed at her friend to me instead. Thankfully, her eyes lit up in excitement as that anger shifted over to happiness, though her blush was still thick enough to hide most of the freckles she wore over her nose and sprinkled across the exposed part of her chest.

    ¡°Liam!¡± She bunched up for a moment before lunging at me like a striking snake.

    Thankfully, I had the wherewithal to brace myself before her energetic greeting hit me. Since she was already moving at speed, if I hadn¡¯t braced it was likely she¡¯d have knocked me clean over and probably hurt one of us. Catching her around the waist, I pulled the dwarf lamia into a hug and turned to one side with her to help bleed off the momentum of her large body charging me. This had the effect of helping her wrap her coils around my legs and she reacted instinctively, squeezing with her tail as well as her arms.

    ¡°Thanks for defusing that, Liam.¡± Rieka sighed, a relieved look on her face. ¡°I didn¡¯t realize she was listening at the door¡­¡±

    ¡°I was coming to ask you about the assignment we had in our Runes class.¡± Kassandra¡¯s voice was muffled as she had buried her face into my neck and was rubbing it back and forth furiously. ¡°Then I heard you talking to someone because the door was cracked and well¡­sorry about bursting in like that. But I still can¡¯t believe you told him!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, Kass. I just didn¡¯t want you to think I was trying to steal him from you and Liam wasn¡¯t getting subtle. You should have heard him begging me to just say it straight¡­¡± Rieka teased lightly, the relieved look melting into one of mischief as her ears perked up and her tail wagged slightly in her lap. Kassandra glared at her friend for a moment before a wicked look stole the glare¡¯s place.

    ¡°Steal him? You know we can easily share our Liam, he¡¯s big enough for the both of us!¡± Kassandra giggled happily and leaned without releasing her hug, keeping her arms wrapped around my neck and leaving her in a position that was¡­suggestive to say the least while her hips wiggled back and forth slowly. ¡°Mm, you smell like hard work, Liam.¡±

    ¡°Was doing training earlier. Sorry if I stink.¡± I stammered quickly.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s fine. I don¡¯t mind at all. But yea, like I was saying, there¡¯s enough of Liam to share between us. Just don¡¯t go trying to sneak time behind my back! Sharing is caring after all.¡± Kassandra wriggled her hips happily again while shooting a saucy wink at the now-blushing Rieka. The teasing was much better than the potential cat-fight that I had originally feared was coming, so I didn¡¯t complain.

    ¡°Anyway!¡± Rieka was blushing heavily now. ¡°Since Kass was spying, we might as well come clean.¡±

    ¡°Not possible, not if you are really having fun that is.¡± Kassandra immediately butted in with a saucy wink. ¡°Never clean and definitely not quiet.¡±

    I just stared down at the little minx that was wrapped around me like a particularly scaly turtleneck.

    ¡°Did you seriously just say that?¡±

    ¡°Oh come on, Liam.¡± Rieka spoke up while still blushing heavily. ¡°We both know Kassandra well enough that we should have seen that coming a mile away. Don¡¯t you dare!¡± The last part was directed at Kassandra as the grinning lamia opened her mouth to comment, only to just continue smirking instead.

    ¡°Anyway!¡± I said after another moment of awkward silence for two of the three people in the room. ¡°Rieka, was there anything else you wanted to talk about?¡± I conveyed to the wolf-kin woman with my eyes that I agreed to her previous request not to bring up what had been said with her mother. Rieka nodded in agreement.

    ¡°Since Kass is here, we should talk about our plans for this coming weekend. I was hoping we could do an overnight trip, from the end of the week through the weekend.¡± Rieka said after a moment of consideration.

    ¡°Friday through Sunday? Yeah, I can do that. I should be able to get out of work early Friday, if not take the whole day off. I¡¯ve got leave and I can call out sick if I have to. How far were you planning on going? Also, are you planning to let me go, Kass?¡±

    ¡°Nope.¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡± I sighed and shifted to one side to make sure Kassandra¡¯s tail didn¡¯t get caught under me before settling onto the edge of the large chair that I had been sitting in. The lamia just giggled happily as I settled down and Rieka rolled her eyes at her friend.

    ¡°But yes, a day out, a day hunting and collecting, then back early on the last day of the weekend. Kass and I will be collecting several requests for supplies and hunting requests in the area and figure out exactly where we are heading. We just needed to confirm you were willing to come along for the whole trip before we buy supplies.¡±

    ¡°Yea, you two need me, I¡¯ll be there.¡± My simple statement got a happy laugh out of Kassandra and a squeeze from the tail wrapped around my hips.

    ¡°Glad to know we can count on you to always look after us. We¡¯ll make sure to have that pack ready for you too. You¡¯ll have to carry your own bedroll after all.¡± Kassandra chirped while sharing a glance with Rieka.

    ¡°Bedroll? Why would I need that?¡± My brain immediately started to supply the reasons as to why I would need something to sleep on and I had to fight it down so I could listen to Rieka¡¯s answer.

    ¡°Well, because we were expecting you to camp with us while we are out. It¡¯ll be more efficient if we just preload the summon with enough mana to sustain the link that whole time. Plus, having you there while we camp will make sure we stay safe overnight too.¡± Rieka explained nervously, biting her lip as she waited to see what I would say.

    ¡°Ah, okay. That¡­well that makes sense. If you want me to stay to watch out for you, and it¡¯s not going to cost you two extra, I don¡¯t mind.¡±

    ¡°If you would rather sleep in your own bed, we can make it work, Liam.¡± Kassandra¡¯s words were quiet and reserved, the change of which immediately drew my attention down to where she was snuggled to my chest. Her normally inquisitive brown eyes were now just worried and I gave her a tight hug to reassure her.

    ¡°I don¡¯t mind at all, Kass. Besides, you need a snuggle buddy besides Rieka, right?¡± I teased, getting a quick smile out of the dwarf lamia and a laugh from both of them.

 Chapter 23

    I tossed my cell phone onto the bed beside me and sighed. Calling off sick when I wasn¡¯t actually sick felt weird, especially to make it a long weekend. I wasn¡¯t the kind of person who would normally skip out on work or half ass it either..after what Dutcher had pulled last night though? I feel more than a bit justified calling off like this. The girls would be summoning me around noon. I¡¯d planned to just work a half day, but decided this was better than dealing with more verbal abuse from the pudgy toad of a boss that I had and it was easier to leave a voicemail than deal with him to his face about leaving early. Staring up at the dusty ceiling of my bedroom, I remembered what had happened the previous day.

    ¡°Cosgrave! Get your ass in gear and hurry! I need you to finish loading Matheson¡¯s truck as well. I had to send him home early.¡± Dutcher¡¯s crowing broke me out of the contemplative funk that I¡¯d been spending most of the day in.

    After the meeting with the girls on Tuesday night, I had set about doing more animal research for different options to shift with. I¡¯d gone over everything from dense fur to help keep warm to what sort of muscle structures a gorilla had to improve my strength for a short burst. Because of this distraction, Dutcher had managed to sneak up on me while I was working on autopilot while thinking about other things. The fact I¡¯d been thinking about the feeling of Kassandra¡¯s scales and the smell of her hair at that exact moment too didn¡¯t help.

    ¡°What?¡± I turned to look over my shoulder with a stacked pair of totes in my hands. Dutcher sneered at me with his beady eyes squinted, the thinning hair on top of his head hanging lank on his sweaty forehead while he leaned on the control stick of his Segway scooter.

    ¡°You heard me, Cosgrave! Get the lead out and get this done. I need you to stay late and finish Matheson¡¯s last truck. I had to send him home.¡± The man¡¯s eyes widened in challenge as he sneered at me.

    ¡°Why?¡± Was the best answer I could give him at the moment. A haughty look that would have made a more put together man than Dutcher potentially look regal instead made him look like he smelled something rotten, maybe himself.

    ¡°He was about to hit overtime.¡± Dutcher replied after a long moment in a staring contest that he finally caved on.

    ¡°Overtime¡­on a Thursday afternoon? I thought you scheduled the shifts specifically so we wouldn¡¯t hit overtime.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s stayed late the last several days to finish, and he hit forty hours today so I sent him home. You are going to pick up his slack, because I know you aren¡¯t going to take an extra four hours to finish the damn truck.¡± Snarled the chubby idiot, his piggy eyes narrowing.

    I just stared at him in confusion. Dutcher made doubly sure the schedules were such that we never hit overtime, to the point he usually scheduled us to be a few hours under forty. I always ended up hitting my forty hours because of various make-work I¡¯d get drafted for, but still...The fact he sent Matheson home before he could go over wasn¡¯t surprising. Dutcher''s statement about me not taking as long also made sense. I had better things to do than hang around the dock after my regular shift after all. What about tomorrow though? If Matheson is already at his forty, that means that either Dutcher is going to have to approve the overtime tomorrow or he¡¯s just going to tell Matheson to stay at home. Which means he¡¯s likely going to saddle me with this same garbage tomorrow.

    Apparently taking my silence for assent, Dutcher leaned back and pivoted on his electric scooter, before driving away with a parting shot over his shoulder that made me bite back the urge to rip his head off as it boiled my blood.

    ¡°Hurry up, Cosgrave! Some of us would like to go home on time!¡±

    ¡°Yea, screw it. I don¡¯t care anymore.¡± I sighed, sitting up in bed and stretching. I¡¯d spent an extra two hours on the dock last night and arrived home worn out. I¡¯d had to send a message to Cerebaton to cancel my Thursday training. He¡¯d asked why, of course. When I explained what Dutcher had done, Cerebaton had made no bones about recommending I find another source of employment.

    The back and forth messaging via the System helped keep me distracted while I worked yesterday. Cerebaton had sent me detailed exercises and stretches I was to do instead of the normal sparring session. I¡¯d managed to get through them last night, but had barely had the energy to shower then pass out at that point.

    Now that I was awake and feeling better, I set about getting ready for when the girls sent their summon request. There wasn¡¯t much I could do until they called me and I didn¡¯t want to wear myself out. We¡¯d be hiking out into the forest along the coast and camping for several days, so I didn¡¯t want to be tired or overstressed when we headed out. So instead I just took the morning easy and did some of the exercises that Cerebaton had sent me to make sure I was limber and relaxed.

    It really is weird, to think that I just¡­wait to be summoned to another world. All the anime I¡¯ve seen it in was a ¡®one and done¡¯ kind of thing. Isekai and the like. I wonder¡­is that what is causing all the damage that Cariad mentioned back when we first met? People getting isekai¡¯ed? I¡¯d laugh it off, but it¡¯s not the strangest thing¡­

    The expected summoning message came about an hour and a half before noon. I¡¯d been watching some video guides on my phone about how to sharpen a sword when the edges of my vision flashed and the words I¡¯d been waiting for scrolled across my vision in flickering purple neon.

    Kassandra Silverscale and Rieka Coldeye have sent a non-urgent request for your presence regarding a several day mission.

    Transit? View summoning?

    ¡°Really need to remember to ask Cari if there is some method to be able to communicate with the girls while we are separated. I mean, I can message her with the System and it¡¯s just as far, right?¡± I muttered to myself, plugging my phone into the charger on the coffee table and settling onto the couch. ¡°We could have headed out hours ago, but they had no idea I took off earlier than expected. Oh well.¡± I glanced over my outfit, since it was the only thing that I could bring with me at this point.

    The jeans were the heavy-duty ones with reinforced panels on the legs for people who rode motorcycles or worked more dangerous jobs. I was just wearing another of my plain t-shirts for a top but combined it with a flannel button-down for some extra warmth. It¡¯d been fairly warm over on the other side the last time I¡¯d gone out with the girls, but that hadn¡¯t been overnight. I wasn¡¯t sure if I wanted to cart a hoodie around with me, so the flannel was a step in between at least.

    Satisfied that I was as ready as I could be, I closed my eyes and focused on the Transit option that was still hovering in front of my eyes. A moment later, I felt the jerk of movement and I was off again. This time it felt like I¡¯d been strapped into a harness and abruptly yanked away from where I had been sitting until now, but rather than a crane lifting me it was like being attached to a parasail towed behind a bullet train.

    Keeping my eyes closed helped suppress the slight nausea that came with the whirling motion. I could still see the flash of lights and color through my eyelids and when the strobes settled down and I could feel sunlight on my face, I knew I¡¯d arrived. Why is it that it feels, tastes, sounds, or looks different each time?! I had time to think before it was confirmed beyond any doubt I¡¯d safely landed at my destination.

    Of course the excited squeal from Kassandra was a major clue. It was also the only warning I got of what vector the attack was coming from.

    Spinning on my heel to greet the happy dwarf lamia as she lunged in for her familiar tackling hug, I caught the peppy, auburn haired woman and spun with her. This elicited a happy giggle from the part-snake woman before she got her coils wrapped around me and wiggled them up my legs to wrap around my hips.

    ¡°So good to see you, Liam!¡± Kassandra purred happily, burrowing her face into my neck and chest while her arms and scaled length did their best to squeeze the life out of me in a hug that I returned. Admittedly, a bit more gently.

    ¡°Good to see you as well, Kass. Hope you haven¡¯t been causing too much trouble for Rieka while I was gone?¡± I teased her back, gently ruffling her mass of red-brown curls.

    ¡°Never!¡±

    Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

    ¡°She¡¯s totally been causing problems, but I knew that would be the case when I became friends with her.¡± Rieka laughed from nearby, drawing my attention to the platinum-blonde wolf-girl. It also gave me a chance to take in our surroundings.

    We were on the lawn outside of Rue house, the cobble path nearby led towards the heavy curtain wall and had a number of other people walking up and down it. More than a few were looking in this direction curiously and I started to feel a bit self-conscious because of their stares.

    ¡°You tattle-tale!¡± Kassandra protested in mock anger, turning to glare at Rieka for only a moment before snickering. ¡°She¡¯s right though, I just can¡¯t help myself sometimes.¡±

    ¡°Well behave for now.¡± I patted Kassandra on the back lightly. ¡°We should get moving, we want to get out to the area that you two are heading for as early as we can. Want to make sure we get the camp set up before it starts to cool off, after all.¡±

    It was the mention of being cold that got Kassandra moving, otherwise I was fairly certain she¡¯d have tried to remain as a combination belt and backpack for a while longer at least. She did give me one last firm hug and a light kiss on the cheek before she loosened her coils and slid down.

    ¡°Careful Kass, you might make his head pop if you keep doing that.¡± Rieka teased, which told me that the blush I had believed to be just a light one might have been a bit more fierce than expected.

    ¡°We wouldn¡¯t want that! Maybe his other head, but not in public like this. They haven¡¯t earned the right to see that!¡± Kassandra said saucily as she wended her way rapidly towards the pile of gear that sat beside Rieka.

    ¡°I¡¯d protest, but I have a feeling that it would only encourage her.¡± I sighed, getting a giggle from Kassandra and an understanding nod from Rieka.

    ¡°You would be right, Liam. Good to see you again. Hope you are ready for a hike to get to the hunting area?¡± Rieka stepped around Kassandra, who was busily tugging my armored jerkin out of the pile, and held her arms out tentatively for a hug as well. I didn¡¯t keep her waiting and hugged the slender wolf-woman. Her black-tipped blonde ears flicked a few times against my cheek, softly tickling the skin there for a moment before we parted again.

    ¡°You need me, I¡¯m here. You both know that.¡± I replied with a reassuring smile and Rieka nodded once before being abruptly bumped out of the way by Kassandra pushing past her with my leather armor held high in her hands.

    ¡°Okay Liam! Lets get you geared up!¡±

    <><><>

    It took less than ten minutes to get my armor squared away and the packs handed out. Rieka and Kassandra had done a fair job getting the camping supplies and everything else sorted out equally, but I did insist on shifting some of the things to my pack. Given her smaller stature, if not her extra length, Kassandra struggled a bit with an ¡®even¡¯ share of the weight. Once the packs were more balanced for each person¡¯s individual strength, we headed out along the main road on foot.

    We ended up taking the same turnoff that we had previously for dealing with the Kobolds, the path leading along the way to Broadshore, the port town. While we walked, the girls took it in turns to chat about what they¡¯d been up to in the last several days of their classes, as well as what we¡¯d be doing today. In the past I¡¯d talked them through ideas of what we needed to accomplish . This time it didn¡¯t even take until the turnoff before they were able to prompt the appearance of the System message. Reading over it, I gave a fist pump of excitement.

    Assist your contracted companions, Kassandra Silverscale and Rieka Coldeye, with their missions for the next several days and return them safely home.

    Reward - 1100 SP

    ¡°Oh hell yes, that¡¯ll be perfect.¡± I muttered as the burning letters vanished from my vision.

    ¡°Liam?¡± Kassandra¡¯s head was tilted curiously as she looked up at me from where she slid along on the hard packed road. Both Kassandra and Rieka had opted for sturdy outfits in their usual styles. Which for Kassandra meant a blouse, underbust corset, and a skirt in colors that matched her scales. Rieka had opted for pants with a cutout for her tail and a blouse. Both of Rieka¡¯s garments were made of a heavy tan fabric with white accents.

    ¡°The System just prompted me with the mission conditions. I¡¯m to assist you two for the weekend and then get you home safe. That will net me more points for upgrades than the last two weeks put together. I guess the overnight security counts partially and it seems like it¡¯s counting each of the ¡®days¡¯ as a full mission.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s great, Liam! I¡¯m glad that you are going to be properly compensated, considering the mana we are expending to bring you here and maintain it.¡± Rieka¡¯s happy tone helped pull the barbs from what could have been viewed as a cruel or pointed reminder that I was literally costing them money to be here.

    ¡°The more I can earn like this, the more that I can do to protect you girls. That¡¯s the biggest thing.¡± I shot her a smile and got a nod in return, her fluffy tail with its darkened tip stirring happily behind her.

    ¡°I wonder if we can tilt this System into giving him more of a reward if we charge him with multiple tasks, rather than just general ones?¡± Kassandra piped up from my other side and I shot her a questioning look.

    ¡°How would you do that? It waited until you finished giving me the list of jobs you wanted to do before prompting the display.¡± Kassandra grinned wickedly, her bright eyes twinkling behind her silver-rimmed spectacles before she spoke.

    ¡°Easy. Three ways at least, as I see it: more things to do, more days out on missions, and then adding additional tasks as we think of them. Not sure on the third one yet. We will have to test it.¡±

    ¡°Test it how?¡± The suspicion in Rieka¡¯s voice was thick enough to cut with a knife. Kassanda directed a brilliant smile her way as we turned off on the road that led into the foothills and eventually out to the coast.

    ¡°Liam, I am requesting additional assistance from you. I need help keeping warm away from Juneau, so I will need your commitment to ensure I am not harmed by the cold while away from my nest.¡± Kassandra said formally, locking eyes with me intently. Rieka stopped walking abruptly and turned to stare at Kassandra incredulously.

    ¡°Kass! What about..¡±

    ¡°Shh!¡± Kassandra hushed her friend, letting her coiling gait come to a stop, so I stopped as well and we waited.

    It took a small handful of seconds before the flare of light across my vision formed and spelled out my secondary mission. Kassandra didn¡¯t even wait for me to speak as I read the message, I must have made some kind of expression that gave it away. A broad grin slipped onto her features while she cheered in excitement.

    Assist your contracted companion, Kassandra Silverscale, by ensuring she does not succumb to the cold while away from her nest.

    Reward - 100 SP

    ¡°You can¡¯t be serious? It actually worked?¡± Rieka¡¯s voice was filled with astonishment.

    ¡°Yup¡­she worked the System.¡± I chuckled before relating the assignment. Kassandra¡¯s smile got even wider as she listened, bouncing happily on her tail in a way that made her assets also jiggle quite happily.

    ¡°Mobile heater secured!¡± She cheered, wrapping her arms around my waist to give me another hug, giggling the entire time.

    ¡°Seriously? You pulled this just so you don¡¯t have to deal with the cold?¡± Rieka grumbled, crossing her arms under her breasts and glaring at her friend.

    ¡°Not just so I could. I wanted to make sure that Liam got the biggest boost he could and I figured it would work. It¡¯s your turn next time, so start thinking on how you can monopolize our human¡¯s time!¡± Kassandra released me to turn and grin up at her friend. The irrepressible amusement of the dwarf lamia was more than the wolf-woman was able to handle and Rieka¡¯s irritation cracked, leaving a smirk on her face.

    Something about what Kassandra said, referencing me as ¡®their human¡¯, reminded me of a question I¡¯d been meaning to ask for sometime.

    ¡°Not that I¡¯m complaining about being called ¡®your human¡¯ after all.¡± I said to butt in on their conversation. ¡°But I¡¯ve been meaning to ask about that for a while and keep getting distracted with all that we are doing. I haven¡¯t seen any other humans at all since I got here, and I remember that group of other summoners the first night being pretty worried when I explained I was a human.¡±

    Both girls turned confused expressions on to me before looking at each other in surprise.

    ¡°Did we never really tell him?¡± Rieka asked her friend intently. Kassandra shrugged.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so. I mean, we¡¯ve talked about a lot¡­but I don¡¯t think it ever came up.¡±

    ¡°What never came up? You girls are worrying me now.¡± I urged them both, looking back and forth once more.

    Rieka was the first to break the silence, glancing back over her shoulder as if to make sure no one was following us along the deserted side road.

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s pretty straightforward Liam. There are lots of stories about humans. Our people have found ruins all across the land over the years, but humans have been gone for centuries. They died off a long time ago and no one has seen them since.¡±

    ¡°Basically, humans are myths. That¡¯s one reason why everyone was so surprised and why we were excited to bond with you. All we have are stories of humans and the legends around them.¡± Kassandra watched me earnestly, the worry obvious in her slim features.

    ¡°Huh¡­so humans are legends? That¡¯s kind of cool. Also that makes sense. I remember Silas saying they were extinct now. I meant to ask about it sooner but forgot.¡± I murmured, looking up at the sky for a moment while I remembered the conversation with the bear-kin shop-keeper.

    ¡°Not¡­quite.¡± Rieka¡¯s words brought me crashing back down to earth and I looked at her intently. Rieka bit her lip for a moment before explaining. ¡°A lot of the records that have been found show how dangerous humans are. This led historians to believe they wiped themselves out with dangerous weapons. Humans are more akin to demons or bogeymen in a lot of stories nowadays.¡±

    I felt the bottom drop out of my stomach as I considered her words. The idea that humans were legendary creatures, like elves were to people back on Earth, had seemed cool. But now, confronted with the idea that humans were more akin to things that went bump in the night, I wasn¡¯t sure how to take that.

    The soft sensation of Kassandra taking my hand brought me back from my confusion and I turned to lock eyes with the short snake-woman.

    ¡°Hey, it¡¯s okay, Liam. We know you aren¡¯t like that. Come on, daylight is burning and you have a job to do!¡± Kassandra¡¯s soft smile combined with the mischievous twinkle in her eye let me push off the concerns that this revelation had brought up. I took a deep breath and nodded to her.

    ¡°Okay, let''s get moving. I don¡¯t want my girls to end up in danger after all.¡± I replied, squeezing her hand with mine before the three of us set out with intent along the road. I can worry about this later, I have a job to do: looking out for these two.

 Chapter 24

    The trip into the hills was pleasant. We passed a pair of wagons and their guards on horseback just as we reached the treeline. I nodded in greeting to the group as they passed us by, getting a response from the drivers but not the guards. The wagon drivers were a pair of cat kin in plain but serviceable outfits while their escort was a half dozen men and women in sturdy armor. The whole group moved with purpose as they rattled down the road. Given that we saw them coming a fair way off because of the trail of dust that the wagons raised, our group made way for them and stepped off the road.

    ¡°I wonder if they camped at the ruins we cleared the other day.¡± Rieka muttered as we continued into the tree line once they¡¯d passed. The glaring sun overhead had started to get a bit oppressive with the weight of the pack I was carrying and I was thankful for a bit of shade.

    ¡°Probably. It¡¯s one of the better spots along the coast road after all. We should have asked them about anyone or anything harassing people on the road. Never hurts to know if there is trouble waiting.¡± Kassandra added from her spot on the other side of me.

    Kassandra and Rieka had taken to bracketing me again, though they would swap sides every so often as things distracted them. After the encounter with the kobold ambush previously, we were all careful to keep close watch on our surroundings while we talked quietly though. I¡¯d occasionally move to the outside of the group if I saw something I was suspicious of as well, but nothing jumped out at us.

    ¡°It does make me wonder though. I¡¯ve met plenty of different intelligent folks but only a handful of ¡®monsters¡¯ or strange creatures in the times I¡¯ve been here.¡± I shifted the strap on my backpack to adjust the weight, as it had been causing one of the metallic plates in my armor to dig into my shoulder.

    ¡°Well, that would depend on what qualifies as a ¡®strange creature¡¯ to you, wouldn¡¯t it Liam?¡± Kassandra peered up at me with a mischievous smile. The dappled sunlight coming through the trees twinkled off her silver-rimmed spectacles.

    ¡°I suppose. Then again, the fact that I crossed over to another world via a magical ritual only to find that the native species in power was so similar to my own¡­should have been some clue that most things would be fairly normal. Except for the whole ¡®magic thing¡¯.¡± I said, making finger quotes where appropriate, a gesture that got a confused look from both girls.

    ¡°Until it isn¡¯t. Don¡¯t be afraid to point things out and ask us about them. Something that is strange to you might just be normal to us and we can easily explain.¡± Rieka reminded me, drawing my attention away from the smirking dwarf lamia and to the stunning wolf-kin on my other side.

    ¡°True. And I will do just that, Rieka.¡± I gave her a smile that got a bright one in return before we focused back on the road.

    Just like the previous trip, the trees all around us rose up on either side as the previously rolling terrain surged up into serious mountains in the distance. We passed the turn off for the ruins around noon. The girls were happy to keep moving at a steady pace, though we did rest every so often to make sure we stayed relatively fresh. I was surprised again that two young noblewomen were happy doing this much physical exertion and mentioned it during one of the breaks.

    ¡°Just because Kassandra and I don¡¯t fight in melee doesn¡¯t mean we aren¡¯t able to or aren¡¯t fit.¡± Rieka spoke with a raised eyebrow and drawn back ears, clearly irritated at the question. Before I could clarify, Kassandra came to my rescue.

    ¡°It is a fair question, Rieka. You know a good number of the noble-born back at Juneau wouldn¡¯t bother with this. They¡¯d have hired a carriage to transport them and be spending their parents money to hire guards. Just because we want the full experience doesn¡¯t mean others would be that open minded.¡± Kassandra took a sip of water from her water-skin and then continued. ¡°The reason that Rieka and I have no problems with this is because we both work to keep fit and we keep each other accountable to it. We¡¯ve been friends for years, much to the annoyance of others.¡±

    ¡°But why train for that? You two are spell-casters. I mean, I only have media and games to go from, but usually those depict casters as folks that normally don¡¯t sweat the physical side of the equation. They just focus on their magic.¡± I tossed another piece of dried apple in my mouth before folding the paper-wrapped bundle of dried fruit up and tucking it back into my pack.

    ¡°Your assumption would be correct for a number of people, but my family has always been realistic.¡± Rieka answered after swallowing a hunk of jerky she¡¯d been chewing thoughtfully while Kassandra and I talked. ¡°Sure, a trained mage can block an incoming spell, dispel it, or even commandeer it depending on their skill and power. But the one way to ensure you aren¡¯t hurt by an enemy¡¯s attack is to not be there when the attack arrives. I told you before that my mother made sure all of us trained to stay fit and limber. She wanted us to be able to dodge, evade, and escape. As well as being able to strike at the opportune moment. Kassandra benefited when she became my friend and she started training with me too.¡±

    ¡°I needed to be able to keep up with you and your long legs, Rieka.¡± Kassandra sighed, leaning over my lap to poke Rieka¡¯s thigh with one finger. ¡°Lamia tend to roam a lot, most of my kind are nomadic after all, so long distance travel like this is no big deal. It was the dodging exercises that really got me. It¡¯s a lot harder to throw myself to one side with my tail trailing behind me. My tail does give me options others don¡¯t have, like I can move while low to the ground really quickly. At least as long as I¡¯m careful.¡± Kassandra said proudly and Rieka sniggered, getting a glare from her friend.

    ¡°Just so long as you make sure to wear more sensible clothes next time you have to do that. I remember the first time you did it and ended up scooping dirt and sand into your shirt because your tits hung down further than you thought they did. You also face-planted on the training grounds due to the extra drag.¡± I had to bite back a laugh at Rieka¡¯s words. Especially since I could see that happening given Kassandra¡¯s excessive curves and the fact that this world didn¡¯t seem to have invented the bra yet. Her underbust corsets only defined the generous shape of her breasts, rather than restrained them in any fashion after all.

    Kassandra looked to be getting ready to fire off a rebuttal when Rieka continued and cut her off.

    ¡°And don¡¯t give me the whole ¡®preventing overheating¡¯ thing about why you leave your shirt open. We both know why you do it.¡± Rieka¡¯s quick words sent a blush across Kassandra¡¯s face and down to spread over the top of those breasts, dark enough that it hid some of the smattering of freckles that normally graced their curves. Instead of arguing, Kassandra just raised her nose in the air with a huff.

    I decided it was best not to comment at that point and instead focused on getting my pack settled so we could keep moving.

    <><><>

    We followed the main road for another two hours. We stopped twice, first to rest and again to refill our water-skins from a fast moving stream that paralleled the road for a bit. I asked the girls about concerns regarding potential parasites in the water and Rieka showed me a rune on the inside cap of the water-skin I was using.

    ¡°That rune actually filters the water and cleans it. Just make sure to cork the bottle after filling it and leave it be for a minute or so. There are some toxins it can¡¯t filter out, but that sort of thing kills native life in the water anyway and would be obvious.¡± She¡¯d explained to me, which went a long way to helping me relax on that front. The last thing we needed was dysentery interrupting this trip after all. I didn¡¯t even want to think about any magical diseases that might crop up either.

    The road slowly edged higher and higher before we finally came through what Kassandra had jokingly referred to as the ¡®coastal pass¡¯. The trees and mountains had continued to rise until they towered on either side and it became obvious that we were traveling through a large valley rather than a mountain pass. In the distance, I could see the horizon opening up but we hadn¡¯t gotten far enough to be able to see the sea yet.

    Rieka had directed us off the road at this point, urging us to cut cross country to the south towards the rising mountains. The trees still clung close to the road, but had spread out enough individually that we could navigate between the trunks without too much of a problem.

    While there was undergrowth to deal with, it wasn¡¯t thick enough to be impenetrable. Our pace slowed more as we forced our way through the underbrush. I lead the way since my boots and heavy jeans protected my legs more than the girls. Underneath that, I¡¯d used my Shape-Shifting to thicken my skin and provide further protection. I had no idea what sort of poisonous snakes lived in this area, but I didn¡¯t want to find out when I was bitten by one.

    Following Rieka¡¯s recommendations and guidance, we found a fast-moving stream that flowed towards the ocean and headed upstream.

    ¡°If this is the right tributary, it should lead back up to a lake that we can camp by.¡± Rieka explained as we walked. The wolf-kin had moved up to walk alongside me once more when the bank opened up enough to give her the space. ¡°The herbs and other things we are hoping to collect should grow on the mountain slopes and in the trees in moist environments. This should be far enough from both of the towns that it should have plenty growing there too. Most folks that take collection missions like this tend not to wander as far from town as we have.¡±

    I glanced up at the sun where it sat in the sky. It was already well past noon and most of the way to the evening. I held a hand up to measure the distance from the sun to the horizon line and guessed we had maybe two or three hours of time left.

    ¡°How far is the lake?¡±

    ¡°Hard to say. The map that I was looking at didn¡¯t really have scale measurement and it was older too. We aren¡¯t moving as fast now that we are off the road either. If we don¡¯t find it in the next hour or so, we should start looking for a good spot to camp. Near the lake would be an ideal spot, but it isn¡¯t required. I figured using it as a landmark would work to navigate by while away from the road. If we get lost, we just head for the center of the valley again to find the main road.¡± Rieka shrugged carelessly. Her ears dutifully kept flicking back and forth, tracking different noises that passed through the area while we walked.

    ¡°I think traveling beside the stream is a nice change from the road. Does this go all the way to the ocean?¡± Kassandra was currently behind us, and I swear I could feel her gaze burning a hole in my back pocket.

    I still wasn¡¯t sure how to react to the girl¡¯s obvious interest in me. It felt like I would be taking advantage of Kassandra since I was supposed to be protecting the two of them. In a way I was being ¡®paid¡¯ by the two, so there was a conflict of interest. But Kassandra had all but slithered onto my lap and told me ¡®I like your face, can I kiss it?¡¯ at this point. Something to talk to her about, I guess. I know I find her attractive, there¡¯s just the whole issue of being from another world and all that. Not to mention her station¡­

    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    We were following the stream in silence for another five minutes when a shadow abruptly blocked the sun overhead. I glanced up to check the size of the cloud, since keeping Kassandra in the sunlight was important for her body heat as the night came one. Far above us, I saw a massive shape in the sky overhead. Moving on instinct, I pushed Rieka away from the stream and into the cover of a nearby tree while drawing my sword with the other hand. Kassandra followed immediately, slithering under cover as all three of us peered up through the branches to get a better look at what it was. My mind was filled with images of dragons, flying serpents, or other monsters that might live in the mountains and hunt travelers.

    Kassandra laughed a moment later and slithered back out into the sun.

    ¡°It¡¯s just an ruumo! They are totally harmless to us.¡± Kassandra called, beckoning me to join her. Rieka gave me a gentle push as well and I glanced over to take in her wide smile and happily wagging tail.

    ¡°She¡¯s right, the ruumo are gentle creatures and it¡¯s just passing by, they don¡¯t hunt people or even eat anything larger than a bug anyway. From your reaction, I¡¯m betting you don¡¯t have them where you come from, so this would qualify as a ¡®strange creature¡¯ like you asked about earlier!¡±

    With the reassurance of the two girls, I stepped out into the sun to look up and take in my first sighting of something that was truly strange, even by the definitions of this world.

    Several hundred feet above us, cruising in between the clouds like it was one of them, was a massive blue-green colored creature that looked like a flying whale. It was hard to estimate the size at this distance but it was obvious to me that it was easily over a hundred feet long, maybe as much as a hundred and fifty feet in length. It cruised docilely between the clouds, steering with a wide, wedge-shaped tail that fanned gently to propel it forward. A pair of large, angular fins protruded from either side and helped steer the creature as it banked slowly. The abdominal fins were massive, more like wings honestly as they were almost a third as long as the creature''s body length. The sunlight glimmered off the creature''s blue-green hide, reflecting like the sun sparkling off the sea. The underbelly of the creature was a lighter, seafoam green in color while the upper hide was far darker. I could see large eyes set above a wide mouth that surveyed the hillside with a lazy curiosity as it passed overhead.

    ¡°Good lord¡­¡± I muttered as I watched it shift and angle the other direction with several pumps of its tail, back towards the sea.

    ¡°It¡¯s considered good luck to see a ruumo flying. Don¡¯t ask me why, it just is.¡± Kassandra had found her way to my side while I watched the massive creature move with a surprising amount of grace. Her words drew my attention down to the dwarf lamia and she used her length to push herself higher until she could wrap her arms around my neck in a light hug. ¡°Can¡¯t hurt to have luck on our side, right Liam?¡± Kassandra¡¯s question, asked from point blank, wasn¡¯t something I got a chance to answer before the little minx pressed her lips to mine in a surprise kiss that shorted my brain out for a moment.

    This wasn¡¯t the first time that Kassandra had kissed me, she¡¯d had a habit of slapping one on my cheek either to make me blush or as a ¡®thank you¡¯ for a while now. I just wasn¡¯t expecting a kiss on the lips at that moment. The last time she¡¯d kissed me like this was after I¡¯d body-blocked the breath of the flame serpent, and even that had just been a feather light kiss.

    When she didn¡¯t push it further, just continued a light lip lock, I was able to hit the hard reset button on my mind and wrap an arm around her waist to help support her. This drew a happy hum from the part-snake woman and she leaned further into me.

    A delicate cough from Rieka drew us back after a few more moments and the wolf-kin stared at Kassandra and I with a quirked eyebrow and a smirk.

    ¡°Not that I am complaining, but we do need to keep moving if we are going to find the campsite I wanted before the sun sets.¡± Rieka looked like she was going to say more, but a deep, rumbling noise echoed from above us. It was almost too deep to hear, but I could feel it in my chest as it reverberated throughout the hillside.

    Looking up past the curly mass of Kassandra¡¯s hair, I saw the ruumo dip into a shallow dive for a bit before coming up again, its large tail barely brushing the tops of the trees almost a mile away and slightly more to my right. Clearly, the ruumo was more like a whale than I¡¯d thought if it could make noises like that.

    As that tone faded away, I had a strange urge to head in that direction as well. It would take us away from this stream, but the way the ruumo continued to cruise lazily overhead made me wonder if there was something interesting in that direction. Since I wasn¡¯t sure if this was just in my head or not, I figured it was best if I polled the audience.

    ¡°We should keep moving, but I feel like it was telling us something. Like we should head that way instead of following the river?¡± I hadn¡¯t released Kassandra yet, still holding her up against my side by looping an arm around her hips and under her bottom to help support her. So she was in range to press another kiss to the corner of my mouth, making me jump in surprise.

    ¡°I was thinking the same thing. Like I said, seeing a ruumo in flight is considered good fortune amongst people who live along the coast. Besides, it¡¯s only a short side-trip anyway. Rieka?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t like us diverting from our course. The sun is fading fast, but I suppose we could. It¡¯s all in roughly the same direction anyway and I see a few taller trees up on that hillside. I can only imagine a few things that might make a ruumo fly close to the ground though, either there is a good sized lake there or some succulent looking trees. Worst case, we can make Liam climb one to scout around and see if he can spot the lake from up there.¡± Rieka¡¯s voice dripped into teasing at the last part and she turned to see my reaction to her words. I just shrugged though.

    ¡°If we need to get a view, I¡¯m happy to climb up a tree. I¡¯d rather I risk it than either of you two. I can grow claws to help with the climbing after all.¡± I gave Kassandra another squeeze around the hips before releasing her. She sank back down to the ground once more, still smiling brightly up at me.

    I could tell that whatever was forming between Kassandra and I had taken a big step forward today, and I needed to spend some time thinking about it. I¡¯d only visited these girls a handful of times and I could already feel an emotional connection forming with both of them. The fact that Kassandra was demanding my attention and affection told me that she clearly was developing feelings as well. Where it might go from there was something we would need to talk about though. It wasn¡¯t as if I could visit her on a whim, I was entirely dependent on her to call me to this world on her own.

    I wonder if there is some kind of travel power that the System can give me. I know it costs mana to do it, but maybe? I know in most RPG¡¯s the ¡®magic¡¯ stats are the intellectual ones, so I need to keep boosting those. Maybe I should try those mental puzzles that Kass suggested before? Anything to help boost my stats since the System hasn¡¯t unlocked the next tier of Enhance Self. Seriously though¡­I need to figure out what I¡¯m going to do with Kass before the woman flirts me to death or just gets tired of being subtle¡­

    Rieka led the way while I was lost in thought, into the trees and up the hillside away from the babbling creek. While it was less than a mile away by air, it took us most of an hour to reach the hillside that we had seen the ruumo ¡®swimming¡¯ near. The creature continued to circle and flit about further up the mountain from us, occasionally jaunting out away from the mountain and into the gauzy clouds that hung in the sky before bursting out of one cloud bank like a submarine breaching the surface of a still ocean. The ruumo dragged bits of fluffy cloud with it as it moved, as if it was emitting clouds in its wake, and it was a majestic sight.

    While we traveled, the girls filled me in a bit on what the ruumo were. While I had initially thought ¡®sky whale¡¯ when I saw it, it turned out that it was actually rather on point for what the creature was. Apparently they lived in the deep ocean, but were elementally aligned animals and capable of flying or swimming equally well. They were normally grazers and I watched as the big creature swung low again near some trees further up the mountain. Its mouth opened like a catfish before it yanked a mouthful of leaves from the upper reaches of one of the tall oaks on the hillside before flying away.

    Kassandra was telling me about how ruumo normally fed on massive kelp beds that floated out in the deep ocean when Rieka¡¯s ears shot up and locked forward. It was the only warning that we got before she froze her steps. Thankfully, I was paying attention and didn¡¯t run her over, though it took a bit to get Kassandra to stop from doing the same thing.

    ¡°What is it?¡± I asked, keeping my voice low while setting my hand on my sword hilt. Kassandra already had her rod in hand as well but Rieka didn¡¯t move besides her ears adjusting slightly.

    ¡°I hear something. I thought it was just the wind or the ruumo singing at first¡­but I hear something up ahead. A steady roaring noise.¡± Rieka said after a moment more.

    ¡°Okay, let me lead and keep your ears open. Do not be afraid to step in and stop me, but I want to be between you and any threats.¡± I drew my sword and pushed past the two of them, patting Kassandra on the shoulder as I went by and getting a tight smile from her as well. Rieka just nodded and drew her rod as well.

    We continued through the trees for another ten minutes before I started picking up the muffled noise in the distance and it tickled my senses in that it sounded familiar.

    ¡°Oh!¡± Kassandra¡¯s exclamation caught both Rieka and I by surprise while we were navigating around an ancient, fallen tree. I whirled with the sword raised and Rieka already had her rod up but Kassandra was just smiling broadly and holding up one hand to reassure us. ¡°I recognize that noise. It took a bit to make the connection, but that¡¯s a waterfall!¡±

    As soon as Kassandra said it, my brain made that connection as well. I¡¯d seen them on occasion back home. I¡¯d even visited Multnomah Falls once when I was a kid with my parents. Listening again, the dull roaring noise definitely reminded me of that moment and I relaxed.

    ¡°Well, that is far better than some kind of monster out there, for sure.¡± I sighed before turning back and we proceeded a bit quicker. None of us said anything about it, but we knew that waterfalls meant lakes or ponds usually, and we had been looking for a lake specifically. Rieka hadn¡¯t mentioned a waterfall, but then again it wasn¡¯t guaranteed to be marked on the map, if what I knew of ancient maps was accurate. Given that ¡®what I knew¡¯ about ancient maps was directly lifted from the ¡®Thror¡¯s Map¡¯ in The Hobbit though, that wasn¡¯t a guarantee or even really reliable information.

    It only took another ten minutes of quick hiking up a sharp slope and we crested a rise that looked out into a small bowl valley. The trees thinned out some as they descended to encircle an oval lake before continuing on to roll down out of sight as they followed the river that emptied the lake. The river that fed the lake curled down out of the trees on the far side before diving off a short cliff that was only about forty feet tall and into the lake in a narrow torrent that threw up a shroud of mist and water across the gray stones.

    All around the lake and the waterfall the area was a brilliant, emerald-green that spoke of life. I could see a small collection of something that looked like a deer drinking from the far shore of the lake. Around the edge of the water, the banks were relatively clear for a good dozen or more feet. The trees got close to the shore in several spots but never right up to the shore. The air was crisp and full of the scent of moist vegetation. It reminded me of that same vacation to Multnomah Falls when I was a kid and the hikes we took in the area.

    ¡°Is that the lake we were looking for, Rieka?¡± I stopped on the ridge-line, peering through the trees down on the lake to keep watch.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so. The lake we were aiming for was larger, and shaped more like a bowl, this one is more like a gourd. Still, this should be just fine. The herbs and animals we are looking for will be around this lake as much as the other one.¡± Rieka replied after a moment of thought.

    ¡°Perfect! Let¡¯s get things set up, it¡¯s gonna get dark and cold soon.¡± Kassandra cheered quickly, slithering forward to snuggle up next to me. I glanced down and got another of her trademark mischievous smiles. ¡°You¡¯ll make sure we don¡¯t freeze up here in the mountains, won¡¯t you Liam?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure I can find enough firewood up here to ensure you two stay plenty warm. Let¡¯s get those tents set up.¡± I gave Kassandra a one-armed hug. She hummed happily and nuzzled into my side in response before leading the way forward, looking for a clear and flat spot large enough to set them up.

    I had already taken several steps before I realized that Rieka wasn¡¯t with me. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw her standing there with her brow furrowed.

    ¡°Everything okay, Rieka?¡± My words broke her out of her thoughts and she blinked a few times before she answered.

    ¡°Oh, nothing. I was just trying to remember what all we packed. You mentioned ¡®tents¡¯, as in plural, and it occurred to me. I couldn¡¯t remember if we bought a second tent¡­¡±

 Chapter 25

    As it turned out, they had bought two tents. But Kassandra had apparently only packed one. She almost managed to pull off the switch without getting caught but Rieka found enough tent stakes for two tents, stored in two separate pouches, in one of the packs. Kassandra ended up admitting to it once confronted with that evidence.

    ¡°Seriously, Kass? I can¡¯t believe this.¡± Rieka huffed in irritation, glaring at her serpentine friend. I¡¯d started setting up the lone tent we had while the girls talked. They weren¡¯t shouting at each other and Kassandra still had her trademark sunny smile on at the moment so I wasn¡¯t all that worried. That and we needed to have shelter ready before it got dark.

    No idea what the girls have for light sources after all, they might have some kind of lantern spell or something, or we might just have to deal with a campfire for light.

    The area we set the tent up in was a small clearing nestled into the edge of the ridge that we had climbed up and over initially. It kept us shielded from the rest of the valley by the hillside and trees, while also being set back from the edge of the lake by several hundred feet. It gave a good view of the lake and waterfall while still giving us plenty of shelter from wind and rain. The clouds that hung in the air above us were the fluffy, white masses that just served as a canvas for the setting sun to paint with brilliant colors, so I wasn¡¯t worried about a storm at the moment.

    ¡°I was thinking that two tents was unnecessary for the three of us, for one. And for two, the tents are heavy enough bringing just one. Two would have been extra weight to carry that was unnecessary. Besides, having the extra space in our packs means that we can bring more supplies back with us. Thus meaning we make more on this trip. If we can get enough saved for a dimensional satchel, then we can worry about bringing extra gear¡­because it¡¯s not going to be as heavy.¡± Kassandra answered simply as she moved around the edges of the clearing, collecting and piling fallen and dried wood to one side. ¡°Come on, Rieka. It¡¯s too late to change it now. I admit, I should have said something sooner, but I know you trust Liam as much as I do, so there is no reason to make a big production of it. Plus, we¡¯ll be more secure sleeping closer to our protector. See if you can find enough big rocks to make a fire pit, but set any with a good-sized flat surface aside for wardstones. I¡¯d rather we didn¡¯t have to stand watch and it¡¯s worth the mana to ward the campsite.¡±

    Rieka continued to glare at her friend for several seconds before sighing and doing as she was asked. They continued to talk in lower voices that I had a feeling were meant to be too quiet for me to be able to hear, but I still caught snippets as I set up the circular tent on one edge of the clearing.

    The tent reminded me of one of those ¡®one pole¡¯ tents that my grandfather used to be a huge fan of, but was far larger than the single person tent that he liked to use. Makes sense, Kass is big enough she wouldn¡¯t fit in one of those one person tents. At least Kass made sure the tent was big enough for all three of us. I thought while carefully laying out the canvas flooring over top of the thick grass of the clearing. And the meadow grass will make a good mattress at least. Better than the hard ground, but still not what these two are used to. Hope they brought enough blankets to keep warm.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t trust Liam.¡± I heard Rieka say as I was laying the stakes out for the tent. I glanced over to find her with an armful of fist-sized rocks talking to Kassandra. ¡°I do trust him and you. It¡¯s not being asked for my opinion or given a choice that bothers me. If I wanted to just be told what to do, I would have stayed in the castle.¡±

    ¡°Ah, I¡¯m sorry, Rieka. I didn¡¯t even think about that. I¡¯m sorry.¡± Kassandra¡¯s shoulders drooped and she dumped another armload of sticks on the ground.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, Kass. Just try to let me have some input in the future.¡± Rieka¡¯s words were low enough that I almost didn¡¯t catch them. Feeling bad for listening in, I pointedly focused my attention elsewhere and began rustling the canvas back and forth while I got the center pole set up and balanced with the guylines to support it.

    ¡°I¡¯m thankful I remember enough of the practical survival knots Grandad taught me.¡± I muttered while securing the support lines. The only spot in the tent that would be high enough for me to stand would be right by the center pole, but we didn¡¯t plan to spend time in the tent standing. It didn¡¯t form a perfect seal either, with the top simply draping down over the edges of the circle of cloth that made up the flooring and a bit of lacing on the interior of the tent lifted the outer edges of the flooring up to tie to spots on the interior of the ceiling. It wouldn¡¯t be enough to prevent bugs or mice getting in, but it would prevent water running into the sleeping area.

    It took another fifteen minutes before I was satisfied that the tent was secured to the ground and stable enough that we wouldn¡¯t have a problem. I unpacked the bedrolls next and got them laid out roughly equally around the center pole of the tent as well before turning back to check on the girls.

    Enough time had passed that they had finished their discussion and made up as they were chatting amiably now while Rieka used a short shovel to hack a shallow pit in the dirt before making a circle of stones as a fire-ring. Kassandra had six other stones that had clean, flat faces on one side that she was using a piece of crystal to scratch symbols into. Symbols that I didn¡¯t recognize, but she was faithfully replicating over each of the stones.

    ¡°Tent is all set up.¡± My statement got a smile and a ¡®thank you¡¯ from both of the girls. I glanced over at the pile of firewood that Kassandra had gathered and shook my head. She¡¯d done a decent job collecting fallen branches and the like, but it was far too small of a stack from my experience. The thickest pieces were barely two fingers wide and all of it looked like it was from branches that had just fallen on the ground or been broken off. ¡°We need more firewood. You always need far more firewood than you think you will when camping outdoors. I¡¯ll grab some more while you two finish what you are doing.¡±

    ¡°Stay within sight of the camp, Liam.¡± Rieka urged as she stacked the stones in place. She glanced up at me, a look of concern on her features that made me wonder if she was expecting a reprimand for it.

    ¡°Of course. We need to look after each other and there is no saying what might be in the local forest. You two keep an eye out for each other too.¡± My response sent her tail whipping back and forth happily and Rieka nodded quickly. Kassandra shot me a quick thumbs-up as well before going back to focusing on what she was doing. ¡°Once I get back with the firewood, we can go and get water from the lake and get the fire started. Shouldn¡¯t wait too long, the sun is going down fast.¡±

    I didn¡¯t have to go far to find more wood. There were downed trees all around us, with nature thinning the forest through storms and the cycle of natural selection. Breaking branches off and using my bodyweight to break larger pieces off of the older, more brittle trunks, I quickly made several trips worth of larger pieces to the campsite until I was certain we¡¯d have enough for the night as well as for part of the next day too.

    Rieka had finished setting the fire ring and had used several of the longer branches to set up a simple tripod over the fire using a metal ring to hold it together and an S-hook to have a spot for a pot to hang as well. Once it was ready, she moved the tripod to the side and started piling tinder and small branches into the fire pit.

    I returned with my last armload of wood just as Kassandra was slithering around the clearing and setting the stones into the grass with the flat side down to the earth. As she set each one down, she would recite an incantation and tap it with her rod before moving on to the next one.

    ¡°So, what sort of magic is our sneaky-string up to?¡± I asked Rieka when she stood up from arranging the tinder bed and dusted her hands off on her pants. The wolf woman smothered a snicker at how I¡¯d referred to Kassandra while I continued my question. ¡°I¡¯m guessing it¡¯s magic since she¡¯s got her rod out.¡±

    ¡°Perimeter wards, as she said before. She¡¯s priming them now and we will activate them before we go to bed. They¡¯ll cause a loud noise and glow brightly if anything dangerous crosses them. They are only temporary though. We¡¯ll have to re-energize them in the morning. I hadn¡¯t thought about it until she mentioned them, but it makes sense. This way, we don¡¯t have to have someone standing watch at night. You can make more elaborate ones if you lock them more firmly in place or use better materials. For now, these will do.¡± Rieka answered with a smile before picking up the small iron pot that our dinner would be being cooked in.

    ¡°Fancy. I¡¯m sure they will be useful. Who knows, we might make a regular trip up here if we can find a good source of things to collect. How are classes going for you two anyway? You mentioned Runes before and I know you two are both taking a Summoning class but I haven¡¯t heard about that one yet. I¡¯ve basically only been called for missions outside of Juneau as it is.¡±

    Rieka blushed at my question, but her ears remained perked up and her tail was still wagging slowly so I hoped she wasn¡¯t about to deliver bad news.

    ¡°Classes are good. We needed to talk about that anyway, the class thing. We will need to summon you during the week for exercises in class as well as to prove that we are continuing to work with our contracted partner. The project itself is to ¡®forge strong bonds with our companion and aid their growth¡¯. Which I hope we are doing right?¡± The almost plaintive look from the blonde-haired wolf-kin girl would have melted my heart if the two of them hadn¡¯t already won me over completely.

    I plopped my hand down on her head between her ears and stroked her hair gently while I answered.

    ¡°Of course you two are. I count you and Kass as dear friends of mine and you are definitely helping me get stronger. This weekend will be enough to show that, for sure.¡± Rieka¡¯s eyes went to happy slits and her tail wagged faster as I lightly stroked her hair and scrubbed at the base of her expressive, canine ears. She hummed happily and leaned into my hand, so I kept going while watching Kassandra as she set the last stone, spelled it, and then hurried back to us.

    The serpentine woman saw me doling out headpats to Rieka and smirked wickedly. Her expressive brown eyes twinkled merrily behind her silver-rimmed spectacles.

    ¡°Handing out rewards already, Liam? Where¡¯s mine?¡± Kassandra demanded as she immediately pressed herself into the side opposite Rieka, lifting my free arm and draping it over her shoulders.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, Kass. What kind of reward do you think you should get for throwing a bunch of rocks onto the ground for us to trip on in the night?¡± I teased back. The auburn-haired dwarf lamia pouted up at me, her bottom lip sticking out cutely.

    ¡°How could you say that, Liam? I put those wardstones into place so that you could have a full night''s sleep! If you trip on them in the night, it¡¯ll be your own fault because you are wandering off where you shouldn¡¯t be.¡± Kassandra sulked, crossing her arms under her full breast to further accent her pout in a way that would have seemed childish, if it wasn¡¯t for her overly sexual figure making it amusing and erotic instead.

    Deciding not to tease her anymore, I bent over and pressed a kiss to her forehead when her eyes dove down to look away, figuring it was safer than stealing a kiss from her lips at the moment.

    ¡°Thank you, Kass. I know you were doing it out of thoughtfulness. Was just teasing.¡± I murmured into her hair, using the arm around her shoulders to pull her against my side. She¡¯d already made her interest known to me before, I just needed to get the courage together to have that conversation with her soon.

    ¡°And because she doesn¡¯t want her heat source to wander away in the night.¡± Chipped in Rieka, grinning from ear to ear as her tail stirred up a storm behind her.

    ¡°Rieka struggles too much when I snuggle with her.¡± Sulked Kassandra with a faux-frown on her face that threatened to crack in only seconds as a smile rose up behind it.

    ¡°Just don¡¯t go doing anything weird or dirty with Liam in the tent. I don¡¯t need to see that.¡± Rieka insisted, the sparkle in her eyes at getting to tease Kassandra obvious to even me.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I wouldn¡¯t want to make a mess in the tent with you there. I¡¯ll make sure anything like that¡­we do outside.¡± Kassandra replied with a jaunty wink that sent a blush cruising over Rieka¡¯s face immediately. Rieka clearly believed her friend and her mind had gone off wondering.

    ¡°Okay you two, enough of that.¡± I cut in, hoping to spare Rieka any further embarrassment. ¡°Let''s head down to the lake and get water for dinner. I¡¯m sure a campfire stew isn¡¯t the height of fine dining, but I know I¡¯m hungry and I bet the two of you would appreciate something besides trail food.¡±

    ¡°Oh gods, yes.¡± Kassandra exclaimed, throwing both her arms around my waist and hugging me close so she could bury her face in my chest with a happy laugh, rubbing her face back and forth quickly. ¡°I have a little kettle in my bag too so we can make some hot tea once we get the fire going. Let''s get the water before the sun sets.¡±

    Trooping through the trees to the lakeside, all three of us kept watch on our surroundings. The animals I¡¯d seen drinking from the lake had left at this point, and the walk was quiet save for birdsong and the chattering of small animals in the trees. I could see the little ripples on the surface of the lake as fish snatched bugs from the air over the water for their dinner too.

    ¡°So Liam.¡± Kassandra asked as we arrived on the rocky shore of the lake and I stepped out on a few of the rocks sticking out of the water to fill the kettle and the pot. ¡°Have you camped often? You didn¡¯t seem to have trouble with the tent at all.¡±

    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡°Somewhat.¡± I answered while peering into the water. The whole lake was crystal clear and I could see the bottom quite a ways out. There was movement there, several fish in different shades of silver and blue darted back and forth as well as a larger, oval shape that made me think it had to be a turtle of some kind. The lake was several hundred feet across and the bottom dropped away quickly, so there could be quite a bit of life in it. ¡°I used to go camping with my dad and grandfather when I was younger, but it has been a decade since granddad passed away and it hasn¡¯t really felt the same since. I know a few tricks, but I¡¯m not what you¡¯d call an ¡®avid camper¡¯. With you two though? I¡¯m happy to rough it and be out here, but I wouldn¡¯t expect the same of two refined young women.¡±

    ¡°Oooh, he thinks we are refined.¡± Kassandra teased with a grin. Rieka just rolled her eyes at her friend and got a stuck out tongue in response from the dwarf-lamia.

    ¡°Thanks, Liam. I know that Kass and I are more comfortable knowing you are here to look after us.¡± Rieka added as I turned around. The platinum-blonde was peering at the far bank of the lake where the falling water continued to crash into the surface of the lake with a dull roar. She had one hand on the handle of her spell rod while she kept watch.

    ¡°How is it that you two are so comfortable around me anyway?¡± I asked, hefting the full containers and nodding towards the camp as the evening light continued to dim rapidly.

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t we be?¡± Kassandra butted in, taking the kettle from my right hand so I could reach my sword if I needed to while we headed back up the slope.

    ¡°I mean¡­well¡­look you two are very attractive young women. And you seem to have absolutely no problem wandering off into the wilderness with someone who is just this side of a complete stranger. And now we are camping out in a tent¡­with no one around to supervise you two. Add in the fact that Kass¡­well you are a young noblewoman and Rieka is a princess and well¡­¡±

    ¡°Fourth princess. I might as well just be the same rank as Kass.¡± Rieka interrupted with a huff of irritation.

    ¡°The point still stands though, Rieka. You two are awfully trusting of me.¡± I sighed, lifting a branch out of the way so the two could go past me without having to deal with it. Rieka nodded to me while Kassandra shot me another saucy wink.

    ¡°Is there a reason we shouldn¡¯t trust you?¡± Rieka asked after a moment of thought. ¡°I mean to say, are you untrustworthy?¡±

    ¡°No, that¡¯s not what I meant.¡± I sighed in exasperation. ¡°I appreciate that you two trust me, but I worry that you will extend this same trust to someone who isn¡¯t worthy of it.¡±

    ¡°We aren¡¯t na?ve, Liam.¡± Kassandra dropped aside the teasing and the flirting for once and answered me seriously. ¡°Sure, you are more physically powerful than either of us, but we both have our own ways of protecting ourselves. You¡¯ve had our backs and worked to defend us in the past, and so we trust you. Because we know you. I can speak for us both that there are precious few people like that who attend Juneau for us to extend our trust to. Even amongst the professional guards and the military that work for Rieka¡¯s mother, there aren¡¯t as many that I would trust alone in my chambers like I do with you.¡±

    ¡°How can you be sure?¡± I couldn¡¯t help the question.

    ¡°Liam, when you came to rescue me, you used your own body to warm me up. I may have been not very responsive, but I knew what was happening. You did exactly what you needed and never tried to sneak a feel of me.¡± Kassandra murmured quietly, not looking away from me. ¡°There are precious few who wouldn¡¯t take advantage of that moment.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s right, Liam.¡± Rieka replied gently, turning to look over one shoulder while tugging on the loose braid her long hair sat in. ¡°Just accept that we know you are a good person and trust you. That is only going to change if you do something to prove us wrong at this point, and I highly doubt you are going to do that.¡±

    ¡°I know you won¡¯t.¡± Kassandra butted in. The serious part being done now, her face was full of mischief again. ¡°There is no reason you would do anything that would betray that trust, it¡¯s both endearing and frustrating because I know you aren¡¯t missing the signals I¡¯m throwing up. You are just being too much of a boneheaded gentleman.¡±

    Kassandra¡¯s blunt statement got both Rieka and I to blush while the dwarf lamia cackled in amusement, hefting the squat teapot she had over her head like it was a trophy.

    ¡°Now, come on! I want something hot to eat and drink. It¡¯s getting colder as the sun goes down! Once that¡¯s taken care of, you and I are going to have words, mister ¡®tall, strong and toasty¡¯!¡±

    Sighing at the mischief maker¡¯s continued antics, I did as I was told and followed the two young women up to the camp, keeping a careful watch on our surroundings for any threats as the light continued to dim.

    <><><>

    Night fell rapidly. We were able to get a fire going without much of an issue though and it provided enough light that we could see and continue to chat and plan for the next day while the fire burned down enough to get the pot boiling for a quick stew. I knew it would be better to have a strong bed of coals to cook over, but we didn¡¯t want to be up all night so we made do. Kassandra had her kettle on a rock by the fire as soon as it was going, demanding her hot drink and immediately cuddling into my side and back to steal as much body heat as she could while we got dinner settled.

    The banter between her and Rieka continued while dinner cooked and we ate. The meat and vegetable stew was rich, though the meat was still tough as it had been salted and dried to prepare it for travel without rotting. After dinner was consumed, Rieka went over the handful of notices that we were looking to fulfill over the next day or so.

    ¡°Most of tomorrow is going to be searching around for various natural herbs and plants, as well as checking the area for any of the animal types that were mentioned on the notices. Sometimes merchants will request specific types of hides or animal parts and there are two that I took notices for. One for the stingers of Vine Rays, and the other for the hide of Mountain Lynx. The stingers it is for five or more, with a bonus for more that we collect. The hide is going to be the hard part, because they want it as undamaged as possible. So I¡¯m going to try and stun it with my lightning if we see one and let Liam get close enough to kill it. I¡¯ve been doing some research on skinning and the like, since we had to leave behind the hides on the flame serpents the other day.¡± Rieka explained from her spot to my left.

    We¡¯d been able to find a pair of thick logs that I¡¯d dragged over to use as seats by the fire. Kassandra refused to ¡®sit¡¯ on one, saying it would feel awkward with her coils. Instead, she¡¯d just wrapped herself around me and was draped over my back to maximize the amount of surface area she had pressed against me in her bid to steal body heat.

    ¡°Fair enough. I know the basics from hunting rabbits myself. You have a good skinning knife, right?¡± I was sipping at the cooling tea that Kassandra had given me now that I was done with my stew. The cooking pot was scraped clean and I was planning to walk back down to the lake before we turned in to fill the pot with water to soak our dishes overnight, but that was for later. Right now I was just enjoying being off my feet after walking all day.

    ¡°Yea, I¡¯ve got one in my pack. All three of us will need to practice when we can. The higher end missions have specific requirements for hides and trophies and the better we get at removing them, the more we can earn. A dimensional bag will help with storing them, but even then it is still better to turn in the hide rather than the whole carcass. My sisters have told me a few times about taking whole bodies back to find out that the pelts still managed to taint or go bad because they weren¡¯t removed fast enough. A dimensional bag doesn¡¯t freeze time after all, it just has far more space in it than it would appear to on the outside.¡± Rieka had her own tin mug in both hands and was sipping at the drink slowly, staring into the fire. The color thrown up by the dancing firelight painted fascinating colors in her pale hair and tail.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll be fine.¡± Kassandra said with a languid yawn directly in my ear. ¡°If you two fret over it too much, we won¡¯t get any sleep after all.¡±

    ¡°What about these vine rays? Are there any locals here?¡±

    ¡°There should be, they tend to nest in forests like this after all. If we find them, there should be enough to fulfill the hunt request. If not, well there are others who will take the request too.¡± Rieka said with a shrug.

    ¡°Fair enough, we will just have to do our best, right Kass?¡± I directed the last part to the sleepy dwarf lamia draped over my shoulder.

    ¡°Yup. Do your best. Should sleep soon, getting chilly.¡± Kassandra mumbled and gave a yawn.

    ¡°Good point. I¡¯m gonna get changed for bed. Liam, do you mind washing the pots then hanging the food bag?¡± Rieka shot me a questioning look, her eyes drifting to where Kassandra was draped over me and her expression fell to an amused one.

    ¡°Not at all, I was just thinking I should get the dishes soaking overnight when I finished this.¡± I said while brandishing my cup. Rieka nodded and stood to stretch, the movement pulling her clothes tight over her figure.

    While she wasn¡¯t as curvy as Kassandra, there was plenty to appreciate on the lithe wolf-kin. She had the softness of a woman, but the lithe confidence of someone who knew how to move her body. Her pants fit close enough to show the play of muscles in her thighs as she shifted and arched her back, throwing suggestive shadows over her form.

    Finishing her stretch, Rieka set her bowl and cup into the cooking pot and dug into her pack for something. After a moment, she unwrapped a palm-sized oval of amber crystal that glowed brightly.

    ¡°Don¡¯t stay up too late, you two. And make sure to bank the fire before leaving it. We need to be up early to start looking for our targets.¡± Rieka said, giving Kassandra a searching look for a moment before heading into the tent with her pack in one hand.

    Kassandra waited until Rieka had ducked into the tent before she spoke, not moving from her spot pressed to my back. Her question came without warning, something that I was getting used to with Kassandra, though slowly.

    ¡°Liam? Do you really find both of us attractive?¡±

    ¡°Hard not to, Kass. Also, thank you for letting me finish my tea before saying that.¡± I had thankfully set the cup down before she asked and only choked slightly at the question.

    I¡¯d been expecting some kind of approach from the lascivious snake-woman, but I hadn¡¯t expected it at the moment. Kassandra had been playing up the ¡®sleep/snuggly¡¯ attitude for the last hour after all.

    ¡°I¡¯m serious, Liam. Are you attracted to Rieka and I? And I mean more than ¡®boy she has a nice set of tits¡¯ kind of attracted.¡± The dwarf lamia¡¯s arms snaked over my shoulders to cross over my chest and pull me back into that same ¡®nice set of tits¡¯ that she¡¯d just mentioned.

    ¡°Kass, you and Rieka are two of the nicest girls I¡¯ve ever met. Any guy would be lucky to receive attention from either of you.¡± I answered after giving it a think. ¡°I have a feeling I know where this is going, especially with your blunt comment earlier.¡±

    ¡°You aren¡¯t dumb, Liam.¡± Kassandra murmured in my ear, squeezing me again with her arms and then with her coils. ¡°I don¡¯t know how humans normally do things like this, but I think you are a great man and very attractive. I don¡¯t care if you are a different species, I just want to get to know you, grow with you, and see where a relationship goes. Even though I¡¯d love to rip your clothes off right now.¡± The last part of her sentence was murmured so quietly that I wasn¡¯t sure if I should have heard it, save for the fact she was pressed so close already.

    ¡°And the fact that I¡¯m not a full time resident of this world, or even a native of it?¡± My left hand stroked the coil that wrapped around my waist while my right went up to cup her cheek where her head sat on my shoulder.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t bother me. Doesn¡¯t bother me either that Rieka thinks the same as I do. She¡¯s still caught up in the whole ¡®princess¡¯ thing, though she¡¯ll be the first to hammer on the fact that she¡¯s far down the chain of inheritance.¡±

    ¡°Rieka likes me too?¡±

    ¡°Duh. For someone so smart, you can be a little thick at times, Liam.¡±

    ¡°I thought you¡¯d like them thick.¡± My teasing got a little giggle out of Kassandra that sent a thrill of heat down my spine and made my ears burn while images filled my mind of what sort of activities she might be getting up to while giggling like that in the future. The fact we were very different species didn¡¯t even cross my mind.

    ¡°Oh, I very much like them thick. Thick with muscle, thick with honor, and thick with desire.¡± Kassandra¡¯s soft lips against my ear as she spoke nearly made me groan out loud. ¡°But for now, I just wanted it made quite obvious that I want to know you better, Liam. So don¡¯t act surprised when I do things like this.¡±

    ¡°Things like what?¡± I asked, turning with the intent of eying her curiously. Kassandra met me as I turned and pressed her lips to mine in a heated kiss.

    She¡¯d stolen pecks and small kisses before, but this kiss was one filled with desire. I could feel her coils as well as her small body tightening against me, two hard points in particular digging into my back as she moaned into the kiss. I only hesitated a moment, remembering her blunt statements earlier of her desire, and decided to go with it. The worst that could happen was that it didn¡¯t work out. I had a feeling that Kassandra was mature enough that we could remain friends even if we shared kisses and more in the future.

    We parted lips with a quiet pop a moment later and Kassandra panted into my face, the sweet and bitter scent of the tea she¡¯d been drinking wafting between us.

    ¡°Oh, I am so glad I finally got to do that. Rieka¡¯s gonna be jealous.¡± Kassandra giggled again, burying her face into my neck from her position behind me.

    ¡°Don¡¯t tease your friend too much, it¡¯s not fair to her.¡± I chastised her gently, burying my right hand into her hair and running my fingers through it, tickling her scalp with just my fingertips. Kassandra moaned into my neck before mumbling something. ¡°What was that, Kass?¡± She pulled back and locked eyes with me from only inches away, her slitted eyes flaring in a mixture of amusement and desire.

    ¡°How else am I going to get her to join in with us if I don¡¯t tease her? Besides, she agreed that we should find some way to pay you back for all your hard work after all.¡± The emphasis she put on ¡®hard¡¯ left nothing to imagination and I swallowed thickly.

    ¡°Is that right?¡± I asked after several seconds of silence passed between us.

    ¡°Oh yes, I very much look forward to that, my Liam.¡± Kassandra purred, leaning forward to plant a kiss on just the tip of my nose. We stared into each other¡¯s eyes from only inches away for several long seconds. I was unsure if I should move in for another kiss when Kassandra acted first and in a way I didn¡¯t expect. She leaned back with a wry smile and winked at me. ¡°You should get the dishes taken care of, Liam. I¡¯ll set the wardstones so they activate shortly, so join us in the tent when you have the fire put out.¡± The arms draped over my chest shifted and she ran one hand down the middle of my chest and over the growing bulge in the front of my pants. As she stroked my crotch, the grin on her lips went full of desire and she winked at me again before unwinding from around me and slithering rapidly into the shadows to do as she¡¯d said.

    I sat by the fire for several seconds to think over the flirting and innuendo that the curvaceous redhead had been throwing around before deciding that was a problem for another day. This whole situation was strange enough that I just had to take it a day at a time after all, and Kassandra promised to make it an interesting trip. One thought continued to distract me as I hurried down the hill by the light of the moon to get the water though; I wonder how serious Kassandra was about Rieka being interested¡­and joining in too?

    The dim moonlight caused shadows to flow over my body and one set of shadows drew my attention to my forearm and the black marks that had lingered on my right arm since the first time I met the girls. While I walked, I shifted the kettle and pot to my right hand so I could rub the tattoos, one at a time. The first one gave me a sense of excitement and mischief, reminding me of the roguish twinkle in Kassandra¡¯s eyes. The second gave off a sleepy contentment. Something else to ask about¡­

 Chapter 26

    Sleeping in a tent is considered to be one of the more uncomfortable methods of resting known to man. Especially given how used to comfortable beds most people are. There is a massive market for methods to make camping more comfortable and an equally large consumer base of people that either entirely subscribe to the idea of camping in comfort, or avoiding the whole process and just making do with the ground. It wasn¡¯t quite as divisive as ¡®hot vs iced coffee¡¯, but it was still a point I remembered people complaining about back in high school. Considering the various contraptions that had been designed over the years to improve the experience, it was definitely a profitable market too.

    I honestly hadn¡¯t hoped for too much comfort when the girls had told me that we would be camping overnight. I had even less hope when I saw the thin bedrolls that they¡¯d brought for us. That was why I¡¯d pitched the tent somewhere that had lots of soft grass to act as a mattress. Apparently, it had been a good call. By the time I made it back to the tent after securing the food bag up in a tree to protect it from scavengers and rinsing the cook-pot out, Rieka was already asleep in a bundle of blankets at the back of the tent. Her clothes were folded neatly next to her head with her spell rod on top within easy reach.

    Kassandra was waiting for me on the other side of the small tent, smiling gently and having already changed into her sleeping outfit. Her sleeping outfit was a long sort of tunic/dress that fell below her hips in a pale green color, and that was it. She¡¯d removed her glasses already and her inquisitive brown eyes watched me enter by the steady light of the glow-stone that Rieka had used earlier. Kassandra silently helped me strip off my armor before urging me to get comfortable while she laced the door closed and re-wrapped the stone that was providing light. With that done, the interior of the tent was plunged into a cool darkness that was slowly beginning to warm up. The material of the tent was an oiled canvas that acted as a decent insulation, for all it had been heavy as all get out when I was setting the tent up.

    I didn¡¯t have any sleepwear, given that I only got to bring what I was wearing with me, I had to make do with what I had. With some thought, I decided to just strip to my boxers and use my dad¡¯s old trick of rolling my pants up and stuffing them into my shirt to serve as a pillow. I was kneeling on the small pile of blankets that was my bedroll, making sure that my sword was within reach, when I heard the quiet rustling of Kassandra¡¯s scales against the ground-cloth.

    ¡°Get comfortable and then I¡¯ll join you, Liam. Just to sleep. I did promise Rieka after all.¡± Kassandra teased in the near-complete darkness. The promise and temptation in her voice was thick enough that I could almost taste it in the air. I didn¡¯t resist her urging, I may be an idiot around women but I wasn¡¯t entirely braindead¡­

    Lying flat on my back, I used the bundle as a pillow for my head and tugged the blanket over top of myself. The padding underneath me was lumpy, given the grass wasn¡¯t meant to be a mattress but was doing the job anyway. It was more comfortable than the hard ground at least. Once I stopped moving, I heard a rustle of movement before the blanket shifted and Kassandra burrowed into my side. Her scaled tail slid down along my legs, under my feet and then back up the other side before twineing around my arm to maximize contact. She tugged her blankets over top of us before wrapping an arm over my chest and snuggling into my side.

    ¡°Mmm¡­warm.¡± She purred, rubbing her head back and forth. This caused her soft mane of hair to tickle my side and filled my senses with the cinnamon and musk scent of her.

    Any concerns that I¡¯d had before about Kassandra not actually being comfortable around me and just leading me on promptly vanished as she dropped off to sleep almost immediately. I was gratified that both the girls felt safe enough around me to drift off that quickly. Though now that I was the only one awake, my brain continued to run away from me while thinking about what Kassandra had said earlier and the feeling of her soft body against mine. It was hard not to, given how affectionate that she was¡­

    It took several more hours before I could finally get myself to drift off to sleep, and I spent most of it wondering what in the world it was about me that had this firecracker of a girl so interested. The scent of her didn¡¯t help me relax either.

    <><><>

    Sleeping on the ground was difficult, something that was expected. What was more difficult and entirely unexpected though was getting Kassandra to let me go when the morning finally arrived. Honestly, I should have expected it, but I had other things on my mind.

    The tent had worked wonders at keeping the heat in the previous night. Add in the extra blanket and I would have been rather toasty if it wasn''t for the fact that I was being required to produce enough body heat for three people that night.

    Sometime in the night, Rieka had shifted from her spot on the other side of the tent pole over to the half of the tent that Kassandra and I were sleeping in. She¡¯d snuggled into Kassandra¡¯s back and it wasn¡¯t until she stirred that I woke and realized she was there. Kassandra¡¯s position didn¡¯t shift in the slightest all night, other than to occasionally press herself into my side a bit more. At least not that I noticed.

    ¡°Morning.¡± Rieka rasped, clearing her throat a bit while rubbing at her eyes.

    ¡°Sleep okay?¡± I asked over top of Kassandra¡¯s head. I could see a dull light coming through the laced opening of the tent and it was just barely enough to silhouette Rieka.

    ¡°Yea, got a little cold for a bit, but Kass had the right idea. You put out enough heat for all of us.¡± Rieka teased lightly, stretching her arms over her head with a quiet groan. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m going to get changed and go start making breakfast. You get to start waking the snooze-string here. Give it about five minutes and I¡¯ll have the fire going again and that should help get her moving.¡± I had to smother the laugh at her nickname for the still-sleeping Kassandra, but nodded in agreement.

    ¡°Got it.¡± I shifted the arm that had ended up draped over Kassandra¡¯s shoulders and down her back so that I could instead stroke her hair gently. ¡°Kass. Time to wake up.¡± The aforementioned ¡®snooze-string¡¯ grumbled quietly and pressed her face harder into my side while Rieka snickered nearby.

    I glanced up to make a comment to the laughing wolf-kin and froze, my mouth going dry at the sight. Rieka had moved to the other side of the tent and was getting dressed, but the watery light leaking into the tent was just enough to halo her and highlight the slim curves of her body. Kassandra wiggled again and that broke me out of my staring just as Rieka turned and I saw the soft bounce of her bare chest while she was changing.

    Focusing instead on the clinging dwarf lamia, I continued to try and wake Kassandra up. She just grumbled more, waved the hand away, or turned so that she could hide her face in my chest as I poked her cheek, teased her ear, or patted her lightly on the shoulder.

    A rustle of cloth told me that Rieka had left the tent, though it wasn¡¯t hard to miss as she¡¯d been chuckling quietly while I tried to wake the sleeping snake woman.

    ¡°Seriously, Kass. Time to wake up. We need to get dressed and ready so we can get the work done.¡± I sighed, trying to sit up and failing as Kassandra¡¯s grip on my chest tightened with a quiet growl. Looking down, I spotted a lone slitted eye glaring up at me from her position with her face half-buried in my chest. ¡°Ah, so you¡¯ve been awake this whole time, have you?¡± Kassandra grunted and continued to glare blearily up at me. ¡°Any chance you will let me up?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± She growled, squeezing with her arms. Her tail shifted as well finally. It slipped around my legs again and squeezed tightly while she closed her eyes again. ¡°Warm.¡±

    A brief inspiration struck me and I figured I might as well try it. Kassandra had always been one who seemed to enjoy indulging herself. I just needed to give her something else that she might want to indulge in more than just snuggling for warmth.

    ¡°Well, I guess if that is what you want. I can¡¯t really reach you for good morning kisses if you keep pinning me down.¡±

    The glaring eye was back, but it didn¡¯t last long this time. After a moment, it softened and she sighed gustily.

    ¡°Fine¡­want kisses.¡± She grumbled and released me.

    I knew that the smart thing would have been to scramble away before she snatched me up again, but being cuddled by a cute girl wasn¡¯t exactly a hardship. It was mostly my sense of duty that was forcing me to hurry us along and get up already. The ground wasn¡¯t really a good bed for us to use for cuddling, but it had done well enough. With a beautiful woman beside me, I could forgive a lot of shortcomings from the environment.

    Instead of escaping, I shifted down to give Kassandra her ¡®good morning¡¯ kiss as I had promised. The redheaded dwarf lamia purred happily into the kiss, wrapping her arms around my neck and pulling me down on top of her for a bit while we traded several light pecks. After a few minutes, I pulled back and reminded her gently of her words the previous night.

    ¡°You did promise no mischief in the tent to Rieka.¡± I had thought it rather clever to mention that previous promise, but the wicked grin on Kassandra¡¯s face told me I¡¯d missed something important. Something she did not hesitate to point out a moment later.

    ¡°I promised not to make a mess in the tent with her there. And Rieka isn''t here.¡± Kassandra said with a still-sleepy grin. She let the innuendo build for several seconds before she broke it and continued. ¡°You are right though, Liam. We need to be responsible. This isn¡¯t a trip for fun. We are here to get work done. So we should get up. Besides, Rieka did say she was going to make breakfast and I do need to get her back for that ¡®snooze-string¡¯ joke. Though I could do that just with a bit of mischief in here, given that her sense of smell is stronger than both of ours.¡± The wicked grin was back.

    Hoping to defuse the potential chaos that was brewing in my companion¡¯s mind, I leaned in for another quick kiss before pulling away. This time, Kassandra let me up, though she pouted at me cutely while watching me get dressed. Using my clothes as a pillow meant that they weren¡¯t stone cold, but it still took a bit of hopping about to get my jeans on without stepping on her tail amongst the blankets. Kassandra didn¡¯t stir, instead just watching me with a sleepy smile.

    ¡°I¡¯ll make sure the fire is going nice and hot for you. Come on out when you are ready, okay?¡± I grabbed my armored leather jerkin and sword belt, planning to put them on once I got outside.

    ¡°Okay, Liam. Thank you for helping me stay warm last night. I really did appreciate it.¡± Kassandra said sweetly. The innocence in her statement made me suspicious so I glanced back to check and make sure she wasn¡¯t up to something.

    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    The red-headed dwarf lamia was still laying sprawled in the nest of blankets. Her pale, underbelly scales shone amongst the shadows as she lounged there in the loose sleeping tunic that was partially unbuttoned at the top, exposing far more of the milky skin of her cleavage than I¡¯d ever seen before. I wasn¡¯t sure if it was the shadows of the tent, the folds of her clothes, or reality¡­but I swore I could see the shadows of two hard peaks on top of those curved mounds, only barely hidden by the light material of her sleepwear. Her auburn hair lay around her like a messy halo that only accented the casual sexiness of the half-serpent woman. The coils of her scaled tail didn¡¯t detract from it at all, just adding a layer of exotic allure to the whole image.

    ¡°Anytime.¡± I coughed before ducking out of the tent. The erection I¡¯d been sporting from sleeping with a beautiful woman snuggled up against me hadn¡¯t faded at all. Instead, it made getting dressed a right pain. After seeing that sight though, it required some care to be able to walk without trouble and I tried to be subtle making those necessary adjustments.

    ¡°I¡¯m surprised you got her to let you go that quickly.¡± Rieka¡¯s voice nearly made me leap right out of those suddenly-tight jeans.

    ¡°Ah, yea! Was a bit difficult but I managed.¡± I said with a laugh, turning towards where Rieka sat by the fire, using one of the logs we¡¯d dragged over the night before as a seat. The fire was going good and strong while the pot hung on its tripod and Kassandra¡¯s little kettle sat heating on the rocks.

    ¡°I thought I¡¯d have a bit more time to get breakfast and her morning tea ready, was she dressing?¡± Rieka''s smile was innocent as she patted the log next to her.

    ¡°Yea, you could say that. Let me get my armor on first.¡±

    <><><>

    I was glad that the girls were there to do most of the collecting for the herbs that they were after. I didn¡¯t know the first thing about how to collect or properly store medicinal herbs after all, or even what to look for. Instead, I stood watch and guarded them while they handled harvesting. Kassandra had a field guide that she¡¯d brought with her to help make sure they were getting the right items. She would refer to it with each item to ensure it was properly cared for.

    We¡¯d had a quick breakfast as soon as Kassandra had emerged from the tent, dressed for the day and wearing a jacket against a chill I didn¡¯t even notice. She made sure to stay close to the fire as the early morning sun warmed the land. It made me wonder just how sensitive to the cold she actually was and how much was just a general dislike of the cold. As soon as Kassandra was warm enough to brave the day, we headed out in a long lap around the little valley that cupped the lake and waterfall. We took our time and spent several hours combing the woods for useful herbs and other plants that would fulfill the orders Rieka had collected.

    The valley itself was small, with the lake taking up around a third of its total area. A sharp ridge on the same side that the waterfall came tumbling down and a more gentle one on the side of our camp were what we used to define its borders. The river curved along one side and then dropped down into the lake as the waterfall. It then wound out the far side of the valley and down into the hills before flowing off towards the sea. The pond where the river emerged from the mountain was a bubbling natural wellspring, the water rising up from deep below in a pebbled pool that was roughly circular in shape.

    ¡°Natural springs are such curious things.¡± Kassandra had said, pausing at the edge of the pool. The water welled up quickly enough that the surface of the spring continued to ripple and churn constantly before it flowed away into the chuckling river. ¡°We believe that they rise up from deep in the earth due to the differences in pressure, but it¡¯s nearly impossible to tell exactly where that pressure comes from. Is it from the weight of the mountains pressing down on the water table? The churning pull of the tides?¡± The serpentine woman watched the water thoughtfully for several minutes before Rieka interrupted her thoughts. The wolf-kin had been gathering a collection of curious, blue mushrooms shaped like little plates from the side of a fallen tree that faced the water while Kassandra thought.

    ¡°Come on, Kass. Help me with this and stop with the navel gazing. Liam, can you check the waters edge? The chances of finding a mountain lynx out here are small, but not impossible and all animals need to drink. Finding tracks is going to be our best bet of getting one. Though the shore is pretty rocky¡­¡±

    ¡°You got it, Rieka.¡± I answered, trading smiles with Kassandra as the dwarf lamia slithered past me to help her friend.

    I stood at the edge of the pool, continually scanning the tree line as well as the shallow pond¡¯s edge for any useful tracks. The local wildlife apparently liked this spring as well, given the sheer number of tracks that I was seeing in the few sections of mud on the shoreline. Mostly they were the cloven-hoof marks of deer or other grazers, but I did see several odd marks that I made note of to show Rieka when they were done. The tracks layered over each other a lot too, with many of them having the soft-edged appearance of older tracks. It was while I studied one of the fan-shaped marks that something caught my eye.

    The bottom of the pond was covered in a mixture of heavy gravel and larger stones. With the rate at which the water flowed, there was little to no dirt accumulating in the bottom of the spring and no moss on any of the rocks either. The larger stones had an oddly regular shape to some of them that got my brain tickling and, after double checking our surroundings to ensure that nothing was sneaking up on the girls, I stepped out onto one of the larger lumps of rock. Carefully balancing there, I squatted down to inspect the stones.

    ¡°Find something, Liam?¡± Rieka called from nearby and I glanced up to see her sealing the glass jar that they¡¯d been putting the mushrooms into. Meanwhile, Kassandra wiped the small knife that they¡¯d been using to cut the mushrooms free of the log.

    ¡°Yea, something about these rocks looks odd¡­hang on, I¡¯ll bring one over.¡± My sword was still in its sheath, which meant both my hands were free. So it only took a moment to dip my hands into the icy water and pull one of the larger stones out that I¡¯d been looking at. While squatting there, I noticed something else and filed it away to mention to the girls once I got back to the shore.

    Just getting the stone out of the water told me something was odd about it. The stone was oddly regular in shape, roughly shaped like a loaf of bread and quite flat on three of the long sides. With my burden, I carefully stepped off my balancing rock and back onto the shore to meet the girls. Kassandra¡¯s normally playful expression was replaced with one of intense focus and she adjusted her spectacles several times while peering closely at the stone in my hands.

    ¡°Is it just me, or does this look like a brick to you two?¡± I asked them, hefting the stone up in both hands. Kassandra¡¯s eyes widened and Rieka¡¯s narrowed at that statement, but both of them nodded in agreement.

    ¡°Looks like granite, so very resistant to weathering.¡± Mumbled Kassandra while Rieka bent closer to look at the one long side that wasn¡¯t perfectly flat already. The edges of the stone were rounded off, but not heavily. It still had a very distinct ¡®brick¡¯ shape to it. ¡°Are there others?¡± Kassandra didn¡¯t wait for me to answer the question, instead slithering towards the pond herself to peer into it intently while Rieka traced the surface of the stone with her fingertips.

    ¡°I see carvings here, they are very faint and worn by the water, but they are here¡­¡± Rieka muttered quietly, her nose only an inch from the stone now while her ears twitched in focus. Blinking, I looked closer and started to pick out the patterns of some kind of decorative carvings that looked like leaves on the front of the stone. That led me into mentioning what I¡¯d spotted earlier as well.

    ¡°The shape of several of them caught my attention as odd, but when I was fishing this out I noticed something. I need to wade into the middle of the spring to be sure, but I swear I saw marble in there. There is a pile of white stone just off the center in the deeper part of the spring.¡± Rieka¡¯s gaze darted up from the rock in my hands to lock eyes with me, confusion lingering there for a moment. ¡°Marble, just sitting amongst granite blocks and gravel. Not an outcropping. Broken pieces of marble.¡±

    Realization dawned in Rieka¡¯s eyes just as Kassandra returned, her forehead wrinkling with thought.

    ¡°There aren¡¯t any natural marble deposits in this area that I know of. There shouldn¡¯t be any marble here¡­how did it get here? Why is it here? Who would bring marble up into the mountains like that?¡± Rieka¡¯s eyes started darting about, checking the mountainside above us and the trees as if they held the answers to her questions. The plain rock of the mountains soaring overhead, a dull red stone that did not match the granite in my hands, had no answers for the inquisitive wolf woman.

    ¡°Dunno, but maybe fishing a few pieces out will answer that. Here, I¡¯m going to leave this with you two and go wading. Keep an eye out and shout if anything looks funny. This is making me nervous.¡± I set the stone on the ground and began to remove my armor, shoes and jeans.

    The fact that Kassandra didn¡¯t start teasing me when I took my pants off was clearly a sign that she was as curious and worried as the other two of us. Rieka stood watch while the dwarf lamia studied the carvings intently once Rieka pointed them out. Wearing just my underwear and shirt, I waded into the spring.

    The water of the spring was absolutely freezing to my skin. I¡¯d gotten a taste earlier while fishing the block out, but this was entirely different. I did my absolute best to not yell as it crept higher and higher on my legs, but it was a battle. Gritting my teeth, I waded deeper into the spring towards the odd bundle of white marble that I¡¯d seen off center of the spring. I could feel the stirring of water rising up through the loose stones under my feet. The rising water pushed against the soles of my feet with enough pressure that it actually was affecting my balance too and I had to slow down.

    Using a touch of my Shape-Shifting power, I focused on giving myself monkey-toes in order to grip onto the loose stones a bit better. Last thing I need is to fall in and get totally soaked. Gods that would suck. I thought while taking a moment to get used to the new gripping power of the appendages before moving forward. It made walking both awkward and easier as I had a better grip but moving the shifted feet through the water felt different.

    The water was even more turbulent when I got to the broken pile of marble, rippling enough that I could only see the vague outlines of the white stone. The water was now mid thigh and bone chilling. Taking a deep breath, knowing I was going to regret it if I wasn¡¯t careful, I began fishing in the water for a smaller piece of the white stone to try and bring back to the shore. While I could reach some of the larger pieces, I couldn¡¯t get a good grip on the slick stone. Sighing, I stood up and quickly peeled my shirt off to toss onto the shore.

    ¡°Looking good, Liam.¡± Kassandra called from the shore and I spared them a glance. Both her and Rieka were watching me avidly now and I felt a brief surge of self-consciousness before shoving it away. This wasn¡¯t the first time the girls had seen me shirtless and wouldn¡¯t be the last if the way that Kassandra had been acting earlier was to be believed.

    Taking another deep breath, I dunked my head under the water to get a better look at what I was doing.

    It was hard to see through the turbulent fluid, the pressure of the rippling water hitting my eyes making me flinch and try to close them. I was able to locate a large piece of white stone and dunk down far enough to get my hands under it before standing up with a yell of protest.

    ¡°Augh, that is cold!¡± I immediately started hurrying toward the shore with my burden in my arms, much to the laughter of the girls.

    ¡°Well, at least you managed to keep your clothes dry. Might as well just go bare next time though, Liam.¡± Kassandra teased while I slopped onto the shore.

    ¡°Better him than you, right Kass? You¡¯d probably freeze and pass out only feet out into the water. You should help him warm up.¡± Rieka added in with a grin.

    ¡°Maybe not feet out, but it wouldn¡¯t take long for sure.¡± Kassandra agreed, slithering backwards as I shook like a dog to try and get as much of the water off me as possible. ¡°And I would help him warm up, but I don¡¯t think you¡¯d be okay with the method I¡¯d use, Rieka.¡± This made the wolf-kin girl¡¯s cheeks pink.

    ¡°Okay you two, focus.¡± I said through chattering teeth. ¡°I¡¯m almost positive this is marble. Why it¡¯s here though, I¡¯m not sure.¡± I said while hefting up the roughly oval shaped hunk of stone.

    ¡°Uh¡­Liam.¡± Rieka¡¯s icy blue eyes were wide as she stared at the piece of stone in my hands. Kassandra was also staring in surprise, her mouth open in a cute little ¡®O¡¯.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Look at what¡¯s in your hands a bit closer.¡± Rieka said, nodding towards what I was holding.

    Turning the stone over, I stared dumbly down at the face that looked back up at me from the carved stone head that I¡¯d brought back.

    The carved, stone, human head.

 Chapter 27

    There was some swearing and quite a few questions asked that didn¡¯t have reasonable answers, but ultimately the lump of white marble in my hands didn¡¯t answer them. Admittedly, it would have been par for the course, but the stone head didn¡¯t suddenly start answering spoken questions. As much fun as that would have been.

    Kassandra ended up being the most logical of the three of us, breaking down the events clearly and systematically to try and figure this out. I made a few more trips into the water to retrieve other pieces of what we eventually figured out was a ruined statue. By the time I finished, I couldn¡¯t feel my legs from the knee down due to the icy water. While she pieced it together, I was sitting in the grass and rubbing at my chilled feet to get feeling going in them again.

    ¡°So, what we have here is a lump of carved marble with defined features. Those features closely resemble a normal person, though they do not bear any of the normal hallmarks of the kin, the elves, the dwarves, or any other known species besides one.¡± Kassandra shot me a pointed look. ¡°That looks like a human sculpture. The ears are rounded like Liam¡¯s, so it¡¯s not an elf. The proportions are all wrong for a dwarf. And again, there are no signs of something that would mark it as one of the kin species either. No animal ears, facial scales, or oddly shaped eyes. The marble doesn¡¯t show signs of wear that would explain such things being worn off, or break marks for things being removed¡­So the logical route to take is that this is a statue of a human.¡±

    ¡°But why was it in the pool of water? Also it is odd that the statue doesn¡¯t show signs of wear but the granite does¡­¡± Rieka was examining the long piece of white marble I¡¯d brought back that was clearly an arm that ended in a fist. She looked up at Kassandra and I could see her ears were laid back into her pale hair in concern and her tail hung limply behind her.

    ¡°Fountain maybe?¡± I spoke as soon as the idea came to my mind. Both girls turned to look in my direction in confusion and I continued to explain while I kept chafing at my legs to warm them. ¡°We found carved stones that were distinctly brick shaped and there are more in the pond. Maybe this was a fountain at one time? Something happened and the statue got knocked over while the bowl of the fountain broke. That¡¯d explain why the water is continually flowing and the statue is in the middle of it.¡±

    ¡°Okay, did you see anything in the spring that would be the source of this much water?¡± Kassandra asked simply, gesturing towards the stream that led away from the fountain. I looked at it again and thought. The stream itself was decent sized, easily a half dozen feet across and a foot or two deep if not more as it wound away from the spring. The pool itself was large too, large enough that I could see Kassandra¡¯s issue with the idea of it being a fountain. The sole fountain that I¡¯d seen in this world was a small one in Kintos in one of the squares and four or five of them would have fit in the clearing around the spring.

    While I thought it over, I remembered the pressure against my feet when I¡¯d walked, what I¡¯d originally thought to be the natural upwelling of water. Wonder if there are pipes under all that rock¡­heck I wonder if that¡¯s the remains of the fountain bowl or maybe the square around the fountain? If so, the statue was in surprisingly good condition¡­Like Rieka said, it¡¯s suspicious.

    ¡°Honestly, I didn¡¯t see anything specific when I was there. The water was coming up pretty strong underfoot though. I know of some fountains that can get really good water pressure going back home, but they all have mechanical pumps. I imagine that magic could do the same thing here, but wouldn¡¯t that require a lot of mana?¡± With feeling finally returning to my feet, I got dressed once more. Kassandra pretended to pout as I pulled my pants on and I caught Rieka sneaking a few glances as well, though the wolf-kin seemed more preoccupied with the statue pieces she was examining.

    ¡°Marble is surprisingly sturdy, and unless the water has particles to scour with, it doesn¡¯t do as much damage to stone for wear and tear.¡± Kassandra answered at first, tapping one plump lip with her finger. ¡°If there are pipes buried in the earth, it would protect them from freezing. Enough pressure as well would keep the pond from freezing over as well. That¡¯s not even counting the lingering effects of magic over the stone either. What surprises me is that we are so close to Kintos, Juneau, as well as the port town of Broadshore and no one has found this yet.¡±

    ¡°How can you be sure that no one found something like this? It¡¯s not as if people stick signs in the ground stating ¡®this was discovered already¡¯ or anything, right?¡± I was happy for the distraction that Kassandra provided while I finished buckling on my armor. Being without it made me nervous and that wasn¡¯t helped by the blatant staring from Kassandra either. After our conversation last night, Kassandra had been a lot more pointed in her ogling of me and more affectionate in general too. I made a mental note to talk to her some more when we had a chance. I still wasn¡¯t quite satisfied with the talk and wanted to be more sure. The last thing I needed was to make assumptions after all.

    ¡°Simple, actually. Even if people don¡¯t post signs, there would be records of it. I¡¯m a history student, Liam. If there was something as momentous as confirmed human-age ruins this close to Juneau? I¡¯d have read about it or they¡¯d have lectured on it in class.¡± Kassandra moved to help me get my armored tunic straight and then my sword belt secured properly as well. ¡°The fact that I haven¡¯t read about it or heard about it in class yet suggests that this might be a new discovery. And while I know humans are strange,¡± she paused for a moment to catch my eye and wink at me, ¡°I know that they wouldn¡¯t just have a fountain in the mountains for no reason. Either there might be more ruins around here, or there¡¯s more to this site than meets the eye. I¡¯m going to need to study some ruins for my class anyway, and these would work great! Especially if they are undocumented¡­¡±

    ¡°She does have a point there, Liam. Though before celebrating, we should look around some more to confirm and then do some research at Juneau as well. It¡¯s possible this area has been studied already and it was long enough ago that the excavation has grown back over. It also might be part of a later bit of the semester too.¡± Rieka suggested as well, carefully setting down the marble forearm on the grassy shoreline. ¡°I¡¯m just not sure what to do with these¡­the water didn¡¯t damage them nearly as much as their age suggests, but I also don¡¯t think it¡¯d be a good idea to leave them on the shore here, or haul them back to the campsite. If this really is a historic site, we need to disturb it as little as possible.¡±

    ¡°Leave them here for now. I¡¯ll get my notebooks and make notes of it all. Before we head back, Liam can put them back under water in as close to the original positions as possible or something. We are going to have to disturb it some to learn what this was, but we can do our best to document it and ensure as little damage is done to the site.¡± Kassandra answered after a moment of thought, turning doe-eyes up at me. ¡°You¡¯ll do that for us, won¡¯t you Liam?¡±

    ¡°Go wading in the chilly water again? Kass, I¡¯d do far more than that for you two if you just ask. No need to bat your eyelashes.¡± I laughed, gently stroking her red-brown curls with one hand. Kassandra beamed up at me before throwing her arms into the air and declaring loudly.

    ¡°Okay! Well I think we have found quite a bit so far, but we should head back to camp and have a hot lunch. Plus, I need to get my notebooks too. Who knows what else we might find!¡±

    ¡°Fair enough. Let¡¯s head back. We can store what we¡¯ve found as well. No need to carry it about after all.¡± Rieka agreed, her tail stirring to life behind her showing that she was also looking forward to a hot meal.

    The two girls headed back around the spring and through the trees towards our camp and I followed behind without a comment, keeping watch while I thought over the whole situation. Kassandra¡¯s actions and words the previous night continued to intrude on my thoughts, especially with how much more affectionate she¡¯d been this morning already.

    I need to have a word with her, spell things out and all that. I know she¡¯s interested, but I just don¡¯t see why¡­and I need to know how this is going to affect her and Rieka. The last thing I want to do is hurt one of them or affect their prospects. And I should have it sooner rather than later¡­I couldn¡¯t help but curse the responsible part of myself, but since it was also the portion of my mind that got me to swear to help two strange women with a moment''s notice and started this whole grand adventure, I couldn¡¯t curse it too hard.

    <><><>

    The opportunity to speak to Kassandra privately didn¡¯t crop up until after lunch. Rieka had ducked into the tent to secure what the girls had found so far for their missions and Kassandra was busy sunning herself by the fire. I didn¡¯t want to leave it too long, that¡¯d been a bad habit of mine for a while now and I didn¡¯t want to let it ruin or even damage the chances I had here.

    ¡°Hey Kass, got a second?¡±

    ¡°For you, Liam? I¡¯ve got hours and hours.¡± Kassandra replied blithely. Her eyes popped open and she sat up from where she¡¯d been sprawled in the grass. ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±

    ¡°I wanted to talk to you about something important.¡± Kassandra¡¯s normally playful expression faded into a serious one and she quickly brushed the bits of grass off her outfit before slithering over to where I was standing.

    In a move that I was becoming more and more comfortable with, Kassandra wound herself loosely around me a few times before tucking herself under my left arm and looking up at me, her face set in a serious expression of concern before she spoke.

    ¡°Okay, what did you want to talk about, Liam? I hope I didn¡¯t make you uncomfortable last night. It was just so comfortable snuggling into you and you were so warm¡­¡± The plaintive note her voice took on had my need to reassure her surging to the forefront but I held it in so I could continue.

    ¡°It¡¯s not about that, Kass. I wanted to talk to you a bit more about what we discussed last night. About an¡­attraction between you and me.¡± I had to force the last bit out before my throat slammed shut. My record with women hadn¡¯t been exactly stellar. I¡¯d had girlfriends before, but none of them lasted very long. Talking to girls in general was difficult, though Rieka and Kassandra were becoming easier and easier by the day.

    ¡°Okay?¡± Kassandra blinked at me cutely from behind her silver-rimmed spectacles, a hint of confusion in her slitted, brown eyes. ¡°I thought I made it pretty obvious that I think you are quite attractive last night, Liam?¡±

    ¡°You did. But there is another issue, Kass. Mostly it¡¯s my own problem. You see, I struggle with understanding how someone as cute, smart, and powerful as yourself could find a plain guy like me attractive.¡± I held up a hand to stop her from interrupting and she scowled before head-butting my open palm lightly, but remained silent. ¡°You are a young noblewoman who is good friends with a princess, regardless of Rieka¡¯s actual rank in the hierarchy of the kingdom, and you are a mage. It¡¯s obvious that you have a lot of things going for you. Meanwhile, I¡¯m just another guy who works his job every day and I do my best to keep a roof over my head and food on the table. I don¡¯t have a lot to offer anyone, least of all one of the most exotic and attractive women I¡¯ve ever met in two universes.¡±

    Kassandra was smiling now as she looked up at me, patiently waiting for the chance to answer my questions. When I nodded for her to go ahead, she pulled herself closer and pressed herself to my side once more, rubbing her cheek against my chest while she spoke.

    ¡°Liam, you have a lot more going for you than you think. You are focused only on what you have back home. Think about what you have here. You are a Traveler, which is something that there are nearly no records of in the archive at Juneau. I know, I¡¯ve looked. What records do exist tell of creatures of immense power that demand great prices for their service, but are able to change the fates of those involved. You may not be at that level yet, but I could see you becoming powerful very quickly. You are also a genuinely good person, you show it in what you do and how you approach things. My heart tells me I can trust you, and the only other people it¡¯s told me that I could trust are my parents and Rieka.¡±

    Kassandra paused in her explanation to lock eyes with me and I could see that trust glimmering in those brown orbs. I used the arm over her shoulders to squeeze her gently, being careful not to jam the metal bits of my armor or the hilt of my sword into her at the same time.

    ¡°You point out my and Rieka¡¯s ranks, but let me return that favor, Liam. Rieka can only hope to rise so far, being one of the younger children of Queen Coldeye. I doubt I¡¯ll ascend past my parents rank of Viscount unless I marry above my station. You exist entirely outside that power structure and, if the limited bits of history I¡¯ve found that mention Travelers are true, will ascend past such things in time too. There are countless legends about humans being able to do mysterious and unexplainable things, as well as stories about the amount of power they wielded before they died out. Add in the legends of Travelers? And you have a potent mix of potential that is both terrifying and intoxicating.¡±

    ¡°So, it¡¯s a power thing then?¡± I couldn¡¯t help but ask the question sitting in my gut like a ball of lead.

    ¡°What drives the attraction? No, not at all. I¡¯m falling for who you are, Liam. Who you could be just serves to make it easier for me to look to the future in anticipation.¡± Kassandra was quick to reassure me, still hugging me tightly.

    ¡°Kass, I¡­look you know that I like you a lot, right?¡± Kassandra nodded once, content to stick to my side like a limpet right now. ¡°You made it obvious the other night that you were attracted to me too, and you hinted that Rieka might be as well. I¡¯ve been thinking about it since then and I just¡­I don¡¯t want to hurt you, either of you.¡±

    ¡°How would you hurt us, Liam? You are a kind soul. I struggle to imagine you doing anything that would actually hurt one of us.¡± Kassandra questioned without looking up at me.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to be blunt here and just spell it out, to ensure there is no miscommunication or misunderstanding.¡± I ground out with some difficulty. Her flirting and innuendo had been driving me crazy with desire, but I needed to ask this before I could let myself act on the desire and the hints she¡¯d been laying out for me. ¡°On my world, back in the era that would be most similar to this one, a woman¡¯s¡­purity¡­was considered vital for a marriage. If a young woman was married in the nobility and it was found she wasn¡¯t virginal then it could see disaster occur.¡± I spoke quickly to lay out the issue, fighting to keep my voice from cracking. Why is it so embarrassing to talk about this stuff? She flirts and makes innuendo all the time, yet I still feel like I¡¯m taking advantage or misinterpreting those signals¡­

    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°Oh? Were you thinking of doing something that would rob me of my virginity?¡± Kassandra¡¯s voice was teasing. I looked down to meet her dancing eyes and she hugged me a little tighter. ¡°Liam, in certain marriage contracts such things are important. But I can promise you that my parents care more about my happiness. So if I get the chance to climb you like a tree, I¡¯m going to take it. And I can bet Rieka will too, once she gets over some of her reservations. Her mother might be disappointed if she finds out, but that is unlikely. And I¡¯ve met Rieka¡¯s mother enough to know that she¡¯s more focused on her children¡¯s happiness than any kind of political maneuvering that could be done. Also, just to reassure you¡­¡± Kassandra began to squeeze tighter with her tail and pressed upwards, climbing me like a tree as she had just teased, until she slipped out from under my arm and was face to face with me. ¡°My species doesn¡¯t have a hymen, Liam. I know that some species do, but mine does not. So don¡¯t worry about something as simplistic as virginity. Focus on whether a relationship with a lewd and outspoken woman like myself is something you want, and go from there. Remember, I¡¯m an adult myself, so the choice is mine to make too if I decide to become intimate with someone. Though I might have to club him over the head before he gets the clue.¡± Her eyes danced with wicked amusement as she stared up at me.

    I didn¡¯t answer Kassandra verbally, instead I took a leaf out of her book and wrapped my arms around her serpentine hips and pulled her against me. The dwarf lamia purred happily as her full breasts squished against my chest and our lips met in a gentle kiss that continued for several long seconds. Her words had reassured me, quietly laying to rest the concerns that had been clamoring for attention, allowing me to simply enjoy the moment and the affection of a beautiful woman who was obviously attracted to me.

    ¡°Oh for the love of magic! I leave you two alone for five minutes and you are already trying to undress him, Kass!¡± Rieka¡¯s words cut through the fog of desire that had descended while we kissed, but Kassandra held her lips against mine for several more seconds before separating with a happy gasp.

    ¡°Not trying, Rieka. Succeeding.¡± Kassandra giggled as she swayed backwards, unwrapping her coils to fall back to her normal height. She did this while brandishing my belt in one hand. As soon as the pressure of her coils shifted, I felt my jeans begin to slump downwards without the support. She¡¯d managed to sneak my regular belt off while leaving the sword belt holding my tunic in place¡­and I had no idea how she managed it.

    ¡°Kass! Give me that back!¡± I protested, trying to chase after the nimble snake woman while holding my pants up with one hand. Kassandra just giggled as she slithered away, waving her prize like a banner while Rieka shook her head and watched.

    <><><>

    After the lunchtime shenanigans, the girls and I headed back to the clearing around the spring. Kassandra spent around an hour sketching the spring, the piece of statue we had extracted and what she guessed it would have looked like when in one piece. She made copious notes about the marble and the condition it was in, as well as the stone brick I¡¯d pulled out of the water. When she was done, I tucked the pieces of statue back into the water for now. We left the brick on the shore to mark where we¡¯d found it initially and what route I¡¯d approached the ruined statue from. Since I wasn¡¯t wading to the center of the pool this time, I didn¡¯t have to strip or spend nearly as long in the water.

    ¡°So, my theory is that there is a rocky layer under the soil that is acting partially as a barrier to the water. If this really was a fountain then I bet part of what is now the ¡®pool¡¯ for the wellspring was originally a square around the fountain itself. The lack of sediment in the water indicates that it is constantly moving as well. Though I wonder why the river overflow chose the track that it did.¡± Kassandra was explaining her thoughts on the fountain-turned-spring as we walked further around the edge. Rieka had spotted some odd trees on the far side and wanted to inspect them, so we were headed in that direction.

    ¡°Would make sense. If it was just dirt, the water would naturally soak back in. And we are far too high up for it to just be a ¡®high water table¡¯. The previous wellspring idea would require a crack in the rock rather than a pipe, but still.¡±

    ¡°That was my thought as well, Liam. Either way, there is a lot to figure out. And since we have already canvassed this half of the little valley, we should take our time looking over the other half of the valley too. I want to see if there are more ruins here or not. Human construction¡¯s have been found nearly perfectly preserved under the right conditions after all. Not as sturdy as ancient dwarven architecture, but the stonewrights of the humans have their own legacies and secrets.¡± Kassandra continued to ramble while she paced me. Rieka was a few steps ahead of us, leading the way to the stand of trees she¡¯d wanted to look at.

    There had been a bit of awkwardness after she¡¯d found Kassandra and I kissing. The dwarf lamia hadn¡¯t allowed it to linger for long, teasing and harassing her friend and asking if she¡¯d wanted a kiss too and that was why she¡¯d butted in. Rieka had just blushed and looked away, but Kassandra had shot me a wink and mouthed ¡®she didn¡¯t say no!¡¯ at me afterwards.

    ¡°Focus on the tasks for now. We¡¯ve found a good number of the herbs and mushrooms you two needed to locate, but we didn¡¯t really see any tracks by the water that looked big enough to be one of those mountain lynx¡¯s you were looking for. The shore was actually too rocky for the most part. Though I did see some odd tracks.¡± I suggested, wanting to keep her on track and focused for now. I then explained the fan-like tracks I¡¯d seen by the pond. Rieka nodded thoughtfully, one ear twitching several times while she considered.

    ¡°Honestly, the mountain lynx is a bit of wishful thinking. I doubt we¡¯ll see one this far below the snow line. Those tracks you mentioned were likely vine rays coming to drink, which is good.¡± Rieka was the one to answer my statement when she finished her thought. Shooting Kassandra a pointed glance, the wolf-kin woman continued. ¡°He¡¯s right though, Kass. We need to focus on the jobs we are here for. We can plan a second expedition back to gather more information, do your study of the statue, and search for ruins later on when we are properly prepared for it. I know we have a long break coming up for one of the summer festivals. That¡¯ll give us a full week or more to really search the area.¡±

    ¡°Yea, but we should keep our eyes open anyway!¡± Kassandra urged, not giving in at all from her excited attitude. ¡°You never know when we¡¯ll find something important!¡±

    ¡°Exactly my point. We need to keep our eyes open and not be distracted! Vine rays are far more likely to be nesting in fruit trees after all, it makes it easy for them to feed then. I¡¯m pretty sure that those trees are fruit bearing ones, and with the tracks you mentioned, they are the best bet for where the vine rays are hanging out. If we can at least get a bunch of those, then we should have no problem making a profit on this trip since we¡¯ve found most of the herbs.¡±

    ¡°What are vine rays anyway?¡± I couldn¡¯t help the question as we hiked up the slightly sloping hillside towards the trees. I was squinting ahead to keep watch and I had to agree that the trees up ahead had some sort of fruit on them, based on the odd shapes hanging amongst the leaves.

    ¡°Oh, they are eerie little things. You remember the ruumo from the other day?¡± I nodded to Kassandra¡¯s question. The sky-whale had been an awesome sight and was impossible to forget. ¡°So the vine rays are similar to the ruumo, but also very different. While ruumo live in the ocean and occasionally come up to graze on the surface via air magic; vine rays live naturally in the forests and graze on fruit, berries, or other succulent plants, but will fly to the ocean to breed. They are funny little creatures and have an aquatic only version that are just known as ¡®rays¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Wait, rays? Like manta rays?¡± Kassandra¡¯s confused expression told me enough to know I needed to clarify. ¡°They are these flat, kinda pancake-shaped things with wide wings and a long tail?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s them. Though vine rays are a bit smaller, usually the size of a handkerchief, and they have a venomous spine on their tail. The venom is valuable, as well as the spine itself. Some folks prefer them to quills for writing actually, but they have lots of uses. I think the request was specifically for the spines in as good condition as possible, which means they are probably going to be used for writing.¡± Rieka nodded along with the explanation and the words conjured such a strange image into my mind that I had to clarify it further.

    ¡°So¡­these vine rays literally fly, but also can return to the ocean for breeding?¡±

    ¡°Yup. Their migration to the ocean is actually really cool to see. They move like a flock of birds. Due to their size and shape, it looks like a storm of paper flying through the air instead. The venom is only dangerous to us if we get several doses though, so don¡¯t worry too much.¡± Kassandra supplied that information with another smile. I nodded along and carefully began using my Shape-Shifting to shift the skin on both of my arms up to the shoulder into the heavier crocodile hide that I¡¯d been using as impromptu armor. The improvement in mass able to shift from increasing the rank of Shape-Shifting was enough that I had weight to spare now. The last thing I wanted was a flying version of the ¡®majestic sea flap-flap¡¯ being the cause of injury or death. Getting shanked by a kobold was bad enough after all.

    We reached the stand of trees that Rieka had pointed out to that they were actually fruit trees, though the fruits weren¡¯t ripe yet. There were several dozen trees with hard little plums that were just beginning to darken into ripeness.

    Rieka stopped us about a dozen yards from the trees and pointed out several shapes that were darker green than the leaves of the tree and hanging like long beards of moss off of several branches close to the trunk.

    ¡°Just like I thought, vine rays. They¡¯ll scatter quickly, so we need to take as many as possible down quickly. If we don¡¯t get enough, we can come back tomorrow before we leave and see if any have returned. Remember, we need five at least for the assignment, but more will make it more profitable.¡± Rieka whispered as we crouched in the long grass and looked up at the small orchard of fruit trees. There was something odd that was standing out to me about the trees, but I couldn¡¯t quite put my finger on it.

    ¡°There don¡¯t look to be too many of them in the trees.¡± I asked after staring at the trees for several seconds, trying to put my finger on what was bothering me.

    ¡°There are dozens up there, some are better at hiding than others.¡± Rieka explained simply. ¡°Vine rays are also considered pests too. They¡¯ll strip orchards if they pass over them on their way to breeding grounds. The reason there was a note to hunt for them is just because they have a fair amount of territory they cover. Liam, I¡¯ll send my Shock Net out into the trees to stun as many as possible while you move in to put them down permanently. Kass, I want you to watch for any that look like they might come at Liam and take those out. Sound good?¡±

    ¡°Fine¡­but we really should look into some ranged weapons. A crossbow or something would be just as useful to try and pick a few off and would be cheaper in the long run.¡± Sighed Kassandra, moving out on my right to take her position. I agreed with her, but now wasn¡¯t the time to discuss it.

    When all three of us were ready, we started forward in a slow creep to get as close as possible. As I watched, I saw the big ¡®leaves¡¯ move against the wind and sway oddly, picking out several more until Rieka hissed that we were within range. She counted us down before lobbing the spell forward.

    The crackling orb of lightning passed between the trees without a problem, though the noise of the spell sent the strange creatures into the air.

    The vine rays acted more like swallows, dipping and bobbing through the air with a flick of their ¡®wings¡¯ while their long tail wove back and forth to steer them. The sight was a bizarre one that I knew had to be fueled by magic somehow.

    When the orb of lightning burst, again with an underwhelming zot noise to accompany it, more than a dozen of the odd creatures fell out of the sky like laundry falling off a clothes-line. I rushed forward with my sword at the ready. Given their small size, it was entirely possible that Rieka¡¯s spell had killed most of them outright, but I didn¡¯t want the creatures to suffer either.

    The first three of the vine rays I found were already dead, but I put the sword through them just to be sure. The next one was still alive and flopping about, I had to pin it down with my boot to get it to hold still. I nearly ended up stomping onto the spine that the girls had warned me about as it folded up out of the tail almost ninety degrees just as I went to pin it down with my foot. After that, I didn¡¯t hesitate to put them down with all speed, that spine had been almost a foot long.

    Kassandra hadn¡¯t needed to hit any of the creatures, those that weren¡¯t hit with the Shock Net spell had all fled en-mass. They made odd, squeaky screeching noises as they flew across the valley and down out of sight while following the river.

    As soon as I¡¯d confirmed I¡¯d gotten all the ones on the ground, we collected the venomous creatures and Rieka showed me how to harvest the spines. Since we didn¡¯t have the means to transport the venom glands, it was easy enough to get the spines free of the bodies.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if I feel right just taking the spines and leaving the rest behind.¡± I muttered as I carefully used my sword to cut the third spine free. Using the crocodile hide to armor my hands was useful. I¡¯d nearly stabbed myself once already but the thick hide had prevented it from penetrating. Kassandra just watched, not having a knife to use while Rieka taught me.

    ¡°There are plenty of scavengers up here in the mountains. Other predators and the like hunt these things. The meat won¡¯t be going to waste, trust me.¡± Rieka explained while she worked.

    ¡°Yea, but these are the only other creatures I¡¯ve seen up here so far, besides the ruumo and those deer things we saw by the lake the first night. Is that normal?¡± I glanced over my shoulder again, feeling a bit nervous now that I was thinking about it.

    Rieka paused in her work and looked up at me with her brow furrowing.

    ¡°You are right. There would normally be foxes and other small predators. There are plenty of mice around for them to hunt after all. I¡¯d honestly expected to be woken up at least once last night by something investigating the camp out of curiosity.¡±

    ¡°The wardstones were set to go off for anything larger than a house-cat. Regardless of whether it was a predator or not. The materials weren¡¯t exactly fine enough to go for more complex wards.¡± Kassandra sighed before glancing over my shoulder and stiffening. I whirled around to see what she was looking at, bringing my sword up into a guard position but there was nothing there.

    ¡°What is it, Kass?¡± I asked, casting around quickly to try and see what it was that had startled her.

    ¡°The trees, they are split right through the middle¡­Normally fruit trees clump and bunch as new ones grow in and old ones fall, but that section over there¡­¡± Kassandra pointed and I finally realized what had been bothering me earlier.

    There was a section of the grove of fruit trees, along one side of it actually, where the trees stopped as if they¡¯d been cut like a knife. No trees or even bushes grew past that line for another twenty feet before the oaks started up instead. Following the open space with my eyes, it wound past the trees before either vanishing out of sight ahead of us or meeting with the open space around the fountain/spring below us.

    ¡°Almost like an old road¡­¡± I muttered, taking a slow breath. ¡°But what kind of road would hold up that long? There¡¯s grass growing over it too but nothing bigger¡­¡±

    ¡°Dunno, but it looks like it leads somewhere. Hurry up and finish getting these! We¡¯ve got several hours before it gets dark and I would bet that leads up to more ruins!¡± Kassandra crowed excitedly.

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯d bet would you? What would you bet?¡± Rieka teased, going back to removing spines once more, but I noticed the wolf-kin kept a much closer eye on our surroundings now.

    ¡°For you, Rieka? I¡¯d bet solid silver. For Liam? Oh I¡¯m sure I could find something that¡¯s more than just¡­lip-service.¡± Kassandra¡¯s eyes danced merrily as she managed to get both of us blushing at the same time. I focused back on the bloody work at hand. I was also curious about what lay further up in the trees.

 Chapter 28

    We¡¯d managed to bring down fourteen of the vine rays, but only eleven of the stingers were undamaged. That was more than enough for the girls to consider that part of their hunting trip ¡®done¡¯. So we focused on exploring the rest of the valley. Following the treeless curve Kassandra had spotted resulted in the three of us coming up against a large cliff face that backed an open field.

    The ¡®road¡¯ that we followed wove around several small groves of trees, one of which was full of early summer fruit like the one we¡¯d hunted the vine rays in. It was clear the vine rays had been at these fruits too, but we didn¡¯t spot any other nests like the first one. When we came to where the road ¡®ended¡¯ against the cliff, it was again an area that was empty of trees. This was much larger than the area around the ruined fountain and there were several sections of crumbling stone formations crouched amongst the grass.

    Kassandra was excited by the ruins, hurrying over to inspect the one that was closest to us. It was easily as large of a footprint as Rue House had been, at least the edges we could make out from the damaged bits of wall poking out of the tall grass. Rieka and I kept watch while the dwarf lamia slithered excitedly amongst the stones that outlined the space.

    ¡°Liam! Can you come help me with this!¡± Kassandra called after a moment. Both Rieka and myself headed over. The walls were less than waist high in most spots, made up of a dull red brick that matched the local stone. There were a few areas where those same stones rose up above head height, usually in the corners, but there were one or two walls that had obstinate areas too and rose up to block sight. Once we got inside the foundation, the grass wasn¡¯t quite as bushy and made travel a bit easier. I spotted several small trees that were growing up from ¡®inside¡¯ the building as well, but they were scrubby little things and barely more than saplings.

    ¡°What is it, Kass?¡± I asked as I approached the dwarf lamia, who was inspecting one of the stumpy trees that was tucked into a corner. Kassandra must have already forgotten she¡¯d called for us, because she jumped slightly in surprise at my words before slithering over to throw her arms around my waist and give me one of her adorable, pint-sized hugs.

    ¡°Oh, Liam! This is so fascinating! Would you believe that tree is growing out of a pipe in the ground?!¡± She crowed excitedly, looking up at me with excitement sparkling in her eyes. The afternoon sun sent glimmers along the silver frames of her spectacles as she bounced happily.

    ¡°A pipe? That doesn¡¯t make much sense.¡± I glanced over at the tree in question but it was a type of pine tree and its lower branches made it hard to see the base.

    ¡°Oh agreed, but there it is. I wanted to test the root system to see if it has a hold of something solid down there or not. Can you grip the trunk and give it a tug? I don¡¯t want you to tear it out and damage the pipes, just test it to try and get an idea of why it would be growing there.¡± Kassandra chattered quickly, releasing her grip around my waist to dig out her sketchbook and begin documenting what she¡¯d found.

    Shrugging, I complied with her request. Squatting down next to the trunk, I parted the pine boughs enough to see that it did look like it was protruding from a metallic pipe that was as big around as my calf and stuck up out of the ground by about four inches. Before doing more, I brushed at the bed of pine needles underneath the tree to reveal a flagstone floor that was in surprisingly good condition, though dirt filled in the thin cracks between the stone. Judging from the shallow depression under the tree, I could guess that the layer of dirt that was supporting the grasses around us was probably not very thick either.

    ¡°Wonder what is keeping the grass healthy, it can¡¯t have a very thick root system if the topsoil is so thin. Though if this has a stone floor, that¡¯s probably why it''s in the pipe¡­¡± I muttered before doing as Kassandra had asked. Gripping the trunk, I gave it a tug and there was a quiet sucking sound as the tree shifted.

    ¡°Okay stop!¡± Kassandra shouted immediately and I froze, carefully letting the thin tree settle back into position. ¡°We don¡¯t know where the roots for the tree go. Or if they have damaged anything below, so we should leave it for now. That confirms it¡¯s rooted in something further down the pipe, but not strongly.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the purpose of confirming that?¡± Rieka asked, her eyes skimming over the large clearing that we were in. Her ears were always in motion, tracking first one way then another as she kept watch for any sort of threat while Kassandra made her notes.

    ¡°Mostly to see if the pipe was damaged. If the tree didn¡¯t shift at all, I¡¯d assume that either the root system had grown dense enough to crack the pipe or was nearly there. But with it shifting, it means we can leave it for now and not worry about damage. Also that there might be a basement to this structure. The pipe has to go somewhere after all and we haven¡¯t seen anything else nearby that might be an exit point for that pipe. I wonder what it is for?¡±

    ¡°Hard to say. If this was back home, I¡¯d say it¡¯d be either a sewer pipe or a gray water pipe.¡± My words drew both girls'' attention and they stared at me in confusion.

    ¡°Gray water?¡± Kassandra asked, her pen held above the leather-backed notebook she¡¯d been making notes on.

    ¡°Ah¡­well gray water is¡­¡± I had to rack my brain for what the specific definition was. My dad had told me about it once while we were doing some home improvements and the term had just floated out of my memory because the pipe looked like it was cast iron and I remembered there being one we worked on. ¡°So if I am remembering right, gray water is easiest to describe as used wash water. Whether it¡¯s used for washing your body, clothes, or dishes doesn¡¯t matter. It¡¯s just water that¡¯s been used and isn¡¯t really meant to be drunk without treatment or filtration. But specifically it doesn¡¯t have¡­uh¡­basically it doesn''t¡­¡± I struggled with the last bit before Rieka interrupted me finally.

    ¡°Oh just spit it out, Liam. Kass and I are grown women, no need to mince around the subject.¡±

    Sighing, I did just that. ¡°Basically, it doesn¡¯t have poop or urine in it. Those were designated as ¡®black water¡¯ and usually treated differently. Though when piped into the sewer system for the city, they mix the two if I remember right.¡±

    Both girls stared at me for several seconds before Kassandra giggled.

    ¡°You said poop.¡±

    This got a short laugh out of Rieka and drained the awkwardness from the moment fairly well.

    ¡°You are so mature, Kass¡­We use something similar as well in larger cities. With the pipes leading to a cistern that has filtration magic on it to remove waste, food scraps, or anything that can contaminate the water before it is released back into a river.¡± Rieka explained with a small grin and I heaved a sigh of relief.

    ¡°Okay, I wasn¡¯t looking forward to explaining what a toilet was, since I still don¡¯t quite understand the mechanics of how the dang things work.¡± I sighed, getting another laugh from the girls.

    ¡°Well, small cities and towns still use chamber pots, but it is a mark of a city''s growth that they have an established sewer system and proper toilets. Some poor families still use chamber pots and just dump them directly into the sewer, even in the nicer cities. It¡¯s not a cheap system to set up.¡± Kassandra shrugged with a smile before glancing towards the pipe. ¡°Enough about sewage though, we should look around and see if we can find a basement or something. If there is a space that is out of the weather exposure from this, then it might have more secrets hidden away. Who knows, I might be able to use all of this to bypass some of my coursework if we discover anything new and interesting! I can think of some more fun things to spend my time doing.¡± The red-headed snake woman sent me a saucy wink that made sure my mind was fixated on her pert bottom as she turned and slithered off through the grass.

    ¡°She¡¯s trouble.¡± I muttered to myself, which got a laugh out of Rieka as we followed Kassandra.

    ¡°Yea, but she¡¯s also worth it. Kass is my best friend after all. We are both lucky to have her around. She keeps me from being too serious and I can already see the positive influence she¡¯s had on you too.¡± Rieka teased, looping her right arm through my left.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t bother you?¡±

    ¡°What? That Kassandra flirts with you constantly? Not at all. She¡¯s a grown woman and can make her own choices with her life. Just as I can. Also, I can¡¯t fault her taste, you are a good person, Liam. You have constantly acted honorably and do what you can to protect and encourage us every time we meet. I¡¯ve felt at ease around you since our first meeting. Which was interesting in its own right. You could have done any number of things to trick, ensnare, or harm us after that fact. The protective circle in the summoning ritual didn¡¯t do anything to you, but you have done none of those things.¡±

    ¡°I would never do anything like that.¡±

    ¡°Which is why Kass and I trust you and why Kass jumped in with her arms spread wide to get your attention. We are both so used to the normal political and noble maneuvering for power and position that it stands out to us. Another reason why we don¡¯t bring guards with us. Anonymity is its own shield.¡±

    ¡°I highly doubt you two are anonymous, Rieka. You and Kass are far too beautiful to blend with any crowd.¡± The complement was out of my mouth before I could stop it and Rieka was blushing, but the smile told me she was happy with what I¡¯d said.

    ¡°Still, it¡¯s good to have you there to look after us and know that you aren¡¯t trying to find a way to elevate yourself at our expense. I know not all young nobles are after that, but enough are that it makes it hard to trust.¡±

    ¡°Hey you two! I found something!¡± Kassandra called from ahead of us, breaking Rieka and I out of our personal conversation.

    Kassandra was waving her hands over her head and pointing towards another section of the clearing, closer to the cliff wall.

    ¡°What is it, Kass?¡± Rieka called, untangling her arm from mine to trot towards the dwarf lamia. I followed in her footsteps, just a few steps back to avoid the fluffy mass of her tail as it stirred gently behind her.

    ¡°Looks like a cave or burrow, but it¡¯s lined up with the ¡®road¡¯ that we followed!¡± Kassandra called, gesturing for us to hurry with one hand while pointing towards it with the other. Rieka angled directly for Kassandra, but something caught my attention and I broke into a sprint.

    The grass that filled the meadow outside the foundations was a mixture of shorter prairie grass and cheat-grass that came up to my waist in spots. The pale cheat-grass had a slight purple hint to the tips of the stalks and they danced and bobbed in the occasional breeze that came up the hill and between the trees, making the entire field ripple like the surface of a pond.

    The ripple that I saw angling towards Kassandra¡¯s back moved like an arrow and was moving in direct opposition to the wind. As I started to run, it picked up speed from a slow shimmy into a bouncing wake.

    ¡°Kass! Get behind me!¡± The roar cut loose of my throat while I drew the sword from my belt and sprinted through the high grass. Kassandra followed our gaze and glanced over her shoulder before she yelped in surprise. Fumbling for her spell rod, the dwarf lamia tried to back-pedal towards us. Rieka was already reacting and had her rod out while my longer legs and greater mass allowed me to bull through at higher speeds. I saw a dart of fur in the grass just as the spell left Rieka¡¯s rod.

    ¡°Bolt Chain!¡± The lightning stroke hit the spot where the movement would have been, but it had already dodged. Instead, the long grass was blasted apart and sent flying in smoldering ruins that sent brief tongues of fire into the air as some of the grass burned up.

    ¡°Careful, the last thing we need right now is a brush fire!¡± I called back to her while the ripple of movement changed direction and shot towards us once more. I¡¯d made it to Kassandra finally, who had her rod out and was tracking carefully on the ripple in the grass. I could hear Rieka swearing behind me as my heart thundered in my ears. I¡¯d just been glad that Kassandra hadn¡¯t gotten too far ahead of us. Putting myself in between whatever was coming after us and the dwarf lamia, I got as ready as I could.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Demanded Kassandra, holding her spell for the moment.

    ¡°No idea, but it¡¯s fast!¡± My reply was tense as we waited for the creature to get closer. I could see the flash of tawny fur through the grass and my stomach clenched when I recognized the low, feline form as it raced towards us. ¡°Shit! Mountain lion!¡±

    It wasn¡¯t an exact match for a mountain lion, or a cougar depending on who you asked, but it was close enough that my mind made the connection and I stepped forward to meet its charge. It approached to around ten feet before it leapt up and out of the grass at me and I realized just how different it was to the mountain lions I knew from back home.

    The creature was way larger than I was used to. It had to be at least as long as my pickup and the mouth that yawned wide as it pounced was easily large enough to engulf my entire head. Paws the size of hubcaps spread wide to either side as it flew through the air. I saw several patches of what looked like stony armor ran up its legs and across its back. A pseudo ¡®helmet¡¯ sat over top of its head, leaving pointed ears bare and glaring eyes filled with hunger gleamed above its twisting snarl.

    I took in all of this over a second while it flew through the air at me. I needed to get out of the way of its pounce. The creature easily outweighed me by several hundred pounds. If it landed on top of me, it¡¯d either bite my head right off or it¡¯d rip my guts out with its back feet. I vaguely remembered thinking it was cute watching house-cats do their little ¡®bunny kick¡¯ attack with their back paws, but I was abruptly reminded that was a vicious fighting tactic that their wild cousins used to great effect as I saw the claws gleaming on all four spread paws.

    I couldn¡¯t dodge though, the girls were right behind me after all.

    So I had to meet its charge instead.

    I felt the rippling, tingling sensation surge through my body as I demanded Shape-Shifting to bolster me as much as possible on an instinctive level. Following the forms that Cerebaton had been drilling me on, I stepped into the charge and brought the sword up into an overhead grip with the point forward. I then pushed off with my back foot to thrust at the leaping monster cat with my sword wielding right hand. As I moved, my left sprouted the same sharp, bladed claws that I¡¯d been practicing after seeing Lady Valda¡¯s as well as my familiar crocodile skin to armor my forearm.

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    The mountain lion saw my lunge coming at it and it did one of those mid-air contortions that all cats seemed able to do in utter defiance to the bone structure and laws of physics but wasn¡¯t able to completely escape. The blade of my sword sunk into its right shoulder rather than its chest. The hide and muscle parted from its body weight crashing into the blade more than my skill, based on how the sword jarred in my hand. The blade sunk deep into the shoulder joint of the creature and out the back of the creature before it caught on bone with a jarring slam that nearly tore the sword from my hand. A flailing left paw caught me across the chest and threw me back on my ass, lines of fire erupting as those claws tore through my leather armor and across my chest. The torque was enough that it diverted the pounce to the side by rebounding off of me and the sideways tension on the blade caused it to snap with a loud ¡®ping¡¯ of metal shearing off. That left me with a sword that ended about four inches above the hilt I held in my hand while the rest protruded from the creature¡¯s shoulder.

    All of this happened in the space of an instant that felt like it dragged on for minutes to hours. That stretched time snapped back to reality as the creature crashed to the ground in a tumble of limbs and yowls of pain.

    A sharp crack of lightning was followed by a meaty thump of something solid hitting flesh as the girls launched their spells now that we had separated enough to do it safely.

    ¡°Ice Lance!¡±

    ¡°Bolt Chain!¡±

    The yowling of the creature grew in pitch and pain as it flailed about in the grass. Rieka¡¯s Bolt Chain continued to pump voltage into the creature before she tossed the other end of the spell at it, finishing the circuit with a sharp crack of power. Kassandra had time to launch another Ice Lance into the prone creature in the meantime before I tossed the broken hilt of my sword away and pushed to my feet. I could feel blood running down my chest inside the leather armor and, remembering Cerebaton¡¯s words from our past training, I pushed my Shape-Shifting for a solution to slow and stop the bleeding.

    Human skin is only millimeters thick, so it is very easy to cut through. The same crocodile hide that had protected me with the kobolds could be as thick as half an inch in places though. As the shifted mass rearranged itself in response to my demands, the skin under my leather tunic thickened and the skin of my forearm returned to normal. The claw wounds that had cut deep enough to bounce off ribs before were now covered over with thick crocodile hide as the surface layer of my skin thickened. This put additional pressure on the wounds and slowed their bleeding for now. It didn¡¯t force the skin to heal, but it did put pressure where it was needed for now.

    With the hide removed from my forearms, I had just enough presence of mind to give my right hand matching claws and drop the damaged sword before the massive, obviously magical, mountain lion thrashed its way back to its feet and the creature tried to limp away into the grass.

    ¡°Nope! Get back here!¡± I snarled, crashing through the grass after its slow attempt to escape.

    This creature had threatened the girls, attempted to ambush Kassandra, and actually injured me. It¡¯d also broken my sword, which meant that I was missing my primary means to defend those girls. I needed to eliminate the threat before it could come back. The fact that it was bleeding profusely and would likely die on its own didn¡¯t quite make it through the proverbial ¡®red mist¡¯ and I threw myself at the beast without a thought other than to end the threat.

    I landed on the creature¡¯s broad back with a ¡®thump¡¯ that knocked it off balance and onto its injured side. I nearly stabbed myself on the protruding blade of my sword as well before I realized that it was poking out of the creature''s back and angled away from it. Instead, I turned to brace my left side against the flat of the blade to give myself leverage while snaking my left arm up and around the thick neck to hang on while driving the claws of my right hand into the other side. This left the flat of the broken blade pressed to my ribs, as safe as I could while bracing on a sharp object.

    The animal went berserk as soon as my arm began to wrap around its neck. I realized later that bracing against the blade like that was causing it to tear the wound open more, lateral pressure and all, which was further injuring the joint as a result. I managed to dig my claws in right before the big cat threw itself onto its back and began to thrash in an attempt to get me off of it. My left hand buried into the side of its face and jaw on the right side to hang on while my right hand dug into its neck just above the uninjured shoulder.

    As it thrashed, the cat slammed against the ground and the blade of my broken sword caught and shifted to cut through my armor and into my arm slightly. It wasn¡¯t enough to loosen my grip, but it did cause another tremendous spurt of blood to come out of the wound.

    I was able to keep my legs braced on either side of the big cat¡¯s hips so that when it kicked up at its back to get me, it only hooked the lower edge of my tunic and shredded that rather than my stomach or thighs. I could hear screaming from the girls, but I couldn¡¯t spare a thought as I continued to cling to the thrashing animal¡¯s back as it bled out.

    Blood was everywhere. On my hands, in the fur, my face, and more.

    When the monstrous mountain lion¡¯s strength finally gave out and it died, it happened in a rush. The creature collapsed onto its side and breathed its last in one massive, wheezing rush. I didn¡¯t release my grip for several more seconds to ensure that it was actually dead while blood continued to pump weakly from its wounds.

    ¡°Liam! Are you okay? Say something!¡± Kassandra¡¯s voice was what finally penetrated my adrenaline-addled mind and I tried to speak, but ended up choking and coughing when I tried to breathe and speak at the same time and the air got caught in my throat halfway to both destinations.

    ¡°Fine.¡± I wheezed at last and pulled my borrowed claws out of the shredded hide of the animal with a wince. My chest burned and my left arm had a sharp pain digging into the back side of it. I could feel bruises from the blows that both the creature and the unforgiving ground had dealt me forming all over as well, but I didn¡¯t feel like I was badly injured. No broken bones at least.

    ¡°Kass, we don¡¯t know if the crag hunter was by itself or not.¡± Rieka¡¯s words penetrated the pained fog and I immediately pushed away from the dead animal, biting back a scream of agony as the rapid movement aggravated my injuries now that adrenaline wasn¡¯t numbing the pain as much. Need to get up¡­protect the girls¡­I thought to myself.

    ¡°You keep watch! I need to check Liam over, he got hit really hard!¡± Kassandra snapped back at her friend and a moment later I felt the chilling touch of her healing spell wash over me. The icy energy sunk into my aching muscles and injured body and brought with it relieving numbness. ¡°Liam, where did you get injured? Gods, there is so much blood on you¡­¡± Kassandra¡¯s voice was frantic as I felt gentle hands on my shoulder helping me turn over.

    ¡°Chest¡­and arm. I¡¯ll be fine, Kass. Just need to get up.¡± I grunted painfully.

    ¡°Nope, you stay right there. I¡¯ll wrap you if I have to, Liam.¡± Kassandra threatened and I saw her spell rod glow again as she chanted her spell quickly under her breath. The second dose of numbing cold helped clear my head from the cobwebs of the fading adrenaline and I blinked furiously. My chest still felt tight in the armor, but I realized that was because of the crocodile hide shift on my chest. I focused and tugged on the Shape-Shifting and the hide receded once more.

    Poking a finger through the rents in my armor, I felt tender skin underneath it but no raw wounds. I prodded the back of my arm where the sword blade had cut me as well and, while it felt tender, it was no longer injured.

    ¡°Well hell, I love healing magic so much.¡± I muttered and turned onto my side to try and push myself upright. A click in my chest made me wince and nearly fall over as one of my ribs popped back into its proper place. ¡°Ouch¡­okay I rather like healing magic, but that felt bizarre.¡±

    ¡°Are you okay, Liam? Are you still hurt anywhere else?¡± Kassandra¡¯s soft hands on my face brought my focus back to what was important and I turned to press a kiss to the wrist closest to my mouth.

    ¡°Better now, Kass. Let me up, dear. I need to make sure we are safe.¡± When I caught sight of the worried frown and the tear-tracks on Kassandra¡¯s face, I tried to reassure her more. ¡°Seriously, I¡¯m fine. You patched me right up. Just a bit light headed from the blood loss.¡± Kassandra gave me a watery smile now and nodded.

    ¡°The healing spell seals wounds and can mend some bones, but blood loss is not one my magic can handle. Ice aligned magic doesn¡¯t do blood well due to the temperature. Even us cold-blooded creatures aren¡¯t supposed to have icy blood after all. He¡¯s okay, Rieka!¡±

    ¡°Thank the gods, I nearly soiled myself when he jumped on the crag hunter¡¯s back like that! What were you thinking, Liam?!¡± Rieka¡¯s voice was nearby and it took a bit of looking to spot her. She¡¯d hopped up onto a piece of broken wall to get a better view of our surroundings and was shooting me scowls every so often, though I could see her relief in the way her tail was wagging furiously back and forth.

    ¡°I was thinking that I didn¡¯t want it to get away to possibly circle back to hurt you two. Also, it broke my sword and my armor, so I was a bit pissed off.¡± I tried to inject some levity into the moment, but based on the glare I got it failed.

    ¡°And you just happened to forget that both of us could have killed it from a distance with spells as long as we didn¡¯t have some great idiot in the way?¡±

    ¡°Like I said, I was angry. The damn cat destroyed both pieces of equipment you girls got for me¡­¡± Kassandra sniggered at my words before pressing against my side and wrapping her arms around me in a gentle hug, her tail coiling around my calves loosely as well.

    ¡°I don¡¯t care about the gear. It did its job after all.¡± Kassandra sighed, nuzzling into my side. I hugged her closer before bending down to press a light kiss to her lips.

    ¡°And I did my job to keep you two safe. Now, let me finish that job, Kass?¡±

    ¡°Fine¡­but I want more cuddles later. I¡¯m still getting over seeing you hurt like that.¡± Kassandra protested, trying to put up a strong front but I could feel her trembling under my arm.

    ¡°Promise. All the cuddles you want, Kass.¡± I gave her another kiss, this one to her forehead, before stepping free of her loosening coils. ¡°How¡¯s it looking, Rieka?¡±

    ¡°No sign of any other threats. The crag hunter wasn¡¯t exactly quiet, so if it had a mate we¡¯d be seeing it here soon.¡± Rieka called from her elevated perch. She kept glancing towards me with a concerned expression, so I strode over to her with Kassandra close behind. She had her spell rod in her hand still and held it at the ready. The perch on the stones actually put the wolf-kin at a height advantage for once over me and I looked up at her.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, Rieka. Kass got me patched up, though my armor is likely toast.¡± I glanced down at the quintet of slash marks in the leather and poked the clawed tip of my finger through one before meeting her, now relieved, eyes and holding my arms out to her.

    Rieka took a leaf from Kassandra¡¯s book and jumped at me. I¡¯d been practicing enough with the claws to be careful with them as I caught her in a hug and held the shaking princess close to reassure her.

    ¡°You scared the wits right out of me, Liam! Charging it that first bit, then wrestling with one of the most dangerous hunters in these mountains!¡± Rieka¡¯s words were muffled from where her face was pressed into my chest now, and I could feel the slight tickling of her furry ears as they twitched against my throat. I knew she wasn¡¯t too angry though from how quickly her tail wagged back and forth behind her.

    ¡°Sorry about that, but it¡¯s my job to look after you two.¡± I reminded her, giving her a tight squeeze while scanning our surroundings watchfully. The section of grass she¡¯d hit when she missed with her first attack had spread smoldering embers around, but it hadn¡¯t caught and there was no sign of smoke anymore. The only signs of disturbance to the clearing was the blood on the grass and the bent or broken stalks where the creature had crashed through them. The blood on the stalks reminded me that I was still covered in the stuff still, and I glanced down at Rieka.

    ¡°Rieka, I¡¯m covered in blood, are you sure you want to be hugging me?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care, idiot.¡± Rieka muttered into my chest, not moving at all.

    ¡°Yea, but he¡¯s our idiot.¡± Kassandra chirped happily before I felt another set of arms wrap around my waist to include Rieka as well.

    We stood there for another handful of moments, just reassuring each other that we made it through this sudden and dangerous encounter alive. After a bit we finally separated once more and took stock again. Rieka had blood smeared on her clothes now too, as did Kassandra, but neither girl seemed to care.

    ¡°So¡­crag hunter?¡± I asked finally, turning to look at the massive predator. It was easily almost twice as long as the biggest cougar I¡¯d seen back home and nearly as long as a full sized truck. It was covered in a tawny fur that had speckled highlights to help it blend into the grass. The armored plates on its limbs, head, and back would have been a great defense normally, but the main blows had been into its joints where the armor was weakest and bypassed the almost rocky armor.

    ¡°Yea, they are normally only found much further up the mountains. What did you call it again, Liam?¡± Rieka had resumed her watch post up on the broken wall but her tail continued to waft back and forth.

    ¡°Cougar. They are mountain predators back home as well. Normally solitary unless they are breeding. Same here?¡±

    ¡°Yea, that sounds about right for them. This one is much further down the mountain than usual though. I wonder¡­¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Well, it looks like it was trying to flee back towards that burrow that Kass was pointing to earlier. Think that¡¯s its den?¡± Rieka¡¯s question made Kassandra perk up and she checked it before nodding.

    ¡°I bet it was actually. The angles are almost perfect. We should go check the burrow to make sure it was alone first and foremost. Rieka, your sense of smell should be strong enough to tell if it has a mate and if that mate is home, right?¡± The wolf-kin nodded in agreement with Kassandra¡¯s question.

    ¡°Okay, carefully and slowly. Keep your eyes out in case something else tries to rush us.¡± I suggested and the girls agreed, so we prowled through the tall grass towards the burrow that Kassandra had spotted.

    The hole was roughly four feet across and only three feet tall, dug into the turf at a sharp angle and down into darkness. I could faintly smell something musty or musky coming from the hole, but that was as much as I could tell. Rieka sniffed at the entrance for a moment, her tail going as still as a flag with no wind before whipping back up furiously in a happy wagging motion.

    ¡°I¡¯m only getting the one scent, this was a solitary den for the creature.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s great, we can relax some. Crag hunters are viciously territorial after all, probably why there weren¡¯t any other small predators in the area last night.¡± Kassandra said with a sigh, though the statement made me tense up.

    ¡°So you are saying we slept the night away in the tent while this thing was prowling the forest?¡±

    ¡°Yea, but the wardstones would have warned us if it crossed into the campsite. Also, we didn¡¯t see any signs of it on our side of the lake.¡± Kassandra said reassuringly, but I could see that my statement had sunk in for the serpentine woman. Rieka was the one who put words to the concern though.

    ¡°Yea¡­we need stronger wardstones. Warning is good and all, but I¡¯d prefer something to at least try and block entrance to a large predator like this¡­can you imagine if it¡¯d jumped one of us last night or this morning getting water?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d rather not think about that.¡± Kassandra mumbled, her head down in worry. A hand on her hair got her to perk back up and she gave me a shy smile.

    ¡°You did the best you could on short notice, Kass. Something to prepare for next time. Can you do stronger wards with what you have right now and some more time?¡± She nodded quickly to that, biting her bottom lip as I could see her mind already whirling along various ideas. ¡°Okay, how about this. It¡¯s getting on in the afternoon, let¡¯s leave inspecting the crag hunter¡¯s burrow for tomorrow morning before we pack up to leave. Rieka, should we try and skin the crag hunter? Think the hide will be worth anything?¡±

    ¡°We should at least try. It¡¯s not a mission, but the Hunt and Trade hall will buy the hide off us. We can wash the hide off in the lake and Kass has a preservation spell that will keep it in decent condition till we get back to town. We can also wash up in the lake too. I doubt we will need to worry about other predators tonight, but better to give Kass more time to build stronger wards too.¡± Rieka said thoughtfully, turning to look back to where the carcass lay. ¡°It got pretty torn up from the spells and the fight, but it¡¯s big. There is plenty of usable hide there¡­¡±

    ¡°Okay, sounds like a plan then. We can play ¡®cave explorer¡¯ tomorrow. You aren¡¯t going to forget where this is, are you Kass?¡± The dwarf lamia shook her head, a wry smile on her face.

    ¡°Not a chance, Liam. Sudden fights to the death and ambushes by wild predators have a way of cementing details on a location in one¡¯s mind.¡±

 Chapter 29

    Skinning an animal is as gross and difficult as it sounds.

    This wasn¡¯t the first time, nor would it be the last time, but the sticky peeling noise the hide made during removal still made my stomach turn. Thankfully, we were able to get it done without hurting ourselves or damaging the hide more, something that Rieka admitted to being a concern for her after the fact.

    Even with the size of the creature we were working on, only two of us could work on it at a time. Rieka helped me through it while Kassandra worked on some improved wardstones for the camp and we all kept an eye on our surroundings.

    My devious and cuddly noodle managed to pry over two dozen hand-sized bricks from the turf that were perfectly flat on one side, but she was careful to only take bricks that had fallen out of the walls. After confirming that there wasn¡¯t anything of note on them, Kassandra set to work engraving the runes she needed onto the flat surface.

    ¡°These plain bricks will work perfectly for what I need.¡± She¡¯d explained while Rieka and I were taking a break from dealing with the carcass. ¡°The flat surface makes it easy to work with, and they¡¯ll lay flat as well. Even better than the natural stones we found the other day. It¡¯s just going to be a pain to lug them back to the campsite. We need to get a dimensional bag when we have a chance, Rieka.¡±

    ¡°I know, Kass.¡± The wolf-kin woman sighed, puffing at an errant lock of hair that had come out of her braid and was wafting in front of her. Kass leaned over and tucked it back into the braid without a word. ¡°Thanks, I didn¡¯t want to try and take care of it myself because¡­well.¡± Rieka lifted her hands which were covered in blood from the gruesome task.

    ¡°No worries. Your nose itch at all? Liam?¡± Kassandra turned the question towards me as well. I shook my head, focusing on carefully sharpening the skinning knife that I had been using. The knife and the whetstone would need to be washed too, but that was something to deal with later. ¡°Okay. Wanted to offer before my hands got all bloody too.¡±

    ¡°Bloody?¡± That got me to pause and look up while Kassandra continued to carefully scratch the symbols onto each of the bricks with her engraving tools.

    ¡°Yea, I¡¯m going to use some of the crag hunter¡¯s blood to empower the runes. They have an earth alignment to their mana, so it¡¯ll bond naturally with it, no problems.¡± Kassandra replied offhandedly. ¡°I don¡¯t need much. Rieka, can you try and catch some in a dish before it all gels up?¡±

    ¡°Sure, Kass. I¡¯d forgotten about that. You want one of the fangs for a stylus too?¡± Rieka¡¯s response was so straightforward, it drew my attention back to her immediately. Rieka¡¯s ears twitched once while I watched her but she remained looking at Kassandra.

    ¡°No, that¡¯s fine. My current engraver will do the job. Never hurts to have extras if they are easy to extract though. The skeleton would be worth something too, but not enough to haul it back.¡±

    ¡°Never thought I¡¯d see the day that two refined young ladies were talking so casually about using something¡¯s teeth as an engraving stylus or processing a skeleton.¡± I sighed, setting the whetstone aside and going back to sawing at the tough hide. Pretty sure that as long as I¡¯m careful, this hide won¡¯t be damaged just on how hard the damn thing is to cut. I thought to myself. It''s a miracle my sword and claws cut through it as much as it did. Surprisingly it didn''t damage the hide as much as I thought though. That thrust only worked because of its weight¡­

    ¡°Depends on the young ladies.¡± Kassandra quipped back with a grin, remaining focused on her work.

    ¡°True, we are in a class all our own.¡± Rieka added on with an airy tone that tapered off into a giggle.

    ¡°That sure is the truth.¡± I had to agree with a laugh. ¡°Okay, Rieka. I¡¯ve got this part loose, what¡¯s next?¡±

    <><><>

    ¡°That was gross, I feel gross. Blood is gross. I¡¯m never going to get that brush clean again¡­¡± Kassandra whined, shaking her bloody hands in front of her like she could somehow shake the blood stains off, despite having already smeared them as much as possible with some grass to get the sticky substance off and then rinsed them in the spring. As soon as she¡¯d picked up her impromptu wardstones they¡¯d gotten bloody again.

    ¡°You were the¡­¡±

    ¡°I know that I was the one who suggested using the blood!¡± Kassandra hissed, glaring back at me for a moment before sighing and slithering closer to me. Rather than demand a hug or add more blood to the amount liberally smeared on me, Kassandra leaned over and bumped her head against my arm to give it a quick nuzzle in apology. ¡°Sorry for snapping, Liam.¡±

    ¡°No sweat, Kass. I should have thought about it when you decided to make so many. Blood turns really sticky when it cools. I should have said something when I saw you pulling out that calligraphy brush.¡± I reflected that it honestly hadn¡¯t occurred to me what was going to happen until I¡¯d seen Kassandra start to dip the delicate brush into the little dish of cooled blood Rieka had set aside for her. It had immediately clotted into the hair and made a huge mess. Kassandra had resorted to finger-painting the runes onto her wardstone bricks. That had then ended up with her accidentally smearing some of it across her face as well when she¡¯d rubbed at her forehead. She¡¯d then gotten more on her arms and clothes when she¡¯d bundled the bricks up to carry back, but after an aggrieved sigh and grumble about ruined clothes, she kept at it.

    ¡°I need to wash up¡­I hate having to wash in lakes and streams and that water is going to be cold.¡± Kassandra whined quietly, still carrying her half of the wardstone bricks. Rieka had the other half and I was carrying the hide from the crag hunter over my shoulder.

    ¡°We could heat water by the fire and do a sponge bath.¡± I suggested, but both girls shook their heads.

    ¡°Better to wash in the lake first. A rag bath would help but we are both too much of a mess. And you definitely need a good wash and scrub in the lake.¡± Kassandra sighed again. ¡°Also, I don¡¯t want to lug the water back and forth, we only have the one cooking pot and it¡¯s not big enough to fully wash with considering my scales and Rieka¡¯s fur¡­¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t fault you there. I want a wash too.¡± Rieka agreed from her position just behind me. ¡°I am glad I brought extra clothes. Remind me next time not to wear such light colors, the stains will be impossible to get out.¡±

    ¡°At least you have some already ruined clothes to wear on further trips.¡± I suggested as we came over the hill and into view of the campsite. ¡°You could trash them, but having clothes you don¡¯t care about for stuff like this is still useful. I¡¯m going to have to go shopping soon for some other jeans, the ones I¡¯ve worn the last few times I came here are utterly destroyed from either blood or being shredded.¡±

    ¡°Sorry again about that, Liam.¡± Kassandra¡¯s expression was remorseful as she glanced up at me as we came into the clearing with the tent.

    ¡°Not anything for you to blame yourself about, Kass. I¡¯ll figure it out.¡± I reassured her immediately. ¡°You two are paying me with the mana. It¡¯s up to me to manage my budgets after all. I wouldn¡¯t trade this for anything.¡±

    ¡°You sure about, Liam?¡± Rieka asked as we came to a stop by the rough fire-pit that we¡¯d made and the girls set their burdens down. Rieka stretched with her hands in the small of her back and her tail extended behind her, getting a quiet pop out of her spine. ¡°I mean¡­If you had a stack of gold, you could sell it and live in luxury for your life. Wouldn¡¯t you want to spend time relaxing somewhere safe, surrounded by beautiful women and attentive servants? Live the life of luxury?¡±

    There was something in Rieka¡¯s tone that stopped me from immediately denying her statement and I considered what she was saying while setting down my burden as well.

    What would it be like to not have to work any more? What would I do? I thought to myself. Images of a nice house full of antique furniture, like something out of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, immediately came to mind before it skewed towards something decidedly more Addams Family and I smirked.

    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    ¡°Honestly, I don¡¯t think I¡¯d be happy just laying about all the time.¡± I said after a minute. I started to run my hands through my hair and grimaced as I remembered the tacky blood still on my hands. I¡¯d rinsed them quickly in the spring, but there was still enough under my nails and on my skin that I needed to wash up too. That wasn¡¯t even counting the extra smears I¡¯d gotten from carrying the still-bloody hide. I gripped my sword-belt instead to keep from touching my hair or face before I washed up. The last thing I needed was spreading more of the blood on me to other things.

    Gripping the sword belt reminded me of drilling with Cerebaton and what he¡¯d said as well. Some are born with the spirit of the storm within their blood. Restless harbingers¡­I turned the lines over in my mind and smirked, remembering that the daemon man had been advising me to not feel odd that I¡¯d rather fight monsters than load trucks after all.

    ¡°That makes sense. I can¡¯t imagine Liam just hanging about. Though it would be nice to be able to spend time with him whenever I want.¡± Kassandra batted her eyelashes at me with a smile that was more predatory than normal and not just because of the smears of blood she had on her hands and face. She¡¯d declined to wash more than just her hands in the spring, citing that she¡¯d rather wait till we were back at the camp and take care of it all at once.

    ¡°Sure. ¡®Spend time¡¯ with him.¡± Rieka smirked at her serpentine friend before glancing at the smoldering fire pit and sighing. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m going to go wash up at the lake. Kass, the wardstones are good, yea?¡±

    ¡°Just need to be empowered. If you take at least eight and set them up by the shore, that¡¯ll be enough space to wash. You just need to lay them out in the standard array and run mana through them. Speak a verbal password while you do so and that¡¯ll let you bring it up and down. If something tries to cross them that is large enough, it¡¯ll make a loud noise and send an elemental blast into them. So if you empower those ones, it¡¯ll be lightning. When you are done washing, I¡¯ll take my turn. Liam, your hands are the most clean, can you start preparing dinner? Rieka can finish it while we wash.¡±

    ¡°We?¡± The question dropped out of my mouth before I could consider it and Kassandra gave me a devious grin, her slitted brown eyes twinkling behind the silver rims of her spectacles.

    ¡°Well yes, I need my heater to help warm me up after the cold water¡­¡± Kassandra purred with a salacious wink before turning to collect several of the rune and blooded bricks. ¡°I¡¯m going to go lay out the better wardstones. If you can get a kettle of water going for tea as well, that might be good.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± Was my intelligent response. Kassandra purposefully put more wiggle in her hips as she slithered away, giggling to herself. Considering how much swaying she unconsciously did with her serpentine tail while moving, it was very distracting when she did it intentionally.

    ¡°Scamp.¡± Rieka chuckled. ¡°I¡¯ll take the kettle and cookpot with me, Liam. Just chop up the meat and vegetables and get the fire built up for me?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    ¡°Monosyllabic responses just from staring at her bum? Wow, you really do have it bad.¡± Rieka¡¯s teasing voice brought me out of the hip-assisted hypnosis and I blushed.

    ¡°It¡¯s not¡­¡± I started to protest, wanting to reassure her but Rieka¡¯s happily wagging tail told me I¡¯d been had.

    ¡°I can see why she likes to wind you up.¡± Rieka grinned up at me, her ears flicking happily as well. ¡°Thank you again for looking after us, Liam.¡±

    ¡°Happy to, Rieka.¡± I responded automatically. The platinum-blonde wolf woman stared up at me for several more moments in silence, her icy blue eyes piercing as she studied me intently before nodding.

    ¡°I¡¯m glad you are with us. I know you asked before and questioned the wisdom of us not having full guards here, but you trusted us when we said we wanted to do it this way. And you have gone to great lengths to keep us safe. Kassandra and I will find a way to repay you for your hard work, more than just the mana your System is compensating you, I promise.¡± Rieka¡¯s serious expression melted into her normal, gentle smile. ¡°Now though, I need to wash. I agree with Kass¡¯ earlier summation. Blood is gross.¡±

    ¡°Agreed. I¡¯ll keep an eye out while you walk to the lake, but once you have the wardstones set up, I won¡¯t peek. Promise.¡±

    ¡°I trust you, Liam.¡± Was Rieka¡¯s only response as the wolf woman collected some clothes and other things from her bag and headed down to the lake.

    I did as I had promised, watching until she had the stones set up and tapped her spell-rod to them. When she started to undress, I turned away and hurried back to the fire-pit to start on the dinner the girls had asked, only pausing to get one of the spare shirts that the girls had bought me for my traveling gear out and set it on my pack so I could change into something after we washed up. My pants were a lost cause again, but I could at least swap to a clean shirt. Kassandra was finishing up setting out the last of the wardstones and got the barrier up.

    ¡°Password for the ward is Cosgrave.¡± Kassandra explained when she returned to where I¡¯d been carefully chopping the slab of meat we¡¯d taken from the crag hunter. No idea how it¡¯ll taste, but it does make me feel better that we are at least eating some of it rather than leaving it all to rot. We¡¯d tossed everything but the skin and the slab of meat we¡¯d taken into the trees and away from the ruins to try and keep the scavengers away once we¡¯d finished skinning it. Rieka had taken several of the creature''s teeth for herself as well, but other than that we¡¯d left it alone.

    ¡°Why my last name?¡± I asked once her statement had sunk in.

    ¡°Only us three know it. You should keep it a secret too. It¡¯s also complex enough a sound to work and not something that will be called out at random.¡± Kassandra shrugged, glancing around then shooting me a questioning look. ¡°Where¡¯s Rieka?¡±

    ¡°Washing still, I think. I kept watch till she had the warded area by the water set up, then gave her privacy.¡±

    Kassandra¡¯s questioning look shifted to a gentle smile and she nodded.

    ¡°You are very considerate, Liam. Most would still take the opportunity to peek at a young lady in the name of ¡®keeping watch¡¯¡­but I know you are not lying.¡±

    ¡°You two trust me, I¡¯d never violate that trust. Not without a very good reason.¡±

    ¡°I know, Liam. That¡¯s why I want you to help me clean up. I got blood on my scales earlier and I really do need a hand getting it scrubbed off.¡± Kassandra turned away and started to reach into her bag before grimacing. ¡°Liam, do you have something I can wipe my hands on? I got some more of the blood from the wardstones on them¡­¡±

    Glancing around, I tried to find a bit of cloth Kassandra could use, but nothing presented itself. I had just started chopping up the slab of meat we¡¯d taken from the critter and my hands, which had been clean only a minute ago were now covered in meat juices. The only thing I can think of is¡­I thought then sighed.

    ¡°Yea, if you stick your head in the tent, there should be a shirt on top of my pack. You can use that to wipe your hands off.¡±

    ¡°Liam, I can¡¯t use that!¡± Kassandra protested, pulling her head back out of the tent and scowling at me. ¡°I don¡¯t think you¡¯ve even worn that once since we bought it for you!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just a shirt, Kass. I can wash it at the lake.¡± I didn¡¯t meet her eyes, though I could feel them digging into the side of my head.

    ¡°Idiot.¡± Kassandra huffed a moment later. ¡°You really need to think about yourself more often, Liam.¡±

    That comment hurt a bit, but it also echoed something a few friends had told me about before.

    Hell, it¡¯s the reason you were so ready to agree to sign up to be an interdimensional bodyguard after all. You had a pair of cute girls ask you for a favor and you caved immediately. I sighed and turned to look towards Kassandra, who was carefully using her tail to tease something out of her pack. The tip of her tail was dexterous, but not nearly as much so as her hands as she fished about.

    ¡°Got it! Should have thought of that originally.¡± Kassandra cheered as she finally got something within reach and tugged loose a small roll of cloth. She carefully unrolled it and used her belt knife to cut off a section as long as her arm before dropping the roll back on top of her bag.

    ¡°What is that?¡±

    ¡°Bandages! Well, basically it¡¯s just spare cloth but it¡¯ll do for a rag to wipe my hands with.¡± Kassandra shot me another grin that made her eyes twinkle and my heart lurched at the sight of her happy expression. Trying to stall, I focused back on the chopping and asked a question that I¡¯d been holding onto.

    ¡°Why shouldn¡¯t I tell people my full name?¡± Kassandra hummed quietly as she finished cleaning her hands and got clean clothes out before answering.

    ¡°For summoned creatures, having their full name makes it easier to summon and command them. Not sure if the same rule applies for Travelers, but it¡¯s better to be safe than sorry. Plus, it makes a good password.¡± She answered and I glanced back to catch her staring at me once more.

    ¡°Kass, I¡¯m done. Let me back in through the wards! I don¡¯t know what you set them to do, but I also don¡¯t wanna find out on accident!¡± Rieka¡¯s voice broke into the staring contest between the two of us and I blinked, looking away from Kassandra to see Rieka on her way up the slope, the pot and kettle in either hand and her hair still dark with moisture.

    ¡°Finish up with that, Liam. I need to get washed up and you are going to help me.¡± Kassandra¡¯s imperious command made me spin back around to look at her. She was grinning again, a full smile that showed off all her teeth while her eyes twinkled merrily. We locked eyes once more and Kassandra gave me a long, slow wink full of promise before undulating over to the wardstones she¡¯d set up on the path to tell the wolf woman the password.

    Turning back to the ingredients piled on the rough cutting board, I stared at my hands as I thought about what she¡¯d said.

    ¡°I thought she was kidding about washing her¡­¡± I muttered while my mind drifted over the vague memories of her body cuddling close to me for warmth under her blankets. ¡°Yea, that¡¯s more like it. She just needs something to warm her up¡­¡±

 Chapter 30 <3 <3 <3

    Following Kassandra down to the lakeshore, I considered what had happened over the last few days and the pointed conversations that I¡¯d had with Kassandra.

    If she¡¯s wanting more than just a space heater to cuddle with, what am I going to do? I thought to myself while the dwarf lamia in question hummed happily as she led the way down the path.

    I thumbed the handle of my broken sword with one hand idly. While the weapon was snapped partway down the blade, having a weapon on hand would still be enough to discourage casual observers. The blade had a strap to hold it in the sheath as well, so I could still use it as a rather clumsy club in a pinch if I didn¡¯t want to use my claws or any other shifted weapon.

    Kassandra told me to remember that she¡¯s an adult and able to make her own decisions¡­So if she decides she wants to do something then that is her call. My choice is¡­Do I want to do something? The thought floated across my mind like a cloud scooting across a clear sky and I sighed. The gusty noise must have caught Kassandra¡¯s attention because the perky redhead turned to shoot a grin up at me without stopping her movement.

    The angle that Kassandra turned at put the open front of her shirt on display and the expanse of freckled cleavage glimmered with just a bit of sweat still after our earlier battle and the hike back to camp.

    ¡°Everything okay, Liam?¡± Kassandra¡¯s voice was full of mirth and her intelligent, brown eyes twinkled merrily behind her spectacles. The swaying of her movement also made her hips move in a matching rhythm. The skirt Kassandra had on clung to her hips and left little to the imagination of the shape of her bottom.

    ¡°Yup, just thinking is all.¡± I said quickly, tearing my eyes off that swaying curve to meet a hooded gaze that told me I¡¯d been caught. Her smirk told me she wasn¡¯t angry though.

    ¡°Well, don¡¯t think too hard. Gotta keep focused on the here and now. Getting lost in your thoughts means you might miss something worthwhile, after all.¡± Kassandra sang with a grin, giving her shoulders a bit of a shake that sent delicious ripples through her chest before she faced forward once more with a delighted laugh.

    ¡°Fair point.¡± I mumbled, blinking after her for a moment before taking a deep breath and nodding once.

    If she¡¯s going to actually make good on all this teasing, then I need to decide ahead of time if I am going to accept it or not. I thought to myself as we exited the trees and reached the open space that bordered the lake.

    I could see the space that Rieka had warded with the carved bricks; it was partially sheltered by some trees that came right up to the shoreline but still had space as well as a large section of pebbled beach. The bricks that marked the ward edge were set in plain sight on the edge of the beach. In combination with the obviously wet stones where Rieka had washed or dried herself it was impossible to miss. Need to make sure we camouflage those for the future but they should do just fine for now with only animals around us.

    Kassandra stopped by the edge of the water and pouted at it for a long moment before throwing her head back with a growl and glaring at the sky. Her tail did a rapid shuffle/wriggle/thrash that made me think she would be stomping a foot if she had them.

    ¡°Ugh, I hate the cold! At least the stones are still sun warmed¡­¡± She snarled before dropping her clean clothes on a dry part of the pebbled beach and began unlacing the leather underbust corset she had on over top of her shirt.

    Are you attracted to Kass? I asked myself numbly and after a moment of reflection. I allowed my eyes to trace over the brick-red and earthy-brown pattern of her scales to where it disappeared under her skirt. Somewhere under there the scales would turn into bare skin and the more familiar form of a woman. She was younger than me¡­but only by a few years if her words were to be believed. The fact that Kassandra¡¯s proportions would have put her closer to half my height than equal to me was something I¡¯d gotten used to. Her size difference wasn¡¯t that big of a deal, I¡¯d known a Chinese girl in high school who would have been the same size as Kassandra if the dwarf lamia had legs. Yea, but Su Zhang didn¡¯t have Kass¡¯ curves¡­

    ¡°Yes.¡± I muttered to myself, finding that giving voice to the decision actually helped me cement it. Reservations that I¡¯d been carrying fell away from my shoulders and I nodded once. If Kass is interested, then I am as well. If there are issues, we can talk about it. If she doesn¡¯t want me to do more than just help her wash and warm her up again, then I¡¯ll accept that too. But if she wants more, then I do as well. But that doesn¡¯t give me free reign to demand anything either.

    ¡°Liam. If you are going to help me wash, you should at least get the armor off. I know it''s damaged but getting the leather wet will only make it worse.¡± Kassandra¡¯s voice cut through my resolve and made me jump. I turned to look at her and was struck by the vision of beauty that sat before me.

    I¡¯d seen Kassandra naked before. During that hurried sprint to dry her off and warm her up after the combination of the prank and her ice magic had backfired to nearly freeze her to death I¡¯d had to strip her wet clothes off. Then I had done my absolute best to not stare or even look at her bare body while I rushed to help her. The fact that she¡¯d been pressed against me to warm up after the fact made it a bit pointless, but I had still tried. As I caught sight of her now though, Kassandra was in the process of undoing the clasps that held her skirt in place and unwrapping her hips, having already tossed her shirt and corset aside..

    The full mounds of her large breasts sat proudly on her bare chest. A dusting of freckles graced the pale globes that were only lightly tanned from the sun. Russet colored areolas circled nipples that stood firmly at attention like a pair of pencil erasers on top of those soft peaks, each casting their own slight shadow over her skin in the evening light. The curves of her chest lead down into a trim waist that flared back out into broad hips. About a hand-span down from her hip bones, the pale skin transitioned smoothly into her scales. The line of scales followed down her legs to dive into the cleft of what would be her inner thighs and back up the other side. As she turned, I saw that the scales followed the same path along her bottom, cupping the bottom edge of her firm bottom like a pair of high sided stockings. There was no split between her ¡®thighs¡¯ though. Her plump bottom firmly met the edge of the scales, the bottom curve of her ass cheek the defining line where scale met skin.

    ¡°Like what you see, Liam?¡± Kassandra purred in a sultry voice as she tossed her skirt onto the stones nearby. She turned more fully towards me and reached up with both hands to tangle them in her hair, fluffing the curling auburn mass out once and allowing her breasts to bounce several times in a hypnotizing motion that made my mouth go dry. She posed there like that, allowing me to take her in entirely and I accepted gratefully. And she was beautiful, despite the smears of dirt and blood on her face, hands, and body from the day''s brand of excitement.

    Her slim stomach led down into a carefully trimmed thatch of red curls above her pubic mound. The slit of her sex was angled slightly forward and up to accommodate its position on the front of her pubic mound rather than between a set of legs. It was reassuringly familiar, save for that slight difference of angle. As I watched, the neatly folded lips of her vulva seemed to flush a bit and I was sure I saw them moisten and puff up more while I stared.

    With an effort of will that felt titanic, I drug my gaze from her body up to her slitted, brown eyes. Several emotions danced behind her spectacles, the only piece of clothing she still wore. Amusement, arousal, and a touch of¡­was that fear?

    Why would Kass be afraid¡­oh. I thought. She¡¯s afraid I¡¯m not attracted to her¡­silly girl. That knowledge actually served to help get me moving, as I wanted to reassure my companion. Striding across the pebbled beach, I stopped in front of the still posing snake-girl and smiled down at her.

    ¡°Like is not a strong enough word, Kass. I find you irresistibly attractive even without having had a chance to wash up. Shall we get you scrubbed down so your scales can shine as much as they deserve to?¡± I said gently, gesturing towards the water with one hand while the other unclipped the broken sword from my belt to set down.

    ¡°Sure¡­¡± Kassandra¡¯s voice was uncertain, but there was a note of hope to it as well. ¡°Thank you, Liam. It¡¯s good of you to say that.¡±

    Deciding to take a cue from Kassandra¡¯s rampant teasing, I threw caution to the winds and began stripping off my armor and clothes in rapid fashion while I spoke.

    ¡°Oh, saying is only part of it. I figure you¡¯ll see the truth of the matter soon.¡± I teased gently, having already tossed my shirt and armored tunic aside.

    There was a moment of hesitation as I undid my belt, but the frank conversations I¡¯d had both with Kassandra as well as myself allowed me the confidence to strip entirely and stand as bare as my companion on the shore of the lake.

    Kassandra had started to say something but as soon as I¡¯d stripped off my shirt and armor, she stopped and stared. Her eyes raced over my torso in consideration but widened in surprise when I undid my belt as well and let my pants fall to the ground.

    I¡¯d been aroused ever since I¡¯d been caught staring at her bottom on the walk down. Now, with the vision of miniature beauty in front of me, I was as hard as stone. Dropping trou like I had left my hardened manhood waving in the wind though and I had to fight the urge to cover myself. I¡¯ve never really bothered to measure my junk. I know a lot of guys do but I was happy in the knowledge that the handful of partners I¡¯ve been with have all said I was ¡®comfortably above average¡¯ and that was enough for me. Kassandra though seemed fixated on the throbbing helmet of my shaft as it bobbed in front of me.

    ¡°Kass?¡± The one word broke her out of her daze and the normally teasing temptress in front of me glanced upwards, biting her bottom lip idly. She was blushing lightly and her slitted eyes were wide. ¡°It¡¯s okay. I¡¯m not expecting anything, but I thought it was only fair that you got to see me like this, since you gave me that gift already.¡± Reaching between us, I cupped her right cheek gently and she smiled, her eyes squinting into thin slits as she leaned into my hand and nuzzled it lightly.

    ¡°Oh, you are going to get something, Liam.¡± Kassandra teased, her eyes popping open again and she giggled. ¡°Come on, let''s get washed up.¡±

    ¡°As you wish.¡± I smiled down at her, knowing that she wouldn¡¯t get the reference. The smile she sent back at me sent my heart-rate skyrocketing.

    ¡°Come on big guy. I¡¯m not going to get in any deeper than I have to, so grab that brush.¡± Kassandra pointed to a dense looking brush next to her clothes and slithered quickly over the stones. She handed me her spectacles when she passed by, and I accepted them without a question.

    ¡°You sure we shouldn¡¯t just use the kettle or cookpot to boil some water to wash that way?¡± I asked, walking carefully across the beach to grab the brush before coming back. Thankfully, none of the stones were sharp underfoot since I¡¯d left my boots by the pile of dirty clothes.

    ¡°We could. Like I said before, it¡¯s not worth running back and forth to fill the pots. Sure, we could build a fire down here but actually heating enough water to wash my scales would take too long to be practical.¡± Kassandra said with a reluctant sigh. ¡°And I¡¯d still have to deal with a similar problem while waiting for each refilled pot to heat and the water cooling on my scales while we waited. It¡¯d also delay dinner since we¡¯d need to use the cooking pot. Something else I¡¯m hoping to change when we get a dimensional pack or satchel. It¡¯s not worth bringing an extra pot just to wash unless we have a wagon. A rag bath wouldn¡¯t be too bad to be honest, but I want to feel clean again.¡±

    ¡°This isn¡¯t going to make you shut down like you did that one time?¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯ll go sluggish first and that¡¯ll take a good half an hour. Unless I decide to summon undirected ice magic while I¡¯m in the water, I¡¯ll be fine. Easiest way to do this is if you walk out into the shallows and let me coil you, Liam. I¡¯m honestly just being a bit of a whiner.¡± Kassandra gave me a wan smile before turning back to the water. I followed close behind her as she slithered into the lake and the cool water rapidly engulfed her serpentine body.

    Kassandra gave a full body shudder before gritting her teeth and bending to scoop some of the lake water up to splash over her hands and face. The water left sparkling beads all across her front that caught the light in a beautiful and distracting pattern. I only stared for a moment before I got myself back under control and hurried over to help.

    The brush she¡¯d had me get was roughly the size of my palm and round. A woven strap on the back allowed me to slip my hand under it and hold onto the brush. With it in hand, I hurried over to join the beautiful woman bathing quickly in the cool water of the lake.

    Stepping into the water, I discovered that while it was cold, the water wasn¡¯t as frigid as it had been when I was wading in the spring earlier. Something that Kassandra seemed to be grateful for. Starting with the tip of her tail, I set to carefully scrubbing at the scales to clean them. There were only a few patches that were stained with blood from the fight and subsequent work with skinning the crag hunter, but I made sure to go over her entire tail and be quick about it while Kassandra worked on her arms, face, and hair.

    ¡°Hmm, I should have known it¡­but you are good with your hands, Liam.¡± Kassandra murmured, sending me a demure smile over her shoulder that ensured my erection wasn¡¯t fading in the least despite the cool environs. The water only came up to my knees at the moment, but covered Kassandra¡¯s entire body and while it wasn¡¯t freezing, it wasn¡¯t warm either.

    ¡°Happy to put them to use, Kass. How are you feeling? Not too chilled?¡± I had made it roughly halfway up her length at this point and only looked up at a quiet splash to see the serpent woman scoop up another handful of water to pour over her front. I didn¡¯t think her nipples could have gotten harder at this point, the sharp peaks having already been pert enough to cast their own shadows, but they tightened as the water ran over them.

    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°Yea. I¡¯m going to be clingy in just a bit. I¡¯d honestly thought this would be worse, but having you near helps.¡± I felt something twineing around my feet and I glanced down to find the bottom half of Kassandra¡¯s tail slowly wrapping around my legs like she normally did in greeting.

    Well she did say she wanted to wrap me¡­probably to help keep as warm as possible.

    ¡°Do what you need to. If you start getting too cold, let me know to get you out of the water.¡± I reminded her, getting a slight smile from the dwarf lamia and a little giggle that sent another alluring bounce through her firm breasts. She started running her hands over those curved mounds and scrubbing at the dirt with her hands. To distract myself, I tried to focus on the rest of her tail. I worked the brush firmly over her scales to scrub her up as quickly as possible without hurting her.

    It only took another minute or two for me to reach her firm hips and bottom, moving sideways so that I didn¡¯t knock her over as her tail continued to wrap itself around my legs slowly. This helped to elevate her up and out of the water some as I went along. Though it did end up with her hip brushing against my throbbing erection more than once in a fashion that only made my arousal worse.

    ¡°Liam, can I have the brush?¡± Kassandra asked as I carefully scrubbed at the last patch of scales on her thigh. I handed the brush over without a moment of hesitation.

    She probably needs it to scrub her arms. I should ask if I can borrow it to scrub myself up when she¡¯s safely out of the water. This feeling of blood stuck to my chest is creepy and I can¡¯t wait to feel clean again. I thought to myself as Kassandra shifted, twining around me a bit more. Movement at the corner of my vision drew my eye up the hill towards the campsite and I saw Rieka trotting from the firepit towards the tree that held our tied up food supplies. Wonder what I forgot for the stew?

    The only warning I got was a devious giggle before I felt soft skin envelop my shaft when Kassandra pressed herself to my lower torso. Gasping in surprise, I looked down to find the redheaded minx grinning up at me. Her full breasts enveloped my shaft, leaving only the head poking out above them for the moment.

    ¡°Kass, what are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Well that is a silly question, Liam.¡± Kassandra shot back with a grin before she started scrubbing gently at my chest with the brush. The gentle back and forth of the brush provided a surprising counterpoint to the soft rocking of her chest that stroked my shaft and I had to fight down a groan.

    ¡°Seriously?¡± I ground out, reaching down to grip her shoulders but Kassandra wiggled away with a quick laugh before catching my shaft in her cleavage again and squeezing her soft mounds between her forearms and going back to scrubbing at me.

    ¡°Seriously, Liam. Hold still while I get this cleaned up now.¡± She purred, her eyes dancing wickedly. Without her glasses, her eyes seemed larger and those slitted iris¡¯ of hers flared with amusement and what I hoped was desire. The continual stimulation of her soft, wet flesh against my cock was beginning to drive me mad. I nearly fell over that particular edge when Kassandra, keeping her eyes locked with mine, bent down and pressed a kiss to the tip of my cock.

    A growl of desire rose from my throat that made the petite woman shiver and blink up at me, her lips still poised to drop another gentle peck on the head of my shaft.

    ¡°Kassandra.¡± The one word growl sent another shiver down the dwarf lamia¡¯s body that I felt go from her shoulders all the way to where the tip of her tail wrapped around my right ankle.

    ¡°Liam?¡± She murmured. Her left hand on my hip and the right still carefully scrubbing at my abs with the brush but her eyes never left mine.

    ¡°If you keep doing that, I¡¯m not going to be able to hold myself back.¡± My voice was thick with desire. Kassandra liked to tease, I knew that. It was something she¡¯d made abundantly clear ever since I met her all those weeks ago. But she¡¯d never been cruel about it either. This level of teasing though was pushing it a bit too far.

    A small smile darted across her puckered lips and she gave a long, slow blink of her eyes before nodding slightly. She didn¡¯t protest or even speak, she just leaned lower to repeat that soft kiss on my cock.

    ¡°You deserve better than a tumble in the forest, Kass.¡± I murmured, lifting one hand from her shoulders to stroke through her tangled hair gently. Kassandra hummed quietly and leaned her head to one side again to nuzzle into my hand, but didn¡¯t move away. I could feel her breath tickling my sensitive skin as the moment continued to stretch and neither of us looked away from the other.

    ¡°It¡¯s sweet of you to say that, Liam.¡± Kassandra said at last and I let out a long breath. I was relieved that she¡¯d accepted my last attempt to be chivalrous. While I agreed not to deny her or my desire, she did deserve a bed at least. Then I gasped in surprise as she opened her mouth and enveloped the head of my shaft with her lips in one smooth motion.

    The difference between the cool water and Kassandra¡¯s hot mouth was enough to make my whole body tremble. The relaxed grip I had on her shoulder and in her hair tightened immediately as I clenched in surprise. This had the inadvertent effect of pulling Kassandra¡¯s head further towards me, both burying her face in her own cleavage and shoving my shaft further into her mouth.

    Kassandra didn¡¯t protest. In fact she actually moaned sharply and the hand on my hip clenched possessively. Her fingers dug into my skin and she moaned again. The vibration rattled up my cock, into my spine, and up into my brain in a whirl of pleasure, stimulation, and pure erotic need.

    The gentle sensation of her tongue against the sensitive head of my shaft made my hips jerk in surprise and Kassandra moaned again, sending another thrill through my body.

    It took all of my willpower to not immediately begin thrusting into her hot, wet mouth. While Kassandra had a partially serpentine body, I¡¯d learned that she didn¡¯t have fangs. There wasn¡¯t any more threat in her beautiful mouth than a normal woman¡¯s, but there was a wealth of pleasure there and I had to fight hard to not immediately climax while she clumsily played her tongue over my shaft. The movements were clumsy, but the affection was there and it was driving me wild.

    With shaking hands, I gently drew her back. Kassandra moaned again, this time in disappointment as her mouth came off my shaft with a quiet pop, though she gave the head a parting lick as I gently pulled her back. Her normally intelligent eyes were fogged over with desire as she looked up at me, a faint blush on her cheeks and darting down to join the freckles smattered across her chest.

    ¡°Liam¡­¡± Kassandra whined.

    ¡°Kass, I warned you. Why?¡±

    ¡°I want you, Liam. Don¡¯t you want me?¡±

    ¡°But you deserve¡­¡± I tried to protest again and Kassandra growled, the lust fogging her eyes fading away and she glared up at me for a long moment.

    ¡°Liam, I don¡¯t care where we are. I want you. I¡¯ve tried being subtle. I¡¯ve tried teasing. I¡¯ve tried being blatant. None are working and you haven¡¯t outright told me no either. So either you want me and we can continue, or tell me now that you aren¡¯t interested.¡± She snapped, pouting up at me in such an adorable fashion that I couldn¡¯t help myself. I did want this woman after all.

    Squatting down caused Kassandra¡¯s coils to loosen slightly as her face fell, apparently expecting rejection. That expression faded into surprise as I wrapped my arms around her, tucking both hands under her curved ass, before I scooped her human torso up in my arms and lifted her up once more to be face to face. The gesture took more strength than I had expected, due to the weight of her serpentine body, but Kass reacted instinctively and used her coiled body to push herself up higher and pressed her body against mine.

    The cool sensation of her scales around my thighs and brushing over my manhood was another stimulation that I hadn¡¯t expected to feel nice but I set it aside as I pulled Kassandra against my chest. Her breasts pillowed out softly around the sharp points of her nipples that dug into my skin.

    ¡°Of course I want you, Kassandra Silverscale. I should have known better, and I should have listened to you sooner.¡± I murmured, not looking away from her glittering eyes. Kassandra¡¯s entire face lit up with a broad grin and she lunged forward to kiss me.

    Her coils tightened around my body rapidly and with all her strength at once. Several joints popped and my spine clicked twice as I learned that, while Kassandra didn¡¯t have fangs, she definitely inherited constrictor traits with her serpentine half. This also had the effect of trapping my manhood against her slim stomach and I could feel a hot something pressing against the underside of my shaft that took my mind a moment to recognize.

    ¡°Liam, thank you. I¡­You are just so handsome, sweet, and kind that I have wanted you ever since I saw you. That only got worse every time we worked together and every time you saved me.¡± Kassandra panted in between kisses, her hips writhing in my grip and that caused that spot of heat to rub back and forth on my shaft as well as her nipples to drag across my chest. I could feel something wet against the underside of my cock that definitely wasn¡¯t lake water.

    ¡°Just looking after my girls.¡± I replied blithely. I almost flinched. I¡¯d never called them ¡®my girls¡¯ to her face before. I had no idea how Kassandra would react to hearing it. She gave a purring growl and leaned in to kiss me again.

    ¡°Oh yes, I like that. I¡¯m one of your girls. You are going to have so many of us, I think. But I have you right now and I¡¯m going to enjoy you. I promised I¡¯d climb you like a tree when I could.¡± Kassandra purred into my ear before nipping lightly at the lobe. ¡°And I intend to eat all the fruit of that tree.¡± She continued, her coils squeezing my hips gently.

    ¡°You sure you want to do this while in the lake?¡± I ground out, kneading her pert bottom with my hands while Kassandra continued to writhe against me.

    ¡°I¡¯m not in the lake, Liam. You are, I¡¯m just warming up.¡± Was Kassandra¡¯s giggled response. She opened her mouth to say something else but her continual wiggling, writhing, and grinding against me had finally shifted her just far enough that the head of my shaft caught in the cleft of her womanhood and I sank into her with a shared groan.

    While Kassandra might have been cold blooded naturally, her insides were definitely not chill in any way. The wet heat of her sex coiled about me just like her serpentine half was coiling around my hips and legs. I didn¡¯t care that we were only half washed, or that we were standing basically on the shoreline of a lake without any shelter. There was a temptress in my arms and she¡¯d get what she wanted and had been asking for this whole time. My will was finally breaking.

    Kassandra moaned something, it might have been my name or it might have been a command, but she moaned all the same as a full body shiver went through her. True to her word previously about lacking a hymen, my shaft sunk into her without resistance until it was buried in her petite body. Rhythmic trembles and shakes raced through her. Kassandra continued to cling to me for several seconds before they calmed down. Her sweet slit clenched and pulled at my cock, coiling around me like she did as it demanded a different sort of warmth.

    ¡°Oh gods¡­¡± Kassandra moaned again, meeting my eyes with her own lust-clouded gaze. ¡°Is this what I¡¯ve been teasing you about? If I¡¯d known, I¡¯d have jumped you that day in my room¡­maybe sooner. So warm inside me.¡± Kassandra let out another long moan and buried her face in my chest. The brush had been discarded and was floating in the water next to me, while she clung hard to my chest with both hands.

    ¡°This is only the start, Kass.¡± I said quietly. My voice was more of a deep growl at this point. The words sent a shiver through the dwarf lamia that clung to me. I felt her mouth move like she was about to speak but I¡¯d already acted. Using my improved strength and the grip I had on her bottom, I pulled Kassandra up before letting her fall back down on my shaft. I angled my hips so that I could sink into her easily but I did not thrust up into her. Despite the length of her serpentine body, Kassandra was a petite girl after all and I didn¡¯t want to hurt her. So instead, I kept it slow and let gravity do the work so she could adjust.

    If this is really her first time, then I need to be gentle to let her get used to me. I thought as a guttural moan rose from my lover.

    ¡°More¡­¡± Kassandra moaned as I finished the second repetition of ¡®lift and drop¡¯.

    ¡°Slowly there, sexy. Don¡¯t want to hurt you.¡± I murmured into her tangled mess of red hair. I pressed a kiss into the hollow of her neck, just below her ear.

    ¡°More!¡± Kassandra demanded firmly this time, tossing her head back to glare up at me. Naked desire colored her features and the faint dusting of freckles over the bridge of her nose barely peeked out of the lustful blush that colored her skin.

    Kassandra used her grip on my hips and thighs with her tail to lift herself up before yanking herself down to be impaled on my cock once more. This got a groan of pleasure from both of us as our hips connected with a wet slap.

    I shifted slightly and dug my feet into the sandy bottom of the lake to steady myself. Kassandra began to use her unique body and serpentine qualities to bounce up and down on my shaft in a steadily increasing rhythm. The motion sent her breasts swaying, though not by much considering how tightly pressed to my chest they were.

    ¡°More, Liam! More! Fill me up, I want to feel you climax inside me. Give me that heat, that warmth that I¡¯ve read and heard about!¡± Kassandra demanded in between thrusts, her hips writhing in desire while I just had to hang on and try to keep my balance as the cool water of the lake splashed and slopped around us while our hips ground together, lewd clapping noises rippled over the lake shore.

    Kassandra leaned back, throwing her head back to moan loudly while her hips pumped. This allowed her jiggling breasts to finally be displayed before me like a beautiful meal and I wasn¡¯t about to stop myself.

    When my lips met her left nipple, Kassandra squeaked in surprise and her insides clenched down on my shaft suddenly before writhing in a milking motion from base to tip and back again. I had to leave my hands on her bottom to help support her, as the grip of her tail had slackened. Since I couldn¡¯t bring my hands into play to share the love, I kissed my way across those trembling mountains to lay another affectionate kiss onto her right nipple. I could feel my climax rising fast but from her gushing slit, I knew Kassandra wasn¡¯t far behind.

    ¡°Liam!¡± Kassandra moaned sharply and her whole body clenched again. ¡°Please¡­?¡± The begging tone trailed off as her sex squeezed me once more and shoved me right off the edge into my climax.

    Kassandra¡¯s entire body went slack at the first blast of my seed into her, but the second one apparently triggered another contraction and she tightened around me with a wail of pleasure.

    Her sex gripped me like a fist while she forced herself upright and buried her face in my neck to muffle the wordless cry of exultation and joy. I heard her crying bits of words that sounded like ¡®hot¡¯, ¡®hard¡¯, ¡®warm¡¯, or ¡®love¡¯. I wasn¡¯t entirely sure what she was saying but it was clearly joyful as I emptied myself into the welcoming cleft of her body in a molten rush.

    The trembling continued for several long seconds and we were just coming down from the climax when a loud gasp finally penetrated the haze of climax and drew my attention back to the shore.

    Rieka stood just out of the treeline with her spell rod in one hand. A look of surprise fought with a blush of embarrassment as she stared at the two of us in such an intimate pose. Kassandra was arching her back away from me and using her arms around my neck to grind her hips into mine while her breasts trembled on display.

    ¡°Hey Rieka. Come join us?¡± Kassandra laughed tiredly, peeking over her shoulder at her friend. Rieka¡¯s blush doubled in intensity and she blinked rapidly in surprise for several long seconds before shaking her head and turning to race back up the hill towards the campsite.

    ¡°Did you have to tease her, Kass? We could have been far more subtle than we were¡­no need to throw it in her face.¡± I chastised her gently. I got a wicked grin, a kiss on the cheek, and another squeeze from where her sex remained clamped around me.

    ¡°That¡¯s no fun. And besides, she enjoyed it. Almost had her too, I think.¡±

    ¡°What makes you say that, my lovely minx?¡± The term of affection made Kassandra glow with happiness before she answered my question.

    ¡°Oh that is simple, Liam. Her tail was wagging the entire time and didn¡¯t stop once. That wolf will want a piece of you, I¡¯m sure of it.¡± She purred suggestively before squeezing my still hard shaft with her womanhood again. I groaned in desire at the sensation as well as the mental image of the platinum-blonde wolf woman.

    ¡°Whatever you say, Kass.¡± I said when I¡¯d had control over myself. I was lucky enough to score time with this beautiful snake woman, I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d get lucky enough that lightning would strike twice and the exotic wolf woman would also actually be interested in me.

    ¡°Good boy, Liam. You¡¯ll learn to trust my judgment on these things soon. I promise.¡± Kassandra said with a grin, swaying slightly and dragging her soft breasts across my chest in a steady rhythm. ¡°Now, let''s finish getting cleaned up. You did a wonderful job warming me up this time, but I don¡¯t want to keep Rieka waiting. Or do I? I definitely want to taste you again, that was fun¡­¡±

    The sensual wink was enough to make me tense up for a moment and this had the handy effect of making my shaft jump inside of Kassandra. Her eyes went wide and she glanced down in surprise at the sensation. I couldn¡¯t help chuckling and did it again. Tensing the muscles in my stomach, I made my shaft jump inside her once more. This drew a squeak of surprise from Kassandra and she shot me a playful frown before we both began to laugh.

 Chapter 31

    Returning to the campsite with Kassandra in tow, we found Rieka sitting woodenly by the fire while stirring the bubbling pot of stew that hung on the hook over the fire.

    ¡°Hey there, Rieka.¡± Kassandra trilled happily, slithering quickly past her friend to drape her wet things by the fire to finish drying before heading towards the tent.

    ¡°Kass¡­¡± Rieka said her voice was slightly strained. Before she could say more the dwarf lamia was already headfirst in the tent, humming loudly. Rieka¡¯s ears were laid back and since I was behind her, I couldn¡¯t tell what sort of expression she had on her face at the moment to guess her mood. Her tail was still so it didn¡¯t provide any other clues.

    Deciding to try and play peacemaker, I walked over and settled onto the other log seat that we¡¯d been using, draping my torn and wet shirt over the log. I¡¯d decided to just wear the wet pants once they were clean and let the fire dry them while I wore them.

    ¡°Hey, Rieka. Sorry you saw that.¡± I said gently, glancing over the fire at the still blushing wolf woman.

    ¡°It¡¯s not your fault, Liam. I¡­well¡­¡± Rieka huffed in irritation after meeting my eyes once and looking away. Her ears popped upright as she scowled down into the fire. ¡°I heard someone scream and came rushing down to see what it was. I thought one of you had been attacked.¡±

    ¡°Liam got attacked all right.¡± Kassandra cut in before I could speak, laughter in her voice. The peppy redhead slithered back over to the fire, taking up a spot between Rieka and I. With nimble fingers, she unlocked her spell rod and began swapping out the spent mana coins from the earlier fighting, inspecting each one before either returning it to the rod or exchanging it for a fresh one. ¡°It was just me that attacked him. Boy that was a lot of fun, more than the books made it seem like. Gonna have to see if I can¡¯t find any more books on techniques. Especially that thing with my mouth¡­¡± Kassandra giggled, bouncing her eyebrows at me. I just rolled my eyes, not wanting to encourage her.

    After our interlude earlier the teasing from Kassandra honestly didn¡¯t bother me as much anymore. She was a flirt, but she also cared about me. And even as thick as I was regarding women, I could see that. It didn¡¯t hurt that I was rapidly developing feelings for her as well, or maybe it was that I finally acknowledged the attraction that had been growing.

    For Rieka too. I thought quietly, glancing between the two as Rieka glared at her friend and Kassandra blithely ignored her. Whether that is more than just thinking of her like a little sister or a close friend is yet to be seen. I know whatever happens with Kass, it¡¯s going to be complicated. Screw it, I¡¯m just going to take her advice and handle things one day at a time. I remembered her chastisement only an hour before about thinking for myself and nodded.

    ¡°See! Even Liam agrees!¡± Kassandra¡¯s loud statement drew me out of my introspection and I shook my head, glancing between them in confusion.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Kass, you really have to stop trying to trick people into agreeing on things¡­¡± Rieka sighed, taking a sip of the stew from the ladle she was stirring with to taste test it. ¡°I haven¡¯t fallen for that since I was eight, and I¡¯m sure Liam knows better too.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure he¡¯d agree if he wasn¡¯t still distracted by what we got up to by the lake.¡± Kassandra snickered, shooting me a blatant wink and I couldn¡¯t help but laugh along with her.

    ¡°Kass, I¡¯m distracted by everything you do. What happened earlier was just another step on that road.¡± I shot back at her with an arched eyebrow.

    Surprisingly, a blush spread across Kassandra¡¯s features and she smiled warmly, her eyes darting down to her spell rod while she bit her lower lip.

    ¡°How, by all the gods, did you manage to do that?¡± Rieka asked in astonishment.

    ¡°Do what?¡±

    ¡°Shut her down so effectively? I¡¯ve known Kassandra for over a decade and I¡¯ve never gotten her to stop teasing that fast.¡± Rieka demanded. I eyed the platinum-blonde woman for a moment, checking her ears and tail to see if they gave away her mood at all. Her black-tipped ears were upright and quivering and her fluffy tail was swaying slowly behind her.

    Amusement then. I thought to myself. Wonder if I can make them a matched set with the blushes?

    ¡°Kassandra is beautiful, intelligent, vivacious, and fierce. I just tell her the truth about that fact and because she trusts me, she believes it. Just like you are kind, clever, and stunning as well, Rieka. I am just as easily distracted around you. I¡¯m just getting the hang of fighting it back so I can focus and do my best to look after two wonderful women.¡±

    Rieka¡¯s blush, which had faded once the conversation had turned away from sex, returned in full force. Her ears folded down to either side but I could still see that banner of her tail whipping back and forth and it was stirring up a storm.

    Nailed it.

    ¡°Ha! Got one!¡± Kassandra broke the silence a moment later, brandishing an iron disc she¡¯d just taken from her spell rod.

    ¡°Got what?¡± Rieka asked, happy to use the distraction to try and break past the embarrassment from my complements. She busied herself with pouring the tea from the little kettle into tin mugs now that she¡¯d judged it to be done brewing.

    ¡°I only need a bit of mana for a spell and I couldn¡¯t quite tell with them mounted in the rod still. Didn¡¯t want to have multiple partially drained ones.¡± Kassandra explained, holding the coin out in her palm. It was faintly glimmering with the imbued mana, but not as brightly as the fully charged ones. The imprinted images were the standard for the Coldeye Queendom, but it was definitely duller than the regular mana infused ones the girls used for spells and for shopping on occasion but not as dull as a drained coin.

    ¡°Oh? What spell did you need?¡± I asked, leaning back and accepting the mug of tea that Rieka finally offered me. Taking a sip, I tasted smoke, spices, and a faint hint of honey and smiled. It¡¯s not coffee, but it¡¯s good.

    ¡°Nothing much.¡± Kassandra said, rubbing the disc of metal with her thumb and shooting me a wicked grin. Rieka was savoring her first sip while I took a second when she continued. ¡°I just needed to cast a contraceptive charm. While I¡¯m sure you¡¯d make a great father, I¡¯m not ready for a kid yet.¡±

    I coughed in surprise and then choked when the tea went down the wrong pipe. Rieka reacted more explosively, spraying her mouthful of tea into the fire with a yelp of surprise.

    Kassandra burst into a fit of giggles at both of us before making a gesture with the coin over her abdomen. The coin flared then went dark as the mana was used up completely.

    ¡°Such dirty minds you two! Shame on you.¡± Kassandra said between giggles.

    <><><>

    Another night of sleeping in the tent led to a bright and early morning. Kassandra was even more insistent on snuggling into me for warmth after our previous intimacy. At this point, I couldn¡¯t really deny her. I had a few reservations, mostly that she deserved more attention and a true commitment because she was a wonderful woman. She shot them down in whispers that night and insisted that we just focus on enjoying life and the rest was a problem for our future selves to deal with. Not wanting to argue, I¡¯d settled for a good night kiss and let her wrap herself around me.

    Rieka had spent the night on the far side of the central tent pole, but she was snuggled back to back with Kassandra when I woke the next morning to the quiet twitter of birds and the glimmer of sun entering the tent.

    It took a bit of careful maneuvering, but I was able to gently unwrap Kassandra¡¯s serpentine body from my lower legs. She¡¯d done the same thing as the previous night, outlining my lower half with her tail. I was able to shift enough that she began to wake and glared at me under hooded eyes.

    ¡°Gonna make breakfast. Rieka¡¯s still here for heater duty if you want to snuggle her.¡± I whispered and nodded over her shoulder. Kassandra blinked at me blearily before turning over slowly and burying her face in Rieka¡¯s back. With a fair degree of speed for someone who was still mostly asleep, Kassandra¡¯s tail switched sides and wrapped around Rieka¡¯s sleeping form. This was enough to wake the wolf woman up with a start and she grumbled before pulling the blanket over her head.

    Chuckling quietly, I made my escape and dressed in the cool morning air before trotting quickly to the lake to get water. I kept a close watch out while traveling between the two warded spots, but the only movement I spotted was the distant shape of a ruumo cruising between the clouds further up the mountain.

    Returning with the water, I got down our food supplies and recoiled the rope we¡¯d used for tying it up. Today we would be heading back to town, so we¡¯d be breaking down the campsite first, heading over to give the crag hunter¡¯s cave a quick look, and then hiking back to town to make sure the girls would get back to Juneau in time.

    ¡°Heck of a weekend trip.¡± I muttered to myself, stirring the ashes of last night''s fire to see if there were any coals remaining. While I wasn¡¯t exactly skilled with a flint and steel like the girls were, I had been doing enough research that I had a few tricks for banking the fire so it¡¯d just burn low and slow overnight and leave something to work with in the morning.

    Finding several still glowing coals in the firepit, I stacked wood in and got it going. There would still be a bit of a supply of wood left when we headed out and I made a note to move it under a tree to help keep it dry for when we returned here again.

    Considering that Kass wants to spend more time studying the ruins and I want to know more about that statue, then we are definitely going to be coming back here. I thought while getting the water heating for a simple oatmeal. Really need to do some research on camp cooking too. The girls deserve better than simple oatmeal, stew, or dried food. Too bad I can¡¯t make a list or notes and have them come back and forth with me¡­

    That thought trailed off as I realized I did have a way to make notes, after a fashion. Closing my eyes, I focused on the System interface and scanned over it. The entries for the different tabs were all the same and I took a peek at my Shape-Shifting (Lesser) to see what its mastery rating was at.

    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Shape-Shifting (Lesser) - User is able to draft moderate changes to the body: altering weight, adding natural armor, claws, fangs, and secondary features. Basic partial shift is limited to no more than twenty pounds of additional mass that may be added, removed, or modified. Unable to mix more than two animal''s features at a time.

    Mastery - 447/1000

    ¡°Huh, well Cerebaton did say that it was going to slow down. Still, that was pretty good for just a weekend with only one major scrap and the practice I¡¯ve done¡­need to get creative on what I¡¯m doing with it to help it grow.¡± I smiled as a deluge of ideas started to flow past my mind thanks to my improved mental acuity score. It¡¯d taken a bit to figure out the trick to it. Trying to force myself to think outside the box didn¡¯t help that much but if I let myself relax then ideas would crop up out of nowhere.

    A commotion from the tent drew me out of my inspection of the interface before I could go further and I blinked my eyes open. Looking towards the tent, I saw it moving back and forth slightly and the distinct noise of Rieka and Kassandra talking in low voices.

    Thinking about the girls while also considering what ways I could get creative immediately gave me an idea. Concentrating, the world went silent around me with an odd pop noise for a moment before I felt something stir in my hair and was overwhelmed by a rush of sound as brown-furred wolf ears emerged from the top of my head and I felt the interior of my head rearrange to shift the nerve endings and ear canal.

    Do not think about your brain or what is going on in there, focus on the change. Let the power instinctively guide it like with the tendons and everything else for a shift. I urged, keeping my focus intently on the mental image of what I wanted as I was assaulted by the rush of sounds. If I thought about it too much, I was worried that I¡¯d mess something up in the shift and damage my brain. The only reason I was able to handle the spike in noise and not get distracted was because I¡¯d been expecting it, but everything quieted down a bit a moment later.

    ¡°I don¡¯t get why you are upset, Rieka.¡± Kassandra¡¯s voice was distant still but I could pick out more of what she was saying. The words were followed by the sound of an absolutely cavernous yawn. ¡°It¡¯s not like I¡¯m claiming him exclusively.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not the point, Kass! You promised not to get up to anything scandalous while we were out here!¡± Rieka¡¯s voice was full of annoyance but not any real malice as she protested.

    ¡°I promised not to do anything in the tent. And for that matter, it was only while you were also in the tent. I decided to not tease you too much and had my fun with Liam outside. It¡¯s not my fault you came racing out to check on us¡­well no that is a lie. You heard me yelling and came to check on me like the awesome friend you are.¡± The irritation in Kassandra¡¯s tone shifted back to affection. ¡°Liam and I are just taking things as they come. We both know we can trust him and he¡¯s not trying to woo one of us to improve his station. Icy hells, the man will likely exceed our stations in power within the next year or two if the legends I read about Travelers are true. And he¡¯s our friend, you know he¡¯d never harm us or even work against us. Heck, I¡¯m convinced that if he could find a way to waive the mana to summon him, Liam would come any time we asked. I just wish he didn¡¯t have to return home.¡±

    There was a brief silence that was only filled with the rustling of cloth as I guessed the two of them dressed.

    ¡°You are right, Kass.¡± Rieka said at last with a loud sigh. ¡°On all of the accounts. Okay, fine. I won¡¯t say anything more about it. You two are both adults and can do what you want¡­¡±

    ¡°And if what we want is you?¡± Kassandra¡¯s teasing voice was back and I heard the sound of a hand smacking into something and a delicate yelp from Kassandra.

    ¡°That was my bum!¡± Kassandra said in mock protest.

    ¡°You are going to have to wait on that idea, temptress. I prefer men after all, nothing against you but¡­¡± Rieka said, clearly ignoring her complaint.

    ¡°No offense taken, Rieka.¡± Kassandra was quick to say. ¡°Dating is hard for anyone of station, since our parents and other nobles are so quick to try and sling about marriage contracts. Just consider it. It¡¯s not like your mum could force either of you into a contract after all. She¡¯d have to have some way to get hold of Liam to even discuss one. Also, you don¡¯t even have to date him. If you just wanted to have some fun, Liam would understand. Just make sure you explain it to him up front. Consent and knowledge is key.¡±

    ¡°Fair enough. I¡¯ll think about it. Just give me time, Kass?¡± There was another gusty sigh from Rieka following that.

    ¡°Of course, Rieka. I¡¯ll even forgive you smacking my ass earlier, I kinda earned that. You do agree that Liam looked so sexy though, right? He¡¯s firming up really well and I know he wasn¡¯t using his Shape-Shifting last night.¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­¡± Rieka¡¯s response was drawn out and I could entirely imagine the blush on her cheeks as she said it.

    Assured that they were not actually fighting and a little embarrassed at intruding on their private conversation for so long, I focused for a moment to reverse the change. When it was complete, I took a deep breath in and then out.

    Can my life get any more complicated? No, scratch that, don¡¯t think about it. You are tempting Fate if you do. Kassandra alone is complicated enough. Add in Rieka and it¡¯s even worse. The last thing I need is something as ridiculous as their entire sorority deciding they want to join in.

    I felt a chill race down my spine as that last thought crossed my mind. I immediately dug into the cooking supplies and got out a pinch from the small bag of salt, which I threw over my shoulder to try and dismiss the bad luck. Bad luck I had literally just warned myself about attracting the attention of.

    Rather than dwelling on it, I closed my eyes and focused on the Interface once more. The same screen I¡¯d been looking at before was open again and I was surprised to see that the Mastery for Shape-Shifting (Lesser) had increased by several points.

    Mastery - 479/1000

    ¡°Huh¡­well I have been focusing pretty heavily on combat rather than utility.¡± I muttered, considering the situation as other ideas of ¡®utility¡¯ shifts that would fit within the twenty pounds of weight that I could work with flowed by. Several were even smaller that I kicked myself for not thinking of. Cat¡¯s eyes to see at night. Improved hearing for everyday work. Heck, I could probably do just a thumb claw for cutting open boxes and the like at work. Gecko pads while lifting to ensure I don¡¯t drop a crate¡­I could use that while fighting too! It¡¯d help me keep hold of my sword.

    My thoughts continued for several minutes as I turned over the ideas, adding them in a list to send to Cariad via the Messages portion with a header of ¡®shifting ideas, let me know what you think¡¯. It wouldn¡¯t hurt to get her opinion on them.

    <><><>

    Breaking camp was a lot faster than set up. Partially because we only really needed to tear down the tent and ensure the fire was out, rather than having to set up the wardstones, build the fire pit, collect wood, and all the other myriad tasks. The only extra task was ensuring the crag hunter hide was properly washed and had the preservation magics cast on it before we got it bundled up and tied to my pack.

    Once our packs were loaded up again and breakfast was cleaned up, we doused the fire and trooped back around the lake and past the spring/fountain to follow what I was increasingly convinced was an ancient and overgrown road up into the ruins.

    ¡°I¡¯d suggest we actually camp up here if we come back.¡± Kassandra said as she deftly slid over the long grass. The sun glimmering off scales that were still brilliant from their wash the previous night. She¡¯d wrestled her naturally curly hair into a pair of chunky braids to keep it out of her face once it had finished drying and those twin braids swung back and forth in a counterpoint to her hips as she slithered along.

    ¡°It¡¯s a bit far for water but we could probably make it work.¡± Rieka replied from her spot to one side of Kassandra and a little back. I was walking ¡®drag¡¯ for the group and keeping a watch out. When I wasn¡¯t staring at Kassandra¡¯s pert bottom that was. In my defense, it was very distracting.

    ¡°Yea¡­it might be better to stick further away too. Never know when we might be contaminating something important. We can make that call when we come back, so no reason to move the wardstones or anything yet. I¡¯ve been itching to inspect this den since last night! I still think we should have done it before.¡±

    ¡°You wanted to go rooting into a dark cave while covered in blood?¡± My response to Kassandra¡¯s question got a laugh from her and she shot me a wink.

    ¡°You can root in my cave anytime, Liam.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll remember that, Kass.¡±

    ¡°You two are ridiculous. Focus please?¡± Rieka sighed. I nodded to Kassandra and she shot me a wink before nodding as well.

    Following the ¡®road¡¯ up through the ruins, we eventually got to the sight of the previous day''s battle. The carcass of the crag hunter had obviously been picked at, I could see several small forms that made me think of foxes, but they scattered as soon as we got closer and moved so fluidly they could have been tufts of russet cloud rather than animals. The grass was still matted with blood and trampled down in places, but the local bugs were busily working away to remove the evidence and return the field to its natural beauty. The den Kassandra had spotted the previous day lay right at the end of the ¡®road¡¯ and all three of us trooped closer for a look.

    Rieka had her glow stone in her left hand and her spell rod in her right. Kassandra held her spell rod with both hands and kept a lookout. I had both of my hands shifted into the clawed and scaled version I was starting to think of as my ¡®claw gauntlets¡¯. While the scale pattern on my hands was similar to Kassandra¡¯s in color, I¡¯d stuck with the same type of scales as Lady Valda had and been able to shift my eyes into those of a cat. This was to let me see better in the dim confines of the underground den, but it did wash out color and took a while to get used to.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go in first. Rieka, you are right behind me. Kass you have the back please, make sure nothing sneaks up on us.¡± I said as we approached the sloping hole in the ground, moving up to swap spots with Kassandra. I¡¯d explained the shift in my sight to the girls and they¡¯d agreed that even with my damaged armor, it made sense for me to go in first.

    The entry to the den was low, only about four or so feet high so I had to bend down almost double to get in. The ground dipped sharply away before flattening and vanishing into the darkness as well as expanding to either side. We had to scramble down nearly a dozen feet of sharply piled and packed dirt. Only feet into the burrow though, it opened up into a large cavern with more than a ten foot ceiling. To my left the wall was slightly rough but regular as it expanded outwards and flattened. To my right was a pile of broken rubble that, after staring at it for a moment, looked like it was blocking part of the burrow''s entrance from a cave in.

    The room opened up quickly, it continued a good hundred feet ahead of us and easily a good forty or more feet on either side. I spotted what looked like the nest that the crag hunter had been using in the near corner though, judging from the bones scattered nearby and the scratch marks on the walls. That wasn¡¯t what had most of my attention though as I felt another chill working its way up and down my spine, though slightly different from my earlier tempting of fate.

    Rieka followed close behind, holding the glowing stone over her head and staring into the room with an awestruck expression that was mirrored by Kassandra when the dwarf lamia made it in as well.

    ¡°Ancestors¡­¡± Rieka breathed in awe as she looked around the open cavern in awe. The walls and ceiling were surprisingly smooth, while the floor itself was made of the same close-fitting bricks that the walls of the ruins outside were. The entrance was the only place that a large amount of dirt had accumulated, with it making up most of the slope we had descended to get here before abruptly giving way to bare stone. Despite the fact the burrow''s entrance was flush with the ground above, there wasn¡¯t any pooling water anywhere to be seen and while the air wasn¡¯t ¡®fresh¡¯ by any means, it didn¡¯t feel stale either.

    ¡°What are you staring at, Liam?¡± Kassandra pressed into my back and startled me out of my fixation. Glancing down at the redheaded girl that was rapidly worming her way into my heart, I smiled and gestured deeper into the cavern. Kassandra squinted as the light of the glowing stone that Rieka held cast shadows everywhere. It took a minute for her to find what I was pointing at, though Rieka¡¯s gasp of surprise got a growl of irritation out of her and a mumbled complaint about being the only one without superior night sight.

    When Kassandra spotted it though, she gasped as well and I had to wrap an arm around her shoulders to restrain her from hurrying forward.

    Set into the far wall of the cavern, almost directly in the middle of the wall and stretching from smooth floor to the bare ceiling, was a set of massive doors made entirely out of glittering iron. Glittering and shimmering iron that rippled with the corona that showed it was charged with mana.

 Chapter 32

    ¡°I still can¡¯t believe we found the entrance to real ruins! I only recognized half of the runes on the door but I intend to research the rest and see what I can find. Liam, you promise you¡¯ll help me, right? You said they stood for different concepts?¡± Kassandra begged for the fourth or fifth time that day already. I¡¯d made the mistake of mentioning I was able to get vague meanings from the runes on the door even if they didn¡¯t spell out words specifically and she¡¯d been wending back to the subject every hour or so while we walked.

    We¡¯d taken the time to inspect the massive doors and the cavern, finding nothing more than the nest of the crag hunter and some other piles of rubble and rusted metal. While Kassandra sketched the door and its runes, Rieka and I had searched the crag hunter¡¯s nest and found a few bits and baubles to show that the creature had picked off travelers or explorers in the past and we¡¯d shared the items amongst our group.

    Kassandra had acquired a curved belt knife as long as her forearm. For someone her size it was more of a short sword, but it still served as a good back-up weapon. We¡¯d found it under a pile of bones. The sheath had rotted away in time but the blade still gleamed in the morning light when she brought it out to look at it. This led the girls to believe that it was enchanted, but with what neither of them was sure. Kassandra had claimed it to do some research to try and find out.

    Rieka found a bangle made of mana silver on one of the bodies. The metal had a few scuff and scratch marks in it, but Rieka was confident that they would buff out. The fact that the metal was fully charged with mana showed that either the crag hunter had killed its previous owner before they could use it or that it¡¯d sat long enough to recharge. Kassandra and I had insisted that she take it and wear it as a back-up in case she was ever unable to draw her spell rod. Rieka had only argued for a few moments before complying.

    I¡¯d ended up finding a replacement weapon, though it wasn¡¯t exactly a fancy one. Back when we¡¯d picked out gear, Silas, the shopkeeper, had recommended a mace for me. I¡¯d passed on it at the time for the greater appeal of a longsword. This was something that I had come to regret a bit, given my near brush with death from barely knowing how to use the weapon. It seemed that fate was laughing at me. While we had found several weapons inside the cave, all of them were either badly rusted or just damaged enough to not be useful. All of them, at least, besides a flanged mace of regular iron that was only slightly rusted. It was shorter than my previous sword, but the mace was at least something with a bit more range than my claws so I brought it with us to have something to use. I¡¯d given it a few swings while going over what Cerebaton had taught me about other weapons.

    Maces need to be swung with more force and a snap of the wrist I think? Something to propel the head forward with more force, just like with the axes. It¡¯s got enough weight to do the job, I just need to get it there. Glad my strength is growing, though I might want to boost my physical stats once I get the ¡®payout¡¯ for this mission and get home. I thought to myself while we tramped along the river to follow it out of the hills.

    Besides the nest and the small handful of items, the only other things of note we¡¯d found in the underground cavern had been the rusty piles of metal, scattered bones, and a few bits of still recognizable metal like belt buckles, rusted eating knives, and a the ragged remains of a pair of coin purses with only a handful of mana iron coins in them. Surprisingly, the mana iron coins were entirely rust free despite the rusty remains of other iron items nearby. The tracks of the large hunting cat were all over the cavern, showing that the creature had been denning there for some time. With the search of the cave done for now, Rieka had insisted that we head out in order to ensure we made it back to Juneau before the sun set.

    The river that we followed wound down out of the mountains for a short distance, curving away and vanishing into another valley deeper into the range. Once Rieka realized it wasn¡¯t going to curve back towards the road we quickly cut overland using the sun to orient ourselves. Heading downhill through the forest was a lot easier and we made it back to the road that headed back towards Kintos as well as Juneau.

    Kassandra and Rieka both stuck close to me, well closer than usual that is. The girls usually did not wander far while we were outside the city, but they kept especially close while we were on the road. Rieka walked near enough that I would occasionally feel the soft impact on my hip from her gently swaying tail. Kassandra on the other hand, insisted on basically matching my step while holding my left hand. I kept the mace loose in my right, not because I believed there to be any imminent threats, but because the strap that it would normally hang from had rotted through and sticking the weapon in my belt made it press into my hip uncomfortably.

    The girls were quiet until we got to the road but once we were moving at speed they began chattering back and forth rapidly and throwing ideas of what the ruins might be, clearly more comfortable once we were out of the forest cover. I could still see a ruumo swimming through the air further up the mountain, but while I watched it, the massive sky-whale swam out in the direction of the ocean the girls had described to me.

    ¡°That door had runes carved into it and was still fully empowered.¡± Kassandra kept coming back around to this statement. ¡°I¡¯m sure I could breach it, given some time to do so, but the protections I could read were no joke. I need time to research the runes to figure out what the spells were set to do in order to unlock it.¡± The dwarf lamia bounced slightly on her coils in a motion reminiscent of skipping that made me smile. She didn¡¯t let my left hand go the entire time.

    ¡°That much was obvious, Kass. The door showed no signs of weathering despite the other metals in the area having rusted out to a near unrecognizable state.¡± Rieka sighed, her head still moving on a swivel while the girls talked over me. Rieka was slightly ahead but still close enough that each sway of her tail would brush me lightly with a quiet pat.

    ¡°Yes, but beyond being spelled for durability I saw several runes that were clearly defensive measures. Liam, you mentioned you could read the runes, at least generally! With that I can figure out what the wards do and how to safely bring them down. Sure, we could probably blast the door down with enough magic, but that would also ruin the significance of the find! Humans didn¡¯t leave a lot of enchanted items behind, at least not that I¡¯m aware of so far.¡± Kassandra gushed from her spot at my side.

    ¡°And you girls are sure it¡¯s human made? Just because of the statue we found?¡± I inserted myself into the conversation between the two, getting a smile from both of the girls. They¡¯d left opening several times for me to join in or comment, but this was the first one I¡¯d taken.

    ¡°No, we won¡¯t know for sure until we find something far more obvious, like copious amounts of human-age writing, carvings, or bodies.¡± Rieka said after a moment of thought.

    ¡°The architecture might provide its own clues, but neither of us is enough of an architecture buff to be able to tell human-made bricks from dwarven-made bricks. The statue is a best guess from evidence. The carvings that we found that we believe were part of the fountain bowl were heavily worn though. I¡¯m hoping to do some research and experimentation on the defensive spells that the door might be enchanted with before we make another trip back, with your help of course. That¡¯ll give us time to prepare supplies and figure out a time when we can spend more than a single day looking at the place.¡± Kassandra giggled happily, swaying our joined hands back and forth cutely.

    ¡°Fair enough. Probably best to keep the number of trips back low until we can figure out if the location is worth guarding or not. I want you two to get all the credit that you are due for finding the ruins after all. Especially this close to town and under everyone''s noses.¡±

    ¡°True. With the crag hunter that was denning there dead, it¡¯s actually less likely to be found. The fact that there were bodies there shows that it¡¯d been defending the area for a while, but none of them were recent. It¡¯s unlikely to have a kill contract out on it, but I can use the excuse of the hide to check for and remove them if there are. Other than hunting the cat, there aren¡¯t many reasons for someone to go into those foothills. There aren¡¯t any mineral veins nearby and as we said before: those looking to gather herbs and mushrooms tend to stick closer to town. The only other folks would be hunters and trappers really and the crag hunter drove off a lot of the other game they¡¯d be looking for.¡± Rieka agreed, shooting me a small smile over her shoulder. The wolf woman¡¯s ears were perked up happily with the sun glimmering off the ink-dipped tips of the otherwise blonde triangles.

    ¡°Fair enough. Does make me wonder what is behind the door. It¡¯s not like they were trying to hide it, given the ruined buildings above and the fountain nearby. So it¡¯s clearly not super secretive. Whatever is behind the door is important enough to warrant heavy protections though.¡± Kassandra chirped with a grin. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s some country lord¡¯s ancient estate! The door could lead to his treasury and the room might be full of loot!¡±

    ¡°Or it could be the door to an ancient prison full of ghosts and zombies.¡± Rieka shot back, getting a shiver of disgust from Kassandra.

    The girls continued to volley ideas of what might be behind the door, each getting more and more outrageous as the minutes went by. Rieka seemed more focused on something that could be rooted in reality while Kassandra seemed more intent on being as outrageous as possible.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think we are going to open the door and find a time-locked harem of women who will throw themselves at our mercies for protection and support.¡± I said finally as Kassandra wound down her most fanciful tale. The peppy snake woman grumbled quietly under her breath and sighed gustily in disappointment. Turning my attention to a grinning Rieka, I added my two cents to her most recent suggestion too. ¡°I also doubt that it seals the way to the hideout of an ancient order of assassins that were wiped out by their rivals amongst the religious organizations either, Rieka.¡±

    ¡°Doubt all you want, it has about as much potential to be true as any of Kass¡¯ ideas.¡± Rieka replied primly, giving a derisive sniff and raising her nose in the air playfully. ¡°Until the door is actually opened, it could be anything.¡±

    ¡°Schrodinger door? Never hear of that particular version, but I get the idea.¡±

    ¡°Schroedinger? Who¡¯s that? Was that written on the door?¡± Kassandra jumped in immediately, her playful expression immediately replaced with one of intense focus. Rieka was right behind her, nodding intently as she stared in curiosity at me.

    Sighing, I proceeded to explain about Schroedinger and his box to the girls while we hurried down the road under the morning sun.

    <><><>

    The girls had opted to push to finish this last leg of the journey without doing more than taking the occasional break, so we were able to make it to Kintos by mid-afternoon.

    The little town was bustling with business as people hurried back and forth to complete errands. I was again struck by how similar, yet very different, the world I currently resided in was from my own. The rustle and chatter of people moving about reminded me of a Saturday afternoon at the mall, but the clothes, smells, and sights had me thinking more of the Renaissance Fayre. Peoples of all species rushed back and forth and I spotted well over a dozen different students wearing the badge of Juneau on their clothes as they moved in small groups or alone to different shops or ate at restaurants.

    Undeterred by the crowd, Rieka led the charge towards the Hunt and Trade Hall. The girls had been a bit more willing to give me space once we reached town but had continued to keep close the entire journey back to town. This translated to Rieka letting herself step far enough away I wasn¡¯t batted with her tail and Kassandra had our hands swinging between us fully rather than pressing against me.

    Not tripping on either of the girls while we walked had required me to pay close attention to their positions, especially Kassandra as she seemed bound and determined to stick like glue to me. I wasn¡¯t staring at her, I was just making sure to keep an eye on the mischievous girl. It wasn¡¯t my fault that she kept her blouse open to display that wonderful expanse of freckle-speckled skin, or that she laughed so adorably when she caught me staring distractedly.

    Even in town though, Kassandra kept a grip on my free hand while we threaded through the crowd. I kept my grip on her loose so she could pull away to draw her spell rod if needed, while my right kept the weight of the flanged mace steady where it rode on my shoulder. The girls had promised to get a holder to carry the weapon on my belt when we had time, but for now it was simply easier to have it at hand. I¡¯d gotten a few looks from the gate guards, but I hadn¡¯t rated more than a curious or intense stare for a second or two. I was thankful for the presence of the girls and their obvious badges from Juneau, as I was sure that got me through without a question while having a weapon in my hand.

    Arriving in the Hunt and Trade Hall, we found it to be surprisingly empty. Several of the desks were occupied by employees discussing something with either a customer picking up an order or one of their teams dropping something off. There were just as many desks that were either empty or stationed with a worker that was currently unoccupied as there were with customers. Rieka towed us towards one of the latter with hurried steps.

    The woman behind the desk, a dwarf based on her size, build, and the raised stool she was on, looked up as we approached with a smile.

    ¡°Afternoon to you, students. Come to complete some tasks?¡± She asked pleasantly, her voice deeper than I¡¯d expected but still with a pleasant feminine lilt to it. I was gratified that the dwarves of this world did not subscribe to the ¡®all dwarves have beards¡¯ archetype I¡¯d seen in some books. The woman in front of us had long, brown hair that was neatly braided into a loose plait that hung over the back of her chair. A pair of braids dangled down in front of her ears that fell to her shoulders before being swept back over them. Glittering jewelry was woven into those braids that shimmered as she moved her head back and forth, glancing between all three of us.

    ¡°Yes, we need to complete these contracts and I was wondering if there had been a kill contract put out on a crag hunter on the main road to Broadshore?¡± Rieka produced the folded bits of parchment from inside her belt pouch and handed them off to the dwarven woman. The attendant nearly dropped them in surprise at her last question. She stared up at Rieka with wide, brown eyes.

    ¡°Crag hunter? I¡­uh¡­¡± She stammered for a moment while she glanced over at Kassandra and me before looking back at Rieka. The wolf woman just hiked an eyebrow up at her. The dwarven attendant shook herself and a professional look settled back onto her features. She had a look like she was trying to remember something but was trying to focus too. She opened her mouth to answer before that professional look that abruptly fled when she finally recognized the woman in front of her. ¡°Princess Rieka! I am so sorry for not being more respectful¡­¡± The dwarven woman scrambled to her feet in order to bow, though it actually put her further down behind the desk given the raised chair she¡¯d been sitting in before.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, miss¡­?¡± Rieka let the question trail off and the dwarven woman blushed furiously as she rose from the bow.

    ¡°Ah, sorry about that. I am Assistant Glenna Stoutarm. It is my pleasure to assist you, Princess Rieka.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, Assistant Stoutarm. Please, just call me Rieka. I just want to be treated like any other student at Juneau.¡± Rieka spoke calmly but her tail was hanging limply behind her.

    She¡¯s always preferred the simple approach and I have only ever seen her wince when addressed as ¡®princess¡¯. She certainly harps on the ¡®only the fourth princess¡¯ bit as well as downplaying it for her rank in the inheritance chain. Time to distract her, she deserves to smile more. I thought quietly before taking a half step forward and bumping her arm lightly with my elbow to get her attention.

    Rieka turned to stare up at me in question. Her face was a mask of polite indifference, though I could see the irritation in her eyes and how her ears sat. It was subtle, but I had been getting better at reading her expressions. To cheer her up, I gave her a cheeky wink of encouragement and a ¡®what can you do¡¯ shrug. This brought a smirk to Rieka¡¯s gentle features and she rolled her eyes at me before nodding slightly in agreement.

    ¡°If that is what you insist, Lady Rieka.¡± Stoutarm said with some difficulty, drawing our attention back to the table. ¡°Could you please lay out the contract completion items for me?¡± She picked up the parchment she¡¯d previously dropped on the table and began sorting through them quickly. ¡°We will tend to that first as I will need to step away to check the registry.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Rieka said with forced politeness. It only took a minute to get the various bottles, pouches, bundles, and bags of things the girls had collected onto the table. The container of vine ray spines got a curious look as well but the dwarven woman seemed to be doing better being back on familiar ground. She quickly checked and matched the items to the contracts before stamping each one and tucking the containers into a wheeled cart next to her after she¡¯d attached tags to each container.

    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    ¡°Everything looks in order. The only contract you were unable to complete was the one for the mountain lynx¡­?¡± She let that statement trail off, looking up at Rieka in curiosity.

    ¡°No, we were unable to locate one. I made sure not to claim the two hunt contracts that we had exclusive when I picked them up. Since they weren¡¯t extermination contracts, I should be able to dismiss that one without a penalty, yes?¡± Rieka tilted her head, causing her ears to flop cutely to one side in a fashion that made my chest clench at the sheer adorableness of the look. I heard a quiet snicker from Kassandra as well and glanced down to catch the mischievous snake woman smirking at me.

    ¡°That is correct. You mentioned something about a crag hunter though?¡± The dwarven woman pressed and it was Kassandra who answered that statement, breaking the amused staring contest she¡¯d been having with me.

    ¡°Because we killed one that wandered too close to our camp.¡± Kassandra¡¯s words cause the dwarven woman¡¯s eyes to bug slightly in surprise. Kassandra turned her grinning face up at me and, with a squeeze of my hand, continued. ¡°We have the hide here with us as proof and would like to sell it to the Hall as well. Unless there was a contract for a hide already. Then we¡¯ll claim and fulfill that one.¡±

    Taking Kassandra¡¯s hint, I released her hand and swung my pack down to unstrap the rolled hide from it. Removing that weight from my back and shoulders felt extremely good. The hide of an animal that size was no joke and my neck popped twice in relief before I finished getting the hide free and setting it gently on the counter in front of the still-stunned dwarven woman.

    Kassandra and Rieka just watched her with amused smiles as Stoutarm stared at the hide in surprise for several seconds. The dwarven woman was only broken out of her introspection when Rieka cleared her throat delicately. The sound made the dwarf jump in surprise before shaking herself and nodding once, focusing on Rieka as she spoke, though her eyes darted to both Kassandra and I occasionally.

    ¡°As far as I am aware, there are no hunt contracts for a crag hunter. There might be an older contract for a hide on acquisition. I will go and check for you while your funds are being collected. Please wait here.¡± Stoutarm didn¡¯t wait to be dismissed, instead hopping back down from the stool and hurrying away.

    ¡°Well that was fun.¡± Kassandra giggled, shifting to lean herself into my hip and wrapping one arm around my waist.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be even more fun if they have a standing contract for the hide.¡± Rieka added, cocking her hip and resting one hand on it as she waited with a neutral expression. The neutrality of her look was ruined by how quickly her tail stirred behind her, showing her own amusement.

    ¡°I¡¯m just glad we are back in town. That blasted hide was heavy. Also, while I am not in any rush to leave your company, I am glad that we are back somewhere safe for you two.¡± I threw in as well, settling one hand into Kassandra¡¯s messy curls and finger-combing her curls very gently, scratching lightly at her scalp with each pass. The motion got a happy groan from Kassandra and a pout from Rieka, who¡¯s gaze was drawn immediately to where my hand was resting.

    Grinning down at Rieka¡¯s barely concealed frown, I murmured quietly enough that only Rieka and Kassandra would hear.

    ¡°You¡¯ll get your turn once we aren¡¯t somewhere so public. I know you aren¡¯t as shameless as Kass is, Rieka.¡±

    The wolf-eared fourth princess blushed furiously at my statement, but her tail¡¯s excited dancing rose several notches at the prospect.

    <><><>

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe they didn¡¯t have a contract for a crag hunter hide.¡± Sulked Kassandra as we exited from the Hall.

    Stoutarm had brought another assayer with her to inspect the hide and they¡¯d dickered with Rieka over a price on the raw hide for a bit before finally turning over the coins and copies of the stamped contracts. Rieka had explained that the copies would be used to confirm their activity for the classes that wanted the students getting practical experience. Once the coins had been split between the two girls, a process that had resulted in just as distracting a show as before since the girls again used me as a body shield while extracting their concealed coin purses, we headed back outside and into town.

    ¡°I can. Crag hunters aren¡¯t exactly common in the area. So there not being a standing order for a hide makes sense. And it¡¯s not like the creature has been terrorizing the area either. That would have also caused a contract to be written out for it.¡± Rieka chipped in, shifting her pack on her back with a sigh. ¡°Still, three mana gold for the hide and a double fistful of silver for the herb contracts mean we are well ahead.¡±

    ¡°Still not enough for a dimensional pouch though.¡± Sulked Kassandra. The dwarf lamia had insisted on cuddling into my side the entire time Rieka negotiated price, only separating briefly to stash the coins in her secret pouches before demanding more attention. Now that we were moving again though, Kassandra was content clinging to my free hand.

    ¡°While it isn¡¯t enough yet, this does put us closer to that mark. I agree that we need one for longer trips unless we want to spend time hunting for food. Look, we can pool our resources and get one soon if we keep up the weekly trips into the woods. For now we have to accept that it¡¯s outside the budget unless we get really lucky with missions or want to dip into estate funds.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Kassandra replied vehemently, shaking her head back and forth in denial while scowling.

    ¡°Why so upset?¡± I couldn¡¯t help asking at her sudden shift in mood. Rieka sighed and motioned to Kassandra to explain as we wandered through the crowd slowly.

    ¡°I kind of mentioned this before but¡­Rieka and I are both nobility and of age. Being scions of a noble family, we get a stipend from our family to spend on things. In addition to that, Rieka and I both have lands that were gifted from our parents to us, as well as investments we¡¯ve made. Nothing big, but still property and the like. Which means taxes and additional funds coming in regularly as well.¡± Kassandra explained quickly and quietly to me.

    Rieka slipped into the point position with her tail twitching sharply in irritation. I wasn¡¯t sure what was bothering her, but I had a guess that it was related to being gifted lands from her mother. Rieka did have an independent streak that I¡¯d seen and I could see her wanting to stand on her own two feet easily enough.

    ¡°Okay, that makes sense so far.¡±

    ¡°Rieka and I both agreed not to draw on the taxes from the properties and invest that and our stipends in growing that land with investments. I have rights to a small orchard and a little village nearby with a small manor. Rieka has a small barony that she holds personally with lands, a mine, and several villages there. Both are land that we own in our personal names, not as a family holding. The barony was a gift to Rieka from her mother when she reached her majority and I paid myself for the orchard to be planted when I was younger. My parents helped grow it and the village until I was old enough to take control a year and a half ago when I reached my majority. It was to be part of my dowry when I marry, but my parents decided it¡¯d be mine alone with how much I¡¯ve invested in the orchard.¡± Kassandra continued to explain quickly, easily matching my pace as we moved through the crowd.

    I nodded along as she spoke, following the implications without a problem. That was likely what they meant by estate funds in their earlier discussion after all.

    ¡°Why an orchard?¡± I asked as the question struck me. What little bit of knowledge I had of fruit trees was mostly related to what fresh fruits grew in Colorado.

    Kassandra smirked up at me for a moment before answering.

    ¡°I really like Yaaqua fruit. It¡¯s my favorite and somewhat hard to find in the Queendom. So I decided when I was eleven that I wanted to have my own orchard to satisfy that craving. My parents helped me set aside my allowance to get it started for a few years and I¡¯m pretty sure they put in some extra too, but yeah. Thankfully the trees grow quickly and we get a good crop every year. I love going and picking fresh ones myself. My maid would always complain about the mess I made when I was younger. The color is quite¡­persistent.¡± There was a twinkle in Kassandra¡¯s eye now and I laughed.

    ¡°Makes sense.¡± I could easily imagine a younger Kassandra using her coils to climb a tree and make off with fresh fruit whenever she wanted and the image was surprisingly adorable too.

    ¡°So, we could be drawing from those lands to provide for our mana needs and for supplies. We agreed not to though when we heard about the mission structure and the ways to earn extra funds. We¡¯d rather grow the investments than use that income for short-term benefits. That¡¯s another reason why we take these contracts personally, to earn funds for our mana budgets and the like while not affecting investments.¡±

    ¡°And another reason why having a summoned guardian is a better choice than hired guards?¡± I asked, glancing down at the grinning snake woman. Her slitted eyes sparkled behind her silver-rimmed glasses and she nodded once.

    ¡°Got it. One of many reasons, but still one of them.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s also proof that we are capable too. While I have the lands of a baroness, I¡¯m not one. I¡¯m honestly more like landed gentry, given how far down the inheritance chain I am and the fact that my mother only granted me the land itself and not a title.¡± Rieka added in over her shoulder. ¡°Same with Kassandra. Her parents ceded the village and the attached orchard that she paid for over to her officially, but they are unable to give her a title other than their own and only when they finally retire. So we want to make sure our investment is as strong as possible and that the people on our lands are behind us as much as we can.¡±

    ¡°Makes sense to me.¡± I shrugged once, getting a giggle from Kassandra. ¡°You two don¡¯t have to justify yourselves to me. I know you have your reasons and they are good ones.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, Liam. Kass¡­I know we should get our supplies restocked and the like before heading back, but I really just want to get back to my room and get clean. Washing in the lake was nice, but I still feel grimy. Cold water wasn¡¯t exactly the best to get sweat and blood off. It might have been worth waiting for dinner to use the cooking pot to heat even a small amount of water to wash with.¡± Grimaced Rieka, running her fingers through her icy-blonde hair.

    ¡°A rag bath isn¡¯t as satisfying but I agree. Liam and I talked about it while washing last night too.¡± Kassandra said flippantly.

    ¡°Before or after your little bit of ¡®fun¡¯?¡± Rieka interrupted her friend with a snarky smile.

    ¡°Before, you cretin.¡± Kassandra jabbed back with a smirk.

    The girls dissolved into a brief argument that I happily stayed out of. Instead, I scanned the crowds while we pushed through the growing bustle of the evening.

    More and more people were heading into the market and the street was growing crowded. It was a scene I¡¯d witnessed several times in the previous weeks while working with the girls and it was slowly becoming familiar.

    People stared in curiosity at us on occasion. Usually, it was either at Rieka, given she was a princess and rather recognizable, or at me. They rarely stared at Kassandra, which I attributed to her shorter stature.

    It was feeling the periphery of that oddly heavy focus that drew my attention though as we worked our way down the street. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and I turned slowly, scanning the crowd the whole time. It took less than a minute to find the source of the feeling and realize their focus was actually on my serpentine companion for once, despite her lower height.

    A trio of familiar wolf-kin women in expensive clothes stood to one side of the street, nestled between a jewelry vendor and a woman selling bulk cloth. The trio were glaring holes in Kassandra¡¯s back and I narrowed my eyes while I studied them. It only took a moment of searching my memories to identify the trio. The three of them had been the ones to verbally assault Kassandra and I on our outing previously but I couldn¡¯t recall any names other than they were apparently part of a ¡®Lady Josephine¡¯s¡¯ group.

    Releasing Kassandra¡¯s hand subtly, I covered the motion by adjusting the strap of my pack like it had been digging into my shoulder. When Kassandra looked up at me, I gave her a gentle smile and blew her a kiss, which got a blush and a giggle before she returned to teasing Rieka about taking a rag-bath around the campfire while waiting for me to take her hand again. It took only a couple of quick steps to drop back behind her and step over the low coil of Kassandra¡¯s serpentine body as it wended over the cobblestone street. This put me between the glaring trio and Kassandra.

    Blocking their view drew the trio¡¯s attention to me and all three blanched when they met my glare. The leader of the trio looked like she was trying to rally and opened her mouth to say something, so I focused on my Shape-Shifting and urged it to shift my face around. I didn¡¯t have a particular goal beyond something ferocious to scare them with as the irritation rose in my chest. The sensation of my teeth shifting, merging, and becoming large fangs was one of the creepiest sensations ever but I kept the glare in place while my skin turned a dark and leathery red color. I made a quick snapping motion at them with my fang-filled mouth and whatever courage the leader had rallied promptly failed and all three ducked back and fled down the alley between the stalls. Unfortunately, several bystanders also flinched away and that was what gave up the game to the girls.

    ¡°Liam?¡± Rieka¡¯s questioning tone drew my attention back to the front while I was forcing my face back into normal shape. Both of the girls gave me worried looks as they saw my features melting back into their normal shape, but I was gratified to see that neither of them appeared afraid of me.

    ¡°I¡¯ll explain once we are on the road to Juneau.¡± I said quickly once my teeth returned to normal. Rieka gave me a long look before nodding once. Kassandra just grinned and reached up to hook her arm in mine, not caring that I still had the flanged mace in that hand.

    ¡°Our big, strong protector is just doing his job, I¡¯m sure.¡± Kassandra said with a smirk before turning back to Rieka with a thoughtful look. ¡°Is that how you wanted to reward him? I mean, I¡¯m not against the idea of a hand-washing of our protector. I can wholly recommend it actually, but doing it in a tub might be kinda fun too, though we¡¯ll need a large one for all three of us. I¡¯m sure there are bathhouses in town that could accommodate it though¡­¡±

    Rieka blushed and it grew darker and darker as Kassandra¡¯s teasing continued but her tail picked up wagging once more. The two immediately dropped back into their playful bickering while we got free of the crowds and began to head on the road.

    Once we were a few hundred yards down the road that led from Kintos to Juneau, Kassandra let the playful facade drop and turned an intense, questioning look to me.

    ¡°Who?¡± The one word question was firm, but not demanding. Rieka waited patiently as well to get the answer.

    ¡°That trio that was harassing us before. The ones you said were associated with Josephine? They were glaring holes in your back with enough intensity that I could tell they had forgotten my little¡­warning. So I was just reminding them that they¡¯d have to get through me to cause any real problems for you.¡± Kassandra sighed at my response but Rieka scowled outright.

    ¡°Josephine? Again? Do you think they were doing it on her orders?¡± Rieka¡¯s question got a sharp look from Kassandra, but before the serpentine woman could speak, I answered.

    ¡°No idea, I didn¡¯t see anyone else. They did get rather publicly humiliated for their attempt to rope the city guard in with false accusations though so¡­¡± I let the statement trail off to let Rieka make her own connections.

    ¡°And that would be motivation enough to at least glare, if not plot something.¡± Rieka finished with a scowl. ¡°Kass, I don¡¯t want you to be alone with them. I¡¯m not saying you need an escort to classes, but be extra careful. Any of Josephine¡¯s cronies have the potential for doing something stupid.¡±

    Kassandra looked like she was going to protest so I chipped in to help Rieka make her point.

    ¡°I want you to be careful and ready to call me at a moment''s notice if there is a danger. Do it for me, Kass?¡±

    ¡°That is not fair, Liam!¡± Kassandra protested but she threw her arms around my waist and gave me one of her miniature hugs while burying her face in my stomach. For once, the dwarf lamia didn¡¯t wrap her coils around me to continue the hug but seemed content to just use her arms as she squeezed me tightly.

    ¡°Hey, if it works to get you to be careful.¡± Rieka added in with a grin, sliding into place straddling Kassandra¡¯s tail and sandwiching the smaller woman between herself and me in a group hug.

    ¡°That goes for both of you.¡± I threw in, shifting so I could tuck my mace into the back of my belt. With both hands free, I wrapped one around Kassandra¡¯s shoulders before tucking the other around Rieka to squeeze her as well. After a few seconds of hugging, I settled my hand into the hair at the base of Rieka¡¯s ears and began scratching lightly. This got a contented groan from Rieka, who nearly went boneless while Kassandra gave a muffled giggle from her position against my chest.

    ¡°He did promise you scritches, Rieka. So enjoy them! I¡¯m sure if you asked nicely, he¡¯d be happy to give you headpats whenever you want.¡± Kassandra¡¯s voice was suppressed but full of laughter while Rieka just grumbled.

    We stayed that way for several more moments before finally separating and finishing our trek to Juneau. The road was quiet and we were passed by only a single carriage heading towards the academy the entire time. The girls continued to tease each other, with Rieka being the eventual winner with a subtle comment about whether or not Kassandra knew the spells to ward a room to prevent sound from escaping it or if the entire dorm was going to have to learn how when she snuck me into her room next.

    Coming to a stop outside of Rue House, the girls gave me one more set of hugs each. Both of them seemed loath to finally let me go, lingering in the hug far longer than usual.

    ¡°Bah, this sucks. Liam, you need to find out if there is some way for you to visit fully, rather than waiting to be summoned.¡± Kassandra grumbled from where her face was buried in my abs again.

    ¡°I¡¯ll see what I can do, Kass. From what Cari and Cerebaton have said, this is the only way the System will guide me to you two.¡± I replied gently, stroking her hair.

    ¡°Do that. I¡¯ll summon you back soon, either to talk or for¡­something else.¡± She gave me a saucy grin before finally separating. ¡°You¡¯ve done a great job these last few days, protecting us and getting us home safe as well as keeping me warm.¡±

    ¡°Happy to help. Take care of yourselves. I¡¯ll see you again soon.¡± I gave Rieka a warm smile before bending and pressing a light kiss onto Kassandra¡¯s lips that made the little minx blush.

    Rieka laughed at Kassandra¡¯s expression, causing the dwarf lamia to yank her spell rod out of her holster and quickly incant the spell to send me home while blushing furiously and glaring at her friend.

    As the world whirled away from me, the edges of my vision flashed and a trio of notices scrolled across my vision.

    Assist your contracted companions, Kassandra Silverscale and Rieka Coldeye, with their missions for the next several days and return them safely home.

    Reward - 1100 SP

    COMPLETED

    Assist your contracted companion, Kassandra Silverscale, by ensuring she does not succumb to the cold while away from her nest.

    Reward - 100 SP

    COMPLETED

    New Powers available in the System interface.

    Congratulations, Traveler.

 Chapter 33

    Returning to my crappy apartment after the whirlwind weekend was both relieving and depressing at the same time. While I appreciated the convenience of a hot shower, I couldn¡¯t help but wish I¡¯d had a chance to spend more time with Kassandra and Rieka rather than have to go back to my everyday life.

    ¡°Ain¡¯t it hell though?¡± I muttered while scrubbing shampoo through my slowly regrowing hair. ¡°The fact that I¡¯d rather be in some medieval parallel world than in this one with all its conveniences like cell phones, television, hot water, sewer systems and the rat race that life has become.¡±

    Dunking my head back under the spray, I held it there for several long moments to let the soap run off my head before pulling back out of the water. I did my absolute best not to imagine how Kassandra might react to something like the hot shower and what sort of mischief she might insist on getting up to in my tiny stall.

    Slapping the shower off with one hand, I started drying myself while replaying the weekend in my mind.

    I¡¯d handily trade having my truck for spending more time with the girls. A vehicle isn¡¯t that big of a deal and walking everywhere isn¡¯t that bad if you are in shape. That world has so much random useful stuff too, so it¡¯s not entirely medieval. The glowing stone that Rieka had to replace candles or lamps...I¡¯m sure there are other things to help with convenience, I¡¯ve just not stayed long enough to really see them. The girls talked about dimensional bags too and there is the magic that they showed me. I wonder how that would all work anyway. Shape-Shifting should cost mana, but I¡¯ve never needed to draw from infused metal like the girls do. Wonder why that is?

    Thinking about my Shape-Shifting power redirected my thoughts away from how much I was already missing even just Kassandra¡¯s smile and I remembered the messages I¡¯d received just as Kassandra had sent me back. I¡¯d disregarded them at the time with a desire to get out of my stiff clothes. Closing my eyes, I entered into the System interface again.

    The readout in the corner told me I had 1370 SP available and I smirked in satisfaction at the reward for the weekend. Well, the other reward. I¡¯d say getting closer to my cuddle-noodle was the real reward. I¡¯d still be doing this even if the System wasn¡¯t rewarding me. I thought to myself before opening my eyes.

    It took only a few more moments to finish getting dry and dressed in clean clothes once more. With that taken care of, I flopped down onto my bed and got comfortable before reviewing my options. I hadn¡¯t forgotten the last message I¡¯d received about having more powers available now. I wanted to give them a glance over before I passed out for the night.

    Need to do meal prep for the week too. I reminded myself with a sigh. Too much to do and not enough time to do it. But I¡¯m already looking a lot fitter by cutting out the junk food. It¡¯s not like I don¡¯t get enough exertion at work after all.

    With that thought, I went back to the System interface and instead dove into the tab labeled ¡®Powers¡¯ to see what else had unlocked.

    There were several entries that caught my attention and the first one was inside the Body tab.

    Enhance Self (Moderate) - Cost: 250 SP - Increase personal stats by 20 points, can be spread out at once, up to a maximum of Fifty points per stat beyond (Lesser) effects.

    May be selected multiple times.

    If the previous tier was not fully exploited, that opportunity is not lost. Previous tier will become unavailable once max points are allotted from it.

    ¡°Huh¡­okay that¡¯s good. I wonder what triggered that one being unlocked? I¡¯ve had half of the lesser tier allotted for weeks now. Maybe I crossed a threshold for ¡®amount earned¡¯?¡± I muttered while examining the skill. It wasn¡¯t too bad of a return for the investment in boosting the points, since my highest score was still only a 30 in Willpower and buying into Enhance Self (Moderate) would let me nearly double that ability if I wanted to. Still more efficient to use the lower tiers for now though for anything that isn¡¯t maxed. Well whatever, did anything else come up?

    Flipping over to the Spirit tab, I checked it over and saw no changes there before moving on to the Mind tab.

    There were definite changes here. The Mind tab had several items that were beginning to unblur, with the blocks of text being visible, if not readable. There were two entries that were actually readable though and I skimmed over them quickly while my heart began to pound in my chest.

    Manipulate Element (Minor) - Cost: 100 SP - Select a base element from the following list: Fire, Water, Wind, Earth. User has basic control of this element and can manipulate mana to produce and shape that element into spells.

    This can be selected multiple times for an additional, neighboring element (EX: fire and earth, or fire and wind) but not an opposing element (Ex: cannot select fire first, then water).

    Mana Reservoir (Minor) - Cost: 1,000 SP - Grants the Traveler a minor mana reservoir equivalent to 10 mana. This mana will regenerate at a fixed rate depending on ambient mana of the environment.

    Spells cast by the Traveler will pull from this reserve first, then any other mana reservoirs in the Traveler¡¯s possession.

    ¡°Magic¡­¡± I muttered, staring at the two entries before letting my eyes pop open. I¡¯d been clenching them shut so hard that my vision sparkled and spun above me as I considered my options now. I¡¯d had decent training with weapons and was getting a handle on my Shape-Shifting, but now I had the option of using magic like the girls did. And if the Mana Reservoir was to be believed, I wouldn¡¯t need to use the coins that the girls used for my spells.

    Take it easy, Liam. You have no idea how much a single coin holds in mana anyway. The girls blow through a dozen or more of them on a trip so ten mana might not get you much and this would basically blow your entire budget¡­but fireballs¡­

    The temptation was there though. I¡¯d seen the girls perform casual magic so easily and it was always fascinating to see. The fact that my body could shift and morph so much was its own kind of magic, but this sort of magic was something that every nerd, video gamer, or fantasy fan dreamed of.

    I held one hand up in front of my face and focused, allowing claws to sprout from the tips of my fingers and scales to flow over my hand. I maintained my focus and my hand shifted directly from the taloned and scaled configuration into a gorilla¡¯s paw-like hand. From there I shifted it into a crab claw before returning it to a human hand once more.

    Even if the magic is only a short term or temporary thing, it would make for a handy trump card. Especially if it has some range. I¡¯m going to need to practice a lot if I do take it. I need to talk to the girls first. I remember them talking about the elemental aspecting of their magic being something that happened naturally, but I get to pick mine. I can either double down and learn one that they already have to work with, or I can pick an opposing one to expand our options. I thought while scanning over the entry for Manipulate Elements (Minor). I know Kass would probably want me to pick fire so I could keep her warm easier¡­the other non-selected option is earth. That one always seemed like an under-utilized type in the books I read. I wonder if there are creative ways to use it¡­

    The thought of Kassandra demanding I pick fire as a type was amusing enough that it kept coming back and I couldn¡¯t help laughing out loud before another thought hit me. I didn¡¯t have to wait to talk to the girls. I had a pair of advisers I could message using my brain and an inter-dimensional supercomputer that used a magical LAN effect to communicate back to me while it studied my genetic history.

    That thought also brought a snicker bubbling up from my chest at the sheer ridiculousness of it.

    ¡°My life is so weird.¡± I muttered before sitting up on my bed and crossing my legs under me while I navigated to the ¡®Message¡¯ tab and sent a quick note off to Cariad since she was supposed to be my first point of contact.

    And I¡¯m curious how she¡¯s doing. It¡¯s been a while since I talked to her.

    Liam

    Hey Cari! Hope your weekend went well and you had some fun, or at least weren¡¯t in any dangerous situations. Definitely had the former myself, but the latter was a miss. Trouble seems to have my forwarding address after all. Have a question about something when you have time.

    Her reply arrived less than a minute later, making me grin. Cariad had always been quick to answer back whenever I contacted her. She had such an earnest desire to help that it was impossible not to be happy as well. Kinda reminds me of Rieka when she gets all ¡®excited puppy¡¯ like that.

    Cariad

    Hey Liam! Glad you are doing okay. You are okay right? And no, my weekend was pretty boring. I spent most of it doing research on history from your dimension to see if I could track anything down on the last human Traveler that existed there. I haven¡¯t found the most recent one but I have found one of the more famous. Apparently he was named ¡®Myrddin Emrys¡¯ and was from almost fifteen hundred years back in your peoples history, though that number is not set in stone. Figured using famous personages would give me a starting point in the records and I could solve forward. But what was your question?

    Liam

    Got a bucketful of SP after working with the girls over the weekend and it unlocked some new powers. I have access to Manipulate Elements (Minor) and Mana Reservoir now, as well as the next rank of Enhance Self. I¡¯m trying to decide if I should get the first two or save the points and keep buffing myself via the last one. Suggestions?

    Cariad

    Amusing you get access to magic after I find records of a legendary wizard amongst your species Travelers. You said before your girls were ice and lightning aspected? So their magic is a superior form from water and air¡­having more variety would be good, but they would actually benefit from you having aspected mana to match theirs. It¡¯d make it easier for them to learn new spells and master their control, but Manipulate Elements (Minor) only gets you in on the ground level. You¡¯d have to work to get it to aspect into one of the superior forms but from that point the benefit would happen naturally. Hmm, I see the issue you are dealing with.

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    Liam

    Yeah, it¡¯s a bit of a pain. I really want to grab a spell ability but I already have the Shape-Shifting as a powerful ability. I know Cerebaton said I didn¡¯t have to rely on Shape-Shifting as my primary tool, but something is telling me that I should keep focusing on it. Also, I think getting these two will give me some ranged options to work with, and that might make for a nice supplement while I keep refining Shape-Shifting. And the Mana Reservoir will mean I don¡¯t have to use the imbued metals the girls do. Do you know if I¡¯d still be able to draw mana from them?

    There was a distinct pause before Cariad¡¯s response came and I guessed she had to research some more on it. Rather than lay on the bed, I pushed myself up and wandered into the kitchen to get my meal prep for the week out of the way. While spaghetti with meat sauce wouldn¡¯t be the most healthy option, it was still better than fast food and something that I could take care of quickly.

    Cariad

    I don¡¯t believe so. Generally the System would focus on abilities that are natural to your environment and genetic history. If your world had mana infused metals, then I would expect you to be able to. I had to look it up but the power specifically states it regenerates naturally, depending on your environment. Maybe not directly like you said your girls cast, but if you had some against your skin it might be considered part of the environment? I can do some more digging and find out, but the easiest way will be to just take the power and experiment.

    Liam

    Yea, but I really don¡¯t wanna waste all that SP at the moment.

    Cariad

    That is fair. I can ask Mr. Cerebaton if he has any suggestions as well? Maybe hold off for now and ask your girls too. You mentioned that they were supposed to be helping you ¡®grow¡¯ and to cultivate your power. Also, they are your partners. They should have some feedback on what you do, if only just to suggest what they think is the best.

    Liam

    True again. I suppose I just wanted something new to toy with while dealing with the idiot that is my boss at my day job.

    Cariad

    You really do need to find a better source of daily income. The stories that you¡¯ve told of that man paint him as an incompetent and a fool. I¡¯m worried he¡¯s going to do something that will get someone hurt sooner or later. I don¡¯t want that to be you.

    Liam

    Worried about me?

    Cariad

    Of course I am! I consider you to be a friend after all, Liam. Also, if you get hurt or die it¡¯ll look bad on my record as an adviser. ;)

    Liam

    Ah, I see the truth of it now. :P

    Cariad

    If you did not want the truth, you shouldn¡¯t have asked. Seriously though, you shouldn¡¯t be working there. You might be a ¡®small time¡¯ Traveler for now, but that¡¯s only because you started from scratch. Travelers do not stay small time for very long and it wouldn¡¯t do for your dignity as a dimensional-hopping powerhouse to still be doing menial labor when you do get there.

    Liam

    Suggestions are welcome. The issue is that I still need to keep a roof over my head. The girls have already said that if I could just come and visit of my own will or somehow become a permanent resident of their world, they¡¯d welcome me and that would give me alternate housing at least.

    Cariad

    Not possible that I know of. But then again, I didn¡¯t think it was possible for someone to be randomly assigned the role of Traveler and you¡¯ve already broken that rule over your knee. Only the System might know what will unlock as you grow in power. Also, don¡¯t forget that the SP you are looking at right now might seem like a lot, but veteran Travelers have tens of thousands of SP spent on refining their abilities.

    Liam

    I¡¯ll keep that in mind, Cari. I know you said something originally about getting a payout rather than taking my starting package. Is there a way to convert SP into physical money?

    Cariad

    Yes, but it¡¯s one way. You cannot buy SP in any fashion other than earning it from System-approved missions via your interface. I¡¯d caution against that option.

    I thought for a moment while the water boiled for the noodles, considering what Cariad had said. The last thing I wanted to deal with in the morning was the numbing monotony of loading a semi trailer again. Add in Dutcher¡¯s verbal abuse and generally annoying personality and it felt almost worth it to trade some of my ¡®phenomenal cosmic powers¡¯ for some hard cash to avoid the idiot. I shoved the idea aside though, since I needed those powers to look after the girls. Though it did give me an idea that I was quick to put to Cariad.

    Liam

    Fair enough. Do you know if the DSR needs a contractor or anything? Heck, I¡¯d take ¡®mail clerk¡¯ at this point if the pay was enough to cover the apartment. I really just need a job to feed myself until I can figure something out. The girls have already told me that they¡¯d send precious metals back with me to sell if they could, but that Dimensional Pocket ability hasn¡¯t cropped up yet.

    Cariad

    Bringing home precious metals or resources is a standard for Travelers, yes. Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯ll show up eventually. As for a job¡­not that I¡¯m aware of. I¡¯ll talk to Mr. Cerebaton about it. He might know of an opening in a department that would take on a Traveler. The issue is that the DSR is based in our native space, which is kinda dangerous for you to even be near, let alone touch. I told you before that it might take awhile for me to dissolve you by touching you, but if you showed up in the DSR offices right now? You¡¯d probably last about three seconds before you melted away into nothing without some kind of protection. There is only one type that would keep you safe that I know of and it''s basically impossible to make and/or give you and not have it hurt you just as bad.

    Liam

    Okay, scratch that. Maybe some kind of field agent?

    Cariad

    If anyone knows, it¡¯ll be Mr. Cerebaton. I¡¯ll ask him as soon as I see him and get back to you. Sound good?

    Liam

    Thanks Cari, you are the best. I¡¯ll make sure to talk to Cerebaton about it at practice later in the week, but if you get him thinking on it as well it¡¯d help. Give him time to consider it rather than distracting him during my weapons practice. Oh, that reminds me, I need to message him about the weapon types. My sword broke on the last mission and I¡¯m currently using a mace as a stopgap, but I was thinking that it might be time to start stepping up my martial arts so I can start using my Shape-Shifting more.

    Cariad

    Definitely let him know. That¡¯ll give him a chance to adjust his plans. You really are picking up on weapon training quickly, aren¡¯t you?

    Liam

    I boosted my mental stats first to help with coming up with new ideas for Shape-Shifting and in hopes it¡¯d help me memorize the forms quicker. It¡¯s also one of the reasons I¡¯m holding off on the spell thing. It might be better to dump more points in them in a rush to get myself higher up on ¡®basic competence¡¯ for self defense rather than learning magic too. ¡®Jack of all trades, master of none¡¯ and all that.

    Cariad

    Fair point there. But don¡¯t forget the rest of that quote, Liam. It goes ¡®jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.¡¯ Keeping your options open isn¡¯t a bad thing. I gotta go, Liam. I need to get this paperwork done, but I¡¯ll get in touch with you later in the week in order to fill you in as soon as I know more. Promise!

    Liam

    Have a good one, Cari. Thanks again!

    Focusing back on what I was doing, I found the water in the pasta pot going at a rolling boil and quickly dumped the noodles in before digging the frozen meatballs out to quickly thaw in the microwave. I know that using frozen meatballs and jarred sauce is heresy, but it was what I had and I just didn¡¯t have the time and energy to make them from scratch.

    While the meatballs sizzled away in the microwave and the sauce warmed in a pan, I couldn¡¯t help but smile as I imagined Cariad puttering around at a desk with her bright, strawberry-red hair bouncing energetically as she moved back and forth.

    It¡¯d been strange the first time that I met her. The blue skin and red hair was such a huge contrast to the smart office look she had been wearing at that first encounter. I¡¯d been mostly in a stunned mental state at the time and had spent far too long ogling the professional young woman who¡¯d showed up to help me on the side of that dark road.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t hurt that she literally appeared next to my truck on the side of a mountain highway. Sounds like the beginning of a horror movie. Lucked out that she wasn¡¯t an axe-murderer and was instead an inter-dimensional bureaucratic assistant here to help.¡± I snickered while laying out the tupperware to package up the lunches when they were ready.

    I¡¯d learned a long time ago that doing mass cooking was the best option for a bachelor. Cooking for just one person wasn¡¯t efficient after all, so I¡¯d gotten used to eating the same thing for a week straight and just making normal sized batches of food. The monotony sucked but one had to do what they must to survive and this saved on the grocery bill. I need to get more vegetables in this¡­the sauce is good but needs variety.

    My train of thought was disrupted by the sound of my phone going off from the other room. I checked the pasta to make sure it wouldn¡¯t boil over before hurrying back to the bedroom to pull my cell off the charger. I answered the phone without looking at the caller ID while heading back into the kitchen.

    ¡°Hello, this is Liam.¡±

    ¡°Liam! Glad you are alive. I¡¯ve been calling you all weekend, dude! Was worried you¡¯d fallen off the planet, or into the toilet and drowned.¡± A man¡¯s voice answered from the other side and I had to fight down a grin. This was unexpected but a nice surprise for once.

    ¡°You are the only one who goes bobbing for road-apples in the toilet, Jameson. I was otherwise occupied.¡± I shot back, tucking the phone into my shoulder and wandering back into the kitchen. Jameson Gillespie had been one of my only real friends growing up. Others like Jason drifted in and out of my life at random, but he¡¯d always been there to lend a hand when I needed. Jameson had helped me handle the dispensation of my parents estate when they passed, despite being a professional architect working with the city and very busy. He¡¯d really lucked out on work after graduation and was now part of the city planning office. It¡¯d been a while since I talked with him and it was good to hear his voice once more.

    ¡°Twat.¡± He laughed back at me over the phone.

    ¡°Wanker.¡± I returned with a roll of my eyes, grabbing the green, dinosaur shaped pasta spoon to test the noodles with.

    ¡°Seriously though, muff-goblin. What had you falling off the face of the earth? You normally don¡¯t ignore my calls, I¡¯m feeling a bit hurt here.¡± The faux-betrayal in Jameson¡¯s voice made me laugh just as much as his friendly insult.

    ¡°I¡¯ll have you know I was out camping, Rumple-foreskin. Not all of us have sold our souls to bureaucracy.¡± I heard Jameson snigger at that name before he responded over the line.

    ¡°I suppose you¡¯d have to be camping if you were going to get any. Gotta get those bears while they are hibernating after all, otherwise they struggle too much, right?¡±

    ¡°Seriously? That¡¯s the best you got? Gotta fall back on Super Troopers at this point?¡± I shot back at him. This had been one of our trademarks growing up. We¡¯d trade playful insults all the time. It always ended up devolving into more and more ridiculous terms, rather than hurtful ones, the longer we talked. The rustle of paper preceded Jameson¡¯s answer, telling me he was likely working late on something as well.

    ¡°I mean, if the shoe fits you might as well wear it. Isn¡¯t that right, Captain Skinny-Dick? Seriously though, you were out camping? Haven¡¯t done that for years man.¡±

    ¡°Yea, it¡¯s been a while for me too, but the girls wanted to go.¡± I replied without thinking and winced as soon as I realized what I¡¯d said.

    ¡°Girls? Since when did you have ¡®girl¡¯, let alone the plural, assbutt?¡± The playful interest in Jameson¡¯s tone was more than enough to remove any hurt from his words. I debated silently for a moment before deciding that it was better to admit what I could rather than hide it. Jameson was one of the only folks I really considered to be a friend after all and I didn¡¯t like lying to people.

    ¡°Couple of weeks. Met them while I was out in the mountains a month or so back and we¡¯ve been meeting up fairly often to hang out and talk.¡± And fight monsters. I added mentally as I carefully answered his question while checking on the bubbling pasta sauce.

    ¡°Well damn, dude! I¡¯m proud of you. Who¡¯d have thought my buddy, the Jolly-Jackass-Giant, would have found not one, but two, girls to hang out with? You gotta introduce me to them sometime. The project I¡¯ve been working on is finally wrapping up, so we should meet up for a few beers and talk. Would love to meet them if you are willing to share their time.¡±

    I felt the bottom drop out of my stomach at that. Jameson knew I didn¡¯t like to lie and he¡¯d also known me long enough to know when I was. Keeping this on the level without him thinking I was mad would be hard and I couldn¡¯t exactly bring one of the girls with me to introduce them. I decided to just keep it noncommittal for now about the girls. It would be nice to hang out with my buddy though.

    ¡°Sure thing. Hey, I gotta go. I was in the middle of cooking and I need to make sure nothing catches fire. Talk to you later, Adolf Titler.¡±

    ¡°Catch you later, gutter-gator.¡±

    ¡°Bonus points for the rhyme, cooter-crank.¡± I replied before hanging up.

    I set my phone on the counter and stared into the boiling pot of pasta, watching the pale yellow noodles dance back and forth as I thought. How the heck was I going to explain this without letting too much drop? I didn¡¯t want to lie to someone I actually thought of as a friend after all.

    ¡°It¡¯s not like I could just rock up to the bar with him and go ¡®hey dude, so weird thing, I was just hanging out on the side of the road after getting in an accident and then I got hit with this crazy dimensional magic and was summoned by a snake girl and part-wolf princess to another world and got crazy magical powers.¡¯¡± I snorted and shook my head while idly rubbing the runic tattoos on my forearm that came from bonding with the girls. ¡°No one would believe that.¡±

 Bonus Art Chapter!

    In which Liam teases the girls relentlessly until they are both drooling messes (yes I have to make it suggestive, this is harem after all)

    Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!

    In Which Kassandra Rides Liam into the sunset while Rieka watches.

    Hope you all enjoy the art!

 Chapter 34

    I threw myself into the workweek to distract myself from both the worries of trying to explain the weirdness that my current life was to my friend Jameson (without giving up just how weird it was) and how much I was missing the girls currently.

    I¡¯d taken to idly thumbing the runic tattoos on my right forearm whenever I wasn¡¯t doing anything with my hands. I¡¯d gotten them weeks ago as a result of whatever bonding magic the girls had used the first time I¡¯d been summoned. Over the last few weeks, I¡¯d noticed that when I touched one of them, I could get a general feel for the mood of either of the girls, depending on which one I was touching at the time.

    The mark that linked me to Kassandra Silverscale tended to emit a sensation of amused mischief or boredom depending on the moment, which felt accurate for the energetic dwarf lamia that I¡¯d fallen for. She was always up to something: teasing one of us, plotting how to tease one of us, trying to make someone blush, or flirting outrageously with me. Sometimes all four at once. I could just imagine the distant, satisfied smile she¡¯d be sporting watching the trouble she was causing grow and spread while wiggling happily back and forth on her brown-and-red-scaled serpentine lower half.

    The other mark I carried, just a bit higher up the arm from Kassandra¡¯s, was a bit quieter than hers. Which wasn¡¯t that surprising. Rieka Coldeye was a princess after all, despite her insistence that she barely qualified given she was the fourth princess, and as such she had to know control. I would still pick up the occasional burst of amused irritation, resignation, or determination from her mark when I rubbed it lightly. While my mental image of Kassandra was always a bouncy and energetic one; the image I had of Rieka was one of restrained enthusiasm hidden behind a veil of propriety. Her wolf ears perked up or relaxed to either size of her head while the fluffy mass of her platinum-blonde tail swayed slowly behind her hips. The pitch black dusting that graced the tips of her ears and tail setting off the delicate blonde of the rest of her hair, her brilliant blue eyes, and her reserved smile.

    With the reminder of my two contracted companions and how they were doing, I was able to force my way through work for most of the week. I did my absolute best to not let my boss¡¯ annoying commentary and sniping bother me, though it did make me wonder on a constant basis how it was that Dutcher was even able to get the job of a manager, let alone keep the one that he had.

    Ever since the freak accident that summoned me to another world to basically be the conjured companion/guardian/servant/space-heater of the girls on occasion, I¡¯d had a harder time ignoring Dutcher¡¯s barbs. I wasn¡¯t sure if it was just because I was actually trying to take care of myself and be healthier both of mind and body, or if it was simply because I was actually listening to my surroundings again rather than just letting myself float through life without much thought.

    Regardless of dealing with Dutcher and his idiocy, I still looked forward to getting my ass handed to me twice a week in training. I¡¯d been grateful to Cerebaton for offering to help me with my weapon training and that didn¡¯t change. The massive daemon continued to ensure we had time to practice each week so I could do the job the girls had called me for. It had started out as a means for him to repay a part of the debt that had occurred from the mistakes of the DSR that had led to my being yanked out of my reality and nearly cast adrift into the cosmos. Now it was something that both of us looked forward to, if his banter was anything to be believed.

    The Dimensional Security and Repair, or DSR, was in charge of maintaining the dimensional membranes between worlds and preventing damage, leakage, invasion, and other such catastrophe. Apparently business was relatively slow at the moment or that was the impression that Cerebaton gave me after our first practice that week.

    We¡¯d transitioned to a mixture of weapon practice and beginners martial-arts now, since my sword had broken on my last trip and I was using a mace as a standby for the moment. Cerebaton had agreed when I presented him with the idea that I should start using my primary power more often. Shape-Shifting had a lot of utility and I¡¯d not been really tapping into it much of late during a fight when it had the ability to actively shift situations in my favor if I was able to keep my mind fluid enough to make the most of it.

    It was after work on Wednesday though that I finally got a chance to relax for a bit and chat with someone who would have been considered my greatest supporter.

    Dutcher had been his normal, asinine self at work that day. I¡¯d been pulled from my normal dock to help unload on the refrigeration dock. This normally would have been a miserable job since I didn¡¯t bring a jacket with me. It was early summer in Colorado, so a jacket was not something that was generally needed or wanted. In fact, dressing heavily was actively avoided as there wasn¡¯t any kind of air conditioning inside the stuffy trailers we normally loaded. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact I was able to abuse my Shape-Shifting to thicken my skin and add fur under my clothes, I¡¯d have been even more miserable. Instead, I was just exhausted from the extra work when I finally slumped through my front door that night.

    The fact that all the lights in my apartment were on would have been a clue that something was up normally. The sight of the person in my kitchen though precluded the need to think about or consider the fact that something might be up.

    Especially since I live alone.

    The woman standing with her back to me in the kitchen would have been far more startling if not for one factor that made her instantly recognizable. The cascade of straight hair the brilliant red of a fresh strawberry fell from her shoulders down to her mid-thigh with the ends rising up again in a gravity-defying curl. A neat black pencil-skirt wrapped around her hips to mid-thigh with sleek black stockings that covered her legs to match the black opera gloves that vanished under the short sleeves of her crisp, white blouse. When she turned to glance over her shoulder at me though, her alien features stood out even more.

    Her skin was a blue-gray color that would have looked strange if not for the unnaturally bright color of her hair. A pair of sea-green eyes sparkled at me under thin eyebrows of the same bright red as her hair while she smiled broadly at me standing there in the doorway, no doubt looking like a goober with how I was staring in surprise while carrying my work stuff in my arms. As the silence stretched on, the hair thin lines that marked her temples slid upwards and a second set of eyes, this pair a brilliant, electric blue in color, blinked open to give me a once over before flicking closed again.

    ¡°Good evening, Liam! How was your day at work?¡± Her words broke the silence that had grown between us and I blinked several times before laughing tiredly.

    ¡°It was work, Cari. Not nearly as fun as being summoned by the girls, but a necessary evil after all.¡± I stepped into the apartment and kicked the door shut behind me. ¡°You know, I shouldn¡¯t be surprised to see you just show up in my apartment like this. It¡¯s not like Cerebaton doesn¡¯t just vanish without a sound whenever we are done with our practices. I¡¯m sure locked doors don¡¯t exactly serve as a barrier for a daemon after all.¡±

    The small smile on Cariad¡¯s features spread into a wide grin as she nodded, leaning one hip into the counter next to her with the elbow of her left arm resting in her right hand while her left hand cupped her chin delicately.

    ¡°Very true. Agents from the DSR have quite a few tricks for getting around in the dimensions we look after. It also helps us not stand out nearly as much. Not all of us are able to camouflage ourselves like Mr. Cerebaton in order to blend in with the locals. I didn¡¯t think you¡¯d mind if I let myself in, being your case-worker as well as a friend?¡± The question in the last part allowed a bit of the tension to show in Cariad¡¯s eyes and I shook my head to reassure her.

    ¡°Not at all. As long as you aren¡¯t going to start poking holes in me while I sleep, I don¡¯t mind at all. I¡¯d say you are welcome to visit whenever, but I have no idea how comfortable you are being wrapped up like that.¡± I gestured to her long gloves and stockings before dropping my lunch pail on the rickety table in my tiny dining room.

    ¡°It¡¯s not a problem. They are actually rather comfortable and I know that my touch is dangerous after all. Covering up this much is a small price to pay to be able to check on my client and friend.¡± Cariad replied with a warm smile, pushing off of the counter with her hip to stand upright once more. The movement drew my attention back to her and I had to agree. Except for her neck and face, the only other bit of exposed skin was a small vee where the top two buttons of her neat blouse were open, showing just a bit of blue-gray cleavage. Just enough to be alluring without being racy.

    ¡°So how goes things at the DSR? Any interesting office news?¡± I knelt down to unlace my boots at the door, not wanting to track dirt and dust into the apartment any more than I had to. How weird is it that I¡¯m just used to extra-dimensional beings showing up in my living room?

    ¡°Quiet really. I¡¯ve been doing some inquiring about potential field positions with the DSR like you asked and it has gotten a mixed response. Mr. Cerebaton agreed to look into it some too, in case he can get a more solid response from those in charge rather than what I got as just your caseworker.¡± I heard Cariad say as she turned to walk back into the kitchen. There was a quiet beep of noise and then my microwave began to hum quietly.

    ¡°I appreciate you looking into that for me. Cerebaton didn¡¯t mention it at practice the other day, but he was busy going all Mr. Miyagi on me.¡± I sighed with relief as I peeled my boots off and set them on the mat next to the door. Shucking off my socks, I stood on the threadbare carpet and just made fists with my toes a few times, enjoying the sensation of more flexibility after the long day in my boots.

    ¡°Mr. Miyagi?¡± Cariad¡¯s question echoed slightly from inside the kitchen nook and I shook my head, walking to the closed door that led to my bedroom to toss my dirty socks into the laundry while I answered.

    ¡°A character from a movie. He was a martial combat instructor that trained a rebellious young man to defend himself properly. There were a lot of lessons the kid learned that didn¡¯t make sense at first but came to better light as he expanded his knowledge.¡±

    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°That sounds like Mr. Cerebaton. You can trust him to teach you what you will need to know.¡± Cariad chirped happily from the kitchen just as the microwave dinged. ¡°Liam, come sit down at the table and eat. I didn¡¯t come empty handed after all, I just needed to warm it up.¡±

    The mention of food that I didn¡¯t have to prepare got a happy gurgle from my stomach. I stepped into my dingy bathroom to wash my hands quickly before taking a seat at my little kitchen table just as Cariad emerged from the kitchen and set a plate of food in front of me with a little smile.

    The chipped orange plate was one I¡¯d gotten from the dollar store awhile back, it was one of a set of pastel colored dishes that had survived a surprisingly long time despite their cheap origins. Spread about the plate was a mess of chow-mein noodles along with a large scoop of orange chicken and another of broccoli beef.

    Taking a deep breath of the scents, I couldn¡¯t help but smile as my mouth began to water. A set of the universal brand of bamboo chopsticks in their red paper wrapper were set next to the plate before Cariad settled into the chair opposite me with a small smile. The smell of the chow-mein was enough to tell me where it came from though.

    ¡°You got me Panda Express? How?¡± I asked while unwrapping the chopsticks and digging in.

    ¡°There are a number of ways to get food delivered without contact with another human. I may not be able to disguise myself, but we do have ways to interface with the local technology. The delivery driver was happy to leave it at the door for me to claim. I had to go with delivery though. I¡¯m not that good of a cook to make it myself.¡± Cariad¡¯s eyes followed my chopsticks as I scooped up a bite of the chow-mein noodles to try.

    ¡°It¡¯s good. I don¡¯t care if it¡¯s delivered. Panda is one of my favorites, I just can¡¯t afford it often.¡± I mumbled while I ate. The long workday had sapped my energy and the easy to digest carbohydrates from the noodles were doing wonders to perk me up.

    ¡°I had figured. The restaurant is close to your house and also on your route home from work.¡± Cariad said gently, leaning her elbows on the table and folding her hands before resting her chin on them. A small, amused smile settled onto her lips while she watched me with her sea-green primary eyes. The electric blue set flicked open once to scan me over before closing again.

    ¡°Everything fine?¡± I asked when her secondary set of eyes closed. I knew that they could see more than her regular eyes, but Cariad had never really explained what all she could see with them.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Cariad murmured, blinking her regular eyes for a moment before catching on to the question. ¡°Oh, yes. You need to sleep more though. I can tell that you aren¡¯t fully recovering your energy every day and you put yourself under a great deal of stress during your last mission. Your girls would be upset if they found out you weren¡¯t taking care of yourself.¡±

    ¡°How do you know that?¡± I teased her gently before snagging one of the sauce-soaked broccoli crowns and crunching into it with gusto.

    ¡°That¡¯s easy, Liam. I am worried about you too. You¡¯ve told me about your contracted companions and I can tell that they would be just as concerned as I am. Part of why I brought you dinner after all. It¡¯s not the most nutritious, but it feeds the soul.¡± Cariad explained with an easy smile that made me snort in laughter

    ¡°You are right. I know both of them would give me hell. Especially since I¡¯d do the same right back to them if they weren¡¯t looking after themselves.¡±

    ¡°So, you need to take better care of yourself. Meaning you are going to clean up and go to bed early tonight after you finish eating.¡± Cariad said firmly, leaning forward slightly while giving me a mock-glare.

    ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am.¡± I consented with a faux-chastised smile and a bow of my head. I¡¯d actually been planning on just taking a shower and crashing for sleep without bothering with dinner when I got home. The fact that Cariad had brought me food was a blessing that I wasn¡¯t going to complain about.

    ¡°Good. I¡¯m happy that you understand I am just trying to look after you, Liam. You are missing a lot of the support structure that most Travelers have at the moment after all.¡± Cariad settled back with a satisfied smile on her slim lips.

    ¡°Being looked after by a beautiful woman, never mind that her very touch could make me dissolve on contact, is not something to complain about.¡± The compliment fell from my lips without conscious thought and I winced internally, wondering if Cariad would be offended or not.

    Rather than offended, Cariad looked pleased as her smile got wider and she nodded.

    ¡°Glad you are learning then, Liam.¡± She said primly before laughing quietly to herself. ¡°Seriously though, most Travelers have support staff to look after them. Something you should hopefully have in time once you rise far enough in skill and power. You are already rapidly approaching the level that most novice Travelers have with their family sponsorships after all.¡±

    Cariad had explained to me previously that, normally, when a person was summoned between worlds it was because they¡¯d volunteered to do so by consenting to join a roster of Travelers via the System, which was a inter-dimensional supercomputer of sorts that administered travel between dimensions and handed out awards for basically not walking on the grass for these people. With the System¡¯s help, the DSR worked to keep the different dimensions separate without compromising the dimensional membrane, which was where her people, the daemons, lived after all. The membrane itself was made up of a mixture of mana and negatively charged particles that acted something akin to antimatter, only that rather than mutual annihilation when contacting regular matter it instead consumed that regular matter to fuel itself. So keeping the regular dimensions from breaching the membrane was what kept them from being devoured entirely and also why she kept herself covered up as her body had the same negatively charged effect on her surroundings.

    But not her hair, for whatever reason¡­I thought idly as I observed my companion while chewing on a delicious bit of chicken. That particular train of thought brought me to a question that I considered for a few more bites before deciding to voice it to my companion.

    ¡°Cari, question for you¡­If the membrane between dimensions is your people¡¯s realm and is as lethal to our dimensions as you said before, why does the DSR work so hard to keep them separate? Wouldn¡¯t it be easier to just let the membrane devour the positively charged dimensions and then have all that extra land for yourselves? Not saying that you would or should do it, just curious why it¡¯s such a focus.¡±

    Cariad bit her lip in thought for a moment as she considered my question and I ate a few more bites while she thought. When she finally answered, it was in a measured and thoughtful tone.

    ¡°This is not the entire reason why, but just how I understand it, okay?¡± She waited until I nodded in agreement before continuing. ¡°I believe it is due to a need for structure. Even though my species¡¯ home is made of entropically charged energies that consume positively charged matter, that doesn¡¯t mean that it could survive without structure. You remember the honeycomb analogy I gave you before?¡±

    ¡°Each dimension is like a cell in a honeycomb. The bad kind of transit between dimensions is punching through the comb wall and damaging the cell, while the good kind goes up and out of the opening in the cell and then back down into the other one, right?¡± I said between bites. I was just about to rise to get a glass of water but Cariad was already on her feet and already filling one like she could read my mind. ¡°Thanks.¡±

    ¡°No problem, Liam.¡± Cariad said while setting the filled glass on the table. ¡°So that example is also partially why we work to maintain the dimensional barriers. The cells also provide the necessary structure for our own spaces. It is self preservation and also racial pride, to a lesser extent. The precursors who built the System charged our species with looking after it. It¡¯s been our duty for so long that many would not be able to remember a time when we did not do such. Also, the mana gathered and the work we do helps us to improve ourselves as well. Not as much as a Traveler, but still some.¡± Cariad answered at length.

    ¡°So self-preservation, pride, and habit? Well, I suppose there are worse reasons.¡± I teased gently, pushing the now empty plate to one side and draining my glass of water.

    ¡°Yes. Altruism is part of it for some of my people. I personally want to help and see it as part of our racial duty. We are the custodians of the System and it is the System¡¯s job to maintain the barriers. I am sure there are more reasons, but those are the ones I¡¯m aware of.¡± Cariad collected my plate while I was still drinking and took it into the kitchen. She set it into the sink and ran water over it, being careful to not get her gloves wet while I watched her move.

    The calculated and sure movements of the daemon woman were interesting to watch. I had spent the last several weeks looking after Rieka and Kassandra and that had given me the opportunity to observe them at length. Now, I turned that observational eye on my daemon companion.

    Cariad worked quickly with a sense of purpose to her movements and with a level of personal awareness of her body and actions that showed she was in tune with herself. She swayed slightly where she stood, her wide hips moving like she was dancing ever so slightly. The material of her pencil-skirt stretched and flexed in the dim lights of my kitchen. The way the light glimmered off her oddly colored skin and hair had its own allure as well.

    She¡¯s beautiful. I thought to myself. Just like Kass and Rieka are beautiful. I¡¯m lucky to have so many pretty girls surrounding me. Kind of wish I had a chance with Cari but that¡¯s not in the books. I can¡¯t touch her bare skin and that means no kissing or anything more than casual contact.

    That particular thought left a surprisingly strong ache in my chest that I hadn¡¯t been expecting at all. I wanted to examine it more but Cariad was already done with the plate in the sink and returned to claim my glass.

    ¡°I¡¯ll leave these in the sink, Liam. I¡¯d clean up more, but¡­¡± She started to explain but I cut her off.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, Cari. You brought me dinner and chatted with me, I appreciate that. We don¡¯t get to chat often and I like it when we do. I think it would be fun to do it again in the future and I want to make you dinner sometime too.¡± The smile that blossomed on her face was like a brilliant flower blooming and a delicate blush dusted Cariad¡¯s cheeks. She nodded earnestly and hurried to set the glass in the sink as well. I made a note to load them into the dishwasher in the morning and had to stifle a yawn while getting to my feet.

    ¡°Off to bed, Liam.¡± Cariad chastised. I could barely see her approaching again through my squinted eyes and she poked me in the side lightly with one gloved finger.

    ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am.¡± I mumbled before yawning again. ¡°Good lord, I am tired. I won¡¯t argue, Cari.¡±

    ¡°Good boy.¡± Cariad replied in her pretend-imperious tone, smirking up at me. A few strands of her bright red hair lay across her face, having escaped from the loose bundle she normally kept her hair in.

    ¡°Careful there or you¡¯ll need to start dressing in leather and wearing spike heels if you keep being so dominant and ordering folks around.¡± The teasing popped out automatically; a result of the verbal sparring with Kassandra from the weekend I guessed. Cariad stared at me in open mouthed shock for a moment before biting her lip while the light blush returned once more.

    ¡°You¡¯d like that, wouldn¡¯t you?¡± She riposted with mock indignation before letting it melt off her face. ¡°Seriously, Liam. Off to bed with you. Your girls deserve you at your best after all.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s cheating to use them like that.¡± I protested playfully, but headed towards my bedroom. ¡°Have a good night, Cari.¡±

    ¡°Have a good night, Liam. I¡¯ll likely see you tomorrow for your practice so make sure you rest well.¡± Cariad¡¯s response came from behind me and I heard the quiet ¡®clunk¡¯ of the living room lights turning off.

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s right. Had one last¡­¡± I turned to look back over my shoulder and saw the empty room shrouded in shadow. Not a single sign of my dinner guest remained other than the dishes in the sink. ¡°Cerebaton is bad enough but now he¡¯s got her doing it¡­¡±

 Chapter 35

    Having dinner with Cariad had been surprisingly relaxing. I went to bed that night without any issues and slept the whole night through.

    Rising on time, I got a morning run in before work. I¡¯d been meaning to start doing it again to help build up my wind for longer fights when helping the girls, as well as the hikes that I expected would be coming when Kassandra was ready to start scouting out the ruins that we had found.

    My good mood remained in full effect until I got to work. I hadn¡¯t even made it to my dock before one of the most hated sounds ever pierced my good morning. The whir of an electric motor and the shush of small wheels on concrete.

    ¡°Cosgrave.¡± The nasal whine stabbed into my eardrums like a knife. It was distant though, so I pretended I couldn¡¯t hear him and kept walking.

    ¡°Cosgrave!¡± This time it was louder and a little closer, but I kept walking and hoping he¡¯d find someone else to harass.

    ¡°What could he possibly want this early in the day?¡± I grumbled under my breath. ¡°It¡¯s far too early for someone else to have messed something up and he needs me to bail them out.¡±

    ¡°Damn it, Cosgrave! I¡¯m talking to you!¡± This time the distressed bellow of my boss, Aaron Dutcher, echoed throughout the entire loading dock and silence descended as the other workers turned to stare at the fat man on his motorized scooter. He ignored them, but I could tell he was aware of the mixed stares and glares from how his face was already red and going into purple.

    Dutcher was unimpressive in a general sense. At a glance, he looked more like a basket-ball with arms and legs, or one of those old California Raisin figurines you used to get in kids meals at different burger restaurants. His balding head shone with sweat already in the fluorescent lights of the loading dock despite the fact the man wasn¡¯t even walking on his own two feet. Instead he was clinging resolutely to a shiny, two-wheeled Segway scooter like one might expect a mall cop to be riding on. He was dressed in a pair of khakis with an overstretched waistband and a mustard-yellow button down that already had stains on the front.

    ¡°What do you need, Dutcher?¡± I had to fight back the sigh. I¡¯d nearly made it to my loading dock and I could see the stack of printed orders sitting on the beaten up desk by the door. It was going to be a long day from that evidence alone, regardless of whatever crap Dutcher had for me.

    ¡°That is Mr. Dutcher to you, Cosgrave.¡± Growled the pot bellied man as he pulled his overburdened scooter to a stop, swaying slightly to maintain balance on the upright device. I dearly wanted to kick one of the tires to see if it would knock Dutcher on his face, but restrained the urge. This wasn¡¯t made any easier by his following comments. ¡°Clean out your ears and listen to me next time, jackass. You have an emergency project first before you start loading your dock.¡±

    I took a long, slow breath in through my nose and let it out again, fighting to maintain my cool.

    ¡°What project is that, Dutcher? And why is it my problem?¡± I said with forced calm.

    ¡°Collapsed load on dock seven. It collapsed during delivery and the driver brought it back to be reloaded.¡± Dutcher didn¡¯t even bother hiding his savage glee at the statement. ¡°And it¡¯s your problem because I say it is, Cosgrave. Get over there and get it sorted out and re-loaded. The driver will be back in a few hours to get it for a late delivery.¡±

    ¡°And who else is helping me deal with it?¡± Again, I kept the forced calm in my voice only barely.

    A shifted load wasn¡¯t an issue, since it was just the contents of the trailer moving around while it was driving from location to location. It happened when a load wasn¡¯t packed properly or secured correctly. In an extreme situation, it could lead to a rollover on a trailer though. A collapsed load though was something entirely different. It meant that the load had shifted so badly that it was likely now strewn all over the back of the trailer and would take several people to sort it out. I knew the answer to my question already but I dearly hoped I was wrong.

    ¡°It¡¯s up to you to deal with. I can¡¯t pull anyone else off their loads to sort it out.¡± Dutcher¡¯s voice was full of malice and I ground my teeth to resist the urge to reach over and slap the idiot.

    ¡°You realize that it normally takes at least two, if not three loaders to get those sorted out, right? Who¡¯s load was it initially?¡±

    ¡°One, I don¡¯t care. And two, no idea. But it¡¯s now your problem, which means that it¡¯s not my problem anymore. Get it done, Cosgrave!¡± Barked the fat man before turning his Segway around with a twist of his wrists and wheeling off down the warehouse floor.

    Sighing, I dumped my lunch box onto my normal counter and went over to have a look at the mess on dock seven. Given that seven was normally the dock that Matheson used and I didn¡¯t see the stoned idiot anywhere, I knew exactly who¡¯s trailer this was.

    Heaving the rolling door open for the trailer that was backed into the slot, I had to dodge out of the way as totes, boxes, and smashed flats of canned drinks slid out onto the loading dock as soon as it cleared the midpoint. They tumbled out in a sprawl that sounded like a tinny avalanche while several cans began to leak sticky fluids all over the floor. Glancing into the trailer, I growled under my breath as I surveyed the mess inside. Easily half, if not more, of the load was displaced and either fallen, about to fall, or already smashed in the trailer. I saw none of the restraining bars, straps, or other methods of securing a load that we were supposed to use either.

    ¡°Damn it¡­¡±

    <><><>

    ¡°You really need to get a new job.¡±

    ¡°I KNOW!¡± Cerebaton didn¡¯t deserve the snarl, but he accepted it nonetheless as our practice weapons clashed together. He was still wielding the fake wooden longsword that he¡¯d been training with since I started. After I¡¯d explained the change in gear and my desire to try other things, he¡¯d swapped me over to a short club with a weighted head to simulate my mace and gotten me a weighted glove of the same energetically neutral material that he and Cariad wore when visiting, meaning that it wouldn¡¯t be dissolved at their touch and it wouldn¡¯t dissolve me in return.

    I swiped with my armored gauntlet and managed to parry the incoming blow from the sword, though my hand ached from the impact as I still caught part of the edge rather than the flat like I was supposed to. In return, I swung the mace down low at Cerebaton¡¯s thigh but the ever-nimble man just pulled the limb back out of the way of the strike. I was still getting used to the difference in weight with the mace and the missed swing threw me off balance.

    It only took a tap from Cerebaton before he sent me sprawling on the chipped wood of the gazebo that we used for our practice sessions. The resultant crash of my large frame on the ancient wood sent a shudder through the structure that made Cariad wince from where she was sitting on the railing nearby. She hopped down and hurried over to check on me.

    ¡°Liam, are you okay?¡±

    ¡°Fine, Cari.¡± I grumbled, hissing in pain as I got up and picked a large splinter out of my forearm. A tiny dot of blood welled up from the spot but I ignored it, instead focusing on the trick I¡¯d picked up with the crag hunter to shift the skin into something thicker. That caused a bit of swelling in the area that worked to put pressure on the little wound, even without the heavier wrapping of armor on top of it. The blood slowed and stopped a moment later.

    ¡°You are getting better at that.¡± Cerebaton grunted and I turned to glare at my instructor.

    Cerebaton was Cariad¡¯s boss and also a daemon like her. Unlike Cariad though, Cerebaton had spent time as a ¡®field agent¡¯ as they called it. As such, he¡¯d developed more than a few useful skills and one of which was a lesser mastery of the same skill I had, Shape-Shifting. His skill was at a higher level than mine, but he had no plans to continue training it beyond where it sat now. This level however allowed him to disguise his normal shape and come to train with me. Cariad still visited on the regular, but was careful to keep out of sight of any passers-by until it was dark enough that no one would notice her unique skin tone.

    Normally, Cerebaton would have drawn even more attention than Cariad. In his natural form, the man was over eight feet tall and had a rack of elk antlers to add nearly another two feet of height to that. Like Cariad he had a unique skin color and looked somewhat like a cross between the Horned God from a pagan storybook and the Jolly Green Giant, if said giant had a penchant for formal-wear and liked to impersonate barn doors or brick houses.

    Honestly, he looks more like the old Hulk than good ole Jolly Green¡­ I thought to myself, remembering the last time my mentor and friend had shown me his real form.

    At the moment, Cerebaton looked more like Dolph Lundgren when he appeared as Drago for Rocky IV. Tall and heavily muscled with a chiseled jaw and spiked blonde hair. The only real difference was that rather than the blue eyes that Drago had sported in the movie, Cerebaton¡¯s eyes were a vivid yellow in color.

    ¡°Practice makes perfect after all.¡± I grumbled then had to duck when Cerebaton swiped at me with his practice sword.

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    ¡°No, practice makes permanent! You need to perfect your practice, Liam. And while I know you don¡¯t want to hear it again, finding you something else besides that job is going to help you become better at your overall task. At the moment you spend far too much time laboring at that plebeian workplace when you could be training. Your supervisor is only making it worse with the additional demands he makes of you.¡± Cerebaton snarled the first part before his voice trailed off into a more reasonable tone. I¡¯d been filling them in on Dutcher¡¯s idiotic actions earlier and both had been offended on my behalf, which was gratifying in its own sense.

    ¡°Would love to, but the economy is in shambles and I don¡¯t exactly have a ton of money in the bank to get by until I can find something else. Also, since the System hasn¡¯t graced me with the opportunity to get the Dimensional Pocket ability that Cari mentioned to me before, I don¡¯t have the ability to bring vast wealth back with me. Or even minor wealth that might help make ends meet till then. And I¡¯ve been advised that, while it is an option to trade SP for local funds, it¡¯s a bad idea.¡±

    ¡°A very bad one.¡± Cerebaton grunted. ¡°The only time I recommend it is when a Traveler is getting ready to retire or believes it necessary to complete a contract. If you can exchange a hundred SP in order to earn a thousand, that is an easy enough exchange to make. However the odds of having something like that come up are slim to none.¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯m stuck till I can find something better.¡±

    ¡°Ms. Davies also mentioned she¡¯d given you an update about possibly getting work as a contractor through the DSR.¡±

    ¡°I told him that we were looking into it, but were unsure of where he¡¯d go.¡± Cariad cut in, still hovering close to me as we hadn¡¯t resumed fighting again yet.

    There hadn¡¯t been a lot of talking since I¡¯d shown up for my Thursday night training with Cerebaton. I¡¯d just arrived and we¡¯d started clashing. Cerebaton had been teasing out details of the last few days while we fought and this was ground we had covered already in previous days too.

    ¡°Well, we will have to see. I can¡¯t just create a position for you. I have to be seen as fair, so I cannot call in any favors on this, Liam. You know that right?¡± Cerebaton¡¯s question was low and to the point. I swallowed another sigh and met his brilliant yellow eyes.

    ¡°I know, Cerebaton. You are already doing me a huge favor in training me while billing the department. I don¡¯t expect you guys to solve all my problems. I¡¯ve made it this far just getting through the work week. The girls and I are doing well in their missions and we have plans for plenty more work so I¡¯m going to be getting quite a bit of SP in the near future. I would dearly love to be able to spend more time focusing on training, but there are only so many hours in the day after all.¡±

    ¡°Always an issue, for sure.¡± Cerebaton nodded in agreement. ¡°I know that you are aware as well, but I want to repeat it. Do not take the route of trading your SP in for cash unless you are desperate. There are other options and the most common is bringing trade between worlds; you just need to secure the Dimensional Pocket power. And if you trade in SP rather than invest it in yourself, you will only slow down the process of unlocking that power.¡±

    I had been in the midst of twirling my weapon in my right hand, working to keep my sore wrists loose while we practiced despite the protestation of my shoulders and back. The implications of what Cerebaton said startled me enough that the weighted stick slipped out of my grip and clattered across the top of the gazebo.

    ¡°What?¡± I asked, staring at him in surprise.

    ¡°You heard me, Liam.¡± Cerebaton said simply, not looking away from me. ¡°You have a strong mind and logical thinking. Consider what was said and what you know about how powers unlock.¡± Neither daemon moved, both watching me silently, unblinking. The sudden change in the normally cheerful Cariad had me stunned.

    To give myself time to mull over what was said, I strode to the edge of the gazebo where my practice weapon lay and picked it up. On the walk back I started verbally walking through the situation.

    ¡°Powers unlock either by mastering a tier, earning enough SP, or investing enough SP.¡± I said carefully, getting a nod from the two daemons. ¡°Meaning that it is all interactions inside the System, right?¡±

    Cariad nodded and opened her mouth to speak before she winced, her hand coming to her forehead like she¡¯d been struck with a sudden headache. Cerebaton glanced at her, worry showing in his features that only faded when Cariad shook her head and seemed to come back to herself and the pain faded. I made the connection though and spoke it out slowly.

    ¡°And you cannot tell me specifics about certain things, likely due to enforcement from the System itself. Probably something to do with unspoken rules that need to be learned by each Traveler individually. Likely something that Travelers teach each other, but you aren¡¯t allowed to talk about? No, don¡¯t nod or agree, I¡¯m just thinking out loud.¡± I said the last part quickly as both of the daemons shared a look and then relaxed when they heard my statement.

    ¡°So if you boil it down to the basics¡­It is the amount of SP in a given ¡®account¡¯ that determines access to powers. Either invested, earned, or practiced. Practiced being the act of mastering a skill and allowing that invested SP to become ¡®familiar¡¯ with the person. So trading in SP would be basically ¡®cashing out¡¯ or returning that amount and wouldn¡¯t count towards the total ¡®balance¡¯, as it was explained in the past that the SP is power invested into me by the System, even unspent. So any that I ¡®cash out¡¯ would not be calculated towards unlocking a power then?¡±

    ¡°I cannot agree nor deny your analogy or thoughts.¡± Cerebaton said diplomatically, but I could see the amusement twinkling in his yellow eyes. ¡°Given that System Points are considered one of the most precious resources amongst the many dimensions that host Travelers, exchanging them for anything should be done with extreme caution and due consideration for the ¡®exchange rate¡¯.¡± He put special emphasis on that final portion and I nodded.

    ¡°Understood. I wish I could just quit my regular job, but I¡¯m just not seeing another option right now. At least I have guaranteed weekends off at the moment and it¡¯s enough to keep the lights on.¡±

    ¡°Cheer up, Liam. You¡¯ll figure something out, I know you will. Just think of it as one more thing you can do to make sure ¡®your girls¡¯ are safe.¡± Teased Cariad, a bright smile twisting her full lips. I shared the smile with her before taking another breath and turning my attention once more to Cerebaton.

    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s get back to this practice. I can worry about finding a new job later. For now though, I need to not be distracted by other things. Distraction in a fight can lead to getting hurt or worse.¡±

    ¡°Smart man.¡± Grinned my trainer.

    Despite the fact he seems to take an inane amount of amusement from trouncing me, he is a good guy. I thought with a smirk while Cariad backed away again to give us space and we went back to our sparring.

    <><><>

    ¡°Ow¡­Why did I think that running was a good idea? Running sucks¡­¡± I muttered quietly while rolling my shoulders to loosen them up while I bounced across the sidewalk.

    It¡¯d been another long day at work but the week was finally over and Friday night loomed large over me. The girls hadn¡¯t called me back yet to plan our next outing, but we had just finished a longer trip after all and they normally summoned me mid-week for that kind of thing.

    Several of the guys at work had tried to rope me into a bar night, but I¡¯d begged off with being too tired from dealing with Dutcher¡¯s continual abuses. Thankfully, Friday was just a regular day of work as he hadn¡¯t found some other crap job to dump on top of me. I was looking forward to just relaxing once I got my exercise out of the way and calling it an early night.

    After sparring with Cerebaton on Thursday night, I¡¯d skipped a morning run to save energy for work this morning. I¡¯d resolved instead to run after work and that was why I was jogging along the pavement towards the same little park that I trained with Cerebaton in.

    Not having any real exercise clothes, I¡¯d just stopped at home to swap my work jeans for a set of old sweats and my boots for a pair of sneakers before heading out.

    It¡¯s because you are an idiot. I reminded myself while I jogged in place at a stoplight, doing my best to ignore the looks being directed my way from the motorists at the light. As soon as it turned green, I jogged across the crosswalk. Thankfully, traffic turning into the lane was paying attention and I didn¡¯t get run over. That time at least. I¡¯d been nearly hit once already tonight at the light closest to my apartment.

    An idiot who is doing far too much to try and prepare for everything. Gonna stretch myself too thin¡­ I continued the mental berating while I huffed and puffed my way onto the cracked blacktop of the walking trail that circled the dirty park. It wasn¡¯t much, but this was what I had and I refused to drop the money so I could get a gym membership and spend time on a treadmill. Not when that money would be better spent on a boxing trainer or something. Can¡¯t do it with Cerebaton after all.

    I¡¯d discussed the martial-arts portion of it with Cerebaton during both our nights of training this week. The issue was always that if I messed up and made contact with his bare skin during a fight, I would end up injured regardless of how light the contact was. The Shape-Shifting he did to change his form didn¡¯t change the fact that his origins meant his physical touch was corrosive without specially treated cloth for a barrier. Protective padding would help some but there was still too much of a chance of my getting injured for him to be comfortable with the risk beyond the basics. And that was the reason for the glove I had been using. Doing anything more intense like grabs, throws, or holds would be entirely out of the question for obvious reasons.

    ¡°Maybe I should join a dojo?¡± I muttered to myself, ignoring the suspicious look from the pair of bone-thin women power walking the opposite direction on the track in outfits that wouldn¡¯t have looked out of place in the eighties.

    No. The last thing I need is another claim on my time after work. I thought to myself as I rounded the corner near one of the clumps of scruffy trees that were sprinkled around the park. They made a decent spot for local kids to hang out and smoke weed in a spot out of sight of passerby, but it was also an extremely obvious location too, since anyone looking at it could tell it was a decent hiding spot.

    I continued around the park for another half of a lap before I was broken out of my attempts to distract myself from the jostling of my sore muscles by the dull flash of light around the edges of my vision and a message scrolling into place in my vision.

    Kassandra Silverscale has sent a non-urgent request for your presence regarding your guardian contract with her.

    Transit? View summoning?

    ¡°Kass? I wonder what she needs? It¡¯s not urgent so she¡¯s okay, I hope¡­¡± I muttered quietly, glancing around to look for a spot where I could safely cross over. There was a low series of juniper bushes nearby that still had all their needles and I grimaced. It wasn¡¯t much of a shelter but with a quick glance around the park I confirmed the only other obvious occupants was a small collection of teens over on the soccer fields and the same two women power walking along the same path I was using. The bushes would do and they were close.

    Moving quickly, I stepped off the path and flopped down onto the grass so that the bushes hid me from the sight of the others by getting as close as I could under the prickly plants. Once I was as secure as I could get, I mentally tapped the Transit option and the world whirled away from me in a spiral of color, light, and other sensations.

    I couldn¡¯t help the excitement that was rising in my gut. I missed both my girls and I was looking forward to seeing at least Kassandra again.

 Chapter 36

    The whirling sensation of movement was back and worse than normal.

    I¡¯d learned in the past that closing my eyes didn¡¯t really diminish the sensation of movement or the spiral of colors that surrounded me. A chorus of discordant noises sang out for what felt like both an instant and an hour in the same breath.

    Amidst all the chaos, I caught sight of a shape that I thought was a Gothic cathedral, but done in a photo-negative color-palette, before it vanished as a swirling rainbow of light crashed into me. At that point I got the dubious joy of ¡®tasting the rainbow¡¯ in the most bizarre way.

    Apparently the color blue tasted like chicken, who would have guessed?

    The whirling stopped a moment later and I landed on a soft carpet with an ¡®oof¡¯. I was in a dimly lit room that looked familiar, but was hard to confirm at this odd angle.

    ¡°Liam! Wait wha¡­¡± Kassandra¡¯s happy cheer confirmed my location before that happiness devolved into confusion as she sailed directly overhead. Her brick-red and earth-brown patterned tail trailed after her to land on the other side of me in a heap. It took a second for my brain to process what had just happened but I couldn¡¯t help the laugh that bubbled up when I made the connection.

    Kassandra had made it a bit of a habit to greet me rather exuberantly whenever I arrived from a summoning. That usually resulted in her attempting to knock me over with a flying hug that had quite a bit of force behind it. Despite being a ¡®dwarf¡¯ breed of lamia, meaning she was smaller than a standard lamia, she still had quite a bit of mass behind her. I¡¯d gotten the hang of catching her and turning with the movement to let her coil her serpentine lower half around me, rather than knock me over, but that was only a recent development.

    Apparently, my prone arrival had thrown off her normal greeting. That had resulted in her leaping before she looked and her subsequent graceful flight over me.

    ¡°Where¡­oh! Liam are you okay?¡± Kassandra had landed rather nimbly for someone with several hundred pounds and almost ten feet of serpentine tail. A scowl started out on her cherubic face but that quickly changed to concern as she caught sight of me lying flat on the ground. She hurried to slither over to me. The auburn bombshell curls that surrounded her face bounced at the sinuous movement, matching a similar animation to her curves.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, Kass.¡± I was able to say quickly before she repeated her previous tackling maneuver, this time aimed properly and with me unable to dodge.

    Kassandra landed on my chest with a delicate ¡®oof¡¯ of delight followed by a happy squeal. She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me into a kiss that left me with the distinct impression that I¡¯d been missed. Pinned down as I was by her long body that was now piled over my lower half, I was at her mercy for the time being so I didn¡¯t fight it.

    Woe is me, I know¡­

    Kassandra spent an indeterminate amount of time happily wriggling against me while we kissed. Don¡¯t ask me how long it was, I didn¡¯t have enough oxygen to think straight, let alone available blood to carry said oxygen. It was all being press ganged elsewhere in my body.

    When my happy partner finally surfaced for air, it was with a heady giggle and a strong enough blush that it hid the dusting of freckles I knew graced her cheeks and the little button nose she had. Kassandra had foregone wearing her silver-rimmed spectacles, of which I was thankful as they¡¯d have hurt to smack into my face, and her inquisitive, slitted eyes glimmered down at me like a pair of chocolate diamonds.

    ¡°Hello, Liam. I missed you.¡± She purred, wiggling on top of me before burying her face in my neck and squeezing me closer again.

    ¡°Missed you too, Kass.¡± I murmured back to her, letting the tight hug that I¡¯d wrapped her up with relax, though I left one hand in her hair while the other stroked her lower back. Kassandra made several happy moaning noises into my neck at that, her hips rolling back and forth in a very enticing way from where they rested on my stomach.

    Because of her smaller size due to being a ¡®dwarf¡¯ lamia, Kassandra¡¯s human half was a good deal smaller than normal. At her normal height when moving about she was only around three to four feet tall, coming in under my rib cage when we stood side by side. Despite her smaller size and stature though, she was fully a woman. Her curves left nothing to chance in that regard. It had taken me a bit of time to get my mind around the fact that despite being so small in height, she was a fully grown adult of her species. Not that Kassandra made it hard to believe, given her ribald sense of humor and blatant flirting that had gone on.

    A flirting that was even now making it difficult to marshal enough blood up into my higher brain from where it was hanging out in my lower brain so I could actually talk intelligibly. I could tell from the sensation of two hard points digging into my chest that Kassandra was only wearing a thin shirt, something in a light peach color as it blended in with her skin.

    ¡°Kass?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Liam?¡± The mumbled reply came from my neck and the vibrations sent a rush up my spine that made it even harder to think. I blame that for what came out of my mouth next. To be fair, I¡¯d been thinking about it all week, but at that moment it just grew legs and made its escape from inside my chest via my mouth.

    ¡°Love you, Kass.¡±

    The silence that fell a moment later only lasted long enough for me to begin to realize what I¡¯d said and for worry to start growing before an excited squeal deafened my left ear. The arms around my neck promptly hauled me into another passionate kiss while her serpentine body thrashed happily, twining around each of my legs to firmly lock me in place. Whether she just wanted to cuddle closer or was trying to keep me from escaping, I wasn¡¯t entirely sure and had better things to think about at the moment.

    ¡°Oh, Liam. I didn¡¯t expect you to say that already.¡± Kassandra panted as we separated to stare into each other''s eyes. Her slitted eyes danced with affection while the blush that had taken up residence on her cheeks looked like it was settling in for a long-term stay.

    Deciding that I had already stuck my foot in it and that I wasn¡¯t about to back down now, I continued while looking into her eyes. ¡°It¡¯s the truth, Kass. You are funny, sexy, and so open with your affections. I don¡¯t know where it¡¯s going, but I know that I¡¯m falling for you harder every day we spend together.¡±

    ¡°We will figure it out as we go, Liam. I know there will be hurdles with my rank and you being a Traveler, but that is a problem for another day.¡± Kassandra reassured, leaning back down to press a kiss on my forehead, each cheek, then onto the tip of my nose. ¡°I¡¯m in no rush to hang signs on us, I just know I share that feeling with you. My big, strong protector.¡± Kassandra purred happily, nuzzling under my chin with a giggle like the ringing of a silver bell.

    ¡°As adorable as the two of you are, we did summon him here for a reason, Kass.¡± The dryly amused tones of my other bonded companion came from somewhere on the other side of the room. It was followed by the quiet shush of leather slippers on the wooden floor before Rieka peeked over the back of the nearest couch at me, her ice-blue eyes twinkling with amusement while her wolf ears were perked straight upright. I could still hear a quiet sound of movement and could imagine her fluffy tail shifting back and forth as she smirked down at me.

    ¡°You are welcome to come join us if you want, Rieka. I don¡¯t think Kass is going to let me up any time soon.¡± I suggested doing my best to maintain a straight face. I wasn¡¯t blushing nearly as badly now around either girl. I expected it was a side effect of being caught in the middle of an intimate moment with Kassandra the previous weekend by Rieka herself.

    ¡°Yes, Rieka! Join us.¡± Kassandra sang with roguish glee, not shifting at all from her spot under my chin. The innuendo was so heavy in Kassandra¡¯s tone that it felt like it had a physical weight in the moment. Rieka blushed slightly but locked eyes with me and gave me a questioning look. I gave her a wink and gestured at Kassandra with one hand and then at my belt, concealing the motion as shifting to tuck some hair back from her face.

    Rieka grinned and padded quickly around the sofa while still blushing slightly, clearly having gotten my message.

    ¡°Don¡¯t mind if I do, Kassandra.¡± Rieka replied blithely while yanking the belt of her silk breeches open and letting the metallic buckle fall to the floor with a clatter after having pulled it loose specifically for that reason.

    Kassandra stiffened slightly in my arms and turned her head to eyeball Rieka suspiciously. Seeing she was still fully clothed other than her belt being loose and a wide smirk on her face, Kassandra sighed at her friend.

    ¡°Aww, you had my hopes up, Rieka.¡± Kassandra said with a faux pout. Rieka just rolled her eyes and knelt down next to Kassandra to poke her in the cheek that wasn¡¯t currently pressed to my chest.

    ¡°Come on, you. Let our human up so that we can talk. You can cuddle him up on your lounge better than here on the floor and I guarantee you can wrap him better there too.¡± Rieka reminded Kassandra, who made a great production of sighing before unwrapping me and slithering off to let me up. Kassandra did make it a point to slither up and over my face, which resulted in first her full breasts being pressed into my face, then her tight tummy and finally the skirt covered mound of her womanhood before she slid to one side to let her scaled length slide over my shoulder.

    ¡°Minx.¡± I grumbled while Rieka offered a hand to help me up.

    ¡°Yes, but well¡­we both knew she was to begin with.¡± Rieka commiserated with a grin, bracing herself carefully to help pull me upright. ¡°Good to see you again, Liam. Kass really has been sulking about the academy this week.¡±

    ¡°With good reason!¡± Kassandra grumbled from the large, round couch that she preferred to curl up on. It was honestly more like an oversized ottoman than a couch since it didn¡¯t have a back, but the specifics didn¡¯t honestly matter.

    ¡°Missed both of you. I also agree with Kass that it was with good reason.¡± I pulled Rieka into a hug that had her sighing happily and leaning into me. The tips of her wolfish ears tickled my chin lightly while I heard the gentle shush of her tail wagging back and forth pick up speed. The wagging only increased further as one of my hands settled between her ears and began stroking gently. I¡¯d learned previously that Rieka really enjoyed headpats, but refused to accept them in public as it wasn¡¯t seen as ¡®dignified¡¯ for a princess.

    I half-expected Kassandra to protest or cut in with some bawdy comment or thought, but when I glanced up she was just grinning at the both of us with a satisfied tilt to her smile. However, her mischief would not be denied.

    When Kassandra realized I was staring at her, she quickly gripped the bottom of her shirt and yanked it upwards to expose her full breasts and their hardened peaks. It had come up at random during one of our conversations while traveling, that bras did not exist here, just basic breast-bands and corsets. I was rather happy with this discovery, as was reconfirmed today. Not once, but twice already. At least in the case of the mischievous lamia.

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    Coughing in surprise, I must have disturbed Rieka because the wolf kin woman released me and turned to glare at Kassandra, who had already lowered her shirt and concealed the ¡®evidence¡¯ of her misdeeds.

    ¡°Kass!¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°What did you do?¡±

    ¡°Nothing.¡± Kassandra¡¯s face was a mask of complete innocence. ¡°Anyway, we summoned Liam here for a reason, Rieka. Stop monopolizing our human!¡±

    The fact that Kassandra delivered the line that Rieka had used on her earlier with such a straight face left the fourth princess gobsmacked and staring at her.

    Deciding to play peacemaker, as was rapidly becoming my role with these two, I wrapped an arm around Rieka¡¯s shoulders and urged her to come and sit down in the chair I knew she preferred from my previous visits.

    With Reika settled, Kassandra yanked me onto the couch with her before wrapping her serpentine body around my waist twice and ending up snuggled across my lap and into my right shoulder with a happy sigh.

    ¡°There we go, much more comfortable. I knew moving off the floor was a good idea.¡± Kassandra continued with unrepentant mirth. This time though, Rieka did not rise to the bait and instead just rolled her eyes before picking up a sheet of parchment that was covered in her neat writing.

    ¡°So, there are two or three major things we needed to discuss with you, Liam.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good, I actually had one to discuss with you girls too.¡± I added, stroking Kassandra¡¯s hair lightly while she remained snuggled into my chest.

    ¡°Oh? Which of us should go first then?¡± Rieka asked with a quirked eyebrow.

    ¡°Mine is just a quick bit of information and I figure it will need some thought from both of you so no rush. That¡¯s a lie actually, I want to rush on it but I also know it is best not to.¡±

    ¡°Go ahead, Liam.¡± Kassandra chirped, shifting so she could look up at me in curiosity, though she didn¡¯t release the hold her arms had on me.

    ¡°Well I had a new power open up and my case-worker told me it was best to get in touch with you two about it. Apparently, I hit a threshold after our recent trip that lets me invest in an ability called Manipulate Elements (Minor) that should let me use magic, as well as one that is called Mana Reservoir that will apparently let me retain mana internally in a small, regenerating pool so I don¡¯t need to use coins like you girls do.¡±

    The silence that ensued lasted for several seconds while the girls both stared at me. Kassandra even leaned back enough to stare up at me in surprise. It was Rieka who finally broke the silence though.

    ¡°What element did it offer you?¡±

    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s the thing. I can¡­well¡­pick?¡± Both girls'' eyes widened further and I rushed to elaborate. ¡°At least from the four basic elements. I have to pick one of them but I was told that I could force it to aspect to a higher form like you two had.¡±

    ¡°Liam, that is unbelievable!¡± Crowed Kassandra, lunging upward to wrap her arms around my head with the speed of a striking snake. This resulted in my face being buried in the plush valley of her breasts with only the thin barrier of her linen shirt between our skin, so I wasn¡¯t about to complain very much.

    ¡°Well, the unbelievable does seem to be par for the course with Liam.¡± I couldn¡¯t tell since my face was firmly wedged between two soft mountains, but I thought I could hear the laughter in Rieka¡¯s voice.

    ¡°What did you pick, Liam?¡± Kassandra demanded from above me. I tried to speak but the pressure of her hug was such that I couldn¡¯t really form the words properly. Tickling her sides got a giggle out of the dwarf lamia and she loosened her grip, sliding back down to ¡®sit across¡¯ my lap like she had been earlier. ¡°Tell us!¡± She demanded again, poking me in the chest several times.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t picked yet.¡± I protested, batting at her hands gently to try and make her stop without hurting her. Kassandra just laughed gaily and went back to doing her best to tickle me.

    The easy affection from the redhead in my lap was just as soothing to my exhausted heart as her cuddles and loving words had been earlier. I couldn¡¯t help but pull her into a tight hug of my own. Kassandra let out an ¡®eep¡¯ of surprise before snuggling into the hug.

    Rieka just watched from her seat, a delicate porcelain teacup in her hands and a smirk on her face.

    ¡°You figured out how to shut her up finally.¡± Rieka said delicately.

    ¡°Oh I knew of ways I could use before, but this is more polite than the other ones I knew of.¡± Rieka tilted her head to one side in confusion while sipping her tea, so I elaborated more. ¡°It doesn¡¯t require me to drop my pants at least.¡± A blush danced across Rieka¡¯s features at that and she choked on her tea in surprise. A muffled giggle came from Kassandra, still wrapped up in my arms.

    ¡°Not as much fun though!¡± Kassandra managed to mumble out before I released her. ¡°Seriously though, Liam. Which did you pick?¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t decided yet. I remembered you had said before that if I had a magic that matched one of you, I could help bolster it. Since you two have advanced aspects, it wouldn¡¯t be immediate but I could pick up the precursor of one of your powers and work to aspect it to be able to help you. Or I could pick one that you don¡¯t already have to help round us out.¡±

    ¡°Fire!¡± Kassandra immediately demanded, just as I had expected.

    Rieka took a moment to consider the situation, leaning back into her seat for a moment before reaching around to fish out her tail and bring it around to lay in her lap. When it was there, she stroked the fluffy mass gently while she thought.

    ¡°While I hate to steal Kassandra¡¯s dreams¡­I think you would actually be better served with earth as a specialty.¡± Rieka said at last, looking up from where she¡¯d been finger-combing her fluffy tail.

    ¡°Boo! Earth is boring.¡± Kassandra grumbled and then sighed. ¡°But I have to agree with Rieka. Depending on how much you use it and what you use it for, earth might be the best choice for utility.¡±

    ¡°Care to elaborate?¡± I poked one of Kassandra¡¯s puffed-out cheeks, bringing a smirk back to her face before she captured my fingertip with her teeth and growled playfully.

    ¡°Earth magic is generally very straightforward. It tends to be short-range at times, until you get the hang of it. And finally, it allows you more freedom to manipulate the engagement through creating pits, sinkholes, mud bogs, or concealed spikes.¡± Rieka ticked the ideas off with her fingers while she talked. ¡°For example: You are being charged by mounted warriors or even one of the centaur tribes, if you are quick enough you can prepare the land in front of the charging enemy and can create a large number of small holes in the ground to trip or lame. With the crag hunter we encountered, if you could transmute some of the ground under it into mud then it would have lost a great deal of speed and maneuverability.¡±

    ¡°My concern is the small amount of mana I¡¯ll have to work with. Is ten mana points going to be equivalent to ten iron coins? Ten silver? Or is ten points only one coin worth? The Mana Reservoir is far more expensive than the elemental one. Heck, I could pick up two elements right out the gate easily and still be able to afford the Mana Reservoir after all.¡± Both girls listened to my complaints intently and considered what I had said.

    ¡°Can you fill us in more on the power? What its apparent limits are and the like?¡± Rieka asked after a moment. Closing my eyes, I read off the information to them directly from the System interface.

    ¡°Hmm¡­I¡¯d focus on just one element for the moment.¡± Kassandra said when I was complete. ¡°I don¡¯t like that it measures mana differently than we do, but that is unavoidable. I also want to know what your regeneration rate is. But it doesn¡¯t state that either.¡±

    ¡°Yea, just that it depends on your environment.¡± Huffed Rieka with a frown.

    ¡°So I should grab the earth magic option and the Mana Reservoir? I can always pick up fire later if I have time.¡±

    ¡°Yea, I think that is best. While having two elements isn¡¯t uncommon, it does divide the focus of the caster. Most times people will pick one to be their major and just use the other to supplement it. I know a few people who have a split earth/water that work to balance it since both can be used in healing, though water is still considered ¡®better¡¯. It ultimately comes back to having the mana to practice with each element.¡± Kassandra said at last, burrowing back into my side and resting her cheek on my chest with a happy sigh.

    ¡°Well, if you think so. I¡¯ll need to practice a lot to get used to it. Speaking of, what''s the plan for this weekend? You two did summon me to do planning after all, right?¡±

    ¡°I summoned you for other reasons, but Rieka insisted we do some planning first.¡± Grumped Kassandra cutely, though the grump faded immediately when I pressed a kiss to her forehead and she rose up to demand one on the lips as well.

    ¡°Yes, we had planned to focus on collecting funds to improve our camp gear and get a dimensional pouch to help store supplies make camping easier. Helping with the camping setup is something else you can use your magic for too, depending on how much it costs you. Making a campsite more comfortable and the like. I know there are some masters of earth magic that can throw up stone fortifications with ease, so smoothing or softening ground for comfort should be easy if you go that route.¡±

    ¡°Plus, we need to start looking into supplements for him.¡± Kassandra butted in.

    ¡°Supplements?¡±

    ¡°Yes, there are certain things that summoners can give their bonded companions that will help their powers grow. Mana aspected crystals are one thing, as are some types of pills, herbs, or foods and the like. The intent is to help the bonded creature grow faster. It¡¯s part of the project we are working on for our class and something we¡¯ll need to summon you for to help get an appraisal from the instructor on. Though I have no idea if it works the same with a Traveler.¡± Rieka explained, setting her teacup aside for now and leaning forward to rest her arms on her knees.

    ¡°Fair point. I can ask Cari about it, she¡¯s my go-to for information on Travelers after all.¡± I said with a shrug, making a note to send it to Cariad later.

    ¡°Besides that, I think we should change plans for tomorrow, Rieka.¡± Kassandra said, her voice serious. ¡°If Liam is picking up an element, he needs to practice with it. If we bring him here tomorrow, we can see if one of the girls that has earth mana will walk him through the basics. Then, if everything goes well, we can do a close-loop mission the day after.¡±

    ¡°That¡­actually would work.¡± Rieka tapped her fingers to her lips lightly in thought before nodding. ¡°Yes, I think that is a good idea. I can talk to Miss Cedarfall and see if she could spare us a few hours. I know she¡¯s been wanting help on some of her utility water magic to keep her skills balanced. She¡¯s one of the lucky ones to have two elements. If she¡¯s not available, then maybe I can talk Jane Carsan into it?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d prefer Cedarfall if we can. I like Jane, she¡¯s super cute with those big mouse ears, but she¡¯s so nervous around me¡­¡± Kassandra sighed despondently, but cheered up when I squeezed her closer in a hug.

    ¡°I¡¯ll approach Miss Cedarfall tonight and see if she¡¯s available for tomorrow before noon for a few hours. She can get Liam started on it at the very least and give him a talk on earth magic and you can work with her on water in between while Liam rests to recover. I¡¯ll bounce between you two to help out, that way it¡¯s fair for all involved.¡±

    ¡°Except for you two, since you are paying to summon me just to have me trained.¡± I protested.

    ¡°Investment, Liam. Besides, you train back home for us as well. It doesn¡¯t hurt to have you trained here on occasion. Besides, Kass and I can write it up that way for class and that will keep the instructor happy.¡± Rieka said with a shrug.

    ¡°You should go and track down Cedarfall.¡± Kassandra suggested after a moment of silence. ¡°I need to put Liam to work here, that way he gets his ¡®payment¡¯ for fulfilling the task he was summoned for.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Rieka blinked in surprise at her friend. ¡°What was that? I thought we summoned Liam for planning.¡±

    ¡°You wanted to do some planning, but I summoned him for something else.¡± Kassandra purred, nuzzling into my neck and pressing a kiss to the underside of my jaw. The sensation made a shiver run down my body.

    ¡°Ah yes¡­well I will let you get to that, Kass.¡± Rieka muttered, rolling her eyes as she got to her feet to head for the door.

    ¡°You are welcome to join us whenever you want, Rieka.¡± Kassandra called at her retreating back, causing the wolf noblewoman to trip on the rug. ¡°Just don¡¯t bring anyone else with you for a bit. I don¡¯t mind sharing with you early though.¡±

    ¡°You are nothing but mischief, Kass.¡± I gave her a squeeze to distract her from teasing Rieka, letting the wolf kin woman escape through the door of Kassandra¡¯s rooms.

    ¡°Not just mischief. I¡¯m also full of desire, Liam. I¡¯ve got another two hours on the summon¡­Let me get the door locked and a spell or two up to block the noise¡­then I want you to make love to me again. Show me what you can do with a bed this time?¡± Kassandra husked, looking up at me with hooded eyes.

    The edges of my vision flashed and a message scrolled across my view.

    Assist your contracted companion, Kassandra Silverscale, with her desires.

    Reward - 100 SP

    Now that is a mission I¡¯m happy to accomplish. I thought with a grin and pushed myself up to stand with Kassandra still wrapped tightly around me. The dwarf-lamia gave an excited squeal as I rose upwards, clinging to me as I crossed the room to lock the door.

    ¡°As you wish, Kass.¡± I murmured in her ear as we crossed to the bed. Kassandra had enough presence of mind to grab her spell rod and quickly cast her contraceptive charm as well as another spell at the walls before I settled onto the bed and drew her into a kiss.

 Chapter 37

    Kassandra had been demanding up until the very last minute, but thankfully my devious snuggle-noodle had not been cruel. She¡¯d made sure I was dressed before I was yanked back to Earth when I reminded her that I had been in public when she¡¯d called me there initially.

    She hadn¡¯t bothered to put a stitch of clothing on herself though, which was honestly unsurprising given her teasing nature.

    The fact that she¡¯d kept me well after nightfall made it a little hard to get back home, but at least I wasn¡¯t having to run naked like I¡¯d had to do after the emergency summon she¡¯d sent out a few weeks back. That sucked, but I still have no regrets concerning it.

    I really panicked back then, didn¡¯t I? I thought while jogging along the dark streets in between flickering street lamps. Sure, she needed to be warmed up, but it would have worked just as well to bundle her up in front of the fire. Might have taken longer, but it should have worked. Then again, she¡¯s not warm-blooded either so, better safe than sorry right?

    Arriving back at my apartment without being accosted by any of the local gangbangers was fortunate. While I had my Shape-Shifting, it wasn¡¯t quite enough to deal with getting shot while being robbed, at least not yet.

    I took a quick shower to wash up, both from the sweat of running and the other activities that Kassandra had demanded of me. While I was shampooing my hair, which had finally finished growing back in to a reasonable length again and I could stop using my Shape-Shifting to give myself proper eyebrows after the flame snake incident, I closed my eyes and focused on the System interface.

    Delving into the entries for ¡®Powers¡¯ I hesitated before selecting Mana Reservoir to review it again.

    Mana Reservoir (Minor) - Cost: 1,000 SP - Grants the Traveler a minor mana reservoir equivalent to 10 mana. This mana will regenerate at a fixed rate depending on ambient mana of the environment.

    Spells cast by the Traveler will pull from this reserve first, then any other mana reservoirs in the Traveler¡¯s possession.

    Still wish I knew if ten mana was a lot or a little¡­I thought before sighing.

    ¡°It¡¯s just another investment. It¡¯s not going to be my primary means of fighting¡­hell my Shape-Shifting isn¡¯t either, not yet at least. For now that is my bonk-stick.¡± I sniggered while thinking of the flanged iron mace that Kassandra had been storing for me in the other world. A bit of loot we¡¯d recovered from the crag hunter nest, it was plain but it worked. More importantly, the girls didn¡¯t have to buy anything else.

    Gritting my teeth, I focused on the power and willed it to activate. The point counter, which had gained another hundred points over the 1370 it had contained after completing the ¡®mission¡¯ Kassandra had assigned me, drained down to 470 now.

    A sensation of pressure formed low in my gut and I grunted. It felt like I¡¯d just been punched in the kidney. The sensation morphed into a brief burning feeling before flaring and fading away just as a golden color flashed around the edges of my vision and the neon purple words popped up in front of my still closed eyes.

    By unlocking the Mana Reservoir power, your body has been adapted to utilize and store mana.

    Mastery of this power will allow you to expand your reservoir and unlock new effects.

    Due to you having begun work on mastering the Shape-Shifting power, this reservoir is separate from the internal source of that power.

    ¡°Huh¡­okay. That is odd. Didn¡¯t know Shape-Shifting had a power source. Just figured it well¡­did it.¡± I muttered before shrugging. A brief flare of hot pink light in the upper corner of my vision drew my attention there and I saw that directly under the entry for my ¡®Current SP¡¯ there was now a readout that stated ¡®Mana 0/10¡¯. As I watched it, the 0 began to rapidly tick up until it sat at a full 10 mana.

    ¡°Handy. Glad it filled me up to start with. Hadn¡¯t thought of that. Boy would that have sucked to show up for training tomorrow and my mana be empty. Glad I didn¡¯t wait.¡± I mumbled before focusing on the ¡®Powers¡¯ menu again and skimming over the entry that would actually grant me something to use the mana on.

    Manipulate Element (Minor) - Cost: 100 SP - Select a base element from the following list: Fire, Water, Wind, Earth. User has basic control of this element and can manipulate mana to produce and shape that element into spells.

    This can be selected multiple times for an additional, neighboring element (EX: fire and earth, or fire and wind) but not an opposing element (Ex: cannot select fire first, then water).

    ¡°Seems straightforward.¡± I mumbled, rinsing the shampoo out of my hair before focusing and selecting the entry. There was another flash around the edges of my vision and then the glowing purple words returned with another System message. I was just grateful it didn¡¯t hurt as much as it had when taking Mana Reservoir.

    By selecting the power, Manipulate Elements (Minor) you can now begin to focus mana and aspect it into one of the four elements at your will.

    This does not force your natural mana to aspect, so if you had previous abilities from another base element it will not prevent you from using them.

    Please select from the following:

    Fire

    Water

    Wind

    Earth

    Each of the elemental names glowed with a color matched hue for each element, rather than the iridescent purple of the other entries. Fire was red, water was blue, wind glowed a soft yellow, and finally earth glowed a dull green.

    Focusing on Earth, it flashed twice before the message faded and then different messages began to scroll across my vision.

    You have selected: Earth.

    Due to the restrictions of Manipulate Elements (Minor) this has blocked you from selecting Wind if you choose to retake this ability in the future.

    As this is a Manipulate type skill, utilizing it will be different from a more structured spell-casting that you may be familiar with.

    Working with your chosen element will allow it to grow and evolve.

    Good luck!

    New Powers available in the System interface.

    Congratulations, Traveler.

    ¡°Another new power? What the heck?¡± I muttered and quickly navigated to the ¡®Powers¡¯ tab once more.

    I saw the new power immediately on the Body tab. One of the derivative powers on the same tier as Shape-Shifting (Lesser) that was fuzzy but unreadable was immediately visible now.

    Shape-Shifting (Elemental Alignment) - Cost: 200 SP - (Requires Manipulate Element of some form to provide elemental energy.) Allows for the inclusion of elemental shift of the animal forms, though no spells are usable, only allowing elemental damage via natural weapons.

    ¡°Huh¡­so that means what? I could like¡­make my talons deal fire damage? That¡¯d be neat, but not something that works well with earth magic. It states ¡®no spells are usable¡¯ either if I select it, and I just got spells. I don¡¯t think I wanna do that¡­¡± I mumbled to myself. ¡°Maybe ask the girls?¡±

    At that point, Fate apparently decreed that either my day thus far had been far too nice or that I¡¯d already spent too long in the shower and that it was time to punish me.

    The water coming out of the shower-head went ice cold and I had to bite back a scream of surprise at the sudden temperature change. Slapping at the knob quickly, I hurried to get the water turned off before I froze.

    ¡°Can¡¯t have anything nice.¡± I grumbled, grabbing my towel to dry off and head to bed.

    <><><>

    Again, I thought I saw buildings in the chaos as I whirled through the distance after the summon had hit me while I was seated at the table with my breakfast. Rather than the Gothic cathedral though, these were high-rise buildings that looked like office complexes I¡¯d seen downtown. The big difference was they were made of polished steel with no obvious windows on them, rather than the normal steel-and-glass I was used to.

    I didn¡¯t have long to ponder the thought as I landed on something soft a moment later and reality swirled back into place around me only half a second behind that.

    I could feel the sun on my face and hear a distance murmur of conversation as well as a crackling noise that sounded like fire. Turning in place quickly, I spotted my girls right before Kassandra pounced with a happy squeal.

    Catching the energetic dwarf lamia with a laugh, I let her momentum carry us into a turn while I hugged her to my chest. The motion caused her long tail to wrap naturally around my hips as I completed a full turn with a giggling Kassandra burrowing into my chest.

    ¡°Liam! I missed you so much.¡± Squealed the redheaded troublemaker, much to the amusement of Rieka. She stood a bit back with an unfamiliar young woman who was watching the entire encounter with raised eyebrows.

    Stolen novel; please report.

    ¡°Missed you too, Nugget.¡± I murmured into her hair, squeezing Kassandra close while she wrapped the rest of her serpentine body around my legs.

    ¡°Nugget?¡± Kassandra pushed against my chest to peer up at me with a suspicious look.

    ¡°Ah, sorry about that.¡± I mumbled, blushing in embarrassment before answering her in a low tone. ¡°Spent a bit of the morning thinking about cute nicknames and that one came to mind. Like a gold nugget, small but extremely precious.¡±

    Now it was Kassandra¡¯s turn to blush, but she punched me in the chest lightly with a playful scowl.

    ¡°Okay, but only in private! I have a reputation and nobility to maintain!¡± Kassandra insisted more loudly this time.

    ¡°What sort of reputation do you have left, Kass?¡± Rieka laughed, having approached with her companion in tow. ¡°Everyone knows you cause mischief all over the place. They just can¡¯t catch you at it to prove it.¡±

    ¡°Then they have no way of knowing it was me.¡± Kassandra replied haughtily, her nose plucked up towards the sky in the image of a haughty young noble woman. ¡°Besides, if anyone is being rude, it¡¯s you! You haven¡¯t introduced our guest to Liam yet!¡±

    Rieka spluttered but Kassandra was quick to continue her joke as she wiggled to one side to snuggle up under my left arm without unwrapping her tail from my waist, clearly intent on spending her time clinging to me for as long as I allowed.

    ¡°Liam, this is one of our classmates and fellow Rue House occupant, Miss Rachel Cedarfall. Miss Cedarfall, this is our summoned companion and protector, Liam the human.¡± Kassandra rattled off a rather formal sounding introduction with the surety of long practice. She did this while giving Rieka a cheeky wink and the wolf kin woman glared at her friend in mock outrage.

    I studied the new woman politely while the introductions were being made. Like Lady Maia, she was obviously an elf from her lack of animal features and the pair of long ears that poked out of a mane of tawny hair gathered into a messy bun at the back of her neck. While Rieka and Kassandra tended to dress neatly and rather ladylike, the elf in front of me was far more practically dressed. She had on a pair of sturdy but loose leather pants and a leather vest over a long sleeved blouse that was buttoned at the neck and wrist. The vest hung to mid-thigh with a number of small pockets and pouches dotting its surface and from the wear and tear on the leather it was meant as a protective garment. A number of small pouches hung from her waist, like the girls normally carried, and she had her spell rod tucked into a slot on her vest on the left side. Eyes the yellow of a summer sun watched me curiously from under noble brows in a sculpted face. If it wasn¡¯t for her dressing like a craftswoman, she would look regal in her bearing. She also stood several inches taller than both of the girls and only an inch or two shy of my own height.

    ¡°Pleasure to meet you, Miss Cedarfall.¡± I said, giving her an awkward half bow, unsure of how I was supposed to greet someone in this world but unable to do anything more elaborate due to the scaled limpet clinging to me. Said limpet was giggling the entire time.

    ¡°The pleasure is mine, Liam the human.¡± Rachel replied, tilting her head slightly to one side in curiosity.

    ¡°Please, just call me Liam.¡±

    ¡°Then you shall have to call me Rachel. Your two companions have requested I give you some pointers while developing your earth magic? Did you recently reach maturity and have it aspect?¡± The elf woman¡¯s voice was musical with just a hint of a rasp to it, like a singer who has spent too long in smoky lounges.

    ¡°Not especially no. I recently acquired the ability but the mana isn¡¯t aspected, as far as I can tell.¡± That got odd looks from all three and I just shrugged. ¡°When I actually got the ability, it stated that it does not force my natural mana to aspect, just that I can use it to cast spells of that type.¡±

    ¡°That is¡­confusing.¡± Rachel said after a moment, her delicate brows scrunching together for a moment while Rieka and Kassandra shared a silent glance. ¡°But you are sure you can utilize earth magic?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s what I was told. Something about it being a ¡®manipulate effect¡¯ rather than a more structured spellcasting too, so I¡¯m going to have to experiment but we will see.¡±

    ¡°Fascinating¡­Do you mind if I document this?¡± Rachel¡¯s creased brow smoothed and she reached into a pocket in her vest, extracting a leather notebook the size of a paperback book and a wrapped charcoal pencil. ¡°I normally research alchemy and things like that, but I have never heard of someone able to cast magics without having their body aspect the mana automatically. And natural mana?¡± Her yellow eyes were wide with interest. ¡°That is always elementally aligned. It¡¯s what causes monsters to form and dictates their, usually violent, nature.¡±

    ¡°Sure, go ahead. Just please keep personal details out of it if you can, I don¡¯t want anyone bugging the girls.¡± That statement got warm smiles from both Rieka and Kassandra while Rachel nodded rapidly, which made her long ears bounce only slightly. Clearly they had more ¡®backbone¡¯ than Rieka¡¯s floppy canine ears and were not nearly as motile.

    ¡°We¡¯ve pre-charged the summon for several hours and the promise still remains. While Liam is resting, I¡¯ll work with you on your water magic. There is enough shared in the nature of it and ice that it should help you out.¡± Kassandra butted in, making Rachel blink rapidly in surprise before delicately clearing her throat.

    ¡°Of course, I apologize. Let us head over to the practice range. Did you bring coins to work with¡­Liam?¡± Rachel said my name with a bit of hesitation, as if expecting me to change my mind, then relaxed when I didn¡¯t.

    ¡°I did not. I have a natural reservoir that I¡¯ll be using to practice with, like the monsters you mentioned.¡± I added the second half in a whisper that made Rachel¡¯s eyes bug out in surprise.

    ¡°Truly? No sentient species has a natural reservoir, only monstrous species do and it is widely believed that is what makes them violent, as I said before. But they aren¡¯t able to use magic beyond natural adaptations. Like a fire breath or molten skin¡­¡±

    ¡°Liam is different like that.¡± Rieka chipped in with an amused shrug. ¡°I don¡¯t think he does anything normal really.¡±

    Kassandra looked like she was going to say something before smirking and remaining silent, content to cling to my side like a busty and cuddly barnacle.

    ¡°What? I know that look.¡± Rieka grumbled as the three of us who were walking proceeded out of the shadow of Rue house and towards the low stone building that held the magical practice ranges. I was surprised to be able to manage the walk with Kassandra clinging to me without too much difficulty.

    ¡°Oh nothing¡­¡± Kassandra let the statement hang there innocently enough for several seconds before grinning wickedly and continuing. ¡°I was going to contest it and say Liam kisses like normal, but that¡¯s a lie. The things he can do with his tongue¡­¡± She let the sentence drift off while biting her lower lip sensually.

    ¡°Kass!¡± Rieka hissed in surprise, blushing furiously while Rachel glanced between all three of us before finally locking eyes with me. I just shrugged helplessly at her and the confused look shifted to a small smile. She rolled her eyes while Kassandra and Rieka traded barbs and retorts.

    ¡°Miss Silverscale, you are going to have to unwrap him for the first part while we get him started.¡± Rachel finally butted in once we made it inside the practice range. There were only two others there. One of which I recognized as Lady Valda and she nodded back in greeting when I did the same, but she didn¡¯t come over to talk to me this time. The other woman was something of a surprise.

    I only caught a brief glance of her but she was tall and had a set of delicate-looking insect wings of a chocolate-brown with red and white highlights. A pair of fluffy white antennae waved above a mane of dark brown hair shot through with the same red and white as her wings. She was fiddling with something in her hands with her back to us but I couldn¡¯t see it before I had to focus back on the trio with me as Rachel continued to admonish Kassandra to get off of me for a bit.

    ¡°Fiiiine.¡± Kassandra sighed with exaggerated amounts of disappointment, giving me a kiss on the lips before sliding free of me nimbly to land lightly on the floor between Rieka and I. She and Rieka continued to squabble playfully while Rachel led me up to the ¡®firing line¡¯ of the lane that was furthest from the other students who were in the room practicing.

    ¡°Miss Silverscale is quite¡­familiar with you.¡± Rachel said carefully, gesturing at a spot just before the line for me to stand.

    ¡°Yea¡­Kass is a sweetheart. I don¡¯t think I¡¯d have much of a choice to protest, even if I wanted to.¡±

    ¡°As long as it is something you both want, I have no desire to judge. Now, earth magic¡­¡± Rachel gestured towards the range and carefully drew the metallic rod from her vest with a flourish. A flick of her thumb slid open the narrow window that gave access to the shimmering iron coins inside and she laid the fingers of her free hand on the top coin in the stack, nearest to the tip. It was different from how Kassandra and Rieka would cast, using only one hand and simply sliding their grip up the rod as they went.

    ¡°Earth magic is often viewed as ¡®lesser¡¯ by many people given that it isn¡¯t as flashy as fire or loud as lightning, but it can aspect into higher forms just the same. And that aspecting will depend on how much you practice, what you do with it, and the will of the gods.¡± Rachel lectured while she prepared her spell rod and took up her position next to me. ¡°Many do not believe it to be worth the intensive training just for the chance that it will force their mana to aspect, but it¡¯s something I¡¯ve been researching.¡±

    I could feel the mana radiating from the exposed coins in the spell rod like never before. It felt oddly magnetic in nature, both pushing against my skin and pulling on it at the same time. This was the first time I¡¯d been around the mana charged metals without the shielding of the rods and it was noticeable. Now that I had noticed it though, I could feel the faint pressure from the pouches at Rachel¡¯s waist and even from behind me where the other two were now observing.

    ¡°Earth has recorded aspects into lava, if you are one of the fortunates to have fire as well, and metal as a regular one for earth. I have read a few accounts of one ancient earth mage that aspected into crystal as his higher rank form, but have only found references to it. But that is more advanced. For now it basically means that the earth magic you possess could evolve in a number of ways depending on how you use it. And use it you must, if you want to grow.¡±

    ¡°Makes sense.¡± I muttered, thinking of the Mastery bar that had appeared on my stat sheet the previous night for both new skills. Like Shape-Shifting it was out of a thousand and currently sat at 0 on my sheet. ¡°How do I use the magic?¡±

    ¡°For me, since I have to draw mana from an exterior source, I have to deliberately focus on what I want to happen. Like¡­let¡¯s say a stone spike to strike that target.¡± She nodded to the pillar closest to us. ¡°Then when I have the image in mind, I focus on the runic components of the spell and infuse them with energy. From there I can force mana into it to temporarily form the runes at the end of my rod and fire the spell that way. Like this. Stone Spike!¡±

    A sliver of pale gray stone formed in the air in front of her. It was as long as my hand and almost three fingers across at the base before tapering into a sharp point. It formed and then flicked forward across the distance towards the stone pillar, slamming into it with a ringing crash of stone on stone. The entire process took less than a second and reminded me a great deal of Kassandra¡¯s ¡®Ice Lance¡¯ spell.

    ¡°Okay. That looks easy enough.¡± I said quietly, thinking about what I¡¯d felt. She¡¯d drawn the mana up into her left hand from where it touched the mana coins. It had then swirled there for a moment before crossing over through her shoulders to exit her right and be channeled into the rod before bouncing forward to erupt from the tip of her spell rod.

    ¡°Try it, Liam!¡± Kassandra called from behind us and I nodded, closing my eyes to focus. I noticed the startled look that Rachel shot Kassandra out of the corner of my eye just before closing them but shrugged it off.

    Low in my abdomen, where I¡¯d felt the ache from the previous day when I had accepted the Mana Reservoir power, I felt a slow pulse. Giving that energy a tug, I mimicked the same hand position that Rachel had been using. My right hand mimed gripping a rod and my left was cupped slightly ahead of my right. I drew the mana up into my left hand before pulling it around through my chest and out through my right, just as I felt Rachel do it.

    As the mana began the trip and entered into my left hand, I opened my eyes and focused on the target. There was a deep scratch in the stone just to the left of the center dot where Rachel¡¯s spell had hit, so I focused my intent on that center dot.

    A blade of stone surged into being just ahead of my hands. It was easily a foot long and as thick as my wrist, tapering into a needle sharp point. It raced through the air to impact the target with a crack before it exploded into a hail of stone chips going in all directions.

    ¡°Whoa¡­¡± I heard Kassandra crow in wonder from behind us and I turned to shoot a grin at her. Rieka was staring in surprise at me as well, her ears perked up but her tail hanging limply behind her. Kassandra wiggled happily beside her friend in a bit of a back-and-forth dance that sent her hips swaying hypnotically. Rachel was staring at me in startled surprise from her position next to me, her eyes wide and a little pale.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t use a chant¡­¡± Rachel mumbled when she realized I was staring back at her.

    ¡°Oh¡­was that why it was bigger? I tried to pull only a bit of mana out to use it¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡­I¡¯m not sure¡­Spells require the keywords to launch them, it is what finishes the spell circuit and imprints our will on the mana.¡± Rachel mumbled, still staring at me with a wide eyed expression that was making me worry.

    ¡°How much mana was that, Liam?¡± Rieka had gotten hold of herself and both her and Kassandra had approached during my hushed conversation with Rachel.

    ¡°Oh, let me check.¡± I closed my eyes and checked the readout on the System interface that flared up behind my eyes. The current mana readout read 9/10.

    ¡°That was one mana point apparently?¡± I said as I opened my eyes to all three girls staring at me in surprise.

    ¡°That¡­is ridiculous.¡± Sighed Rachel, finally closing her eyes to rub at her delicate eyebrows and forehead like she was getting a headache. ¡°He doesn¡¯t use any of the mana infused metals, he doesn¡¯t use spell chants or runes, he just mimics my hand motions and bam¡­spell. So unfair¡­I want you as a mentor!¡± Groused Rachel, stomping one foot in a surprisingly cute gesture for someone who moved with the grace of a ballerina.

    ¡°Hey! Hands off, Liam. He¡¯s our human.¡± Jabbed Kassandra, though the restrained amusement in her tone made it obvious she was joking.

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t make a good mentor, Rachel.¡± I got in before the two could start an argument. ¡°I literally just picked the ability up yesterday. Maybe once I have some more practice with it?¡±

    ¡°I will take that promise then, Liam.¡± Rachel¡¯s normally reserved expression slid into one of amusement and acceptance. ¡°I expect you to be in contact shortly. If you are this able to shape mana or¡­manipulate?¡± She questioned the last bit and I nodded. ¡°Manipulate the elements as you say, then I doubt it will take long and I would dearly like to apprentice under you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d be happy to help you out, once I can actually lend the help. Call it returning the favor?¡±

    ¡°Deal! Now what are you two whispering about?¡± Rachel turned her attention back to Kassandra and Rieka and I glanced over to see Kassandra grinning wickedly while Rieka blushed furiously.

    ¡°Nothing!¡± Barked Rieka, glaring down at her serpentine friend.

    ¡°I was just saying, it¡¯s a lot of fun to be under¡­mph!¡± Rieka had clapped her hands over Kassandra¡¯s mouth to muffle the rest of the sentence and was glaring down at Kassandra. The red headed dwarf lamia was grinning though, I could tell from the twinkle in her eyes.

    ¡°Oh!¡± Rachel¡¯s exclamation drew my attention back to her and I was treated to something I hadn¡¯t expected today.

    The sight of an elf maiden blushing.

 Chapter 38

    We practiced more spells and I learned how long it would take to regenerate mana. It took around half an hour to regenerate a single point of mana while in the practice range. The girls and I did some rough ¡®napkin math¡¯ and figured that each mana point was roughly equivalent to three iron coins of mana. Which meant that my ten mana was only three mana copper of power. Not a whole lot, but a decent amount to start with. The girls each carried more than that in their rods, but they were spell casters as their focus so it made sense. The big benefit was that regeneration.

    ¡°Mana infused metals take forever to naturally recharge themselves, Liam.¡± Kassandra had reminded me. ¡°Normally, a single mana iron coin might take as much as a month to recharge itself depending on how many other spent coins were near it. You¡¯ll regenerate a single mana iron coin worth in around ten minutes. Much faster than letting coins regenerate. If only you could charge our coins for us!¡±

    While talking with Rachel, I ended up promising several times to keep her in the loop about how my power developed and when I thought I¡¯d be able to actually be a ¡®mentor¡¯ for her. This was enough to set the elven woman grinning to match Kassandra for enthusiasm on the matter.

    Kassandra was quick to demand plenty of attention, reminding me of a cat more than a snake because of that, given she insisted on curling up with me whenever possible.

    Given that it took the half hour to recover a single point, we only worked for around two hours with Rachel giving me ideas for different spell formations I could use before we broke up.

    Before separating though, the elven woman made sure I had plenty of utility ideas. Everything from firming the ground under my feet to ensure steady footing while turning what was under my enemy to sand, all the way to causing spikes of stone to erupt from the ground or forming them from the air. I did learn that if I was manipulating already present materials, it ended up being noticeably cheaper. The casts never dropped below a single point of mana for each ¡®spell¡¯.

    After Rachel got her payment from Kassandra in the form of advice and some coaching with water magic for the elf. Rachel mentioned that she was actually trying consciously not to focus on one of her two elemental aspects over the other, since both would be useful for her chosen profession, but it was harder to practice the water one as she¡¯d had it appear later in life and was playing catch-up.

    When that was finished, we decided to call it an early day while Rieka and Kassandra scoured the boards for mission contracts. I realized just as I was saying my farewells to the girls that the System had not awarded me a mission for this summon and when I mentioned it to the girls, Kassandra cursed roundly while Rieka looked on in disappointment for her friend.

    ¡°Really Kass?¡± Rieka sighed again, tapping one foot while her arms were crossed over her stomach, disdain obvious on her slender features.

    ¡°Yes really! It¡¯s a lost opportunity for Liam. We need to be better about ensuring we state, clearly, a mission for him whenever he comes to us. It¡¯s how he gets paid, Rieka. Basically this was us taking his afternoon without a reward. And unless we reinforce the summon, it¡¯ll pull him back shortly anyway. I don¡¯t know if we are going to be able to get it to produce a mission for him now. He¡¯s already completed the main parts of the request and honestly, we should have asked Rachel for compensation as she¡¯s studying his ¡®manipulation¡¯ as a result of us summoning him. It¡¯s work that Liam is doing but isn¡¯t getting paid for and that is wrong.¡±

    Kassandra¡¯s rant wasn¡¯t loud but it was very pointed. Rieka sighed as her serpentine friend wound down, nodding in agreement.

    ¡°Yes, well that will be something to consider for the future. I¡¯m sure we can work it into agreements for more training for Liam in the future¡­¡±

    ¡°How?¡± Kassandra demanded, her lips pressed together into a thin line. ¡°Liam doesn¡¯t use traditional spells. We learned that today after all. He apes the gestures but I highly doubt that is even necessary. He¡¯s able to scale a lot more power into individual casts. Since he¡¯s not bound by the runic constructs like we are, it¡¯s much simpler to cast for him. Heck, I¡¯m sure Liam will be the one teaching us shortly by giving us new ideas and ways to modify spells just by experimenting with them. I never thought to see if I consumed less mana to use existing material. I need to experiment to see if I can use local water sources for the same effect. I was so focused on following spell structures that I didn¡¯t even consider that.¡±

    ¡°Then that¡¯s payment enough to me.¡± I cut into the conversation finally, ruffling Kassandra¡¯s mane of bombshell curls gently. She pouted up at me but it was not sincere in the least. ¡°Seriously, Kass. You managed to wiggle some extra SP out of the last mission anyway and I don¡¯t have to squeeze every drop out of things. I like coming here and spending time with both of you.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Liam.¡± Rieka¡¯s words were quiet and sincere. Glancing over to her, I had to hide a smile as her tail was stirring furiously behind her to match the happy smile she was sporting. Kassandra also must have seen it, because she immediately decided to climb me again and demand more attention.

    ¡°Love you, Liam!¡± Kassandra whispered in my ear as she used her coils to first wind around my legs and then up again until she was tucked under my left arm again and able to speak directly into my ear.

    ¡°Love you too, Kass. And not just because of all the trouble you make.¡± I shot back with a grin.

    ¡°I prefer to think that I keep things interesting.¡± Kassandra said with a haughty huff.

    ¡°Sure, keep telling yourself that. Finish saying goodbye to Liam. We have work we need to do in order to be able to go out tomorrow.¡± Rieka poked Kassandra somewhere that I couldn¡¯t see, but it made the dwarf lamia squeeze me with her tail and ¡®eep¡¯ in surprise before glaring at Rieka.

    I headed off the argument before it could really get started by pressing a kiss to Kassandra¡¯s cheek just as she opened her mouth to yell at Rieka. This had the effect of her turning to snuggle into me with a happy hum/mumble instead.

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    The girls took another five minutes to say their goodbyes before I was sent swirling through time and space back to Earth. Rieka reminded me to contact Cariad about what ¡®supplements¡¯ might work well for me and I agreed I would as soon as I got back and had a chance to send the message.

    I kept my eyes open this time, which was unnecessary as I was still bombarded with strange sights regardless of if they were open or closed, to see if I spotted either of the buildings I¡¯d seen before. This time though it was just a riot of colors, light, and sounds before I ended up back in my chair in my dingy little apartment.

    Staring down at the, now crusty, dishes in front of me on the kitchen table. I still had several hours of Saturday afternoon left to work with and I dearly wanted to practice with the earth magic some more to see what I could do. But with all the mana used up and not seeing a reason to burn through the girls¡¯ coin stocks, it made sense to send me home like this.

    ¡°Free time¡­what the heck do I do with this?¡± I muttered before getting up and setting about cleaning up the dishes. While they were soaking in the sink, I sent a message to Cariad via the System interface. She was quick to respond, as she usually was.

    Liam

    Hey Cari. Wanted to touch bases and ask you about something. The girls recently reminded me that they are supposed to be looking into things they can do to supplement or empower me. Something about the class that they are doing expects them to train and enhance their bonded creatures. Apparently, I¡¯m a creature.

    Cariad

    To be fair with them, you are definitely not a local species. You told me that they believe humans to be extinct in their world after all, and extinct to a point they are considered legends. And I assume you are contacting me to see if you would also benefit from these ¡®supplements¡¯?

    Liam

    Yea, that is true about the whole ¡®extinct legendary species¡¯ thing. I really wonder and worry about it at times. The girls mentioned something about humans being bogeymen a while back but I haven¡¯t actually gotten much information about that. I should ask them some more. Maybe during the class this coming week when I have to show up during the day for once. But yes, that was the other reason I wanted to contact you. The girls mentioned that they would usually give things that were elementally aligned to their summoned companions to enhance them. But I¡¯m not actually aligned.

    Cariad

    Very true. The ¡®manipulate¡¯ tree that you are working on doesn¡¯t force alignment after all. You should, and I want to put an emphasis on the ¡®should¡¯ part, be able to integrate with any elementally aligned object that isn¡¯t directly hazardous to you. So no eating anything toxic or the like. Crystallized mana is your best option, but since you aren¡¯t aligned to it then it will still cause pain, discomfort, and may have further issues.

    Liam

    How so?

    Cariad

    If the girls give you a lump of crystallized fire mana and you consume it, and you¡¯d have to literally eat it to get the effects, then you¡¯d get a boost to fire magic and also some pretty heavy burns over your body as you aren¡¯t protected by having an aspected mana source. It¡¯ll also push you towards aspecting in that direction.

    Liam

    I thought aspecting was either dictated by family, at random, or possibly training? Not sure on the last one but the elf I was working with to get a basic handle mentioned it.

    Cariad

    It can be for locals, but you aren¡¯t a local. Being an active Traveler means different rules apply. The safest option is going to be elementally neutral sources of mana for you. Unless you want to forcibly aspect your mana, then go that route. Be aware though that it can limit your growth and talent options from the System. It will likely boost your mastery some, but the exchange might not be worth the limitations.

    I growled at that point, realizing that I¡¯d forgotten to mention to the girls about the power to add elemental effects to my Shape-Shifting. I made a note to mention it to them later and focused back on my messaging conversation with Cariad, having moved to the couch after dealing with the dishes.

    Liam

    I don¡¯t want to aspect it yet and I definitely don¡¯t want to limit options, that seems like a bad choice. Also, do you know if there is any way for me to be able to directly contact my companions like this messaging system? It would make planning a lot easier on me.

    Cariad

    Sorry, Liam. Unless there is a communication power that you unlock at some point, there isn¡¯t a way that I know of to tie locals into the System communication without them either being DSR personnel or Travelers.

    Liam

    That¡¯s fine, Cari. I just wanted to be sure I asked. Thanks for the tips on things. No eating poisonous stuff and I need to make sure whatever I get is elementally neutral unless I want pain.

    Cariad

    I¡¯ll do some digging to see if I can find more, but that¡¯s the general baseline. Given how close you are in makeup to your girls, anything that is toxic to them would be toxic to you.

    Sighing, I let my eyes fall open and stared at the ceiling for a moment, wondering what I should be doing. A lot of the work that I¡¯d done today had all been mental with the spell-casting, so I had energy to burn physically too.

    Curious to see what I was sitting at for mastery of the Manipulate Elements power, I delved back into the interface. Checking the Mastery bar showed it at 87/1000.

    ¡°Not bad for a single mana bar of work.¡± I muttered and went back to the main ¡®screen¡¯ of the interface, intending to poke and prod at the other powers and try to do some planning for the other skills or powers I might get in the future. What caught my attention was the entry for mana in the corner by the listing for SP.

    It¡¯d been 0/10 only a short while ago when we¡¯d finished up our practice. I¡¯d expected it to have regenerated maybe a point or two, but it glowed brightly at me, a number I had not expected.

    Mana - 10/10

    ¡°The hell? How did that happen?¡± I muttered quietly. Fiddling with the interface didn¡¯t give me any new information. Checking my powers didn¡¯t yield anything either. I sent a message off to Cariad about it and got a reply back almost immediately.

    Cariad

    It¡¯s odd, but also not unexpected. It did say that you regenerated mana quickly depending on the environment. Traveling between the two realities does bring you through the barrier, which is made up of mana. It¡¯s likely that you captured some of it yourself. I highly doubt it¡¯s enough to affect anything, so don¡¯t sweat it. Just think of it as a perk. Means you can practice a bit natively as well.

    Thinking it over and not finding anything to contradict her suggestion, I just shrugged and heaved myself off the couch. I needed to do something and going for a run was better than just sitting around and being lazy.

    I thumbed the tattoos on my right forearm idly again, since they were the only way I could check on the girls. Kassandra¡¯s tattoo hummed with amused mischief like normal and Rieka¡¯s felt resigned but also amused. The emotions came and went on contact with the tattoo so I had just taken to assuming it was an indication of their moods and relative emotional states. Thinking about the girls helped me reach a decision.

    Need to make sure I keep working on getting better. I¡¯ll exercise and use some of the mana at the park. See if I can use the earth magic to boost the local plants. Would be nice to help the trees or something¡­

 Chapter 39

    ¡°So you went for a run, hoping to do some more practice, but were defeated by a music festival?¡± Kassandra said while giggling madly as we exited the Juneau Academy campus the next morning, heading out along the road towards Kintos.

    ¡°I had no idea they still did those kind of things, let alone at the dingy little park near my apartment.¡± I countered. Which apparently only served to amuse Kassandra more at that point, as she broke into helpless giggles again.

    ¡°It makes sense to me to avoid it then.¡± Rieka shrugged while walking on Kassandra¡¯s other side. ¡°You said magic wasn¡¯t something your people used, so it was smart not to risk being exposed and endangering yourself.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just the mental image of Liam¡­running along a road while a nearby band of musicians are playing intense music that has me laughing.¡± Kassandra squeezed out between giggles.

    I had to smother a snort of amusement. It was a pretty funny image and would have fit rather well.

    ¡°Anyway, what¡¯s on the list today?¡± I tried to drag the conversation back to something professional. ¡°What do you two need me to do today?¡±

    ¡°Escort to some farms. The farmers are having issues with some magical pests that are destroying crops. They want them either dealt with, or a more detailed report to have the difficulty of the engagement increased. There¡¯s also a collection quest for some special fruits that we can hopefully score if those trees we found a few weeks back in the edge of the forest are ripe. This was all that I could find on a close loop. Everything else had already been picked over yesterday.¡±

    Rieka was dressed again in a loose blouse of a pale blue color and close fitting tan pants. She wore her belt with pouches on it and the small day-pack she carried her essentials in. The spell rod was slung in its holster on her left hip.

    Turning my gaze the other way, I checked on Kassandra while Rieka continued to speak about the missions we had. My ¡®Nugget¡¯, she had grumbled playfully at me when I said it earlier that it was for private only, was dressed in her normal skirt, blouse, and underbust corset combination, in matching shades of red and brown to her scales. I did spend a moment marveling at how the underbust corset supported her body without constricting like a full corset would.

    My musings were interrupted only a handful of seconds after Rieka finished her explanation. Light shimmered at the edges of my vision as the System issued me the mission for its rewards and I nodded. ¡°Sounds good, let''s get to work.¡±

    Assist your contracted companions, Rieka Coldeye and Kassandra Silverscale, with their missions and escort them back to town.

    Reward - 300 SP

    <><><>

    Following the road through town, we only stopped long enough to buy some pastries filled with a thick stew for breakfast before heading out the far side to take the road north and out onto the grasslands.

    Exiting the town, I glanced around curiously for a moment before shrugging. I¡¯d felt like someone was watching us as we came out through the gates, but even the guards up on the wall were looking in a different direction.

    ¡°What¡¯s up, Liam?¡± Kassandra mumbled from around her food, which she was doing a passable imitation of a squirrel while nibbling on it.

    ¡°Oh, I was just half expecting to see that mouse-girl out here again.¡±

    ¡°Jane? No, I think she is staying in Juneau right now. I didn¡¯t see any light from her window when we left. Why?¡± Rieka interjected and I shrugged.

    ¡°Nothing, just would be that kind of luck to run into her again is all. Hope she figured out the differences with her summon.¡±

    ¡°Not everyone can have such an awesome guardian!¡± Kassandra added, which got a roll of the eyes accompanied by a smile out of Rieka this time. I just sighed.

    It made me feel a little self-conscious to hear compliments, even coming from Kassandra in such earnest tones. So I diverted the conversation instead and began filling them in on what Cariad had told me the previous day about elemental alignments and possible ¡®supplements¡¯ that could boost my strength.

    That conversation took us for almost an hour as we followed the road to the outlying farms and made the turnoff. I continued to feel that sort of self-conscious creeping sensation the entire time, but I kept brushing it off.

    Enough, Liam. You are around good people and they want you to talk about yourself. They think well of you. Trust that if there was an issue, they¡¯d tell you about it. I kept reminding myself, for all the good it did me.

    The rolling grasslands had given way to ordered fields of ripening vegetables and grains. They weren¡¯t nearly as large as the massive, modern farms that I was used to seeing, given that everything still needed to be harvested by hand, but these were still impressive. Following the offshoot that led to the farm, the local buildings eventually came into sight while Kassandra was in the middle of a discussion with Rieka about what might potentially qualify as ¡®elementally neutral¡¯ herbs.

    Seeing the buildings and the stillness of the farm setting in the mid-morning sent my hackles up and I immediately yanked my mace from its loop on my belt before pushing my Shape-Shifting to clad my left arm in heavy scales with the fighting claws I¡¯d borrowed off of Lady Valda.

    ¡°Liam?¡± Rieka cut through Kassandra¡¯s talking when she saw me drawing my weapon.

    ¡°Something isn¡¯t right¡­I know farmers, had some uncles that used to run a local produce place. It is way too quiet right now.¡± I muttered. Rieka¡¯s concern had brought Kassandra¡¯s talk to a halt as well and both girls glanced around for a moment before nodding.

    ¡°Yea, it is really quiet. Where are all the animals?¡± Kassandra drew her spell rod from the holster on her belt and Rieka was only half a moment behind her friend.

    We stood there for several moments, simply looking around for any signs of the farm help, but it was to no avail.

    ¡°We should check it out carefully. Something isn¡¯t right.¡± Rieka said after another minute or two of silently observing.

    ¡°You mentioned we were coming out here to deal with some animals damaging the crops¡­?¡± I started to ask the question but Rieka shook her head quickly.

    ¡°They expected a sounder of boar or some other smaller foraging animals in large numbers. Nothing that could attack the farmers and¡­not destroy buildings at least. Just keep on your toes.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s awful near town too.¡± Kassandra murmured while following close behind me. She had her spell rod in her right hand while her left lingered near the blade she had claimed from the crag hunter¡¯s nest, though it remained sheathed for now. Rieka took up the back with her spell rod in hand as well.

    ¡°Yea, but who knows? They might just be in the fields or something.¡± Rieka¡¯s voice was weak and it was clear that she was getting more nervous.

    Approaching the buildings at the end of the offshoot, I kept a close eye on our surroundings. There were three simple but sturdy looking houses and a pair of large barns tucked off to one side. Each of the houses were built of wood on stone with thatched roofs and all of the same style, just in differing levels of age. That told me it was likely a family settlement. The barns each had their own style, with one being lower to the ground with a sod roof while the other was obviously newer with still bright paint to preserve the wood and designed more like a traditional barn that I was familiar with.

    The whole compound crowded around an open area of packed earth that was clearly heavily traveled from the amount of boot prints I was seeing in the small patches of moist earth.

    A creeping sensation rolled up my spine as I spotted corrals and paddocks near the newer barn with the earth clearly torn up by hooves of animals, but no signs or sounds of the animals other than torn earth. I¡¯d been to Uncle Nick¡¯s farm enough times before to know that the animals were constantly making a ruckus, especially if they were kept locked up for too long.

    ¡°Liam. I smell blood.¡± Rieka muttered when we got within a hundred feet of the houses.

    ¡°Same.¡± Added Kassandra a moment later. I debated shifting my nose into something to match but before I could I spotted something just as concerning. The nearest house¡¯s door had been smashed in and hung limply on a single hinge.

    A scream split the air and I nearly jumped out of my skin.

    ¡°That came from the barns!¡± Rieka growled and started forward at a trot with Kassandra close behind. I had no choice but to pick up my speed and hurry forward as well.

    The noise had originated from the newer barn and the stink of blood stung my nose suddenly as we got closer to the building. I could hear rough voices arguing and what sounded like sobbing now as we got closer. I ended up having to grab Rieka by the arm to keep her from racing off to confront whoever was in the building. She rounded on me with a soundless snarl but stopped when her eyes met mine.

    ¡°Carefully and slowly, Rieka. If there are enemies in there, we need to be smart about this.¡± I hissed at her. ¡°There are only three of us and if we are outnumbered¡­¡±

    ¡°We need the element of surprise, Rieka. He¡¯s right.¡± Kassandra interjected, glancing around warily as the voices rose in argument and another shout, this time a male voice, rang out.

    ¡°Get your hands off her!¡±

    ¡°Yea, no.¡± Snarled Rieka and she yanked free of me. Growling, I broke into a jog towards the partially open barn door with Kassandra hot on my heels. As we got closer, I could hear the voices coming from inside more clearly.

    ¡°Do we have time to play with them?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s a cute one, for a farm-wife.¡±

    ¡°Just a taste¡­¡±

    ¡°I said take your hands off my wife!¡±

    ¡°Enough!¡± A thicker voice cut through the others harshly. ¡°Get into positions, you can play with the locals after we deal with the princess and her cohort. You idiots spent enough time slaughtering the animals already. If you hadn¡¯t wasted that time, you might have gotten a ride in but you wanted to wet your blades rather than your pricks.¡±

    That statement brought Rieka up short and I nearly plowed into her back only a dozen feet shy of the open barn door.

    ¡°Me? What are they¡­? Why¡­?¡± Rieka swallowed hard and I had the chance to wrap my free arm around her waist and drag her around the corner of the barn, hissing at Kassandra to follow us. We made it out of sight just in time as a half-dozen rough looking men in patchy armor hurried out of the barn and towards the houses. Two peeled off to jog down the lane that led back to the road.

    ¡°Easy, Rieka. Need you to focus right now. There are innocent people that need saving.¡± I murmured into one of her pointed ears and the wolf kin princess stiffened slightly before nodding, her lost expression melting into one of anger again.

    ¡°Right, deal with the threat in front of us first.¡±

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    ¡°Guys, another set of doors.¡± Kassandra urged from the far corner of the barn, beckoning for us to follow.

    Reika and I hurried to meet her there. With the solid walls between us and the people still inside the barn, it was hard to make out what was being said, but it didn¡¯t sound good.

    ¡°Why are you people even here?¡± That was the male voice that had protested earlier.

    ¡°None of your business. You just¡­hang tight there. If you are lucky, we¡¯ll leave the wives here for you when we are done with celebrating the job.¡± Said the voice that had called the others to task.

    ¡°The guards will find and punish you for this.¡± A younger male voice said, though there was a thread of fear behind the bravado. A derisive laugh was the response to that statement.

    The three of us made it to the corner of the barn and hurried around to find another set of doors that opened onto a grazing pasture. The door itself was knocked partially open and blocked by the body of a cow that had made it halfway into the pasture. The animal was dead, but it provided an opportunity with the partially open door. The barn had no ground floor windows, just the door on either end and some upper space that I remembered was normally feed storage from my few times visiting my uncle¡¯s farm before he passed.

    ¡°Okay.¡± I kept my words as quiet as possible, pulling the girls in close while we huddled close. ¡°I don¡¯t know who they are, but someone apparently attacked this farm and has the owners in the barn. They killed livestock already and it sounds like they are preparing a trap for Rieka.¡± This got a growl from my wolf kin companion and I used the arm around her shoulders that had been holding her in the huddle to pull her closer, getting an ¡®eep¡¯ from her in surprise. ¡°I need to know what the rules of engagement are here.¡±

    ¡°Rules of engagement?¡± Kassandra questioned but Rieka was quick to answer before I could explain.

    ¡°These are bandits and thieves. They killed livestock which is, at minimum, theft of resources. It sounds like they plan rape as well, and I¡¯m sure not just of the wives here. I do not intend to injure, I plan to kill them. These men are bandits.¡± Rieka¡¯s voice was thick with anger, the shock from earlier having fled her system as her focus settled in again.

    Giving Rieka a quick look over, I noted her condition. She¡¯s pale and a little shaky, in shock and concerned I bet. But she¡¯s still focusing through it all. Have to keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn¡¯t collapse when this is done. Surprised she¡¯s taking this so badly, considering the fact we¡¯ve fought and nearly been killed a few times by monsters. But maybe it¡¯s because these are people and not monsters?

    ¡°She¡¯s right.¡± Kassandra spoke up, taking my silence for condemnation. ¡°Even if we capture them, banditry is punishable by execution and this definitely counts as banditry. I guarantee that if we captured them, the Kintos guards would have them dancing a short-rope jig within a day or two.¡±

    ¡°You two going to be okay? Killing is¡­¡± I started to say.

    ¡°Necessary.¡± Rieka cut me off. ¡°We¡¯ve killed before, albiet monsters but still. I¡¯m gonna need support later but I have to do this, Liam.¡± Kassandra nodded in agreement. I gave my normally-rambunctious companion a look but Kassandra seemed to be holding together better than Rieka was. A firm scowl was on her face and she thumbed the spell rod in her hand lightly.

    ¡°Okay, I won¡¯t press. I¡¯ll go in first and draw attention, you two follow after. We need to get down the length of the barn as quickly and quietly as possible to secure any captives there. The most important thing is protecting the innocents. From that point, we can try and use the entrance as a choke point. Just make sure that you keep an eye behind you in case someone tries to do the same to us.¡±

    Both girls nodded and we hurried to engage as the sounds of sobbing grew louder inside the barn and a voice was raised in protest before a meaty thump silenced it.

    Crawling over the dead cow was awkward and gross. Several wounds marked its sides and hindquarters and it was clear that the animal had been stabbed multiple times before bleeding out rapidly in its bid to escape. The body was still warm, which told me that whoever these bandits were, they had only been here a short time.

    Being as careful and quiet as possible, I scrambled over the body and slid into the barn, keeping low and ducking to one side behind a wooden hand-cart to survey the abattoir that the interior had become.

    The farmers must have had a good dozen cows before the bandits came. Most of them were dead in their stalls, though one or two still struggled weakly. Only the one had managed to burst free of its stall to try and escape. A handful of sheep were in the same condition on the other side of the large, central hallway that led down the center of the barn.

    Towards the middle of the barn, I could see a small mass of people. Seven of which lay on the ground but I didn¡¯t think they were dead as they appeared to be huddling together. Another still body was sprawled nearby and still while a large man had the form of a woman pinned up to the front of another stall by her throat as he ripped at the simple dress she wore with his free hand. I only saw the one bandit and his weapon remained on his belt.

    ¡°Liam!¡± Rieka¡¯s voice hissed from directly behind me, telling me that the two of them had gotten inside. That also told me I could act.

    I wanted to launch a stone spike into the man, but his coarse laughter combined with opening groping the woman in front of him meant I couldn¡¯t focus. So I did the next best thing to take him out.

    The man was entirely focused on the sobbing woman in front of him, so when my mace caught him across the spine just above the stubby bear tail that protruded from his trousers, he collapsed with a yelp of pain and dropped the woman.

    Not giving the man a chance, I kicked him in the back of the head and there was a dry ¡®snap¡¯ before he went still. Glancing over at the woman who was now on her butt on the ground, trying to pull the tattered remains of her dress up over her small, firm breasts I inclined my head to her while checking the others. Those huddling together were bound in rough rope, as was the man laid out on the ground but he looked like he¡¯d been beaten pretty heavily.

    ¡°Help is here, get your family untied if you can but stay here so we can protect you.¡± I said to the woman with the tattered dress before stepping over the still body at my feet. Rieka stuck close to my back, nodding to the wide-eyed woman while Kassandra began quickly sawing at the ropes binding the farmers hands with her knife while murmuring words of reassurance. I spared a quick glance back and saw the woman had given up on her dress and was fumbling with the short sword on the dead man¡¯s belt before going to join Kassandra in cutting the farmers free of the rope.

    ¡°That man died cleaner than I wanted.¡± Rieka grumbled as we made it to the barn door and peeked outside.

    ¡°I hadn¡¯t meant to kill him, guess I¡¯m still getting used to this increased strength.¡± I muttered, the familiar clenching sensation in my guts and the flavor of bile rising in my throat.

    ¡°He was going to die anyway. You just made it easier than I wanted. Rapists deserve no mercy.¡± Growled Rieka and her words were reassuring, they allowed me to force the horror of killing an intelligent creature away. Admittedly, it was easier than it had been before. I was coming to terms with the level of danger this world represented and I had resolved to look after the girls.

    Nothing is going to harm them while I can do anything about it, they are counting on me. I vowed and that banished the last of the sickness in my guts.

    I peeked out of the open door of the barn, using it as cover to check the rest of the farm. I could hear Kassandra talking with the farmers quickly behind us but I couldn¡¯t make out what she was saying.

    Rieka checked the entrance with me as well, crowding close to my side as she did so. Close enough I could feel her trembling even through my ragged armor.

    Here¡¯s hoping nothing else happens today to make my armor more ragged. Need to either get better gear or finish training Shape-Shifting to the point I don¡¯t need it. I¡¯d really like to avoid getting stabbed or hurt again¡­ I thought while watching Rieka¡¯s pointed ears flick and rotate before she stiffened, clearly having heard something.

    ¡°The two are coming back up the road.¡± She hissed and we pulled back out of sight. A few moments later I heard the sound of rough boots on the muddy ground approaching the barn.

    ¡°Boss, no sign of them on the¡­what the?!¡± one of the bandits called as he trotted through the doorway and saw the farmers all standing and gathering tools to defend themselves. His companion plowed into his back, not expecting the sudden stop and neither saw us behind the door, so I was able to act quickly.

    The mace I was using now wasn¡¯t an elegant weapon, but it did the job it needed to do. My swing connected with the back of the man''s skull with a wet crunch. The other turned, his eyes bugging wide as he tried to yank the chipped hatchet out of his belt to fight back, but my clawed left hand was already moving and opening his throat with a slapping motion. I barely felt the drag of my claws cutting through skin before a fountain of blood washed out of his throat while he stumbled backwards, just missing me with the spray, and fell back out of the barn and into the sunlit space outside.

    Shouts came from the houses and I could hear more boots coming while the man I had clubbed wheezed a few times, his body thrashing on the ground before going still.

    ¡°Rieka, fall back to look after the villagers. When they come through the door, you and Kass hit them and I¡¯ll clean up any extras.¡± I urged, pointing back to the farmers who were all watching in horror at what had just happened. Rieka started to protest but stopped when I locked eyes with her.

    ¡°I¡¯m the guard, Rieka. I need to be between the danger and you. I¡¯m just making sure you have the space you need. I know you can handle yourself.¡± My reassurance seemed to work because she nodded and hurried back to where Kassandra stood ready with her spell rod held out.

    The farmers were congregating behind her with a mixture of hoes, rakes, hay forks, and other tools turned weapons. The man who had been laid out was up and moving as well and he looked furious, so I guessed that Kassandra must have used a spell while we were dealing with these two.

    The sounds of running feet slowed outside and I could tell the other bandits were hesitating. I held up my free hand in a stopping motion to the farmers to tell them to not actually do what I was saying before I tucked my mouth into my shoulder to muffle my voice slightly while I yelled.

    ¡°Quick! Get them untied! There are more coming and there¡¯s only two of us!¡±

    A shout of encouragement came up from outside the barn and the other four bandits came rushing through the doorway with weapons drawn, intent on overwhelming their enemies.

    They hadn¡¯t been expecting to be faced with magic the second they cleared the door.

    ¡°Ice Lance!¡±

    ¡°Bolt Chain!¡±

    Kassandra¡¯s frozen spear took the first one in the gut, the impact knocking him back onto his ass as the frozen pillar lodged there. Rieka¡¯s crackling electric chain lashed out and latched onto the drawn sword another had, making him scream and thrash even as she flicked her spell rod to launch the second half of the chain to hit him in the head with a sharp zap noise. It sent him to the ground in a twitching heap.

    With two down, I stepped up from the shadows and smashed the mace down towards the head of the closest one to me. He heard me coming and managed to twist enough that the blow landed on his shoulder rather than his head with a crunch of breaking bones and a scream of pain.

    The other turned, swinging his rusty shortsword around in a clumsy chopping motion that I blocked on autopilot, forgetting I wasn¡¯t wearing a shield at the time. The blow impacted my left arm and I winced, expecting to feel a great deal of pain as it chopped into the meat of my arm. Instead, I just felt a dull impact like a blow from Cerebaton¡¯s training sword as my scales resisted the attack.

    Not waiting, I brought the mace around in a downward swing towards his weapon arm and there came a crack of bone as the flanged head crushed his forearm. The blow and the injury made the man drop his weapon with another scream of pain. A scream that got even louder as the three tines of a hay-fork erupted from the man¡¯s chest a moment later. I was greeted by the stony gaze of an older man with the rounded ears of a bear kin above a craggy, weatherbeaten face that still showed some of the bruises of a beating.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± He growled, his voice hoarse from shouting, while he yanked the tool from the back of the bandit before turning to lift it with the intent of jamming the improvised weapon into the laying man¡¯s chest.

    ¡°Wait!¡± The bear man snarled in my direction at being stopped but stop he did. ¡°I just want to question him first. Need to find out why they are here.¡±

    ¡°I know why they are here. They were setting an ambush!¡± Snapped the bear kin farmer, planting one big foot on the chest of the bandit who¡¯s collarbone I¡¯d broken only seconds earlier. ¡°They said they were planning to ambush the princess here and take her for ransom. They were bragging that they got word from town that she was coming to help with our request and decided to take advantage. Scum!¡± The bear man leaned forward and the injured bandit squealed in pain at the additional pressure on his chest and the grinding of his broken shoulder.

    ¡°Look, if you want any chance of me not letting your gracious host get his pound of flesh in, you¡¯ll tell me who sent you.¡± I hurried to address the injured man on the ground. The bandit wheezed once and shook his head.

    ¡°Don¡¯t¡­know¡­boss¡­arranged¡­payment¡­was women¡­!¡± He managed to squeeze out before the bear kin slammed his hay fork down and pinned the bandit to the ground by his neck like someone would pin a bug to a card for study.

    ¡°Damn it.¡± I growled as the bandit thrashed and died. ¡°Would have really liked to know what prompted this. It¡¯s not the first mission we¡¯ve taken out this way from town.¡±

    ¡°Filthy opportunists, nothing more.¡± Spat the bear man, kicking the dead bandit in the ribs before turning his gaze to me. I was glad to see his expression as a mite saner now. ¡°Thank you for coming to our rescue like that, stranger.¡±

    ¡°You all needed help and Rieka wasn¡¯t going to take no for an answer.¡± I said with a shrug, gesturing to the two girls as they approached with the rest of the family in tow. ¡°You mind filling us in on what happened?¡±

    ¡°Not much to tell. They came up the road and attacked early, maybe an hour or two ago. Broke into the house and captured the women, ordered us to surrender or they¡¯d hurt them. They tried to order us to help set a trap, but we refused. That¡¯s when they killed my livestock.¡± The bear man grunted, turning to kick the first one he¡¯d impaled again. ¡°They were threatening to rape my wife and daughters too, but the leader ordered them into position first, then grabbed my eldest daughter. Apparently he ¡®wanted a taste¡¯ before the men came back.¡± He drove another kick into the second one this time and I heard the crunch of breaking ribs from the dead man.

    I glanced towards the woman with the tattered dress. She stood in the arms of another bear kin man with her back to us. The man, her husband I assumed, held her close with one arm while his free hand held a wicked looking hand-scythe with a white knuckled grip.

    ¡°From there, you know the rest of it.¡± The big man sighed, a full body shudder running through his body. ¡°It happened so fast¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s just how it goes sometimes.¡± Kassandra said reassuringly. ¡°Come on, let''s get your family back in their homes. We came to help deal with your pest problem and well¡­we did deal with one set of pests at least. We¡¯ll help you do what you can to put your place back to rights¡­¡±

    ¡°Okay¡­I¡¯ll send one of the boys to town to get the guard though. Life must go on as well¡­We need to report this and try to salvage what we can from the animals. Should be glad we didn¡¯t lose anyone. I could use a hand as well to drag these bastards out of my barn.¡± Growled the big bear man, his voice growing deeper towards the end of his statement and I nodded in agreement.

    ¡°I¡¯m happy to help. Let''s get started.¡±

 Chapter 40

    It took around ten minutes for Rieka to crash emotionally.

    I¡¯d been keeping a close eye on both her and Kassandra. My lover was also pale, but not to the level that Rieka was. We had enough time to drag the bodies out of the barn and line them up to one side for when the city guard arrived. The residents of the small farming enclave helped as well, but it was easy to see how twitchy they were too. The women and the youngest male were just as pale as Rieka but seemed able to keep focus on the moment.

    Kassandra, bless her naughty little heart, had taken the forefront in handling the residents and working with them to ensure they were safe. Once the bodies were moved out of the way, she used some of her ice magic to chill a portion of the barn to ensure the meat on the dead livestock lasted long enough for them to harvest it all. The death of the cattle and sheep would be a blow for them, but not as dear of one as it might have been otherwise.

    Rieka, on the other hand, got paler by the second and I saw the moment that her nerves failed her while Kassandra was busy casting her spells. Thankfully, I¡¯d been sticking close to Rieka after a knowing nod from Kassandra. So when Rieka slumped forward and proceeded to vomit onto the packed earth at the entrance to the barn, I was able to catch and support her with one arm while the other moved to pull her hair back.

    ¡°Easy¡­easy.¡± I murmured into one pointed ear while Rieka retched. Her entire body was shaking like a leaf in a stiff breeze.

    ¡°No¡­¡± Rieka moaned quietly, clinging to me with what strength she had while she trembled and then retched again. As soon as she stopped vomiting, she buried her face in my shoulder and wept.

    ¡°Shh¡­it¡¯s okay, Rieka.¡± I continued to murmur reassuring platitudes to her as best as I could while she shook and wept.

    I¡¯d been watching for it because of her pallor earlier but this was even more than I¡¯d expected. It reminded me vaguely of my response when I¡¯d first encountered the kobolds and my reactions to dealing with them, just not to this level.

    I suppose that I had the vague shield at least that this was another world. This is her home realm after all and they were targeting her specifically. I thought while gently stroking the hair of the distraught young woman in my arms. My own lack of reaction to the gore and reality of killing several sentient people, beyond a twisting stomach, was a bit surprising. After a moment of reflection I knew why.

    They were after Rieka. Rieka is one of my girls. I will protect them to the best of my ability and damn whoever gets in my way. I had to suppress the growl that wanted to fight its way out of my chest. The last thing I wanted was to give Rieka a reason to think I was upset.

    ¡°It¡¯s my fault¡­¡± Rieka¡¯s words were quiet and I could hear the thickness in her voice from the tears as well and her reaction made sense to me suddenly.

    ¡°No, it isn¡¯t.¡± I replied quickly, squeezing her close while I continued to stroke her hair gently.

    ¡°Yes it is. They were here for me. I¡¯m the reason these people were harmed.¡± Rieka¡¯s voice was getting louder and I had to act quickly.

    ¡°You heard them, Rieka. These people were monsters to begin with. I doubt they would have left these people alone. It might have just taken longer for them to find a chance to hurt them. And as soon as you were aware of the problem, you acted to protect them.¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡±

    ¡°No ¡®but¡¯s, Rieka. This is not your fault. You acted in defense of innocents. Killing isn¡¯t easy and it shouldn¡¯t be. Just be happy it was for a good reason.¡± I shifted my hand a little higher in her hair to rub the base of her ears and Rieka let out a low moan before burrowing her face deeper into my chest. I caught sight of two of the farmers staring at us and motioned for them to leave us be, which they did, clearly abashed.

    ¡°I think I know how you felt now¡­¡± Rieka said after another few minutes of just clinging to me. The shakes had slowed down to just an occasional tremble.

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    ¡°After the kobolds. You had issues then, didn¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°I was brutally confronted with the reality of your world and disabused of the fact that this was just a playful adventure. I was able to get through it because you two needed me to protect you. Also, that was the first time I¡¯d killed something that could speak.¡± I gave Rieka another squeeze and nodded to Kassandra when I saw her emerge from the barn and look around curiously. She waved and began wending her way over, her face a little paler than normal but clearly more ¡®together¡¯ than Rieka at the moment.

    ¡°Honestly, kobolds can¡¯t speak. They can growl really well and communicate that way, but it¡¯s not like they can compose poetry.¡± Rieka lectured before letting out a rather wet giggle. ¡°Sorry, I was just imagining something absurd.¡±

    ¡°Oh? What was that?¡±

    ¡°A kobold bard, trying his best to sing in those squeaky growls they make while strumming on a badly tuned lute.¡±

    That particular mental image had me snickering too as Kassandra reached us and proceeded to wrap her tail around our lower legs and lean into my side, obviously not wanting to interrupt my consoling of Rieka.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be okay.¡± Rieka said after another minute or two.

    ¡°Oh I know that, you are a tough girl after all.¡± I rubbed the base of her ears again and she let out a quiet, happy noise.

    ¡°Yup. One of the toughest, after me.¡± Kassandra interjected cheekily. ¡°See, isn¡¯t cuddling with Liam just the best?¡±

    ¡°It really is. I appreciate you letting me borrow him.¡± Rieka leaned back just enough to begin wiping at her eyes.

    Kassandra continued to grin and produced a simple handkerchief, which she offered to Rieka while continuing. ¡°Oh it¡¯s not really borrowing. He¡¯s on loan and don¡¯t even ask about the interest rates, they are absolutely ridiculous.¡±

    ¡°Kass!¡± Rieka protested, snatching the handkerchief from her and putting it to good use. ¡°That¡¯s not very nice, you didn¡¯t even ask him if he was willing to loan himself out.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t need to, I¡¯m happy to.¡± I butted in before turning to Kassandra and saying in a stage whisper. ¡°I expect an equal share of those interest payments by the way. I won''t give it up for free after all.¡± This sent Kassandra into another bout of giggles while Rieka punched me lightly in the chest, scowling playfully up at me with watery eyes the color of ice.

    ¡°Not funny, Liam. I¡¯d never expect that of you.¡± Rieka said while doing her best to wipe the remains of her tears from her face. ¡°Ugh, I am such a mess. I need some water to wash up with. Can I get the waterskin?¡±

    ¡°No need. Liam, could you be a dear and go get us a bucket from the well?¡± Kassandra switched from playful to earnest with a speed that would have been concerning if I wasn¡¯t used to it at this point.

    ¡°Sure. I¡¯ll be right back, Rieka.¡± I gently released the wolf kin woman and she whined quietly when my hand left her hair, which resulted in a blush coloring her still-pale cheeks. Kassandra loosened her coils and I was able to step over them before she wound tight to her friend once more and took my spot hugging Rieka, just lower down due to her smaller stature.

    I caught a snippet of their muttered conversation as I headed towards the well that was tucked into the shade of a couple trees on the far side of the open ground from the barn.

    ¡°You realize that he¡¯s as much yours as he is mine, right?¡±

    ¡°I know you think that, Kass.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s got a big heart, there¡¯s room there¡­¡±

    I didn¡¯t catch what Rieka said in reply as I had gotten far enough away that I wouldn¡¯t be able to keep listening without enhancing my hearing. That would have been obvious enough that the girls might have guessed I was listening in, so I didn¡¯t.

    The well was a squat, rounded construction of worked stone with a slat cover over top of it. A stack of buckets sat on the ground next to it with a coil of rope hanging on a hook worked into the stone. I already knew how they got water out, having had to wash the blood off of myself after dealing with the bodies.

    Prying the lid up and sliding it to one side, I glanced down to see the faint glimmer of water about ten feet down. Tying the rope to the handle of one of the buckets, I dropped it into the well before hauling the filled bucket up. I took the opportunity to rinse the blood and bits off of my mace this time, having forgotten about it before in the desire to keep a close watch on the girls.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    Once my gear was clean, I collected a fresh bucket, stowed the rope and closed the well back up again. Hurrying back to the girls, I arrived with the bucket just as the thunder of hooves rumbled from up the path towards the road.

    ¡°Gods, I hope that¡¯s the city guard.¡± Mumbled Rieka, quickly bending down to wash her hands, face, and mouth out.

    ¡°It¡¯d better be. If it isn¡¯t, then we have another fight on our hands.¡± Kassandra added, having released her friend to slither up next to me. Rieka was only moments behind her friend and took up position on my other side. Both of the girls had their spell rods at the ready so I tugged the mace from its loop and rapidly shifted my left arm to its scaled and clawed variant.

    A cloud of dust was rising over the crops, showing the route the riders were taking as they came up the side road and Rieka was the first to relax.

    ¡°Those are the tabards of the Kintos guard. It¡¯s the guard!¡± The second part was called towards the farmhouses. The farmers had retreated back into their homes and were peeking out the doorways with tools ready to defend themselves.

    A group of a dozen people on horseback cantered into the section of packed earth, riding to one side in a curving arc. Four of them had bows drawn with an arrow on the string while two others had spell rods at the ready and remained towards the center of the group. They rode on a mixed collection of horses, something else I had noted was oddly similar to back home, and were all dressed in matching uniforms and armor. The armor was a simple coat of chainmail over top of a gray arming coat with a brown and blue tabard on top of that. The emblem of the city of Kintos was emblazoned on the tabard, a bright red rod held horizontally over a set of merchants scales. They all wore rounded helmets made of iron and leather on their heads with armored cuffs for the ears of the kin in the group. I counted two elves amongst them as well as three cat kin while the rest were all wolf kin.

    ¡°Put down your weapons, in the name of the Guard!¡± Demanded the leader, a barrel chested wolf kin with a severe expression on his face. He had a kite shield on one arm with the same device as their armor and a sword drawn in his free hand. He had a decidedly cruel slant to his eyes that made me nervous.

    I didn¡¯t have to glance over to check on the girls, neither had lowered their weapons and I had no intention of lowering mine at the moment. We hadn¡¯t done anything wrong at all.

    ¡°I said put down your weapons! If you do not comply, you will be treated as defying the rightful orders of the Guard!¡± The man barked again, his face going red in anger and his eyes narrowing.

    ¡°We are students of Juneau academy and in the field on a mission. We are not required and will not lay down weapons in a fresh combat zone, especially after having foiled a bandit ambush. State your name and rank, as custom dictates, rather than howling like an injured puppy. I would know you before we lower our weapons, given what almost happened earlier.¡± Rieka snapped with a level of authority that I was almost surprised by. If I hadn¡¯t been so focused on the threat of the weapons aimed towards us, I would have turned to stare at her.

    They are on horses, so miring the ground under them would work best. Wish I¡¯d taken water to go with the earth, could just draw water up from the well to do it. Still, I haven¡¯t used my mana for anything yet. I can turn the earth to sand if they try to charge. I thought rapidly while Rieka and the leader engaged in a contest of wills.

    ¡°Present your badges if you are students.¡± Demanded the leader after continuing to glare down at Rieka. I noticed a number of the guards behind him were giving their leader strange looks and the two with the rods were murmuring to each other while shooting glances towards both of my girls.

    ¡°As those on scene first, I demand you identify yourselves first. As is customary! I can see your uniforms but you will follow procedure.¡± Rieka snapped sharply. ¡°I will not ask a third time and will treat you as another wave of attackers as my life has already been threatened once today. I will not let it happen a second time.¡±

    ¡°Trust me, it isn¡¯t going to be.¡± I growled in agreement, putting as much menace into the words as I could. The leader of the group of city guards was giving me the heebie-jeebies as he continued to glare at us. The look in his tiny eyes reminded me a bit too much of Dutcher in one of his vindictive moods.

    Thankfully, before a fight could break out, one of the female guards, a wolf kin, broke formation and guided her horse forward three steps. She was one of the two with spell rods and pointedly holstered it.

    ¡°We are an emergency response squad from Kintos. One of the locals arrived with tales of a bandit attack and we hurried to get here to help.¡±

    ¡°The bandits are dead.¡± Kassandra decided to add in, hooking a thumb over her shoulder at the pile to one side of the barn. ¡°You are welcome to interview them, but I don¡¯t think they¡¯ll have a lot to say on the matter. Maybe you should instead interview the farmers that were being threatened, rather than terrorizing them. Also, you haven¡¯t spoken name or rank yet, so I¡¯d get that done soon before our Liam decides you are also a threat.¡±

    ¡°Our Liam?¡± Rieka muttered under her breath in amusement and I just shrugged slightly.

    ¡°What the blazes is a ¡®Liam¡¯?¡± Grumbled the commander while glaring at his subordinate.

    ¡°I am Calla Blazerider, Lieutenant with the Kintos guard. I apologize for my manners, I was concerned for the locals.¡± The woman said, glancing towards the pile of bodies and then doing a double take.

    ¡°Lieutenant Blazerider, pleasure to meet you. We were here to deal with a mission taken from Juneau to assist the farmers in dealing with a problem regarding a creature raiding their crops and arrived in time to deal with a bandit group that was attacking the farmers. I am Kassandra Silverscale.¡± Kassandra lowered her spell rod but didn¡¯t stow it. ¡°This is our Liam, he is our guardian and only accepts orders from either of us.¡± Deciding to play it up, I just grunted and flexed my clawed arm. The motion made the lieutenant pale slightly. ¡°And this is Rieka Coldeye, fourth princess of the realm and our companion. Now that you know who we are, I recommend you lower weapons!¡± The last part was barked in a voice of command that outstripped the slight serpent woman¡¯s size for its power.

    The guards all acted immediately, sheathing weapons or removing arrows from their bows. The only one who didn¡¯t was the commander who continued to glare down at us.

    ¡°My apologies, the report did not tell us who was here, just that there was an attack. We left with all due haste. I believe that was in error as we were missing critical information.¡± Apologized the lieutenant, an apology that Kassandra accepted with a graceful nod.

    ¡°It happens. Your concern for the people is admirable. Where is the reporting citizen anyway? I¡¯m sure their family is worried for them.¡±

    ¡°He was still being questioned by the gate guards when we left.¡±

    ¡°Glad to hear my son is okay. Was wondering about that since he¡¯s a good enough runner to make it to the city that quickly.¡± Grumbled the largest of the farmers, the bear man that had helped me deal with the last of them by stomping on his chest. He¡¯d approached from one side, still carrying the hay-fork that he¡¯d been using.

    ¡°Farmer Gomald, how is your family?¡± The lieutenant turned her attention to him quickly, clearly recognizing the big bear man. The farmer snorted and shook his big head.

    ¡°They are alive and mostly uninjured, thanks to these three. The leader of the bandits was in the process of manhandling one of my daughters when they showed up and gave him what-for.¡± The farmer grumped, shooting a glare at the unit commander with his weapon still in hand. ¡°I hope they are commended and given whatever bounties might exist on these bandits. Are you going to continue this pissing match?¡± The last part was addressed directly to the commander and his scowl switched to the farmer.

    ¡°Company, disperse and collect statements. Walters, Rohnson, I want you two to search the bodies and identify the bandits. If any of them have a bounty, we will see it awarded to the Princess and her group.¡± Lieutenant Blazerider cut in before the commander could speak. ¡°Squad-Commander Ymens.¡± The commander stiffened and his glare turned to the Lieutenant before he paled slightly. ¡°If you continue to threaten the princess or intimidate witnesses to this situation, I will be forced to arrest you as well. And don¡¯t think that using the ¡®I didn¡¯t recognize her¡¯ excuse. The Coldeye family is very distinctive and she¡¯s been introduced. I am frankly astonished you dragged it out this long.¡± The last part was said with a growl to her tone.

    Grumbling, the commander finally relaxed and took his hand off his sheathed sword.

    ¡°Thank you, Lieutenant. I will ensure a compliment for your conduct is made to the city guard.¡± Rieka spoke up finally and got a smile from the lieutenant.

    ¡°No, thank you, milady. I¡¯ve been wanting to take that man down a peg for a while.¡± Blazerider said in a quieter tone after sliding out of her saddle to the ground. The wolf kin woman was a little shorter than Rieka and had dark, red-brown hair that was cropped close to her head from what I could tell under her helmet. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect him to stick his foot so far down his throat in this situation. I wonder what his problem was?¡±

    ¡°No idea. Maybe he just has issues with students from Juneau.¡± Rieka sighed, finally relaxing and holstering her spell rod. ¡°Let me fill you in on what happened that I can remember.¡± Rieka had a more reassured feel to her posture now and she began relaying the events of the morning to the lieutenant. I kept a careful eye on everyone present and, other than the squad commander shooting us an occasional glare, everyone moved to their tasks with a will.

    ¡°Dang it.¡± Kassandra groaned and I looked to see what had her attention. She was watching as the two guards were checking the bodies of the bandits.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t think to check them for anything of value. Now anything they have is going to be claimed as ¡®evidence¡¯ and stay with the guards.¡± Grumbled the dwarf lamia, pouting rather cutely.

    The idea that Kassandra was upset because she forgot to loot the bodies made me snort with laughter, which was clearly her intention as she shot me a happy grin before leaning into my side. Letting the scales and claws fall off my left arm, I draped it over her shoulder protectively and let my hand rest on her upper chest. She hummed happily at the contact and leaned into me a little harder.

    ¡°¡¯Our Liam?¡¯¡± I asked while keeping a watch on Rieka as well while she talked to the guards. The shakes from earlier were a thing of the past. The only tell that was showing Rieka was less than at her best in the moment was how limply her tail was hanging behind her as she gave a detailed accounting. Apparently, responsibility gave her control over herself again.

    ¡°Yup, you are ours after all. I¡¯m not going to claim you only to myself. There¡¯s so much of you, I just have to share.¡± Giggled Kassandra and I jumped slightly when I felt her thread her arm around my thigh and underneath to rub the front of my pants. The action was barely out of sight behind the hanging front of my armored tunic.

    ¡°Minx.¡± I pretended to grumble, trying to fight the blush down. Her teasing me was better than Kassandra having a breakdown like Rieka had though, so I put up with it.

    ¡°You love it and you know it.¡± Kassandra continued, squeezing me again through my jeans.

    ¡°I love you and I know it.¡± I corrected easily, glancing down and seeing the faint blush and happy smile that spread over her face.

    Yes, teasing was a lot better than an emotional breakdown, for sure.

 Chapter 41

    The city guards took another hour to get statements from the farmers and us before several of them actually volunteered to help the farmers deal with the corpses.

    The dead were tossed unceremoniously into a pile to be burned out in a section of field that wasn¡¯t being used for crops at the time. Lieutenant Blazerider ended up doing the honors of lighting the pile with her magic to get it over with quickly. Once the corpses had been searched and fire started, she had let us know to check in with the main office in town to receive any bounty payments that were outstanding on them.

    After the fight with the bandits, dealing with the actual issue we had come this way to address was relatively easy. One of Farmer Gomald¡¯s sons had been tracking the animals that had been destroying crops to be prepared for when assistance arrived. It had been discovered to be a sounder of rock boars and the group of low-level monsters was easily twenty strong. Individually, the armored porcine monsters weren¡¯t terribly dangerous but in a group that large they were definitely hazardous.

    It was a simple enough task to aggravate them into charging into the mire that I created utilizing my new earth magic with Kassandra¡¯s help. When the waist-high pigs had charged into the mud and promptly sunk to their bellies it made them easy pickings for the girls and the farmers that had accompanied us. Living away from the city, the boys were a good shot with their bows and easily took down the immobilized animals while Kassandra and Rieka picked off a few with their spells.

    We left them processing the beasts. They were a priority since the barn still had the chill effect to preserve the dead livestock for now. The family would do well for meat for some time and maybe be able to use some of the funds from selling the boar carcasses to buy new livestock. They¡¯d tried to give them to us, but Rieka and Kassandra resolutely refused.

    Once that argument was done, we quickly headed to check the trees to secure the fruit that were part of our secondary mission. One of the trees had already fallen prey to a small flock of vine rays but the other three were just starting to ripen enough that the girls were able to collect the fruit we needed for the request. It was for use by an alchemist who was making plant-based dyes, so the deep blue fruit were each quite valuable beyond the sustenance they could provide.

    Dropping by town to turn in the quests and receive the payment that Farmer Gomald had already deposited at the Hunt and Trade hall when he posted the request for help was the final cap to the evening. Or so we thought while on our way to the office of the city guard to check if there were any bounties on the bandits.

    We ended up running into Lieutenant Blazerider on her way out of the watch office. I could hear the wolf kin woman growling deep in her throat as she turned to storm up the street, still in the same uniform we¡¯d seen her earlier, only to come to a sudden stop when she spotted us.

    ¡°Oh! Good to see you all. I was beginning to worry that you hadn¡¯t made it back to town yet.¡± It took a visible effort for Blazerider to school her features to a professional expression though she greeted us politely. Kassandra, of course, bowled right through the facade without a care to subtlety.

    ¡°Hello, Lieutenant! What¡¯s got you up in arms? I take it your commanding officer is causing problems?¡± Kassandra said breezily. The wolf kin woman in front of us sighed, her tail and ears slumping, and she nodded.

    ¡°Yes. I¡¯m on unofficial leave while being investigated for insubordination in the matter. More importantly though, the Squad-Commander is claiming the bounties for the bandits that you three killed as he was the one to present the bounty papers. I was hoping to find you lot and let you know.¡± The wolf woman¡¯s tone had been so professional earlier but was now rather resigned and I did not like it one bit.

    ¡°What? Insubordination? Why?¡± Rieka spluttered, her eyes going wide while her tail puffed up slightly in irritation. ¡°Because you stood up for the rights of the people present rather than bowing down in supplication to the Squad-Commander and his high horse?¡±

    ¡°Because I ¡®usurped and undermined his authority in the field¡¯. Regardless of the situation, I should not have intervened and let him handle it. He gave the order before heading to the bounty office and I followed with plans to protest. That¡¯s why I know he is trying to swipe your bounty. I decided letting you know was more important than arguing my own case¡­¡± Blazerider explained tiredly, though I could still see indignant fire in her eyes. She may be down, but she¡¯s not defeated.

    ¡°That¡¯s a load of night-soil and you know it!¡± snapped Rieka, startling us all. Turning to look more directly at my companion, I was startled to see the fury in her eyes as well a snarl on her slim mouth.

    Rieka wasn¡¯t angry, she was furious.

    ¡°No, I will not stand for this. Lieutenant Blazerider, on me. Lady Silverscale, I want you beside her for support. Liam, you have the rear. I will not stand for good soldiers to be denigrated for trying to salvage a fool¡¯s mistake and I definitely will not stand for being stolen from.¡±

    ¡°Oooh, someone¡¯s in trouble!¡± Kassandra giggled as Rieka stormed into the main guard house. Lieutenant Blazerider just stared in surprise while the meek and quiet young woman she¡¯d encountered earlier in the day turned into a snarling fury. ¡°Come on, Lieutenant. You¡¯ll need to be present for the apology I¡¯m sure that Rieka is going to demand. Also, to counter the accusations that you went running to us for support. You simply ran into us as we came to claim our bounty and we had to pry the information out of you, got it?¡± Kassandra pushed herself a little higher and looped an arm through Blazerider¡¯s to tow the taller woman along as she hurried to follow after Rieka, nodding dazedly.

    ¡°What¡­? Why¡­?¡± Blazerider mumbled and I had to bite back a laugh.

    ¡°Don¡¯t sweat it, Lieutenant. Just watch the fireworks.¡± Kassandra patted her forearm reassuringly while not slowing one whit.

    I fell in at the rear using the advantage of my taller stature to keep an eye on everything over the girls. I didn¡¯t draw my weapon from the loop on my belt yet. While I¡¯d spent most of my mana earlier to make a big enough mire to deal with all the boars, it¡¯d regenerated to the point I had three mana at the moment. That would be enough to handle whatever was thrown at us next, I hoped.

    I made sure to shift both my hands into the clawed and scaled variants up to my elbow, just to be safe though.

    Inside the low, stone building that was the watch house I saw the room was already bustling with activity. Petitioners sat on a bench along one wall, waiting their turn to either appeal to see someone in lockup, pay a fine, or something similar I guessed from their regular and diverse outfits. Guards crossed back and forth in the room, each one dressed in the standard uniform of the city guard with their armor and tabard. There was a mix of species present in both groups that I was used to from past trips to town, though I saw again that the wolf kin were the majority by a fair margin.

    Other than the appeals desk in the corner by the waiting benches, there was only one other fixture in the room and that was the duty desk. It sat against one wall and rose above the people in the room to give the woman seated behind it a good view to keep an eye on everything. The elf seated at the desk had a large book in front of her that she was making notes in as she gave orders to individual or teams of guards quickly and it was towards this woman that Rieka was angling.

    ¡°Hop to you two. Don¡¯t want to let our princess get ahead of us.¡± I murmured to the pair in front of me and both nodded, hurrying to catch up in Rieka¡¯s wake.

    It took until Rieka was almost halfway across the room before the staring started and the murmurs picked up only a handful of steps later as people began to notice her. I saw Rieka¡¯s step falter but she glanced over her shoulder and caught sight of us right behind her and straightened once more. I met her eyes and nodded encouragement, getting a brief smile before she turned forward, sending her icy blonde hair into a spinning halo around her head until it settled down again along her back. She never stopped walking though.

    The movement of her hair reminded me of something and I glanced around, looking at the other wolf kin that I¡¯d noticed before. Huh, hadn¡¯t realized it until now but Rieka and her mum are the only wolf kin I¡¯ve seen with blonde hair. Even with the little black tips on her ears, she¡¯s got the lightest coloration of any of the wolf kin I¡¯ve seen. They are mostly browns and dark grays with some blacks in there too, but no other blondes of any type. Wonder why that is?

    Stepping up to the duty desk, Rieka waited patiently until the duty officer finished the orders she was giving to a pair of bear kin guards and then caught the woman''s attention.

    ¡°Yes, what¡­oh!¡± The elf woman blinked several times rapidly and peered down at Rieka. ¡°Would you be Princess Rieka Coldeye?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that is I. I apologize for taking time away from your work but I need to speak with the bounty office as well as the Watch-Commander.¡± Rieka spoke coolly, her tone even but not deferential. The elf glanced from Rieka to the rest of us with her gaze landing on Lieutenant Blazerider and widening slightly before dropping back to Rieka.

    ¡°Oh? May I ask what it is that you needed to speak to them about? If it is a complex issue, you may need to make an appointment. The Watch-Commander is a rather busy man¡­¡±

    ¡°I need to lodge a complaint regarding the attitude of a squad-commander, as well as a second one regarding his threats to my person. Possibly a third, but that depends on how the meeting with the bounty office goes.¡± Rieka kept her tone even and neutral as the elf behind the duty desk stared at her with wide eyes.

    ¡°One of the squad-commanders threatened you?¡±

    ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am.¡± Lieutenant Blazerider chipped in, squirming slightly as the stern elf woman turned her startled gaze on her. ¡°Squad-Commander Ymens displayed unprofessional conduct in the field. I¡¯d rather not get into the specifics in public, Captain.¡±

    ¡°Very well. Hasfield!¡± The elf woman barked the last part to one side, making another guard that was standing nearby jump in surprise and nearly dump a cup of tea over himself that he¡¯d been raising to drink from. ¡°You have the duty, Hasfield. I¡¯m going to escort the princess and her party back to the bounty office first and then directly to the Watch-Commander.¡±

    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    ¡°Very well, Captain. I have the duty.¡± The other guardsman said quickly, brushing the spilled tea off his hand while the elf jumped down from the tall stool after making a notation in her book. Once the seat was vacated, the wolf kin climbed up into the seat and took up the quill to make a note in the book as well, logging the changing of who was in charge was my guess, before setting his mug to one side and beckoning one of the waiting groups of officers to the desk to receive their assignment.

    ¡°I appreciate your intervention in this, Captain¡­?¡± Rieka fell into step beside the elf and the rest of us followed behind her.

    ¡°Captain Longknife. And I would be remiss to not address such accusations personally, Princess.¡± The elf woman led us down one of the hallways that lead off the side of the main room. ¡°May I ask why Lieutenant Blazerider is with you?¡±

    ¡°The Lieutenant interceded and prevented the issue from escalating in the field. We happened to run into her outside and I wanted to bring her along as a neutral witness for lodging the complaint, as well as to commend her for the quick thinking that aborted what would have been a fatal encounter between us and the guards.¡±

    ¡°You would have attacked the Guard?¡± Captain Longknife stopped in the middle of the hallway and turned to stare at Rieka in shock.

    ¡°We had just survived a bandit ambush and were attempting to secure the farmstead when the mounted squad came pounding up the lane with weapons drawn and pointed at us. I don¡¯t care what uniform someone is wearing, if they threaten me, I will react accordingly.¡± Rieka answered coolly, her left thumb hooked behind the pommel of her spell rod at her belt. It was a motion that was not missed by the Captain, who scowled but nodded.

    ¡°Lieutenant?¡±

    ¡°It is true, Captain. The Squad-Commander was verbally berating them to lay down weapons without acknowledging that it was a combat zone or even naming himself. I was further back in the ranks and it took me a moment to recognize the Princess. I¡¯ve only ever seen the Coldeye family with that particular fur pattern and we were all informed when the Princess arrived for training at Juneau after all. It was obvious that they had to be nobles from their fine clothes, at least for the ladies.¡± Blazerider said quickly, getting a grunt of acknowledgement from the Captain and she shot me an apologetic look, which I shrugged off.

    ¡°Yes, well that should not have happened. I understand hurrying in there and arriving in motion to lower threat chances but the Guard is required to name themselves and their reason for approach. Especially outside the city, as I assume this is where it happened?¡±

    ¡°Yes, the squad I was a part of was dispatched from the gate. If it had been in town the report would already be on your desk but, since it was from the gate to an external farm, I assume the report will be delivered at the shift change.¡±

    ¡°Understood. This is the bounty office, please conduct your business quickly and I will escort you to the Watch-Commander.¡± Captain Longknife said stiffly, a conflicted expression crossing her stern features. I hadn¡¯t noticed it before when she was sitting in her high chair but a pair of thin scars marred her right cheek with one extending nearly to her eye and I had to wonder what had given her the injury that led to those scars.

    ¡°Lieutenant Blazerider, you remember Farmer Gomald requesting that we receive the bounty for any of the bandits that had a price on their head. Do you happen to know if any did?¡± Rieka asked just as stiffly as the Captain had earlier. The lieutenant blinked several times before nodding slowly, confusion dominant on her face before she made the connection and a smile crossed her lips instead.

    ¡°Yes, there were three bounties in the group. Two were small, assault and theft mostly, but the leader of that merry band of fools was Ugly Jack.¡± At the mention of the bandit leader''s name, Captain Longknife growled deep in her throat.

    ¡°Ugly Jack got taken down? Finally! That monster has been causing problems all over the countryside for the better part of a year and I know that beast has a price on his head. Several traveling merchants have contributed to the fund after all.¡±

    ¡°Okay. I need to claim those bounties, would you please see to that for us, Lieutenant? You were present and witnessed Farmer Gomald insisting we take credit for them and also were the one to light the pyre to immolate the bodies.¡± Rieka asked politely, turning a small smile to Blazerider who nodded once and slipped past them into the office.

    ¡°How did you take down Ugly Jack and his gang?¡± Asked the Captain, her expression was a mixture of joy and trepidation. ¡°It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t believe you, but that man has escaped capture twice already and killed three of the Guard doing so. He even beat one of the Guard¡¯s mages nearly to death¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh it wasn¡¯t me that did it.¡± Rieka said with a wintry smile. ¡°Liam was the one who took down the leader of that little band of idiots. He also accounted for more than half the others too.¡±

    The elven woman turned her disbelieving gaze onto me. I knew she was judging me as she ran her gaze over my tattered blue jeans, ragged leather armor, and the plain iron mace on hip. I caught a motion just out of sight of the Captain and saw Kassandra making snarly faces while cupping her hands into claws and I got what she was implying.

    When the elven woman¡¯s eyes landed on my face with doubt clear in her expression, I did as Kassandra urged and pushed on my Shape-Shifting. I¡¯d used it before to intimidate the students that had been harassing Kassandra, but this time I tried to be a bit more controlled.

    As the Captain opened her mouth to speak, I smiled down at her and urged my teeth to lengthen into interlocking, razor-sharp fangs while my eyes flipped from their regular, human, blue color with round irises to completely black with only a thin golden line on the outside and no visible pupil. I¡¯d kept my hands down and out of sight while we walked and had removed the shift from them to allow myself to use two animal¡¯s features, the current max, to shift my face. The teeth I had borrowed from the crag hunter we had killed the previous week but the eyes were something I¡¯d been researching. The eyes were taken from a tarsier, a small primate that had excellent night vision. The blackness wasn¡¯t natural, but due to the fact its pupil could expand to ridiculous sizes. It made it hard to see by using the Shape-Shifting to force the pupil that large but, since the corridor we were in was dimly lit, it wasn¡¯t blinding and was only for a brief moment.

    The Captain paled slightly and I let my mouth close so I could pull the shift from my teeth and fix my eyes again. When that was done, I returned my hands to their clawed states then used them to scratch at my chest lightly, the sharp tips rasping against the small metal plates in my armor and making her jump.

    ¡°I¡­well¡­that makes some sense then. I¡¯m just glad you made it out of the encounter without a problem then!¡± The captain said stiffly before swallowing once and nodding. ¡°Regardless of how it was done, I¡¯m just glad that Ugly Jack is dead. The man killed a friend of mine, so I hope it wasn¡¯t an easy death.¡±

    ¡°Oh no, it sadly was. Liam killed him by accident. Broke his neck if I am right?¡± Rieka said idly.

    The Captain¡¯s response to that statement was something we wouldn¡¯t know because Lieutenant Blazerider emerged from the bounty office with a scowl on her face that was only partially forced.

    ¡°Lieutenant?¡±

    ¡°The bounty has already been claimed and disbursed to Squad-Commander Ymens. The paperwork states that he claimed it less than half an hour ago stating that ¡®his squad encountered and dispatched them but the bodies were too mangled to bring back identification.¡¯ He swore on his rank that it was true though.¡±

    I was surprised at how straight Blazerider was playing this. She¡¯d been the one to tell us about it after all, but she still had a look of restrained fury and indignation on her face that was quickly mirrored on the Captain¡¯s.

    ¡°He did what?¡± Hissed the elf woman.

    ¡°He claimed the bounty personally and falsely, Captain.¡±

    ¡°I see. Is that the third complaint you wished to make, Princess?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I sadly had the expectation that the man would try something like this. But I did not think he would be this quick to try and do so.¡± Rieka sighed before turning to the Captain. ¡°Would you lead us to the Watch-Commander¡¯s office? I have a need to express my displeasure to them about the Squad-Commander.¡±

    ¡°I would be happy to. Ymens has overstepped himself several times today alone by your report and I would be highly surprised if he¡¯s still even in the Guard at the end of today with this. Threatening a noble without cause, let alone one of the princesses, as well as stealing from her and her manservant? That will not stand.¡± Growled the Captain before spinning on her heel and stomping further down the hall while the group fell in behind her.

    ¡°Hear that, Liam?¡± Kassandra snickered quietly. ¡°Make sure you take care of your mistress, ¡®manservant¡¯.¡±

    I rolled my eyes at her teasing, but Rieka was apparently not expecting it. She tripped over her own feet before shooting a glare at Kassandra. My mischievous Nugget just smiled sunnily up at her friend while Blazerider smothered a laugh of her own.

    ¡°Watch-Commander.¡± The Captain called, rapping on a door before opening it and sticking her head in. ¡°Ah yes, Ymens. Good to see you are already here. You are going to be needed.¡±

    ¡°What do you want, Captain? You are supposed to be on desk duty.¡± Demanded a deep, basso voice from inside the room.

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m just here with someone who needs to lodge several complaints against the Squad-Commander. Good thing he¡¯s already in your office.¡± The Captain said stiffly before beckoning us to enter.

    The office of the Watch-Commander was spartan but well lit. A crystal sphere hung from the ceiling on a chain to provide clear light for the paperwork the man was doing at the large, wooden desk. A pair of comfortable chairs sat in front of the desk and one of them was occupied by the idiot that we had dealt with earlier, Squad-Commander Ymens. Ymens glared at the Captain initially before paling when Rieka strode into the room right after her. Some color returned when Lieutenant Blazerider followed the princess and took up position by the door, but that color fled once more when Kassandra and I came in next.

    ¡°Princess Rieka, a pleasure. What can I do for you?¡± The Watch-Commander was a big man with scales on his arms and hands as well as the same style of leather caps over claws that I¡¯d seen on Lady Valda. He looked big enough to do part-time duty as a barn door and had a short cropped head of mouse-brown hair over a face made craggy from many scars. His voice was the deep rumble of two boulders grating together.

    ¡°Oh, there are several issues but most of them are due to one of your Squad-Commanders not only disrespecting but threatening my person and that of my retinue, but also stealing from me and mine.¡± Rieka replied with a calm smile to the Watch-Commander before turning her gaze to Ymens. ¡°Isn¡¯t that right, Squad-Commander? I just came from the bounty office after all¡­¡±

    Squad-Commander Ymens couldn¡¯t seem to decide if he wanted to flush in anger or go pale and it left his face the color of one of those ¡®fruit at the bottom¡¯ yogurts as he stammered a protest that died on his lips when the Watch-Commander turned his glare to the other man.

    ¡°Ymens¡­what is she talking about? You were just telling me how your squad took down Ugly Jack¡­¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­uh¡­¡± was all the Squad-Commander could stammer.

    ¡°I would like to file three separate complaints for myself as well as one on behalf of another.¡± Rieka cut in. ¡°One for unprofessional behavior in the field. One for threatening my person for requesting reasonable confirmation of identity while in the field. And then the last one for stealing the rightful bounty payment on several wanted men. The complaint on behalf of another is this man¡¯s treatment of his subordinate who is the only reason he didn¡¯t die in the field for his foolishness.¡± Rieka paused for a moment thoughtfully before continuing. ¡°I¡¯d also like to commend Lieutenant Blazerider for quick thinking in preventing the issue from getting worse too.¡±

    The Squad-Commander shrank back into his seat as the Watch-Commander¡¯s glare turned up several notches. I leaned back against the door to the office to watch the fireworks with Kassandra snuggling into my hip, a wicked grin on her lips.

    ¡°Sometimes it¡¯s really fun when Rieka decides to use her ¡®high and mighty¡¯.¡± Kassandra murmured quietly enough as the Watch-Commander began tearing verbal strips off of Ymens.

    ¡°Yea, as long as she¡¯s the one deciding to do it.¡± I replied, letting the claws on my left hand turn back into fingers to tangle in Kassandra¡¯s mane of red curls and gently scratch at her scalp. She made a happy noise and leaned into the touch some more as the Watch-Commander built up a head of steam while ripping into his subordinate, who was stammering an excuse that he¡¯d planned to turn the bounty payment over to Rieka later. An excuse that no one in the office was buying, I was happy to see.

 Chapter 42

    After watching Rieka dismantle the man in front of the Watch-Commander, we received an official apology as well as the missing bounty money, which the former Squad-Commander still had on his person. The girls had initially insisted that I keep the money but when we realized how much it was, I told them to put it into the fund for the dimensional bag. With that bounty and the day''s work we were three-fourths of the way to being able to afford one of the nicer dimensional sacks to carry our gear in. Apparently, the local merchants really wanted Ugly Jack taken care of.

    When it was all said and done, I escorted the girls back to Juneau before being returned to Earth with my mission complete and the SP added to my interface. It was getting on towards evening, so I decided to get a shower in and then try to relax and do some research to see if I could find a way to train myself to fight better with the Shape-Shifting effects. The training from Cerebaton had definitely helped to fill in the gaps and get me to a functional level well beyond what I had started at, but I wanted more.

    ¡°Still a little surprised I survived that first mission.¡± I muttered while sluicing the soap off in the shower. ¡°Lucked out with the girls being able to function in that situation. I can only imagine how it would have been if I¡¯d been dropped there alone and without any backup at all. Probably would be dead already.¡± Thinking about it again, I shook my head and snorted while remembering my stomach¡¯s rebellion at killing something and the pain of the injuries. ¡°Yea, definitely would be dead. Even if there was only one or two, I''m pretty sure I¡¯d have bled out from the kobolds without Kassandra there to heal me.¡±

    My reverie was shattered by the distant pounding of someone at the door and I swore. Twisting the knob to shut the water off, I snatched a towel and ran it over my body quickly to dry off.

    ¡°I¡¯m coming!¡± I shouted when the pounding resumed a moment later. ¡°Dunno who the hell that could be.¡± I muttered, grabbing the first set of pants I could find, which was the dirty set still left over from my trip. Ugh, whatever they¡¯ll do to answer the door. I thought while scrubbing at my hair with the towel and hurrying out to answer the door as the pounding resumed again. No way it¡¯s Cari or Cerebaton. They¡¯d just appear in the living room or something but they¡¯d also message me first. Hell, for all I know they crawl out from under the bed or out of the closet¡­

    I live in a fairly rough area. There is a decent homeless population that squats in the area and a few that actually camp in the parking lot of my apartment complex. There are some rather questionable individuals that live in the building too, folks that I¡¯m fairly certain are on the gray or outright wrong side of the law and drug paraphernalia was something I had just gotten used to seeing in the lot.. So I didn¡¯t just jerk the door open and demand to know what they wanted. Nor did I just peek through the peephole in the door, but that was more due to the fact that the front door didn¡¯t have one. I guess they cost extra and the housing company didn¡¯t want to spend the money or something.

    Instead of that I actually had something far simpler. The practice weapons that I used with Cerebaton leaned up against the wall behind the door and I grabbed one before undoing all but the chain lock then opened the door a few inches to see who it was. I figured that if someone tried to rob me, I could try and use the magic I¡¯d picked up to make the difference but first I¡¯d try regular intimidation.

    The voice identified the person before I¡¯d even gotten the door open an inch though and I relaxed.

    ¡°There you are, fart-stick! Was wondering if you¡¯d fallen in and drowned or something!¡± Shouted the friendly pain in the ass that stood on the other side of my door just as I started to open it.

    ¡°Of course it¡¯s you, Jameson. Get your paddy-ass in here already.¡± I sighed, slamming the door shut and setting the practice sword down once more before undoing the chain and swinging the door open the full way to admit my friend, Jameson Gillespie.

    Jameson was short and rather Irish. I know that probably sounds bad, but he legitimately enjoyed playing up the stereotype to annoy people. Add in the fact that his parents had the ironic humor to name him after a brand of Irish whiskey and it was a matter of choosing between sinking or swimming. He stood around five feet in height and had messy, carrot-orange hair that was currently contained under a leather newsboy cap. If it had been a work night, I would have expected Jameson to be wearing a button-down business shirt and a neat pair of slacks. Since it was the weekend, he had on a battered Flogging Molly band shirt and an old pair of jeans over his work boots. Sharp, gray eyes gave me a once over as his mobile mouth turned up in a grin amongst the short, curly goatee he sported on his pointed chin.

    ¡°One of these days you are going to say that around mum and she¡¯s going to wallop you one. She¡¯d even say she owed it to your mum to do it, you know?¡±

    ¡°Eh, I¡¯m not afraid of your mum. She loves me too much to beat me too much. That¡¯s what she¡¯s got you for after all. Come on dude, have a seat and let me throw on a shirt. I was in the shower when you knocked.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Got a hot date tonight or something?¡± Jameson wandered into the apartment and gave it a once over with his hands tucked into his pockets while I locked the door up once more. When I turned back to Jameson he was watching me with a curious expression.

    ¡°No, no date, dude. Just a long day is all.¡± I told him while pushing past the much shorter man to head back to the bedroom to get changed. ¡°Feel free to grab a seat. Surprised you just showed up, you normally call ahead.¡±

    ¡°I did call ahead, bell-end.¡± Jameson called after me before I heard the crinkle of fabric as he flopped down onto the couch. ¡°Bloody hell, you really need some nicer furniture. Almost busted my tail-bone on this broken-down couch of yours.¡±

    ¡°Not my fault your skinny ass has no padding. I must have missed the call.¡± Not that his unexpected arrival mattered, Jameson was one of the few people who had a standing invitation just to crash my place after all.

    ¡°Obviously. It rang forever and then gave me one of those automated ¡®out of service range¡¯ messages. Were you up in the mountains or something? Or did your asshole of a boss call you in and then stuff you in a freezer?¡± Jameson¡¯s reply echoed up the hallway as I worked quickly to change into fresh clothes, tossing the sweat-stiffened jeans into the laundry bin. I winced when I noticed several spots of dried blood on the pants.

    Crap, going to have to wash those sooner rather than later if I want to try and keep them from staining. I thought before hurrying back into the living room. Jameson was sprawled across the couch, somehow managing to take up all three seats with his short frame and I just rolled my eyes, dragging one of the chairs over from the kitchen to sit on.

    ¡°You want a soda or something dude?¡±

    ¡°Sure, that or a beer. First day off in about three weeks and here I am using it to check on my oxygen-bandit of a friend.¡± He caught the can of Coke I threw at him and popped it open with a smooth motion of long practice.

    ¡°You know, I hate that about you.¡±

    ¡°What? My glorious good looks.¡± Jameson grinned broadly behind his can, eyes sparkling with amusement.

    ¡°The fact that you are deluded enough to think that actually. That and how you can eat anything and stay skinny.¡± I shot back, settling into my chair with a sigh and cracking my own soda.

    ¡°Gotta keep up the confidence, man. Chicks dig a confident man.¡±

    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    ¡°Dig him a grave, maybe. How are things going with Lola?¡±

    ¡°Eh, not so good. She wasn¡¯t able to cope with my work schedule. She was apparently so engrossed in dating someone like a high profile architect that she forgot I¡¯m also high-demand and one of the more junior ones at the firm.¡± Jameson brushed the question off with ease and I didn¡¯t push. He¡¯d been dating Lola for the last year and a half and I¡¯d thought this would have been the one to finally settle him down.

    ¡°Sorry to hear that, dude.¡± I held up my can in salute and he matched me.

    ¡°It¡¯s life. Finding love isn¡¯t as easy as the skin mags make it seem after all.¡±

    ¡°How''s the wrist doing then?¡± I laughed as he flipped me the bird in response.

    ¡°It¡¯s just fine, thank you. Most drafting is done on computers nowadays. I only do the basic sketches by hand anymore.¡± Jameson replied airily, not rising to the bait and instead choosing to misinterpret my jibe. ¡°What about you, Liam? You finally find someone willing to climb that step-ladder to kiss that wrinkled arse you call a mug?¡±

    ¡°Nice burn, height and face at once.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m trying. Need to keep up the game after all. Answer the question now, Liam. I know you well enough to know you are stalling.¡± Jameson smirked again while taking another swig of his soda.

    It took me a minute to think of a response. Partially while deciding how to explain the relationship that I had with the girls without giving too much away and partially to figure out how to volley back his insult towards me. We¡¯d had the game running for so long that it was just part of the relationship we had now. The only time we¡¯d dropped it was at funerals.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if I have the time or crayons to explain it right now¡­¡± I ducked the empty can he threw at me with a laugh.

    ¡°Dude, stop ducking the question and just give me the answer!¡± He demanded between chuckles, though he rolled his eyes when he saw the gleam in mine. ¡°Don¡¯t you dare¡­¡±

    ¡°42?¡±

    ¡°Pillock.¡± Groaned Jameson and I sniggered. When he fell back on European insults, I knew I was winning.

    ¡°I had to, dude. It¡¯s required to make the joke when you set it up like that.¡± I snorted before waving off his glare. ¡°Seriously though, yes I do have a girl. No, I''m not introducing her to you. The last thing I need is for you to scare Kass off with that crass attitude of yours.¡±

    ¡°Out of all the sperm to win the race¡­¡± Jameson sighed in resignation and overblown disappointment before he leaned back into the couch. ¡°You wound me. Clearly the woman needs to have her eyes checked if she¡¯s dating someone who looks like I drew them with my left hand.¡±

    ¡°You forget, whiskey-dick, I know that you are ambidextrous. So that¡¯s not really an insult.¡± I shot back with a grin.

    ¡°Yea yea, forgot you knew that.¡± Jameson waved the comment off with a good natured grin. ¡°Regardless, tell me about her! Kass, you said? Is she cute?¡±

    ¡°Yup. And complete mischief wrapped up in a little bundle of curves.¡±

    ¡°God damn you man. Why can¡¯t you find a fellow giant and leave all the sweet little ones for those of us that don¡¯t smack our heads on ceiling fans or door jambs?¡±

    ¡°Pretty sure this ¡®sweet little one¡¯ would shank you if you tried to get between us. She¡¯s pretty possessive.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but laugh at the image of Kassandra menacing Jameson with her new knife. The little dwarf lamia was still shorter than Jameson on his best day but I could only imagine the chaos that would ensue if the two ever met.

    ¡°I like them feisty. That¡¯s good for you though dude, you need a woman with some spine to get you to stick up for yourself.¡± Jameson had been letting his gaze wander the room and it settled on the wooden swords leaning against the wall by the door and his eyes went wide. ¡°Swords? What the heck man, you started doing that LARP stuff and didn¡¯t tell me?¡± He jumped to his feet and hurried over to grab one of the wooden weapons to inspect it.

    I panicked for a moment, trying to figure out what to say in response to that before an idea struck me and I just spat it out without thinking.

    ¡°Workout actually.¡±

    ¡°Workout? A sword-fighting workout?¡± Jameson struck a pose that reminded me more of Star Wars than anything legitimately like a fighting pose.

    ¡°Yea, a workout. It¡¯s¡­uh¡­a new thing I picked up from a friend. Been wanting to get into better shape after all.¡±

    ¡°You? In better shape?¡± Jameson laughed as he continued to playfully flick the practice sword through the air. ¡°Liam, you¡¯ve been one of the most fit people I know for years. And I know a fair number of people. You get any fitter and you girl might have trouble keeping others off you,¡±

    ¡°Yea, but most of the people you know are desk-jockeys.¡±

    ¡°And construction guys.¡± Jameson reminded me, setting the sword back down and wandering over to open my refrigerator to peer inside.

    ¡°Whatever dude. Sure, I¡¯ve been strong for a while but I was getting fat. Plus, this¡¯ll build my reflexes up nicely.¡±

    ¡°Dunno about fat dude, I occasionally envy your ability to be able to reach top shelves and actually put on muscle mass.¡± The door to the refrigerator closed with a quiet slap and a crack-hiss preceded Jameson reappearing with another soda in his hand.

    ¡°Yea yea, don¡¯t be ashamed of what you are, Jameson. That¡¯s your parents job.¡± I ducked the idle backhand he threw as he went by, laughing.

    ¡°Whatever, asshat.¡± Jameson flopped down onto the couch again. ¡°So tell me about this Kass some more. I want to hear all about my little boy¡¯s adventures in romance.¡±

    ¡°Still not going to introduce you to her.¡±

    ¡°You are about as much fun as wet socks, Liam.¡±

    ¡°And you are like a gray sprinkle on a cupcake, Jameson.¡±

    We bickered for another half an hour before the beer came out and Jameson continued to playfully prod and pry at me until I told him the basics of how I¡¯d met Kassandra. He got even more excited when I let slip that I was hanging out with Kassandra and her ¡®cute friend¡¯ Rieka. I had to do some quick talking to ensure that I didn¡¯t spill the beans about them being from another world. Instead I spun it as them going to an exclusive college and that I¡¯d run into them while I was driving up in the mountains. I carefully did not mention the fact that I had been yanked between dimensions while I was in the mountains and met them there, or that we regularly fought and killed monsters. Instead, I explained that I went with them on weekend hikes and trips into the mountains to do various tasks related to their majors, without mentioning what those majors were. Talking around the truth without lying outright was exhausting, but my friend didn¡¯t press too hard thankfully.

    Jameson clearly knew there was more to the story and continued to pry at the edges to see if he could shake loose some detail that would let him dig more. He didn¡¯t just outright ask me though. It was something I appreciated about him. He¡¯d always been like this, willing to engage and work at the edges of a problem with me to try and get me to loosen up without just trying to dive into the guts of the issue. Far too many people would just demand an answer, hell Kassandra was in the habit of doing it too. With Jameson though, he worked around it slowly until you were comfortable spilling details. And while he teased me about the edges too, he never called me a liar either. Never questioned the fact that I had a girl I was into and that I regularly hung out with her and her friend. We insulted each other playfully, but we never doubted each other. It was one of the reasons that I knew I could count on Jameson.

    The banter continued for several hours with us moving into a couple more beers after the first and I realized it was finally dinner time when Jameson begged off to head out the door.

    ¡°I¡¯d better be going, Liam. Got a beautiful woman waiting on me and I don¡¯t wanna make her wait long with dinner.¡±

    ¡°Tell your mom I said ¡®hi¡¯ and I miss her cooking then.¡± I teased and he rolled his eyes.

    ¡°Ha, ha, Liam. You know you have the face for radio comedy right?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m learning to embrace my mistakes. Speaking of, want a hug?¡±

    ¡°Ouch, that was a good one. Gonna save that for the family reunion.¡± Jameson laughed before yanking me upright with a grunt and we shared a hug between friends. ¡°Seriously, dude. We need to not let so much time pass before we hang out again. I¡¯m sure mum would love to have you over for one of the holiday barbecues we do. You should bring Kass with you. I promise not to try and seduce her away from you. Heck, I¡¯ll only flirt with her friend.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t make promises you can¡¯t keep. And I¡¯ll see what I can do, Jameson. You have a good one and drive safely on the way back to your flat.¡±

    ¡°Will do.¡± Jameson was halfway out the door when he paused and looked back over his shoulder. ¡°You look like you are doing good, Liam. Keep doing what you are doing. This Kass girl seems good for you.¡± He said seriously before a broad grin cracked his face. ¡°Just make sure she never finds out her ¡®knight in shining armor¡¯ is actually a jester wrapped in aluminum foil.¡±

    Before I could respond, he slammed the door and I heard the clatter of his boots as he raced away to the stairs, laughing distantly.

    ¡°Ass.¡± I muttered with a smirk and began cleaning up the detritus of our conversation. ¡°I rather wish I could introduce him to Kassandra and Rieka. I think he¡¯d either have a stroke meeting them or think it was the coolest thing ever.¡±

 Chapter 43

    Someone shoot me¡­But, not like¡­in the head. Just in the leg. Anything to get out of this torture. I thought to myself as Dutcher continued to drone on. Though maybe in the head if he keeps talking¡­

    The day had started out fairly normal. Showing up to work and getting into the swing of things while trying not to think too hard about how mind numbing my day job was. I¡¯d made good progress in checking out and just working through the boredom. As a bonus, I¡¯d been able to avoid Dutcher¡¯s piggy eye for the first three hours of my shift too. But, then the words I had grown to loath were announced over the crackling intercom system for the loading docks.

    ¡°Employee stand-up meeting.¡±

    The announcement was met with a chorus of groans from everyone near me. We all secured what we were doing and headed towards the open space near the ¡®command post¡¯ as Dutcher liked to call it.

    The ¡®command post¡¯ was just a facetious name for the area where the different warehouse managers would hang out, orders were printed, and the scanners were charged. It was the closest thing to an office that any of them had and they zealously guarded it. None of the wage-slaves were allowed into that hallowed circle of desks, but we could group up around them to listen to the dictations of our overlords or pick up supplies. Never could we linger though.

    Honestly, I didn¡¯t mind the other two managers. Walter, the refrigerator dock manager, was a decent guy who was quiet and hard working but demanded the same of those under him. Hawthorne was the head of the pickers and kind of a pain in the butt. Though he did look after the pickers and wasn¡¯t above grabbing a trolley and helping out himself, which was one reason that Dutcher never messed with the guy. Both of the other managers were more fair than Dutcher was, but they never bothered to intercede to keep the idiot from doing something dumb either. Instead they just focused on their own departments unless someone screwed with them.

    ¡°And we need to keep in mind the core competency that will allow us to capture the low-hanging fruit in order to move the needle on this issue. If you have any suggestions, feel free to circle back with your manager so that we can remain agile in this deep-dive to allow us to hit on any pain points and capitalize on quick wins that come up.¡± Dutcher continued to ramble on and I could feel my brain oozing out my ears now in response to the wall of useless jargon.

    He had just started talking about ¡®unpacking platform analytics¡¯, something that I had was one hundred percent positive was not necessary to cover with people who load trucks for a living, when the edges of my vision flashed abruptly.

    Rieka Coldeye has sent a non-urgent request for your presence regarding training with her.

    Transit? View summoning?

    I blinked stupidly for several seconds at the message that scrolled across my vision. I tried to fight off the hypnosis caused by the storm of corporate jargon that Dutcher was chanting and it finally clicked what was going on.

    Crap. The girls must be in that class they needed me for this week. I gotta sneak off. I thought and started glancing around to find a way to duck out.

    Due to being one of the largest guys on the dock, as well as being stationed on the furthest bay, I was at the back of the group of sleepy-eyed men just listening blankly to the platitudes of management.

    Doing my best to be subtle, and fairly certain that I was failing if only due to my size, I sidled around until I was leaning against one of the large bays that held goods for the pickers to collect. I was on the wrong side of the group to try and sneak off with ¡®bathroom¡¯ as an excuse and I just knew that Dutcher would say something, if only to be an asshole.

    The back ninety percent of the warehouse was full of these massive shelves that were a lot like the ones at Costco or Home Depot. Goods were stored for the pickers to select and then portion out to the loaders to load on the trucks. The business we were in did ¡®end of line¡¯ distribution to a bunch of the smaller markets and gas stations in town. So while there were things like whole pallets of boxed candy bars, each picker might only grab one of them for an individual stop and only if that store was running low. This meant that the shelves provided a mixed blessing of cover since they were see-through in several places.

    The warehouse itself was a maze of pallets and boxes as the loads on the shelves were restocked from incoming and then depleted again at random. I just had to get far enough to one side that I could duck down out of sight.

    Easier said than done for someone my size.

    I kept my head down and thought small thoughts. For a moment I considered lowering my height with Shape-Shifting, but I hadn¡¯t experimented with it yet and wasn¡¯t sure how to do it properly so I just did my best.

    I caught a glance from a few of the guys as I shifted past them. They all just nodded before turning back to the blathering idiot at the front of the room. When I was leaning against a shelf that I could use as cover finally, I took stock and then ducked backwards and scuttled away down the aisle as quietly as possible.

    Once out of sigh, I spared a quick glance back to make sure no one saw me before focusing on the Transit option on the message that still burned across my vision and activated it once I ducked into a nook in the shelves where a half-full pallet of sports drinks were sitting.

    The world slipped away rapidly and the last thing I heard was a sharp clap of noise and Dutcher shouting something about ¡®giving you a few minutes back in your day¡¯ as the meeting broke up before the light took me and I was wrapped in a swirl of color.

    Man, I hope that no one is grabbing one of those flats on the pallet when I get back. I thought as color and sound flowed past me in a whirling mixture.

    I¡¯d been getting used to the sensation of traveling between dimensions the more often I did it and the sensations were not as disorienting as the first trip I¡¯d taken.

    This time I saw a vision of a gigantic, temperate forest filled with primeval trees that reminded me of the sequoia¡¯s of Earth. The forest rippled off in the distance as I raced above it, the trees stirred by a flow of wind so that the green branches tossed like the surface of a stream.

    All of this passed in the space between heartbeats and I felt my feet connect with solid ground and the image of evergreen branches morphed into dull brown dirt, though the bright, afternoon light remained.

    ¡°Liam!¡± Cheered a sprightly and familiar voice from behind me. I turned quickly to receive the affectionate charge of my companion with a broad smile.

    Kassandra crashed into my chest with a happy giggle. Her arms went around my waist while her long, red and brown scaled tail wrapped about my waist to give me a tight squeeze.

    ¡°Hello there, Nugget. How¡¯s my mischievous noodle doing?¡± I laughed as well. The amount of joy and love I felt for the giggling bundle of mischief and red hair pressed to my chest had already washed away the melancholy and stress from the meeting I¡¯d just been in.

    ¡°Good!¡± She cheered brightly, wriggling about to flick the mass of coppery curls out of her face before scowling playfully over her shoulder. ¡°Rieka, get over here! You were the one to summon our Liam this time. That means you should be getting hugs too.¡±

    ¡°Now Kass, no pressuring Rieka.¡± I teased, using one arm around her broad hips to tuck the dwarf lamia against my side and under my left arm in her normal spot. Kassandra purred happily as I pulled her against me and burrowed back into my chest. I held my right arm out towards Rieka, who watched the entire event with a small smile on her face.

    ¡°So demanding for someone so short.¡± Rieka laughed, stepping forward with her blonde plume of a tail stirring furiously in counterpoint to the calm smile on her face. Her long, wolfish ears were standing up right and their black painted tips quivering happily amongst her platinum blond hair. Rieka was dressed in a blue blouse with silver accents and a pair of fawn-colored pants with calf-high boots of a slightly darker shade of brown. Affecting an air of more reservation than Kassandra had, Rieka tucked in on my right side and gave me a gentle hug. That reservation was totally blown out of the water by how excitedly her tail danced behind her.

    But I wasn¡¯t going to call her out on it.

    Kassandra looked ready to start babbling away but Rieka stopped her with a raised hand before stepping back to assume a more formal posture for a moment.

    ¡°Liam, I need your assistance with our summoning class today. There is an assessment of our summoned partners for both Kassandra and I. As such, you were summoned.¡±

    I was surprised at her formal tone at first. When the edges of my vision flashed again and a System message appeared, I remembered their previous conversation about making sure to give me my assignments as soon as possible.

    Assist your contracted companions, Rieka Coldeye and Kassandra Silverscale, with their class today.

    Reward - 100 SP

    ¡°Got it. Should be no problem. How long do you need me for?¡± I smiled down at Rieka and her composed expression broke into a broad grin, her icy blue eyes twinkling happily.

    ¡°No more than an hour. Likely far less than that. The instructor is having us stagger our summons out as they need to examine each of them in turn to give them a rating for our grades. They¡¯ve already done most of the class, there are just a few that are still waiting so we figured it was time to call you.¡± Rieka glanced over her shoulder. I followed her gaze and examined my surroundings finally.

    We were standing slightly to one side of center in an oval shaped practice field of packed earth. Rising up on all sides were solid walls of dark-gray stone that lead into stadium style seating in a shape that reminded me of the Coliseum, just on a smaller scale.

    There were easily two dozen other young men and women clumped around the area of packed earth that denoted the competition space. A pair of older kin were currently walking between groups, discussing with each other while holding large clip-board looking objects that had leather bound notebooks on them while they talked to themselves.

    The group that they were leaving had a relieved looking Jane amongst it. The mouse-eared young woman had a tiny green woman floating in the air next to her head that was scowling in an over-exaggerated pout with her arms crossed over her bare chest. She had a set of wings sprouting from her back that waved slowly to hold her aloft and rather than legs, she had a second set of wings pumping along with the first.

    As I watched, the scowling little woman vanished with a brief flare of blue-green light and Jane slumped even more while rubbing at her forehead with one hand, relief giving way to annoyance.

    ¡°Looks like Jane worked out her issues with her summon at least.¡± I muttered while observing the instructors approach the next student, who had a bandy-legged canine next to him that was drooling a fluid that hissed sharply when it hit the packed ground.

    ¡°For the moment, at least. Though I don¡¯t think her partner is too happy about being summoned for class.¡± Rieka sighed, shifting slightly to watch the instructors as they inspected the dog and one of them waved a crystal-tipped rod over the creature before making a note of whatever they found out.

    ¡°At least she got through to her. No doubt the early issues didn¡¯t help much with her problems, but now the situation might be different. Just gotta rebuild the damaged bridges from her heavy-handed actions before.¡± Kassandra said with a shrug.

    A brief, warm sensation against my neck followed by a quiet sucking pop and a giggle from the offender told me Kassandra had decided she needed to get up to some kind of mischief.

    ¡°Kass¡­¡± I warned while tilting my head to look down at her ¡®Who me? I¡¯m innocent, I swear!¡¯ expression. ¡°While I don¡¯t mind any and all sorts of affection that you might give me, I don¡¯t want you damaging your reputation.¡±

    ¡°Fiiine.¡± Sulked the dwarf lamia and Rieka snickered in response.

    ¡°He¡¯s got you pegged, Kass.¡±

    ¡°Not at the moment he doesn¡¯t. We haven¡¯t gotten that far yet.¡± Kassandra replied saucily and I snorted before rolling my eyes while Rieka blushed furiously when she figured out what Kassandra was implying.

    ¡°Irrepressible this one.¡± I sighed.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you know it!¡±

    ¡°Any news on the bandit thing?¡± I hated to ruin the cheery mood, but I had been worrying after the girls for the last several days and I wanted news.

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    I watched as the instructors moved past the young man and his dog to a familiar trio of wolf kin. They had an armored quadruped standing in front of them that was the size of a pony and covered in sand colored plates of hide. The creature looked very dangerous and it hissed quietly until one of the three girls calmed it.

    ¡°None yet.¡± Rieka exhaled explosively and shook her head, making her canine ears flop adorably. ¡°I sent word to my mother about it and she¡¯s looking into it. Whoever set it up didn¡¯t leave any evidence behind that the city guard can find. At the moment, they are trying to find a witness who might have seen Ugly Jack meeting with someone in or near town. But, that¡¯s hard enough to do given the man was wanted with a bounty.¡±

    ¡°Fair.¡± I said as the instructors began examining the armored beast, both of them were nodding in approval and the trio of wolf kin were smiling broadly in response to their distant words. ¡°Is it going to affect our plans going forward? If you girls would prefer to stay closer to town then¡­¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Rieka interrupted sharply and a few of their classmates turned to look towards us. She continued in a quieter tone. ¡°No, we aren¡¯t changing plans. Expanding them, maybe. But not changing them.¡± Her speech was interrupted by a dull roar from the quadrupedal beast and I turned in time to see the creature''s open mouth showing off rows of backwards-hooking teeth. The creature¡¯s maw slammed shut a moment later like a bear-trap closing and the trio grinned broadly at another set of compliments from the instructors.

    ¡°How so?¡± I asked once it quieted enough for us to be heard.

    ¡°Rieka is going to start bringing her bow and quiver with her. And the two of us are going to look into some armor, as well as being more wary while out and about.¡± Kassandra interjected, leaning back from her spot snuggled into my chest to look up at me. The sun briefly glared off the glass in her silver-rimmed spectacles and I had to blink the spots from my vision.

    ¡°Probably a good idea.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the best we can come up with. We can¡¯t just put our lives on hold because someone is causing problems. What we can do though is be more careful going forward.¡± Rieka sighed before straightening up. ¡°Instructors. Good day to you.¡±

    ¡°Princess Coldeye. Lady Silverscale.¡± A clipped female voice said, drawing my attention away from the lamia belt that was cuddling with me. The instructors had finished with the trio and had come over to speak with us. ¡°Who is this young man with you? Your group is only registered as the two of you.¡±

    The woman who was speaking was another elf like Lady Maia or Rachel Cedarfall, the woman who had helped me get a handle on earth magic the previous Saturday. She was clearly older than Rachel had been but not as old as the Lady Maia. She had brown hair tucked into a severe bun at the back of her head and she was dressed from neck to ankles in a gray wool dress of good make with dark-green embroidery at the hem and cuffs. Her sharp, blue eyes watched out of a stern face as she studied the three of us.

    Next to her was a cat kin man with black hair cut short and a brief splotch of white on the slender tail I saw swaying slightly behind him. He was also dressed well, but simply, in dark brown tunic and pants.

    Behind the instructors, I noticed the trio of wolf kin were smirking towards us while each was patting the quadrupedal monster that they¡¯d summoned. The loathing in their gaze made the familiarity finally crystallize and I recognized the three as the ones who¡¯d been harassing Kassandra previously.

    ¡°Instructor Meadowsong.¡± Rieka nodded to the woman before turning to the man. ¡°Instructor Rainfist. This is our summoned companion, Liam the human. Liam, these are our instructors for the summoning course that we mentioned we would be calling you for. They will be examining you to get a baseline of ability for our grades.¡±

    Kassandra, clearly having understood the more formal moment now that the instructors were there, slid out from under my arm and down onto the ground once more. Once down, she took up the spot to my left while looking at the instructors with a carefully schooled expression of respect.

    ¡°Pleasure to meet the two of you.¡± I offered my free hand towards the two instructors and they just stared at me. The man in surprise and the elf woman in disdain.

    ¡°Really? I don¡¯t know what you are trying to pull. Bringing in an outsider to pretend¡­¡± Instructor Meadowsong started to say, her face twisting in anger as she turned to glare at Rieka. I admit that I probably overreacted in response to her tone, but seeing Rieka wince was enough to make me act.

    ¡°Instructor Meadowsong. You will be more respectful of my bonded companions or there will be an issue between us.¡± I snapped, stepping to put myself between Rieka and the woman.

    The flesh on my arms rippled and shifted automatically to armored scales while my fingertips flowed down into familiar claws as my Shape-Shifting reacted to the perceived threat. My face must have shifted too. Because the elven woman flinched back, her face becoming a shade paler before her scowl returned and she opened her mouth to speak.

    ¡°Really Meadowsong, I know that you don¡¯t like her but Lady Maia did report the unique situation of these two when she witnessed it and confirmed the summoning.¡± The cat kin man spoke before she could get off the ground with her counter argument. I turned my attention to him, seeing amusement dancing in his slitted eyes. ¡°It is a pleasure to meet you, Liam the human. It is not often that summoned companions capable of speech are part of the class here. In fact, in the decade I¡¯ve been an instructor I¡¯ve only seen two. Including you!¡±

    ¡°Happy to be of service then, Instructor Rainfist.¡± I said, nodding to the man and pointedly ignoring Meadowsong while the woman gaped like a landed fish.

    I offered the man my hand to shake and he took it without hesitation, being careful of the wicked claws the hand still sported. We shook quickly and he made a quick note of something on his clipboard before shooting a look at the still startled elf woman.

    ¡°Shall we begin?¡± He asked pointedly and I shook my head in the negative, turning my glare back to Meadowsong.

    ¡°Once the Instructor here apologizes to my companion then I would be happy to continue.¡±

    ¡°Apologize!?¡± The elf snarled, an ugly purple flush darkening her cheeks.

    ¡°That is a fair request to make, Liam. Well, Meadowsong? You insulted the human, as well as the princess, by your tone and action. There are a number of summoned beasts that would take offense to just one of those actions and you have done both. Are you going to make that right, as one of your station should?¡± Pressed Rainfist and the cat kin man went up another few notches on my meter of respect.

    The elven woman continued to splutter and bluster for a moment longer, drawing further attention from the other students in the room until she noticed that fact. Once she was aware of the number of eyes on her, she glared and growled out an apology.

    ¡°I apologize for doubting your sincerity in this, Princess Coldeye. I allowed rumors to cloud my judgment here.¡± She ground out and Rieka nodded before glancing pointedly at me and then back at the elf, who remained resolutely silent and not looking me in the eyes.

    ¡°And my companion? Are you going to apologize to the Traveler that you insulted? Liam is not just a summoned monster after all.¡± Rieka growled and I saw the hair on the top of her head start to bristle slightly. Meadowsong scoffed at that, still refusing to look at me.

    Rainfist sighed in irritation and waved one hand, getting my attention.

    ¡°I apologize on behalf of my fellow instructor, Liam the Traveler.¡± He said earnestly, inclining his head and getting a scowl from Meadowsong. ¡°Some of us are actually aware of what such things might mean and work with an open mind.¡±

    ¡°You have no need to apologize, Instructor Rainfist. The slight is not yours to excuse. Now¡­the ladies here were explaining to me that you needed to measure some sort of baseline for development to grade them?¡± I pointedly ignored Meadowsong. I¡¯d decided that since the elf woman was ignoring me, it was only fair. ¡°I assume that this will be a fair grade, unbiased by individual issues?¡±

    Rainfist nodded firmly, glaring towards the obstinate Meadowsong. ¡°Indeed. If unfair grading is believed to be happening, the instructor in question will be brought before a board of inquiry by the student if needed. No grades will be awarded today beyond a pass or fail for successfully presenting a summoned companion for assessment. With your permission?¡± He brandished the short rod with a crystal tip and I nodded to him.

    Rainfist made several gestures with the rod, murmuring to himself as he inscribed symbols in the air with it. I watched the crystal tip begin to glow slightly and was about to ask a question when a message scrolled across my vision.

    A local has cast divination magic upon you to discern your relative strength.

    As this is not a forceful divination, you have the option of declining the request for information if you wish to maintain your privacy.

    Information that will be provided is just a general estimation of your relative stats in relation to your species as well as the level of your major powers, such as Shape-Shifting and Manipulate Element.

    Yes/No

    ¡°Huh.¡± I muttered, looking at the message for a moment. ¡°Didn¡¯t expect it to ask for permissions.¡±

    ¡°Permission?¡± Rainfist asked but I focused on the Yes option on the message and it faded away.

    The cat kin man blinked several times before he began making several notes and I wondered if he got the same glowing message in his vision or if the information was communicated in a different fashion. I did notice that he spent a fair bit more time taking notes for me than he had the other two creatures I¡¯d watched them record.

    ¡°Do you two have plans for how to improve the strength of your bonded companion?¡± Rainfist asked once he was done writing, glancing between Rieka and Kassandra.

    ¡°Yes. We work with Liam several days a week to train his abilities and help infuse him with more power and energy to grow with.¡± Rieka said respectfully, glancing towards the scowling elf woman who was scribbling something on her notepad as well but had yet to speak after the apology.

    ¡°Anything in specific or just general training?¡± Rainfist pressed, making a quick note on his pad.

    ¡°We are looking into a number of methods to further assist him as well as enlisting outside help in specific training. But, as Liam is a Traveler and not a standard summon, we are having to work a bit more on impulse than following the normal pattern. He does not have aspected mana. So the more traditional methods of improving a summoned creature''s power through aligned herbs, ores, or crystals as gifts does not work the same.¡± Kassandra spoke up, getting a nod from Rainfist as the cat kin made another note.

    ¡°Sounds like the two of you are on top of it. There will be a competition in a few months time, towards the end of the semester, that pits individual summons against each other. This is a new initiative that the Council for Juneau are doing with the summoning classes, in order to test the creatures in a more organic setting than a classroom. You¡¯ll get more solid dates the closer that time gets as well as the competition brackets. The fights are to yield, not to the death, so you don¡¯t have to worry about losing your summoned creature but injuries are possible so do not slack on training.¡± Rainfist rattled this off with such regularity that it was obvious he was speaking from a script.

    ¡°Even though Liam is not exactly a normal summoned creature?¡±

    ¡°Yes, even then. For those with non-combat companions, there will be a slightly different competition but it is¡­rather obvious that Liam is a combat oriented fellow.¡± Chuckled Rainfist, nodding to the scales that still decorated my arms.

    ¡°I choose you¡­¡± I mumbled under my breath while staring at my feet. I swear if they end up spouting the same ridiculous challenge phrases as that videogame, I¡¯m going to lose it.

    ¡°What?¡± Rainfist blinked at me in surprise and I waved it off before distracting him with a more pertinent question.

    ¡°I would appreciate it if you could fill my companions in more on the rules and guidelines of this competition. Just so we know what to expect and so we can begin training for it?¡± I asked, glancing towards Kassandra who had a worried cant to her expression though she was doing her best to look professional.

    ¡°You will be informed of the rules at the same time as the other students.¡± Snapped Meadowsong and I gave her a cool look without responding verbally to her slight before turning my gaze back to Rainfist.

    ¡°She is right, unfortunately. The Council does not want the students to train their summons just for the competition. The entire exercise is more about being able to properly command your summon in varying situations after all. The official rules will be released a week or two before it begins, along with the brackets. We are letting everyone know now so that people do not let training slacken. The big thing is to remember that it will be the summons fighting each other in the combat bracket.¡± Rainfist said with a contrite frown. He seemed earnest, so I just nodded.

    ¡°Fair enough. Anything else you need?¡±

    ¡°No. That is everything, Liam. Thank you for helping look after these two and I look forward to seeing your performance in the competition.¡± Rainfist gave me a shallow bow and then gave each of the girls a slightly deeper one before nudging Meadowsong and guiding her towards the next person they had to examine.

    As the two walked away, I let my Shape-Shifting alter my hands and arms back to normal and relaxed.

    ¡°Bitch.¡± Kassandra grumbled once the instructors were out of earshot.

    ¡°Kass!¡± Rieka scolded sharply, though I could see she agreed from the smirk on her face and the slight stirring of her tail.

    ¡°She was. There was no need to be rude to Liam like that.¡±

    ¡°Some people just refuse to grow up.¡± I reassured Kassandra, stroking my hand over her curly mane of hair and she cooed happily, wrapping an arm around my waist to hug my hip from her normal height.

    ¡°Well, that was all that we needed. We should let you get back to your work, Liam.¡± Rieka gave a tired sigh. ¡°Wish we had time to talk more. We only powered the summon with the minimal amount of mana to not waste your time.¡±

    Assist your contracted companions, Rieka Coldeye and Kassandra Silverscale, with their class today.

    Reward - 100 SP

    COMPLETED

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, Rieka.¡± I murmured, mentally waving away the message that popped into my vision when the System deemed my mission to be ¡®complete¡¯. ¡°I¡¯ll see you two this weekend?¡±

    ¡°Definitely!¡± Cheered Kassandra while Rieka nodded, though I could see she was staring at my hand where it sat on top of Kassandra¡¯s head, a bit of envy in her icy eyes.

    ¡°Hugs before you send me back?¡± I offered, drawing Rieka¡¯s attention away from where I was stroking the top of Kassandra¡¯s head. She nodded quickly and stepped up to give me another hug.

    I wrapped both arms around Rieka and squeezed her tightly. It only took a moment to shift us so that her back was to the wall rather than the room. Rieka did squeak in surprise when I moved her though she groaned quietly in contentment when my right hand carefully rubbed the base of her ears while just out of sight and dug my fingertips into her scalp, giving her a solid head scritch.

    ¡°Thank you, Liam.¡± Rieka sighed happily before we separated a minute later.

    ¡°Any time, Rieka. Thank you for sticking up for me.¡± I gave her a wink and her smile widened, only the faintest hint of a blush gracing her cheeks.

    ¡°My turn!¡± Demanded Kassandra and I turned towards my pint-sized lover just in time to catch her as she launched herself upwards. She had used her tail as a springboard to wrap her arms around my neck and haul me into a kiss that used my larger size as a shield to hide from the rest of the room.

    ¡°Kass!¡± Rieka hissed in mock-scandal. Kassandra just giggled into my lips. Her hips writhing back and forth against my stomach as she pressed into me.

    ¡°See you soon, Liam! I hope you dream of both of us.¡± Kassandra purred, separating just enough to stare into my eyes with her slitted, brown ones and she winked slowly.

    ¡°I fully expect that I will now, Nugget. Behave and look after Rieka while I¡¯m gone, okay?¡± I chastised her gently. Her smirk turned into a broad grin and she nodded.

    Rieka must have sent me back then as the tugging sensation around my chest, like a harness wrapping around my torso and lifting me away, seized me and I whirled away between dimensions.

    This time, I didn¡¯t see the forest or the buildings. Instead I felt like I¡¯d fallen into a pool of abstract art as colors flowed and dripped away from me in all directions. The scent of fresh blueberry waffles filled my nostrils and my stomach rumbled. A moment later my head bumped against the underside of the bay and I groaned when pain shot through me.

    ¡°Oww¡­¡± I grumbled, peeking out from my hiding spot and into the dingy warehouse. The only scents I could pick up now were of sweat and old rubber. After the smell of waffles, it was rather disappointing.

    Sighing, I confirmed that the meeting had broken up and the coast was clear before extracting myself from behind the half-pallet of sports drinks.

    Wonder how difficult this competition is going to be? Guess I¡¯m going to need to focus on training more. If that¡¯s even possible¡­

 Chapter 44

    The rest of the week oozed by and I could hardly wait for Saturday to arrive so I could see my girls again. I distracted myself as best I could by practicing the two powers that I had that were capable of growing with use.

    Shape-Shifting was rapidly becoming second nature the more I used it. It was getting to the point that I had to consciously remind myself that I had to still keep an eye out for casual observers before utilizing it.

    By contrast, Manipulate Element was more challenging to find time to work on. Since it had a throttle of ten mana at the moment, I generally would just work to utilize it while I was going for my evening run or walking from my truck into work early in the morning.

    No one would notice if potholes were filled in overnight or if the baseball diamond at the run-down high-school was suddenly in better condition. At least I hope not. It let me get more flexible with my spell work, which was something that I was rapidly recognizing as a common fact between the powers.

    I know the girls work off of structured spells and specifics. I generally just focus on a thing and then just kind of ¡®smear¡¯ the mana over it to make it happen. The System power takes it from there. Though I bet the kids will enjoy the newly-leveled soccer field. That was neat to do. I need to keep a better watch on my mana though, it¡¯s all over the place and I¡¯m never sure how much things cost. I thought to myself while eating a Pop-Tart over the sink to contain the crumbs.

    I glanced down at the pair of arcane runes imprinted on my right arm and laughed, thumbing them both to check on the girls and getting no strong emotions on touching them. Still need to ask Cari about these when I have a chance¡­

    It was Saturday morning and I¡¯d woken up early, as was becoming a habit even on the weekends. My vastly increased stats were proving themselves now that I¡¯d adjusted to them. The lower amount of sleep wasn¡¯t nearly as crippling as it used to be. The sun was just beginning to lighten my curtains on the east-facing windows in my tiny living room.

    ¡°Need to look into boosting my other stats to match. No reason to let things lag behind¡­or should I specialize already?¡± I popped the last bite of blueberry-flavored goodness into my mouth and washed it down with the last swig of cooling coffee in my mug.

    As if it had been patiently waiting for me, the message that I had been anticipating for the last hour flashed across my vision in its glittering, violet glory.

    Kassandra Silverscale and Rieka Coldeye have sent a non-urgent request for your presence regarding training and missions.

    Transit? View summoning?

    ¡°Sweet. Let''s get this party started.¡± I muttered with a grin.

    I checked my cell phone where it was connected to the charger. Since I couldn¡¯t bring it with me there was no reason to keep it in my pocket where the System would hide it while I was gone.

    After Jameson¡¯s visit earlier in the week, I¡¯d decided to not keep the phone on me so that people could at least leave a voice-mail if they called.

    Confirming that the charging cable was connected, I patted my pockets out of habit to check for my keys before rolling my eyes and mentally tapping the Transit option on the message.

    The tugging sensation this time was at an angle rather than directly up and it disoriented me enough that I missed the first part of the visual maelstrom that whipped past me. I thought I caught a glimpse of a massive, wooden ship that was sailing over a choppy sea towards a lone island with a ramshackle village on it. The whole scene was visible for less than a second before mauve light flashed all around me and I landed on grass with a lurch that nearly sent me stumbling.

    ¡°Mine!¡±

    Huh, Kassandra¡¯s changed her greeting-cry. I had time to think before the dwarf lamia impacted my side.

    Since I was already off balance, her energetic greeting knocked me the rest of the way over. Despite her smaller stature, Kassandra has quite a bit of mass due to her long, serpentine body.

    I landed in the grass on my back with a grunt while Kassandra rode me to the ground, giggling the entire time as she burrowed into my chest and rubbed her face back and forth happily.

    Just above us, I could see the lightening sky as the sun continued to break the horizon. The morning sun sent streaks of gold, pink, and red through the double handful of puffy clouds that floated serenely above me. It would have been peaceful if not for the fact I was struggling to get my breath back after having several hundred pounds of snake girl land on top of me.

    ¡°Kass! You need to be quiet! It¡¯s still super early.¡± Rieka hissed from nearby and my vision of the sky, complete with swirling dots of color from the impact, was blocked by my wolf kin companion as she bent over us to peer at me with a concerned frown marking her aristocratic features.

    Rieka had her platinum-blonde hair braided into a single French braid that hung over her shoulder. Her black-tipped wolf ears were perked upright and focused intently on me as she peered down.

    ¡°I am quiet. I didn¡¯t scream his name this time, so no one knows who it is.¡± Kassandra protested, though her voice was anything but contrite. Her red-brown curls tickled my nose lightly as she burrowed into my neck now and left a couple of kisses on my throat. ¡°Good morning, Liam.¡± She purred into my ear, nipping at my earlobe lightly. The sensation made a full-body shiver run through me and I sighed, wrapping my arms around her waist and giving her a hug that made her moan happily.

    ¡°Still! We need to get moving, Kass. You were the one who wanted to do a short overnight. Which means we need to get moving to get into Kintos for supplies.¡± Rieka scowled down at us both, though her gaze was directed at Kassandra more than me.

    ¡°He¡¯s warm.¡± Protested Kassandra with the assured firmness of a six-year-old demanding ¡®five more minutes¡¯.

    ¡°And he¡¯ll stay warm as long as you don¡¯t crush the poor man. How are you going to handle it if you happen to knock him over and actually break something with one of your greetings?¡± Rieka continued to dig at her friend, but I could see the mirth dancing in her ice-blue eyes. Or maybe it was the remaining spots from the impact still, I wasn¡¯t entirely sure since it was still kind of hard to breathe.

    ¡°No! I¡¯d never hurt Liam! He¡¯s far too sturdy to get hurt from just a simple hug.¡±

    ¡°Your hugs aren¡¯t simple, Kass. You are a constrictor after all.¡± Rieka¡¯s reply was droll and I choked out a laugh once I finally got my breathing under control.

    ¡°Ha! He laughed! I¡¯m off the hook!¡± Kassandra cheered, pushing herself upright with her hands on my chest. ¡°Love you, Liam.¡± She crooned before leaning down again to press a kiss to my lips. Her mane of curly hair blocked my vision but I caught sight of Rieka rolling her eyes just before all I could see was Kassandra and all I could smell was the musky, cinnamon scent of my lover.

    Kassandra dropped several slow pecks across my lips, her hips grinding on top of mine, before finally pulling back to smile at me. The rising sun glowed off her silver-rimmed spectacles and her inquisitive, brown eyes danced with affection for a long moment before she slid off of me and to one side.

    ¡°Come on, lazybones!¡± Kassandra teased, grabbing one hand and giving it a tug. ¡°Let¡¯s get moving! You are slowing us down.¡±

    ¡°Wha? But¡­!¡± I tried to protest for a second before sighing. Kassandra continued to urge me upright, giggling to herself the entire time. I shared a commiserating look with Rieka.

    ¡°How does she have this much energy this early? I thought Kassandra was cold blooded.¡± I asked the wolf eared princess.

    ¡°I guess she¡¯s just happy to see you, Liam.¡± Rieka said simply, claiming a hug from me as soon as I was upright and balanced.

    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡°I suppose so. I¡¯m glad to see you both as well. What¡¯s the plan for today?¡±

    ¡°Stopping by town to pick up some things on the way through. I got a lead on a mountain lynx sighting and that mission had its reward bumped up. If we are lucky and can bag it, we might be able to afford one of the dimensional packs and can start planning for the trip back to those ruins.¡± Rieka¡¯s explanation made my vision flash, words raced into view and I nodded slowly as I read over them.

    Assist your contracted companions, Rieka Coldeye and Kassandra Silverscale, with their overnight hunt for the mountain lynx and escort them back to town.

    Reward - 650 SP

    ¡°Got it. And I¡¯m guessing the hide will be worth more if we don¡¯t damage it much?¡± Both of the girls made noises of agreement and I nodded as well. ¡°Can¡¯t be worse than the crag hunter, right?¡±

    ¡°Nope. Mountain lynx are much smaller. But, their fur pattern makes them blend in better. The trick is more about finding them rather than surviving them.¡± Rieka already had her traveling pack on and was dressed in her normal blouse and pants combination in a mixture of tan and gray. She also had a light-gray cloak draped over her shoulders and her pack made a lump under it.

    ¡°Fair enough. Let¡¯s get moving then. How far is it from town?¡±

    ¡°Less than half a day. I¡¯m hoping we can make it out there, scout out a good camping spot and then hunt in the hills for the afternoon and into the evening. Sleep overnight, make one more pass if we missed it, then head back to town before midday to give us plenty of time.¡± Kassandra brought over my gear while Rieka explained and I stopped her when I saw a few differences with the items the dwarf lamia was messing with.

    I¡¯d been wearing a worn, but serviceable, leather jerkin with thin metal plates lining it for extra protection. It¡¯d done its job well in the past, but the encounter with first the flame serpents and then the crag hunter had damaged the chest pretty heavily. The girls had done what they could to maintain the armor, something I was still feeling guilty over leaving for them to do since it was my armor after all, but it was still damaged.

    Apparently, my bonded companions had decided it was time for an upgrade. My old set of tattered leather was nowhere to be seen and in its place was a gleaming set of dark-brown leather covered in brightly polished studs. Kassandra struggled to lift it from the pile of gear that sat between the road and the front of Rue House.

    The leather was supple, but dense, under my fingers as I moved to help her lift it. The armor was a fair bit heavier than my old set. It looked somewhat like one of those old cowboy duster-jackets with flared shoulders that were buckled to the sleeveless leather tunic underneath.

    ¡°It¡¯s brigandine. When I mentioned to uncle Silas that your other suit was pretty well trashed, he rattled this together for you, Liam.¡± Kassandra chirped, giving the armored jacket another yank and hefting it up with a grunt. ¡°Oof. It¡¯s heavier for sure, but that means it¡¯s better protection! The leather is double layered with metal plates riveted between them. I had him make it a bit large so you can shift easier under it, but this should keep you safer than the old suit.¡±

    ¡°But the cost¡­¡± I protested quietly while lifting the armor up to inspect it. The jacket was going to be a bit loose. But, with the internal buckles to hold it closed, I didn¡¯t think it would be an issue. Rieka helped me slip it on even as the girls answered the question.

    ¡°You are our protector, Liam.¡± Rieka murmured while helping me shrug into the suit of brigandine like it was a short robe. She secured the internal strap to hold the front closed before folding the double-breast over and buckling it under the left shoulder while Kassandra wrapped my belt around my waist. ¡°You come to help us and look after us. You¡¯ve gotten hurt protecting us while neither Kass nor I have taken any injuries the entire time you¡¯ve been with us. You deserve to be better protected.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t argue, Liam.¡± Kassandra urged. ¡°Uncle Silas said that my parents covered the cost of the armor as a gift, since I was refusing to let them hire guards.¡±

    ¡°Because you can¡¯t trust guards any further than their pay, right?¡± I repeated the argument that the two had made in the past as to why they hadn¡¯t hired normal guardians.

    I rolled my shoulders to help the armor settle into place. It was heavy, but not impossibly so. The tunic fell to my knees and there were internal straps to keep the folds close to my legs to protect them. Not as good as actual leg armor but still better than the nothing I¡¯d had before. There were no gaps for a kobold to stick a spear into my hip with this armor.

    ¡°Yes. Also, if you look at it from a more practical standpoint? We have invested in growing your strength and this is just one more way we can secure that investment.¡± Rieka added, tugging on the shoulder pad slightly before buckling the curved piece of leather down with a quiet creak.

    ¡°That and we are both tired of you getting hurt.¡± Kassandra¡¯s statement was quiet and there was enough pain in her voice that I had to fight back a wince.

    Of course they don¡¯t enjoy seeing me get hurt. But, I¡¯d rather it was me being injured than them. I sighed, tousling Kassandra¡¯s hair gently with one hand.

    ¡°Thank you both for this. I appreciate the thought. What about yourselves? You mentioned getting armor for yourselves the other day. And weapons?¡±

    ¡°My bow is under my cloak.¡± Rieka explained, lifting the soft material to show the leather case strapped to the side of her pack. It was only about two or three feet long and narrow, but the leather was clearly well cared for. A quiver of white-fletched arrows hung off her hip just below the case and her pack, concealed beneath the cloak. ¡°As far as armor though, we put orders in but they aren¡¯t done yet. The reason that this was ready is because Silas was working on it since we came back from dealing with the crag hunter. Our orders were put in after the bandits.¡±

    Maybe I should drop those points into strength to help with this weight? No, I¡¯ll wait for a bit. It¡¯ll take a few days to adjust and grow into the changes since the stat boost isn¡¯t immediate. I can use this weekend to decide and then go from there. ¡°Speaking of the bandits¡­¡± I started, tugging on my armor to help settle it more comfortably for now.

    ¡°No news yet. I sent word to my mother with a courier, as I mentioned before. So I expect to hear back this week sometime. It wasn¡¯t an urgent message so she¡¯ll respond when she¡¯s ready.¡± Rieka interrupted, hefting my larger pack up to let me slip it on over top of the armor while Kassandra threaded my mace into the loop that was on my belt for it.

    ¡°Okay. And your tip about this mountain lynx? Are you sure it¡¯s not a trap?¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m not sure.¡± Rieka sighed. Her ears and tail drooped for a moment before she rallied and her ears popped back upright, but her tail remained limp. ¡°But I trust the source. Lady Valda is the one who told me of the sighting and she said she heard it from a hunter she trusted. Another reason why we are up so early. I want to get into Kintos, get some supplies, and get back out again quickly. I can¡¯t spend my life cowering behind walls if I¡¯m going to make a name for myself.¡±

    My heart went out to the young woman and I pulled her into a hug, being careful not to crush her against the armor.

    ¡°That''s fair. We just need to be intelligent about the risks we take, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes. That¡¯s what I said in my letter to my mother.¡± Rieka mumbled into my chest and I could feel the slightest trembles rack her body. It was clear that the whole event was still bothering her, but Rieka was fighting through it.

    I glanced around quickly and, finding no observers, began to run my fingers through the hair between her ears to scratch at her scalp. I was careful to not make a mess of the braid while I did it. Rieka melted into the hug at that, her tail beginning to wag slowly at the affectionate caress.

    She really does love headpats and scratches, doesn¡¯t she? I thought with a smile. Kassandra gave me a thumbs up while she got her own pack settled and her cloak on while I reassured Rieka.

    The dwarf lamia was dressed in her usual outfit. A russet brown blouse of sturdy linen and a matching skirt of a slightly lighter shade with a faun colored underbust corset for support. The colors went well with her red-brown hair and the earthy colors of her scales.

    It was only when Kassandra finished securing the dark-blue cloak around her shoulders that Rieka finally got hold of herself and pulled free of my arms regretfully.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. You can have more later.¡± I teased her gently, getting a smile from the wolf kin woman and a quiet cackle of amusement from Kassandra. ¡°What about you, Nugget?¡± I turned my attention to Kassandra, who blushed slightly at her nickname but continued to smile up at me.

    ¡°What about me?¡±

    ¡°Weapons?¡±

    ¡°Oh, I have that knife that I got from the crag hunter nest. I¡¯m not skilled with a bow like Rieka but my father taught me to defend myself with a knife. I¡¯m no ¡®mistress of the blade¡¯, but I can handle it if something gets close enough that my spells aren¡¯t going to be an option.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. Need to think of some way that Rieka can still cast while using her bow. You can use the knife in an off-hand while the rod is in the other, but¡­¡±

    ¡°But?¡± Rieka prompted as we checked each other over once quickly to make sure we hadn¡¯t left anything behind on the grass. Satisfied, the three of us proceeded onto the road and started to head towards the gate that led out towards Kintos from the Juneau academy.

    ¡°Well, it would be good if you could use both without a struggle. Means you have more options to defend yourself after all. I know your lightning magic is more dangerous than the arrows but it¡¯s also not subtle. I¡¯ll think about it some more.¡± I shrugged as we came to the large gate that bored through the wall leading to the open countryside.

    A couple of guards stood on the wall above it and they opened the gate using a lever above us when Kassandra called up to them with the request.

    While we waited for the large door to clatter open, the chains and pulleys groaning and creaking while it did so in the early light, I glanced back over my shoulder.

    I saw movement in one of the windows on the third floor of the dorm across from Rue house. Something sent the curtains behind the closed window swinging and I narrowed my eyes, staring at it.

    Focusing, I altered my eyes with Shape-Shifting. The adjustments took a moment but my vision sharpened and I was able to peer closer at the window. The curtains were made of a fine white lace and while I watched, a young woman¡¯s face peered through the window around the edge of one of the curtains. I only got a brief glimpse of pointed ears before the curtains twitched closed once more.

    Hmm, who is watching the road up there? I thought in concern as the gates finished their opening dance and the girls led the way into the countryside.

 Chapter 45

    ¡°So, Liam. How has your sword training been going?¡± Rieka¡¯s question interrupted the quiet introspection of the morning as we wended between the fortified campus of Juneau academy and the trade city of Kintos that was our first stop on this weekend¡¯s trip.

    ¡°Fairly good. I wish I could train against more people than Cerebaton to broaden my knowledge on facing different opponents. He¡¯s a great teacher, but it sometimes feels like trying to fight a whirlwind.¡±

    While we walked, I kept my right hand tucked under the head of the iron mace I wore in my belt while we talked and walked, ready to yank it free of the loop with a tug if anything happened. The only thing I saw around us were a handful of small birds happily bouncing up and down the road to catch bugs from the long grass on either side.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know why you want to train with weapons when you can just sprout claws and go all ¡®rawr¡¯ when you fight, Liam!¡± Chirped Kassandra, making claws with her fingers and doing some over-exaggerated snapping motions with her mouth. Rieka spoke up before I could answer her question.

    ¡°Oh there are several reasons I¡¯m sure, Kass. Not the least of which is that biting something is a rather extreme form of attack. I¡¯m sure Liam doesn¡¯t want to find out what kobolds taste like. Am I right?¡± Rieka turned a grin up at me, her icy-blue eyes sparkling with amusement in her slim face.

    ¡°Yes. I do not want to find out what those little beasts taste like. That and fighting with claws and the like is more akin to a martial art and I have next to no training in that. The little bit I do know is more like back-alley boxing than anything else.¡± I answered with a return grin for Rieka.

    Kassandra, of course, pouted up at me but that pout immediately melted away when I held my arms open towards her. The dwarf lamia used her tail to launch herself upwards with a giggle and crash into my chest.

    I¡¯d braced this time, so the impact didn¡¯t take me off my feet and Kassandra¡¯s tail quickly wound around my waist to support herself. My increased strength made it possible to carry her for a bit like this while she clung to me happily, so I did my best to walk while keeping her tucked in close to not upset my balance.

    And it made her smile, so it¡¯s easily worth it.

    ¡°Such a spoiled girl, Kass.¡± Rieka laughed outright; a light and joyous sound as she watched her friends'' antics. ¡°I¡¯m just glad you don¡¯t try and do that to me anymore. It was cute when we were kids but I haven¡¯t kept up with you in increasing mass.¡±

    ¡°No. She¡¯s not calling you fat.¡± I cut in to head off the complaint I could tell was coming from Kassandra when she turned her pout in Rieka¡¯s direction.

    ¡°I am most definitely not.¡± Rieka snorted derisively as we came over the rise in the road and saw the gates of Kintos ahead of us. ¡°It was cute when she was only a foot tall and wouldn¡¯t take you off your feet doing it. Still not sure how you can catch her like that, Liam.¡±

    ¡°Practice, honestly. My day job consists of having to shift around objects using proper balance and my own weight.¡± I shrugged, remembering the heavily loaded plastic totes and awkward boxes and flats of drinks. My back twinged at just the memory but I pushed it away, giving Kassandra one more squeeze around the middle before letting her down since we were getting towards populated areas again. I could see the city guard on the curtain wall around the city as well as at the gate.

    ¡°And I assume you cannot learn this art from Weapons-Master Cerebaton? If I remember correctly, you said that he was like Miss Cariad? In that touching their bare skin is hazardous?¡±

    ¡°Yep. He¡¯s actually her boss in the organization, but used to be a field agent. He agreed to help train me for the next few months as part of the apology for the event that got me unwillingly roped into the role of Traveler. Not that I¡¯m complaining, personally.¡±

    ¡°I would hope not, Liam! I¡¯d like to think we treat you well enough that you come back to us willingly.¡± Kassandra shot me a mock-imperious glare that was so adorable I almost scooped her back up for another kiss. From the heated look her eyes took on and the slight blush that sprouted on her lightly-freckled cheeks, she could tell what was going through my mind.

    This conversation continued as we entered the city. The girls showed their student badges to the gate guards. They got nods and mumbled greetings from the clearly tired guards that looked to be coming to the end of their shifts as the sun continued to edge its way over the horizon. Those same guards completely ignored me since I was obviously with the two girls.

    ¡°Come on! Let''s get to the market and grab something hot to eat on the road.¡± Kassandra urged, leading the charge into the slowly growing crowd as more and more people began showing up to complete their daily business in the city.

    The population of Kintos was primarily made up of the part-animal species like Rieka, known collectively as ¡®kin¡¯. I¡¯d seen quite a variety of different kin in the various trips I¡¯d made to their world. The one variant that seemed to be prevalent over the others was the wolf kin, again like Rieka. Folk with canine ears and tails were easily the majority, outnumbering the other species by three to one most of the time. They came in a number of colors, all of which were thankfully natural in their shading, so thankfully there were no blue wolves. However, my companion and summoner was the only one I¡¯d run into with the platinum-blonde fur color besides her mother. Though the Queen didn¡¯t have the dark tips to her ears that made it look like someone had dusted charcoal lightly over those pale peaks.

    Besides the kin in the crowd, there were also a number of other species that I recognized. Slender elves wove in small groups around individual dwarves who stumped back and forth like miniature breaker-ships parting the waves of the crowd. A trio of jackal-headed people dressed in leather worked their way through the crowd while being followed by a matching trio of kin in city guard uniforms that were keeping careful watch on the strangers. People with scales on their faces and people bearing antlers of deer mixed with the rest of the crowd and I wondered quietly if they were also a breed of kin or something different, since most of the kin I¡¯d seen only had ears and tails.

    ¡°Yes! He¡¯s open. This way!¡± Kassandra¡¯s happy cheer drew us off of the main path and towards one of the small carts that sat alongside the market road.

    As the crowds were getting thicker, I dropped back to the rear of the group and hooked an arm around Rieka¡¯s shoulders to draw her into place in front of me. The blonde-furred princess ¡®eep¡¯d in surprise at first when I snagged her, then shot me a grateful smile before falling into the open wake left behind by our excited companion.

    We emerged from the early morning crowd of shoppers to find Kassandra bouncing happily on her coils next to a wooden cart that sat next to a large metal brazier which had a tripod and a large pot hanging over it with steam rising from the pot along with the sweet smell of apples and spices. Kassandra had a wooden mug in her hands and was happily sipping from it while the smirking vendor ladled the hot drink into another mug that they passed over to another person and received several iron coins in return.

    ¡°Good morn to you!¡± The vendor called. He was a tall but thin man with dark-red scales that covered his arms and hands while a few speckling his cheeks as well. He had the same kind of leather covers over his clawed fingertips like I¡¯d seen Lady Valda use before and I guessed he must be of a similar species to the Lady. He was dressed in a plain, linen tunic and pants with a heavy cloak over his shoulders.

    ¡°These are my friends, Rengar!¡± Kassandra cut in before happily guzzling whatever was in her mug and offering it to the man once more. ¡°Refill, please! And two more for them.¡± Kassandra grinned up at us, her spectacles fogged up from the hot beverage that she¡¯d been drinking. ¡°Rengar sells hot, spiced cider made with apples from his orchard. I¡¯d buy it by the barrel, but he won¡¯t let me.¡±

    ¡°Rightly so, Miss.¡± Laughed the slim man, snatching two more of the rough wooden mugs from the back of his cart and ladling them full before topping up the mug Kassandra was now waving back and forth in front of him with a petulant look. ¡°Your uncle would skin me alive if I charged you full price for a barrel of my cider. Not because I¡¯d be cheating you, mind. But because he¡¯s the one in charge of selling my cider in bulk.¡±

    ¡°Yeah! But Uncle Silas won¡¯t sell me a barrel either!¡± Kassandra protested with such an exaggerated pout that Rieka and I had to smother our snickers in the mugs of hot drink.

    The spiced cider was just the right temperature. Hot enough to warm your throat and body, but not so hot that you couldn¡¯t gulp it if you needed to warm up. It was sweet with a hint of spicy that lingered on the tongue and what felt like a touch of vanilla. It went very well with the crisp, apple-y flavor of the unfiltered cider. The spices also helped banish the scent of mud from my nostrils and made the morning feel just a touch brighter and happier.

    ¡°I can see why Kass likes it.¡± I said after my first sip, which got a bubbly giggle from my dwarf lamia, bubbly because she literally laughed into her drink and it made such an odd noise.

    Rieka had taken her first sip and nodded happily, smiling at the vendor.

    ¡°I agree, this is delicious. I will have to speak to Silas about getting some to send to my mother. Any special tips about how to prepare it that my mother might enjoy?¡±

    The vendor nodded quickly, dishing up another mug without looking up and handing it off to a passerby in exchange for the coins.

    ¡°It depends on how refined the ladies'' taste is. If she prefers, you can mull it with fine teas and milk, otherwise different hard liquors can enhance it too just make sure that it¡¯s good quality! But the biggest trick I¡¯ve found is to keep it at a slow simmer while mulling with fresh spices. Too much heat and you can end up cooking the sweetness of the apple out of it.¡± Rengar replied before turning to shoot Kassandra a feigned glare. ¡°Your mother prefers it without spice, but a splash of cranberry brandy, if I remember right?¡±

    ¡°Yep! Part of what¡¯s so great about Rengar¡¯s cider is that it¡¯s so flexible.¡± Kassandra chirped happily, thrusting her mug at the man for another refill.

    ¡°Not again, Miss. My wife would flay my hide off if I didn¡¯t get coins first this time. I trust you, but it is a matter of principle.¡± Rengar laughed, using the scoop of his ladle to push the mug back towards Kassandra like he was fencing with her.

    ¡°I¡¯ll cover it, Master Rengar. How much for my companions and my drink?¡± Rieka pulled her pouch open and started rummaging for coins.

    ¡°Three iron coins for the first mug and you get two coins back if you return the mug when you are done or have provided your own. This is to allow you to drink at your leisure. Refills are a single iron coin.¡±

    ¡°So that is what, eleven iron coins then and you will refill Kass¡¯s mug?¡± The merchant nodded absentmindedly, already serving another passerby. I was gratified that the slender man wasn¡¯t staring at Rieka, something that happened often enough for the princess that I was glad to see a break in that habit.

    ¡°That is correct, Miss. I know she¡¯s good for it. But, again, my wife.¡± The man laughed and turned to accept the coins from Rieka, finally looking over my blonde companion for more than a glance and he blinked several times in surprise while she dropped the plain, non-mana coins into his open hand.

    ¡°Thank you for your goods, Master Rengar.¡± Rieka said with a smile, tying off her pouch again and taking another sip of her steaming drink. ¡°I¡¯ll pass along the recommendation of using it in tea, though I have a feeling my mother will be like Kassandra¡¯s, a bit of brandy would go well in this.¡±

    ¡°As you say, Princess.¡± Rengar recovered and nodded, further confirming my impression of him as a good person. He added an inclination of his head before ladling up the refill for Kassandra, who was wiggling happily off to one side, clearly enjoying the heat from the lit brazier as well as her drink.

    ¡°Come on you two, you are holding us up! Need to get the shopping done.¡± Kassandra teased with another sip of her drink before waving farewell to Rengar and leading us to rejoin the crowd.

    ¡°You ever wonder how it is that Kass knows so many of the merchants?¡± I asked Rieka as the bouncy dwarf lamia led the way to another cart with a clay oven in it that was serving up steaming-hot, filled breads, a merchant that Kassandra greeted by name as well.

    ¡°Her family is nobility but they are also very active traders. I¡¯m not surprised that she knows some of the big names in town. It¡¯s the street vendors that surprise me.¡± Rieka chuckled quietly as we joined Kassandra at the vendor, accepting steaming buns from the grinning redhead. ¡°Then again, you notice that all these people she¡¯s talking to have hot food or warm carts?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, my thought exactly.¡±

    <><><>

    ¡°So, I wanted to ask you two more about your magic.¡±

    We¡¯d managed to get the basics of food supplies from the early morning vendors, picking up dried fruit, meat, and a few bundles of dried noodles to use to make dinner with as well as some odds and ends for breakfast and lunch the next day. That done, we headed out of town just as the sun finished cresting the horizon.

    The route we took out of town was along the same road we¡¯d taken the previous weekend to help the farmers with their crops. But, rather than turning north off the road, we turned off south and followed a forester¡¯s road into the foothills. The road was well maintained, since the logging wagons for the city''s carpenters needed to use it regularly, but we didn¡¯t run into anyone as we followed it that morning. I could see people already at work across a field of stumps, hacking at the ground to break up roots and prepare the stumps for pulling.

    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    ¡°What about our magic did you want to know, Liam?¡± Kassandra would have been skipping if she had feet for it. Instead, she was winding playfully back and forth across the road, her brick-red and earth-brown scales sparkling in the early morning light as she wiggled happily over the road.

    ¡°It occurred to me that I never really got a lot of details from you two about your magic. You gave me examples and I¡¯ve seen you use it, but specifics were always something that I kinda blanked out. I guess because it wasn¡¯t something I could do myself. But now?¡±

    ¡°Now that you have magic of your own you mean, Liam? Magic like ours, but also not?¡± Rieka asked gently, stroking the string on her bow while she walked.

    Rieka had unpacked her bow once we were outside of town and she¡¯d finished her breakfast. The weapon was beautifully crafted and reminded me of the early composite bows that horse-archers used to use. It was compact but looked powerful and Rieka¡¯s arms had flexed, showing off the slim muscle there, when she had drawn it a few times in practice to limber it and herself up. The swirling color mix from the horn panels against the pale wood made it visually striking too. She had a single arrow on the string already, held against the bow by one finger on her left hand which held the grip of the bow. This left her right hand free to either draw the string back and fire or to snatch her spell rod from its holster on her hip if she needed to use magic.

    ¡°Yeah. That¡¯s basically it. I know that Miss Cedarfall mentioned that I was skipping steps and the like, but I am curious how you two go about actually casting.¡±

    ¡°Well¡­that¡¯s easy enough to explain.¡± Kassandra edged in with a grin, circling back towards us to take up a spot on my right side while Rieka walked on my left. I noticed that my dwarf lamia lover also had one hand on the hilt of her spell rod and was keeping a wary eye on our surroundings as well, despite her energetic enjoyment of the morning.

    ¡°Please. I know we talked about it in the past but give me the overview again, like we hadn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Do you want to start, Rieka?¡± Kassandra offered and the blonde wolf kin nodded.

    ¡°You remember the mana infused metals, I assume?¡± I nodded in agreement and continued. ¡°So mana is something that forms naturally in the world. It accumulates in places of power and tends to condense in areas with a strong elemental affinity or around veins of metallic ore which I¡¯ll get back to in a bit. That affinity tends to aspect the mana. So, inside the caldera of a volcano you would find fire mana thick in the air. At the bottom of a deep lake you might find heavy water mana. Now, the concentrations are not the only locations you can find it. It¡¯s everywhere in the air, but those areas gather a specific kind of mana to them.¡±

    ¡°Following you so far. This is what leads to the aspected crystals you¡¯ve mentioned, right?¡±

    ¡°Exactly. Aspected crystals are generally only used in industrial applications. You¡¯ll find spell-smiths using fire mana crystals to fuel forges for their work and the like. There is the occasional point where mages of a particular flavor will have a few of the crystals of their type of mana as emergency energy supplies. Usually it is more efficient and profitable to sell off the crystallized mana and instead buy infused metals. Despite the fact that mana is in the very air around us, mages cannot use that mana to cast with. We aren¡¯t able to gather it together to use it, so instead we tend to rely on those infused metals. Most coinage in the Queendom is made of either infused, drained, or plain metals.¡±

    ¡°Except for Liam. Liam doesn¡¯t need the metals or the crystals because he¡¯s fancy.¡± Kassandra chipped in.

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t call myself fancy¡­¡± I protested, getting a raspberry from Kassandra before Rieka dove back into her explanation.

    ¡°So besides Liam, and possibly other Travelers, all spellcasters are reliant upon external sources of mana. And most of the time those sources are the infused metal coins. Different kingdoms use different imprints but in our portion of the world, we all tend to produce roughly the same size and weight of coin because of this. We have to touch the infused metal to draw the mana that has alloyed itself with the metal to use it. Once we use the mana up in a coin, it loses the glossy appearance from the alloy but will slowly regenerate that mana if allowed to ¡®rest¡¯ for enough time.¡±

    Kassandra interjected at this point to remind Rieka of a point she¡¯d skipped over earlier. ¡°The mana that collects around the veins of metals forms a natural alloy with the metal. It requires specific circumstances to do it, but it¡¯s considered more valuable and a variant form of the metal. The mana that alloys with the metal ends up ¡®neutral¡¯, even in areas which should have aspected mana.¡± Rieka nodded in agreement with her words so I spoke next.

    ¡°Following that so far. I remember you mentioning it takes months to years for the coins to ¡®regenerate¡¯ right?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Do you remember how long it takes?¡± Rieka asked with a flick of her tail and a small smile. While we talked, her eyes scanned our surroundings. We finally reached the treeline and dove into the forest, still following the cut road though it was becoming rougher quickly.

    ¡°Iron takes around a month to recharge. Copper is three. Silver around a year¡­I don¡¯t remember the others though. I know there was gold, platinum, and palladium?¡±

    ¡°Accurate. Gold takes five years while platinum can take a hundred years. It¡¯s theorized that palladium can regenerate its mana, but there is so little of it and its span is well beyond a lifetime that no one is sure on that one.¡± Kassandra supplied with a sunny smile, tossing her curly hair out of her face and adjusting the straps on her pack.

    ¡°So it is a careful balance between maintaining the value of the coinage and using the mana constructively. The other point is that when a vein of metal is found, it is either naturally alloyed with mana already or not. There is a specific smelting process that will ¡®cook out¡¯ the mana if it is desired for that. It¡¯s basically only ever used for iron in small kingdoms that need the plain metal for forging tools. It¡¯s far better to just trade for plain ore. There is no ritual to empower ores or alloy metals with mana afterwards.¡± Rieka continued with her lecture.

    ¡°So forging the metal into coins or other things doesn¡¯t remove the mana?¡± I asked, the thought occurring to me just as Rieka mentioned the process.

    ¡°No, the process of cooking out the mana requires a specific type of smelting with certain types of flux. It¡¯s actually easier to refine the metal and retain its alloyed state with mana. Make sense?¡±

    ¡°Following you so far on that. So mages are heavily dependent on the availability of these charged ores and metals, given that crystals are unreliable and don¡¯t regenerate.¡± I answered as we came to the end of the foresters road where a collection of wagons were pulled off to one side and a picket of oxen grazed amongst the low bushes. Rieka led the way off the road and into the trees, aiming towards the foothills for now.

    ¡°We will head this way until we cross a stream with black stones that flows out of the foothills and heads west; we need to follow it upstream and into the foothills.¡± Rieka explained, gesturing with her free hand towards the mountains looming ahead of us.

    ¡°Got it.¡±

    ¡°So yes, the availability of the ores and metals dictate practice. This is why we do these missions and why we can¡¯t just summon you every day. Literally, mana is like money here. Another reason why I should have been using my bow before, but I was working with my spells to practice them.¡±

    ¡°Makes sense, I mean that was the other reason right? A chance to practice your magic in real combat and the like?¡± I cut in, quick to reassure her. Rieka gave me a grateful nod, apparently happy that I wasn¡¯t upset about that.

    Not like I¡¯d be upset. It¡¯s her ¡®money¡¯ to use as she sees fit.

    ¡°Anyway. So normal mages, those of us that aren¡¯t Travelers with weird powers that let them hold mana like the metals do, come up with various ways to ensure that we always have some in our possession. Kassandra and I, as well as most mages in the Queendom, prefer to use spell rods.¡± Rieka patted the rod on her hip. ¡°Kass, I don¡¯t have the free hand to open mine, could you?¡±

    ¡°On it!¡± Kassandra chirped and drew her spell rod with a flourish and held it out before undoing the catches that allowed a portion of the shaft to slide to one side.

    The spell rod was shaped roughly like one of those old billy-clubs you¡¯d see British police carrying. Just a straight baton with a flared grip on one end. The section of shaft that slid to the side was like a shutter, partially revealing the sides of a stack of iron coins inside the core of the rod, each one glimmering with the faint sheen showing they stored magic inside. I knew from past experience that there was another button or lever that they could press that would allow the rod to open further and let the girls change out the coins contained inside of it.

    ¡°The spell rod keeps them organized and in one place, plus it provides a focus to use for projecting the spells.¡± Rieka continued her lecture while Kassandra brandished her rod like she was casting, the thumb of the hand holding the grip pressed to the bottommost coin¡¯s side. ¡°So, now we are caught back up to roughly what you should know from before the lesson with Rachel, right?¡±

    ¡°Yup. Magic metal lets you go ¡®zap zap¡¯ with your thick rod.¡± I said, giving Kassandra a cheeky wink that made the dwarf lamia giggle in response before she closed up the spell rod and held it upright before rubbing her cheek into it with a sensual expression on her face but a teasing smirk on her lips.

    ¡°I would say that Kassandra is rubbing off on you. But, I don¡¯t want to give her the opportunity for another lewd joke.¡± Rieka sighed, a put-upon expression on her face. I could tell she was amused from the cant of her ears and the way her tail was stirring slightly behind her.

    ¡°Aww, come on! I¡¯m not that bad.¡± Kassandra whined at her friend, letting the rod fall back to her side.

    ¡°Nope. You are worse, Nugget. And we love you anyway.¡± I teased her gently, catching her by the shoulder when she went to pout more and bent down to press a kiss to her lips. Kassandra¡¯s mood did an abrupt about-face and she chirped happily into the kiss. She threw her arms around my neck and clung to me to extend the kiss. Rieka just sighed again. This time the tone was more amused.

    After a minute or two of locking lips, where Kassandra¡¯s tongue did a bit of pillaging, we separated again and Rieka got the lecture back on track once more.

    ¡°We are back to the point where you have a source of mana and are using it to produce a spell.¡± Rieka huffed, ducking under a low branch that hung over the game trail we were now following in a single-file line.

    ¡°Got it.¡±

    ¡°So, for those of us who are mere mortals and have to use magic normally.¡± She shot me a brief glare that was softened by a smirk. ¡°We operate on pre-established spells. Now, for example there is the ¡®Bolt Chain¡¯ spell that I use. It requires two separate targets, one for each of the ends of the chain. I have to mentally envision a series of runes that will give it the first target, tell it what to do and how much mana to consume. I then focus on the channeling rune in my mind. When I ¡®cut off¡¯ the spell, I give the other half of it a target and that allows the remaining energy that was supporting the chain a way to drain off without striking back at me. If I don¡¯t give it the second target and just cut the spell, it will actually backfire on me. This is something unique to lightning aligned mana.¡± Rieka lectured as we ducked through the trees, the ground beneath our feet slowly rising.

    That makes sense. Lightning is electricity and electrical current needs a direction otherwise it¡¯s drawn to the body¡¯s natural charge. Kass doesn¡¯t have that problem since ice is not as energetic and more static, though the radiant cold can mess with her.

    Glancing over my shoulder as I considered Rieka¡¯s words, I could see the thick oaks descending down into the plains and the faint ribbon of the road that led back towards Kintos in the distance, but the city was now out of sight because of the rolling hills.

    ¡°And the chants?¡± I asked, dragging my attention back to the girls. ¡°I¡¯m operating from pop culture and fiction, but I figured they¡¯d be more complicated than just calling the name of the spell.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s partially a mnemonic, Liam.¡± Kassandra inserted from behind me. I glanced over my shoulder to check on the dwarf lamia. For someone her size, she was easily keeping up with us in speed.

    I mean, it¡¯s not like she actually has a shorter stride. She just slithers a bit faster. I wonder if it is tiring? I shook the thought off and was going to ask for more information when Rieka supplied it.

    ¡°She¡¯s right. The way that we are trained at Juneau and before was that you go through the focusing exercises and envision the runes. During the training time, you use a simple chant. Eventually, your body and mind has linked the two together and you can cast simply by using the incantation, as the words themselves will draw the runes in your mind and your focus together by themselves. I believe one of the instructors called it a conditioned response?¡±

    ¡°Makes sense. So are you bound only to existing spells?¡± We had come to an area where a blackberry bramble was beginning to overhang the path and I stepped around to push the thorn-heavy bush back for the girls to slide by, using my thicker armor to keep it from hurting me.

    ¡°Not exactly. If we are trying to fight, we¡¯ll usually fall back to our prepared spells. The ones we¡¯ve trained with are the easiest to get off in a quick means. Cobbling together something new on the fly is dangerous, because we haven¡¯t tested it and don¡¯t know what kind of runes to use. Without the runes, the mana doesn¡¯t react to our commands.¡± Rieka explained while she and Kassandra waited on the other side of the bramble for me to push through. We continued, this time with Kassandra in the middle.

    ¡°Huh¡­so you can go more free-form if you need to, but it requires extra focus?¡±

    ¡°And it costs more mana too. Generally the set spells we use are considered optimized due to familiarity. Even before then, they were optimized by those who designed them. Like with Rieka¡¯s ¡®Bolt Chain¡¯, I have ¡®Ice Lance¡¯. I can overcharge it to make it bigger or move faster, but it¡¯s still just a sharp chunk of supernaturally cold ice.¡± Kassandra said with a slight shrug. ¡°Making it larger might actually make it harder to hit with, as it would slow it down. Same with faster, I might miss because I¡¯m not used to the speed. So we keep the spells to preset parameters that we are familiar with. I could do a larger spell to say¡­freeze a pond or a chunk of a lake, but I¡¯d be guessing at how much mana it needs as it¡¯s not something I¡¯m super familiar with.¡±

    ¡°Sounds inefficient, yeah.¡± I muttered, considering what I¡¯d been doing recently.

    All of the earth-based spells I¡¯d used previously had been pretty crude. I¡¯d even thought of it as ¡®smearing the mana on¡¯ the problem after all. Wonder if I can get them to be more efficient if I keep them organized like that. But I¡¯ve never needed runes?

    ¡°About the runes you mentioned. I haven¡¯t been using them at all¡­¡± I said slowly as we came upon the creek.

    ¡°I was wondering about that. Miss Cedarfall never mentioned them to you before you started using the spells. Which, honestly, isn¡¯t as surprising. I¡¯d been researching Travelers in the academy library and it is theorized that Travelers were the ones who helped design the first magical runes and taught them to mages to give them power over the elements. That is distant history though, so we aren¡¯t sure.¡± Rieka glanced over her shoulder, a bit of her platinum-blonde hair having escaped its loose braid to drift over her face like a tuft of wind-blown silk.

    ¡°I was just thinking about whether or not my spells are ¡®efficient¡¯ as you said. I¡¯d have to experiment some to see if I can fix variables and have that affect the cost or¡­huh¡­¡±

    ¡°Huh what?¡± Demanded Kassandra, leaning back so she could look upside-down at me with her mass of curls hanging down her back. Her silver-rimmed spectacles tried to escape, but she caught them with easy familiarity and pressed them back into place over her nose.

    ¡°Oh, I was just thinking. I bet the System is calculating it for me. That supernatural computer thing that administers my stats and all that.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m envious¡­wish I had something like that to help control the spells.¡± Kass pouted with a plaintive whine to her voice. ¡°It¡¯s so hard to remember all the variables at times, even with the mnemonics.¡±

    ¡°Thankfully, your memory is getting better.¡± Rieka teased her friend gently. ¡°Otherwise, I¡¯d be worried you forgot something important.¡±

    ¡°Like what?¡± Kassandra demanded, clearly offended at the idea she¡¯d be able to forget something despite her earlier complaints about issues remembering.

    ¡°Oh¡­like say the second tent, or the cooking pots.¡± Rieka said offhandedly and I saw Kassandra stiffen slightly.

    ¡°Kass?¡± I asked gently and she shot me a grin with her tongue sticking out and a guilty expression.

    ¡°What is it, Liam?¡±

    ¡°Did you forget something?¡± I asked quietly, and now Rieka stiffened. The wolf kin came to a stop and turned to glare back at Kassandra accusingly.

    ¡°Nope. I didn¡¯t forget anything.¡± Kassandra said proudly, puffing her full chest out in a rather distracting manner. Unfortunately for her, Rieka was not as easily distracted as I was.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Demanded the wolf-eared princess.

    ¡°Yep! I didn¡¯t forget the second tent.¡± Kassandra chirped with a wicked grin directed up at her friend, who deflated with a sigh.

    ¡°That¡¯s good¡­¡± Rieka mumbled as Kassandra continued a moment after her.

    ¡°Nope! I intentionally left it behind this time!¡±

 Chapter 46

    The area that we ended up camping in was on the edge of a small meadow. The trees there were predominantly oaks, with a few stands of pine and sections of white birch. The stream that we had followed wound through the far edge of the meadow; the black stones of the stream bed left a very distinctive line through the field. The waist-high grass of the meadow took some tramping down to clear enough space for me to be able to set the tent up, but I was certain it would make a far softer mattress than the last time we¡¯d camped out.

    Rieka had been upset with Kassandra for a short while about the tent. They¡¯d argued about it for around five minutes before Kassandra reminded her that the reason we were getting the dimensional bag was to make it easier to carry more amenities and a spare tent was not a ¡®necessary addition¡¯ after all. It was nice to have, for sure, but not necessary and that she knew she could trust both her and me as well to not do anything to make the tent uncomfortable.

    Applying reasoned logic to the problem was what eventually swayed Rieka. The wolf-eared princess finally caved to that logic and forgave her friend¡¯s mischief. She then apologized for causing a scene over it and the implied distrust she¡¯d had of me.

    ¡°Liam?¡± Rieka¡¯s voice drew me out of my thoughts and I glanced towards the woman. She was standing next to the small collection of stones that the girls were using to ring a fire pit just under the cover of the trees a short distance from the tent. She had a small, folding spade in one hand and somehow had managed to smear a line of dirt under one ice-blue eye and across her nose.

    ¡°Yeah? What¡¯s up Rieka?¡± I rose from where I¡¯d been hammering the last of the tent pegs in using the butt of my mace and headed over to her.

    Rieka¡¯s eyes roamed over me for a moment and she didn¡¯t speak, seeming to be lost in thought until I came to a stop in front of her and holstered my mace. The ¡®click¡¯ of the metal head of the mace into the loop on my belt broke her from her distraction and she twitched, her fuzzy ears jumping upright and she shook her head like she was shaking off water.

    ¡°What¡¯s up, Rieka?¡± I asked again, leaning over to peer into her face as she turned away slightly.

    Rieka glanced back at me, blushed, and then opened her mouth to speak. She stopped again, glanced the other direction, and then started to speak once more.

    ¡°Hey you two! I got dinner for us, and it''s fresh too!¡± Kassandra trilled from the trees just behind me and made both of us start in surprise.

    Turning, I saw my affectionate, serpentine lover slithering towards us dragging something fuzzy through the grass behind her.

    Rieka pushed past me and hurried over to her friend, an intent look on her face.

    ¡°Kassandra, where did you run into that thing? Are you okay?¡± Rieka¡¯s exclamation was sufficient so I just followed after her.

    ¡°I was just setting up the wardstones; the improved ones I¡¯ve been working on during the week. I was working on trying to get one settled down against the ground, since having it sitting on top of the grass would make it unstable, when I glanced up and saw this beast chewing on grass. I¡¯ve never seen a babbit this big!¡± Kassandra cheered, her sinuous hips dancing back and forth with excitement when she came to a stop and dropped the creature on the ground.

    ¡°It looks like a rabbit¡­¡± I muttered, coming up behind Rieka and making the blonde woman jump slightly in surprise. I guess she didn¡¯t realize I was following her. I thought silently as I peered down at the creature.

    It really did look like a rabbit, but sized upwards to be more around the dimensions of a medium dog than a little bunny. The creature''s fur looked incredibly soft where it wasn¡¯t frozen solid. Only the barest amount of blood was showing around its neck where the broken-off shaft of ice protruded from the wound that killed it. However, unlike a regular rabbit, the foot claws on the creature were more like miniature shovels and reminded me of a mole¡¯s feet.

    ¡°I bet these things are terrific diggers¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh they are, Liam. Massive pests too. Not carnivorous though, thankfully.¡± Kassandra supplied with a grin. ¡°One thing they definitely are though is tasty! Plus the fur can be valuable if we are careful. Uncle Silas actually has a friend that uses babbit furs to make muffs for the ladies during winter. So dinner, practice skinning, and possibly some extra funds!¡±

    Rieka snorted a laugh at that, shaking her head slowly while a small smile crept onto her face.

    ¡°I know the items you are talking about. I remember being very confused at the name and having to ask my mother about it. She didn¡¯t know what I was talking about when I asked what a ¡®muff¡¯ was and thought it was something dirty I¡¯d overheard the guards talking about. Though I agree, babbit stew is good stuff. There is far more meat on here than we need though.¡±

    ¡°If you two process it, I¡¯ll set up a chill box to keep the leftover meat fresh until tomorrow?¡± Kassandra offered and Rieka nodded in agreement before both girls turned to me. ¡°Also, I highly doubt there will be any leftovers.¡± Kassandra said with surprising confidence.

    ¡°I have no reason to disagree. Just tell me what this ¡®chill box¡¯ is first¡­¡±

    <><><>

    I ended up helping Kassandra make the chill box while Rieka processed the ¡®babbit¡¯. I¡¯d intended to go help Rieka once we were done, but she was already finished and came to us first with the meat she didn¡¯t plan on using for dinner that night.

    Making the ¡®chill box¡¯, as Kassandra had put it, was as simple as digging a hole and lining it with some of the river rocks. She then froze a large hunk of ice in the nearby stream and had me bring it over to nestle into the hole on top of one of the flat rocks. The meat was wrapped in linen, then set on top of the ice. After that, another flat stone was placed over top of it.

    Concerned for bugs, I used a bit of earth magic to harden the sides of the hole into a porcelain-consistency with some drainage in the bottom to let any melt from the ice drain away. I also formed a lid of hardened earth and we pinned that in place with another rock. The whole system was set inside the lines of the wardstones as well, to keep any inquisitive predators out of the area if they smelled it. It was only after digging the pit out by hand with the little spade and then hardening the sides that I realized I could have used earth magic to dig it as well.

    It wasn¡¯t perfect, or even all that sanitary, but Kassandra swore that the supernatural chill from the ice would drive bugs away and, after I hardened the sides of the hole to store it in, she doubted any bugs would make it inside the faux-icebox regardless. I was surprised at how much meat was on the creature though. Even with the meat set aside for the stew Rieka was preparing, there had to be a good ten pounds of meat in the pit.

    With the meat stowed, I finished securing the tent quickly. Rieka and Kassandra got the fire going to have the stew simmering slowly while we did an initial pass to look for signs of this mountain lynx.

    I took a minute to use a bit more earth magic in free-form, to Kassandra¡¯s minor annoyance and Rieka¡¯s amusement, to create a circle of packed earth under the fire pit to prevent fire from jumping to the grasses while we were away.

    I didn¡¯t like leaving the fire going while we weren¡¯t in camp. But, the stew was going to need to simmer for an hour or two and it didn¡¯t need one of us to stay behind and watch it, after all. So when they were set, we headed across to the stream to wash the blood off our hands from processing the babbit and then followed the stream up into the trees.

    From what Rieka had told us, the mountain lynx preferred foothills and the lowlands during the spring, retreating back into the mountains and to the snowline during the winter. It was an odd trade off, but Rieka explained that the creature was ice-aligned and thus didn¡¯t follow normal rules. It hunted during the spring, summer, and fall to build up for a winter hibernation where it absorbed ice mana from its environment.

    ¡°Ultimately, we are looking for the kind of tracks and devastation that Kassandra normally leaves behind herself. That will tell us that the mountain lynx is in the area.¡± Rieka finished explaining.

    ¡°So rampant sexiness and men left as drooling wrecks, got it.¡± I teased, shooting Kassandra a grin. My mischievous noodle just smirked at me while Rieka rolled her eyes.

    ¡°No, Liam. More like frozen bodies or ice in unexplained places.¡± Rieka explained with only a light blush on her cheeks. That blush darkened immediately when Kassandra piped up.

    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

    ¡°Right! What you described is the wreckage that Rieka leaves in her wake!¡± Kassandra said cheekily, grinning as her friend blushed. Before Rieka could protest, I joined forces with my lover.

    ¡°Ah, you are right. How could I forget? I apologize for my lapse, dear Rieka.¡± I said with a flourishing bow to the wolf kin princess, who was blushing so furiously that her normally fair skin was a bright, tomato-red and her tail was puffing up.

    ¡°Cads. Both of you are cads.¡± She mumbled from behind her hands.

    ¡°Not true!¡± I protested.

    ¡°Quite proudly!¡± Agreed Kassandra, still grinning up at her friend with a high degree of wickedness and amusement.

    Rieka took one hand away from her face to swat at Kassandra, but the nimble noodle of a troublemaker dodged backwards out of the way with a giggle before slipping around her friend and scampering off along the stream.

    ¡°Get back here, Kass!¡± Rieka demanded, hurrying after the dwarf lamia. I followed close behind the two as they bickered good-naturedly.

    The stream led us up to the edge of the treeline with only a few minutes walking. Once we broke past the trees, the rising mountains surged up ahead of us, they were covered in scrubby bushes, twisted and gnarled trees, and sparse grass.

    Distantly, I could see a small herd of what I guessed were elk walking along the mountainside. They were nothing more than pale-brown dots at this distance.

    The girls had quit their bickering and were instead focusing on scanning the hillside for any evidence.

    What surprised me the most though about the view was a second treeline of evergreens further up the mountainside. It gave the entire mountain an odd, banded look that I hadn¡¯t noticed until we had gotten to this section. The ground cover was primarily loose scree and scattered boulders.

    ¡°Okay! So the report stated that the sighting was about a week ago. They found both frozen carcasses of babbits and deer, as well as tracks in nearby mud. So that¡¯s what we are looking for.¡± Rieka muttered quietly. ¡°I think we should keep to the treeline for now. Look for evidence of it hunting in the area. Even if it¡¯s moved on, we should still see some evidence of it in the area. Look for scratches in the trunks of trees as well.¡± Rieka reviewed.

    ¡°Got it. We should still stick together though. Mountain lynx are not as aggressive as the crag hunter, but they are still predators.¡± Kassandra was focused for once and not teasing or distracting with innuendo and I appreciated that.

    We followed along the trees, keeping off the loose scree to prevent making noise as much as possible. The girls split the view, with Rieka watching the hillside above us and Kassandra scanning the trees. I worked between them, keeping an eye open in both directions.

    Kassandra found the first clue, a collecting of parallel scratches deep into the bark of a fallen tree. Rieka found the second and third clues. A section of hillside that was disturbed and bones scattered about it, then a patch of frozen ground that was in direct sunlight.

    The two girls took to examining the frozen patch of ice, both pointing out the deep scratches in the surface that showed claw marks and a few chips that Kassandra was sure were evidence of hooves slipping on the ice.

    I was scanning the hillside, watching that small herd of elk wandering further up along the tree line for the moment. The hillside was silent except for the girls'' conversations and that was bothering me.

    The last time that the birds and bugs went silent, the crag hunter tried to jump us by surprise. Now, I might just be suspicious but I don¡¯t like this.

    Reminding myself to not think too much about the mechanics of the change, I let my Shape-Shifting sink into my head and allowed it to extend my senses.

    First was my eyes.

    Focusing on the idea of ¡®eagle-eye vision¡¯, I mentally pushed the image of my eyes shifting to improve to match that of a hunting eagle.

    Abruptly, everything went out of focus and colors swam in front of my vision. I winced as my brain fought to catch up and process everything I was seeing. Instinctively, my eyes slammed shut to cut off the stimulation.

    Once I was fairly certain my eyes were not planning to claw their way out of my face to dance amongst the cosmos of colors, I opened them just a bit.

    Colors I had never realized existed swam over everything around me. It took three long seconds to realize what I was seeing and a factoid that I had read about, but not really internalized, rose up in my memory.

    Eagles, like a fair number of birds, could see in the ultraviolet spectrum.

    I hadn¡¯t realized it before when I¡¯d used to check that window back at the Juneau campus, because wood and cloth normally didn¡¯t have the effect. However, the bouncing wildflowers, trees, and even the distant herd were showing bits of brilliant light. Colors became sharper than I was used to, glowing vividly even when they weren¡¯t enhanced with the ultraviolet fluorescence.

    ¡°Wow¡­¡±

    ¡°What is it, Liam?¡± Kassandra¡¯s sweet voice drew my attention back to the girls. I turned to look at them and was abruptly struck dumb by what I saw.

    Every single one of Kassandra¡¯s scales shone with a glittering patina of iridescent color. With my far-greater eyesight, I could see each and every scale on her muscular tail. Following it up the length of her body, I could see faint lines and whorls on her skin, like the lines of a fingerprint only much larger. It gave her an ethereal, almost divine quality that was astonishing.

    ¡°Whoa! Liam, what did you do to your eyes?¡± Rieka said, shifting beside Kassandra and my attention snapped to her. She had the same whorls and strips on her skin and across her face, but Rieka did not fluoresce like Kassandra did. Instead, the fur of her ears and her tail seemed to drink in the extra colors and hide it''s shimmer away inside it, appearing darker than expected.

    ¡°Shifted them. Improved my eyesight and it''s¡­giving me some side effects that I hadn¡¯t expected.¡± I muttered, blinking rapidly and shaking my head to try and clear it.

    ¡°Your eyes are orange! There¡¯s no white to them now either. That is really kind of eerie.¡± Rieka continued, squinting slightly at me with her nose wrinkling up cutely. ¡°It¡¯s kinda sexy though.¡±

    ¡°Rieka!¡± Kassandra affected mock outrage for only a moment before grinning. ¡°It really is, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Sexy wasn¡¯t the goal, ladies.¡± I chastised, giving the hillside one more quick survey before moving to the next part.

    So far, my brain was coping with having to process the new information supplied by my modified eyes. The next part was to enhance another of my senses. I was doing this slowly and in stages in an attempt to avoid hurting or overloading myself. The last thing I needed was a sensory episode that sent me into a coma and the girls weren¡¯t able to help me with it. I had no idea what sort of effect Kassandra¡¯s healing magic might have on that and didn¡¯t want to try it out.

    Instead, I focused on improving my sense of hearing.

    I¡¯d done a bit of research and was amused to find that the runner up on eyes to eagles had some of the most sensitive ears of all. The barn owl only lost out to the eagle, in my estimation at least, due to the telescopic effect that the eagle''s eyes were giving me.

    The shift of hearing took only a moment and the girls gasped again as feathers sprouted from the sides of my head to cover my ears. I¡¯d included them to help shield the delicate structures from the wind, not sure if they¡¯d work without something to filter that constant rustle out.

    ¡°Okay. Now he looks just cute. So fluffy!¡± Kassandra¡¯s whispered squeak was like a shout and I flinched slightly at it. ¡°Sorry!¡± She hissed as quietly as possible, immediately comprehending what the problem was.

    The girls held stock still while I let my senses adjust.

    I could hear my own heartbeat in my head and I had to consciously put it aside in my consideration to focus on what was going on. Two more rumbling heartbeats sounded out nearby and I knew that was my girls, so I discarded them as well.

    Another tiny heartbeat sounded from the ground below me, fast and rattling like rain on a tin roof. I looked down to see a field mouse nosing through the grass about six inches from my boot and smiled.

    ¡°Wow, this is sensitive.¡± I murmured in a voice that sounded like thunder to me and I winced.

    It took an extra minute or two to figure out how to moderate my hearing so we could talk without deafening me. I could still faintly hear the distant sound of hooves on stone from the herd further up the mountain, but I could at least converse in a normal voice with the girls.

    ¡°That is going to take getting used to. Do you think you are going to keep your eyes like that often, Liam?¡± Kassandra asked quietly.

    The dwarf lamia had shifted away from the patch of frozen ground to peer up at me curiously. The lines on her skin even formed rippling circles around her eyes to match the spectacles that glimmered on her nose and I had to fight the urge to lean down and kiss her.

    ¡°I might with the eyes, but not the ears. Way too much information coming in. The last thing I need is to end up sprawled on the ground because someone is pounding on a pot with a spoon.¡± I answered and she nodded intently.

    Rieka also nodded in agreement from her position behind Kassandra, watching me intently.

    ¡°Liam, I don¡¯t think we have even begun to scrape the surface of what you can do with this Shape-Shifting power. You have only used it in combat up until now and I feel like that is a grave disservice to it¡­can you imagine the potential? Wings like a fire drake, claws like some of the greatest hunters in our world. But more importantly, maybe, senses like we have never encountered or documented before.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if I can do things like wings or that though.¡± I protested, turning my gaze to Rieka again. The thin lines on her skin shimmered like light off of a rippling lake and I was distracted for a moment.

    ¡°But do you know what to expect with these eyes? Did you have any preconceived ideas for that? What about the claws you borrowed from Lady Valda? How well did you conceive of them before you were able to take that form?¡± Rieka leaned forward, her eyes sparkling with fascination as she paused to accent the moment. ¡°And you¡¯ve already copied things from this world. Lady Valda¡¯s claws, Kassandra¡¯s scales, and ears like my people.¡± I blushed when she said the last part.

    That means she knows I was listening in on their conversation¡­crud. I thought for a moment before what she was saying locked in and my eyes widened suddenly.

    ¡°There we go! Now you have it.¡± Rieka laughed quietly.

    ¡°Getting what?¡± Kassandra inquired.

    ¡°The idea that he¡¯s not limited to animals from his homeworld for one. And for two, he¡¯s starting to really think about the possibilities.¡± Rieka¡¯s happy smile shone like a sun rising over the horizon as she watched me intently.

 Chapter 47

    We continued to search the hillside for another two hours. While we found plenty of signs of the mountain lynx in passing, we didn¡¯t spot the creature.

    I continued to use the improved eyesight and hearing from my earlier shifts to try and find any evidence or spot the creature. However, it appeared that there were no animals in the area, save for the herd up the hill and the occasional field mouse that I only ever spotted near to us in the grass. The forest was eerily quiet besides those two presences.

    So, as soon as the sun began to dip towards the horizon and the light began to fail, I hurried the girls back to camp.

    The scent of the bubbling stew filled the clearing as we got closer and both girls only gave up a token protest in regards to cutting off the search.

    ¡°I don¡¯t like it. The only reason the wildlife goes silent like that normally is due to the presence of a large predator. Hanging around in the twilight is a bad idea, a lot of predators hunt in that time.¡± I mumbled while settling onto one of the two rocks we had rolled over by the fire to serve as seats for me and Rieka. I had assumed Kass would just use me as a seat or perch as the mood struck her.

    ¡°Uh, Liam?¡± Rieka¡¯s question got my attention from where she was stirring the pot and I looked up. She was pointing between herself and Kassandra with a quirked eyebrow.

    ¡°Not that I am dismissing the threat you two present, but it¡¯s not quite the same. Sure, you two will smell similar to a predator, but not entirely like one.¡± I rolled my eyes at the pout that Kassandra sent me still. ¡°Don¡¯t make that face, Kass. You do not smell of musk and sand like a snake normally would and that is just one example.¡±

    ¡°Spend a lot of time smelling me, do you?¡± Kassandra teased, the pout melting away immediately as she had the opportunity to poke at me.

    ¡°Hard not to. Considering I end up wearing you like a belt or a backpack so often.¡± I teased right back and Kassandra blew me a kiss.

    ¡°You love it and you know it.¡±

    I was about to respond in kind when Rieka interrupted our playful flirting with an announcement of her own.

    ¡°Food is ready. Kass, go grab the bowls from the tent?¡±

    ¡°Yes, milady!¡± Kassandra threw her friend a mocking salute and slid through the tall grass to the tent to begin rummaging about. Her hips swayed back and forth while she was headfirst in the tent. This motion sent her russet skirt swinging distractingly while it followed her bouncing hips.

    ¡°How are you holding up, Liam? Kass not driving you too far into distraction?¡± Rieka asked gently and I snapped my attention back to her.

    ¡°Hrm? No. She¡¯s not distracting me too much.¡± Rieka¡¯s clear, light giggle made me blush slightly. ¡°Maybe just a bit. But, she¡¯s always like that.¡± I defended, which only made Rieka giggle louder.

    ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant, Liam.¡± She snorted between giggles.

    ¡°Well?¡± I prompted her.

    ¡°I was meaning if she was actually giving you the space you need. Kass doesn¡¯t exactly respect the personal space of people she likes, as you know. What I wanted to know was if she was stifling you. That way I could talk to her if she was.¡± Rieka asked gently, a kind smile on her lips.

    I took a moment to consider Rieka¡¯s question and to study my wolf-eared companion who was inquiring after my well-being, another thing I was finally getting used to.

    Rieka was still dressed in the light-gray blouse and tan riding-pants she¡¯d started the day in, though the outfit was a bit more dusty than it had that morning. She looked elegant, with her collar buttoned to her throat and a blue ribbon tied in a bow at the base of her throat while her sleeves were buttoned to the wrists. This was not even considering the fact she was kneeling on packed earth next to a fire pit, stirring a bubbling cauldron with a small ladle.

    She¡¯s even got perfect posture while kneeling there. I thought with mild amusement while Rieka used a stick to hook the hanging pot off its space over the fire and set it on the ground by the ring of stones that contained the fire.

    Not saying Kass isn¡¯t elegant in her own way, Rieka is just more reserved than my Nugget, precious little minx that she is. Nothing wrong with that. I forcibly dragged my mind back to her question to give her an answer though, not wanting Rieka to think I was staring at her.

    ¡°Kass is doing fine. I¡¯m not used to getting a lot of positive attention from people, let alone women. So her being openly affectionate is actually helping me a lot.¡±

    ¡°Damn straight! I¡¯m wonderful like that.¡± Kass interjected, having returned with the bowls balanced in both hands and a grin on her face. She¡¯d also taken a moment to don a shoulder-wrap of dark-green to keep the chill off, though her blouse remained open to showcase the curves of her chest supported by her underbust corset.

    The dwarf lamia wound her way over to hand the bowls to Rieka before turning to smile up at me with her hands on her hips, posing quickly a few times before bursting into giggles that sent her curves shaking in alluring ways.

    ¡°Such a dork.¡± Rieka muttered, though she was smiling. ¡°Just make sure you don¡¯t go hounding Liam too much, Kass. The last thing we need is to scare our human away.¡±

    ¡°Never! Hounding is your job after all, miss wolf-princess.¡± Kassandra teased before slithering away with a squeal when Rieka brandished the ladle at her friend in mock offense. Kassandra took the opportunity to hide behind her ¡®protector¡¯. She used her coils to quickly wrap around and climb up my seated form until she had enclosed my waist with a double wrap of her coils while she was pressed to my back. ¡°Protect me, Liam!¡±

    ¡°I think you might deserve it this time.¡± I teased back, reaching around my side to tickle the redheaded menace. Kassandra squealed and wriggled away from my questing fingers while Rieka dished up the bowls of stew for us with a snort of amusement.

    ¡°Even you¡¯ve betrayed me, Liam! Whatever am I to do.¡± Kassandra cried mournfully, and I froze at what I thought was earnest hurt in her voice. Self-recrimination began welling up in me suddenly at the thought of betraying her without any warning.

    Kassandra must have noticed that the playfulness had immediately fled me. She threw her arms around my neck to hug me tight and press a kiss to the side of my head.

    ¡°Silly man. I was just teasing. I know you¡¯d never betray me.¡± She murmured quietly and I relaxed once more.

    Where did that reaction come from? I wouldn¡¯t expect to feel that guilty normally. I thought while leaning into Kassandra slightly.

    ¡°Darn, I¡¯ll have to work harder to twist him to my side then. Otherwise, I¡¯m going to be forever outnumbered.¡± Rieka rose from the fire with two wooden bowls full of stew and strode over, her tail slowly wagging behind her, to hand them to us. She¡¯d include a sturdy, camp spoon of forged iron in each bowl and I inspected mine curiously while the girls argued a bit over my head.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to twist him, Rieka.¡±

    ¡°Then how am I going to win any arguments?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s easy, join our side! I told you before that I¡¯m happy to share him. Clearly you recognize this since you keep calling him ¡®our human¡¯.¡± Kassandra chirped gaily.

    ¡°Kass!¡± Rieka¡¯s protest was scandalized and I looked up from the bit of twisted metal at her. She was blushing furiously and glancing rapidly between me and Kassandra. I could feel that the dwarf lamia was grinning up at her friend from her spot pressed to my back, even though I couldn¡¯t see it.

    ¡°What? It¡¯s true. And you don¡¯t need to sweat a political marriage any more than I do. We¡¯ve covered this before! Why not have fun?¡±

    ¡°Easy there, Nugget.¡± I interceded to keep Rieka¡¯s head from exploding, though I was blushing now too.

    Who would have thought that Kassandra was so vociferous about this? I know she¡¯s talked about Rieka possibly being interested, but damn! That thought got me to study the wolf woman in front of me.

    Rieka was blushing furiously, a normal state for her when Kass decided to get saucy, but she was also stealing glances at me and I could see her tail begin to whip faster when she caught me looking at her. Her ears were back but she looked shy and anxious rather than worried or afraid.

    Huh. Maybe my crazy, little snuggle-noodle was right about Rieka being interested.

    ¡°Liaaaam!¡± Kassandra whined in protest at me interrupting her teasing. I stroked one of the coils around my waist with my free hand and she slumped against my back with a happy sigh.

    Digging into the confidence that having Kassandra close and openly affectionate like this was giving me, I decided to let Rieka know that I wasn¡¯t against the idea either. But, I had to be at least a bit more subtle than the ¡®brick to face¡¯ teasing that Kassandra was using.

    ¡°Ease off your friend, Kass. You¡¯ve made her aware of the fact. Respect that she needs time to think it over. If Rieka is interested in getting cuddled to death by us, or more, she¡¯ll let us know.¡± I chastised Kassandra gently after taking a moment to consider it. Not quite subtle, I know. But it was all I could come up with under the pressure of the moment.

    Rieka¡¯s ears popped upright in interest and her blush faded slightly. She clearly got the message I was sending and her tail stirred even faster.

    ¡°Thank you, Liam. I think you are one of the few people who can actually get Kass to calm down when she¡¯s on a roll.¡± Rieka said with a small smile.

    ¡°Magic hands and all that.¡± I winked up at her, wiggling my right hand in the air for a bit from where it had been stroking Kassandra¡¯s scales.

    If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°Sure are.¡± Kassandra moaned quietly in my ear, sending goosebumps down my neck. ¡°Especially in my hair. Stroking and¡­tugging. You know what I mean, right Rieka?¡±

    The wolf-eared princess blushed again slightly but nodded eagerly before turning to go and serve herself a bowl of stew.

    ¡°Seriously, Kass...¡± I murmured under my breath and got a quiet chuckle in return.

    ¡°I am serious. Just watch, Liam.¡± Kassandra giggled and leaned back to settle her bowl on my shoulder and begin eating.

    I was thankful that she ate in a ladylike fashion, given that if Kassandra chewed with her mouth open it would have driven me crazy to have that noise in my ear. Instead, I was tormented with happy groans and sultry hums as she enjoyed the savory stew.

    Rieka filled her bowl and, rather than settle onto the other stone that sat a short distance away, returned to sit on the grass next to us and lean one shoulder into my leg.

    I glanced down at her and noticed a faint blush gracing her pale skin, but Rieka said nothing. Instead, she focused on her stew intently and her ears twitched slightly. The positioning of her on the ground and me on the rock set me at almost the perfect height to stroke the top of her head between her ears, her favorite spot as I remembered.

    Guess I¡¯ll eat in a bit. I thought with a small smile and let my hand settle into her hair. Rieka made a happy groaning noise that somehow managed to sound ladylike despite everything. She leaned into my hand, pressing her side into my leg. Such an endearing dichotomy. She looks so fine and proper but collapses against me like an affectionate pup when she gets her scritches.

    All three of us sat there by the fire as the sun dipped below the horizon and the speckled expanse of the cosmos rose above us, glorious in its colors and many twinkling lights.

    <><><>

    I¡¯d expected there to be leftovers from dinner that night, but Rieka and I only got the single bowls from the pot of stew. Kassandra managed to finish the rest of it quite happily. I¡¯d wondered at first where she put it all. But after some thought, I rationalized that, despite her shorter height, Kassandra¡¯s serpentine lower body added quite a bit of mass. So naturally, she would need more calories to fuel her body. I hadn¡¯t noticed on our previous trips as, besides the one overnight by the lake where we¡¯d become lovers, we¡¯d only taken day trips and just snacked while we walked.

    When Kassandra had finished scraping the pot and Rieka had finally gotten her fill of head-scratches, I was finally allowed to eat my own dinner. We then cleaned up the dishes and banked the fire before heading to bed in the tent.

    The tent was set up the same as before. Rounded and around ten feet across, the entire thing was held up by a mixture of pressure from the guylines and the central support pole. It looked a lot like a squat mushroom or a miniature yurt in my mind. Thick, meadow grass provided a lumpy, but sufficient, bed to sleep on. I did hope that we would be able to track down this mountain lynx for the contract soon. It would be nice to have cots to sleep on and a few more comforts if they were easier to transport.

    Then again, I doubt a cot would support this. I thought with a smile as Kassandra snuggled into my left side, tucking herself under one arm while her coils wrapped around my legs and threw an arm over my chest. She then tugged the blankets from our combined bedrolls over us. Kassandra was dressed in just a shift that barely covered her hips and I was in my boxer-briefs.

    The last time that we had camped out, Rieka had chosen to sleep on the far side of the tent pole from us but had ended up migrating closer in the night from the cold.

    This time, she surprised me and plumped down on my right side with her blankets. She then wrapped herself up in her covers and burrowed into my side. Rieka was wearing a shift as well as a pair of loose pants as something to sleep in, so not as revealing as Kassandra but still comfortable. She also didn¡¯t throw an arm over my chest like Kassandra did. But, it was clear she wanted to be close.

    Rieka hadn¡¯t bothered to brush out her hair after my scratches had messed it up some, which made sense as sleeping would make it worse anyway. Given that, I stroked the tips of her ears lightly and felt her tremble just slightly and relax minutely at my touch but not speak.

    In order to reassure the kin woman, I resumed my head-scritches gently while the three of us got comfortable. Rieka relaxed even further, almost instantly this time, under the sensation and Kassandra giggled quietly.

    I shot Kassandra a questioning look, but my mischievous lover just grinned up at me and stole a quick kiss before nestling into my side again for warmth and giving me one more good squeeze with her coils.

    I drifted off that night between the soft warmth of my two summoners, thoughts of where this might go and how much of a lucky man I was wandering through my head.

    <><><>

    Kassandra suddenly lurching was what woke me. Given that she was wrapped around me like a pair of pants, it wasn¡¯t surprising. The tightening of her coils on my legs actually made my back pop.

    ¡°Huh?¡± I mumbled, blinking my eyes open rapidly. The canvas above me was just beginning to glow in the light of the rising sun.

    ¡°The ward line. A predator or threat just crossed it.¡± Kassandra murmured in my ear and I finished waking abruptly.

    ¡°How many?¡±

    ¡°Just one.¡± Kassandra shifted silently, unwinding her coils from my legs and allowing me to move.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go check it out.¡±

    ¡°Be careful.¡± Rieka had woken now and shifted to speak over her shoulder.

    In the night, Rieka had shifted around to press her back into my side and had been using my right bicep as a pillow while she hugged my arm to her chest. It took a bit of maneuvering to extract myself, but the girls were nearly silent as they moved.

    I heard a rustle in the grass outside and then a scratch of claws against hard earth from the direction of Kassandra¡¯s ¡®cold box¡¯ construct.

    Rather than risk warning whatever it was, I gestured for the girls to be quiet and focused for a moment to pull on the ¡®second best¡¯ set of eyes I had researched.

    My eyes expanded and changed while my ocular nerves rearranged themselves in a feeling that I could only describe as ¡®squidgy¡¯ for half a second before I blinked my large, owl eyes and looked around.

    The formerly dim tent was now clear as day, though the color was washed out of everything save for the faint hints of hidden colors glimmering in various places like Kassandra¡¯s scales or plants through the edges of the flap.

    Kassandra was nearest to the outside wall but had her spell rod in one hand. Sleep had disheveled her even more, leaving her with a sexy mane of bed-hair and one large breast nearly tumbling out of her sleeping top.

    Rieka was in much the same condition, though her bed hair was somewhat contained within the remains of the loose braid she liked to wear and her clothes were in a bit better shape. Her slim tummy was exposed from the top riding up. Rieka had her rod in hand as well and looked ready.

    Gesturing again for them to wait, I edged to the tent flap and unlaced it just enough to peek through.

    The campsite was washed in the barest rays of early morning light. The sun hadn¡¯t even crested the horizon and was only beginning to lighten the world. The fire pit was untouched and I saw nothing nearby in that direction. Shifting slightly, I looked towards where the ¡®cold box¡¯ had been set into the ground and spotted a rather fluffy-looking creature with pointed ears and a stubby tail scratching at the hardened earth lid on the ¡®cold box¡¯ before bending to sniff at it in the dimness of the early morning light.

    The creature looked like a lynx to me, though it was a good size or two larger than the ones I was used to and a cloudy-gray in color.

    At least it¡¯s not as big as the crag hunter. I thought and turned to gesture towards the girls.

    And nearly bumped directly into Rieka.

    The wolf kin woman had crept up behind me without a sound and was only inches away when I turned. She lurched when I turned into her but I caught her by the hips and steadied her. Shifting to put my mouth right by one pointed ear, I murmured as quietly as I could.

    ¡°Pretty sure that is the mountain lynx. It¡¯s over by the little pit-thing we stored the babbit meat in.¡±

    Rieka gave a whole body shiver as my breath tickled her ear. She nodded and shifted to peek through the open flap. This ended up with her partially sprawled across my lap and I had to be careful that my hands on her hips did not slip somewhere inappropriate when she moved. She surveyed the scene for a moment and then looked up at me and nodded with excitement in her eyes and mouthed ¡®my bow¡¯ with a questioning look in her eyes. I wondered at how well she might be able to see and remembered that wolves tended to have good low-light and night vision as well.

    Must be something else she inherited, like the ears.

    Glancing around, I found her unstrung bow by the wall of the tent behind me and carefully passed it to Rieka. I helped her string it, the maneuver being awkward to do without using leverage against the ground for the sturdy bit of wood, but we made it work. I wondered for a moment why she wasn¡¯t using a spell before I remembered that the hide would be worth a lot more if it wasn¡¯t damaged. And the girls¡¯ spells tended to be destructive by default.

    I wonder how good of a shot she is? Hope it¡¯s good enough. Would hate for her to just injure it and then we have to track it. I thought, helping to steady Rieka as she unlaced the door more and half-stood in the entrance of the tent.

    How would I go about using a spell here? Would an earth-spike work well or would it dodge? What about a pit trap to hold onto it¡­no that would cause it to panic. Hmm. I considered how I might use my earth magic while Rieka steadied herself and set an arrow on the string.

    Holding Rieka by her hips to brace her, I tried not to stare at her butt. Instead I focused on her bow since she was blocking my view of the animal. I saw the bottom part of her bow bend and the string take on tension before she exhaled sharply and there was a quiet whizzing noise as the arrow cut through the air.

    ¡°Yes!¡± Rieka cheered a moment later and surged out of the tent, still barefoot and in her sleeping clothes. I followed after in just my boxers, using my Shape-Shifting to give my hands fighting claws while I used my owl eyes to survey the early morning of the clearing.

    The hardened earth around the ¡®cold box¡¯ was heavily scratched from the mountain lynx¡¯s claws. It had even managed to knock the rock off the lid and pry it up.

    The animal itself was sprawled only a few feet from the partially-open hole in the ground. An arrow stuck out of its side, just behind the shoulder. The animal thrashed a few more times as we approached and sent rippling disturbances through the grass. It went limp a moment later and was dead still by the time we got close.

    The grass all around the dead mountain lynx was frozen solid and it cracked under my bare feet, splintering and turning into powder as a result. Clearly, it had lashed out with its magical effects in its death throes.

    ¡°Damn good shot, Rieka!¡± I congratulated her as she surveyed her kill.

    ¡°I used to practice a lot back home. It was a way to train my accuracy without having to use mana.¡± She said demurely, but her tail was wagging up a storm behind her and I nodded in understanding.

    Settling a hand into Rieka¡¯s hair, I rubbed the base of her wolf ears. She let out a quiet, happy moan and leaned into the attention.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you throw on your boots and something to keep warm? I did some research on pelt preservation and we need to get the hide off the carcass as soon as possible. It¡¯s early as all get out¡­But the longer we wait, the more chance of something going wrong. I¡¯ll drag it over by the treeline so we can process it.¡± I said after about a minute of giving her the ear-rubs and scritches she enjoyed as a reward for the excellent shot.

    ¡°Yes, Liam.¡± Rieka said, her voice clearly distracted and distant. She shook the distraction off a moment later. ¡°I¡¯ll throw some wood on the fire too. Kass won¡¯t want to come out and join us in the cold, but it¡¯ll help tempt her out as the tent starts cooling off without her ¡®heater¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Hurry back. I want to get my pants back on as well.¡± I urged, glancing down at my boxer-briefs and chuckling. The morning chill was a bit biting, but I wasn¡¯t freezing. I considered letting go of one of the two shifts that I had right now to get a fur coat, but I didn¡¯t want to leave myself either unaware or weaponless right now.

    ¡°Will do, Liam. Thank you.¡± Rieka said, blushing furiously as she took in my mostly bare state. She turned away to hurry to the tent and get changed, but paused for a moment before she doubled back.

    Rieka stepped to my side and, with a little hop to get the height, pressed a quick kiss to my cheek. She fled back to the tent a moment later and I stared after her. From her blush and fleeing, I thought she was embarrassed, but it was hard to tell. Her cute, blonde tail was wagging even more furiously though.

 Chapter 48

    It only took a couple of minutes for Rieka and I to take turns rotating back to the tent to get changed into actual clothes. We made sure to keep watch over the body, just in case the mountain lynx was playing possum and might make a break for it. Honestly, by the time that Rieka came back to relieve me, I was positive that it was dead. Animals aren¡¯t clever enough to try and hold their breath that long.

    Kassandra was a bit grumpy with me for not immediately coming back to bed. There was an adorable petulance about her demands that I couldn¡¯t help but tease her with. She responded by making a half-hearted lunge at me to try to catch me and forcibly return me to my ¡®proper place¡¯. Even half-hearted, her strike was quick. But, I dexterously dodged the attempted assault and made my way out of the tent quite nimbly.

    Once I¡¯d picked myself up after falling backwards out of the tent in surprise, and Rieka had stopped laughing at the sight, we got a start on processing the hide.

    For someone of noble birth, Rieka had no hesitation to get dirty in something like this and she did a good job. She didn¡¯t wince at the blood or gore of skinning the animal and didn¡¯t hesitate at the gross peeling noise the hide made as we removed it.

    ¡°Do you think we should take the meat back too?¡± I asked as Rieka carefully rolled up the hide after we¡¯d used the stream to wash it.

    ¡°Not really. There isn¡¯t a big call for it and we don¡¯t have a way to transport the meat without making a mess. If we were staying longer in this area I¡¯d say we use it to supplement our rations. But, since we are heading back today, we should just bury the rest.¡±

    ¡°Nothing else of use on the body?¡± I asked the wolf-eared woman.

    ¡°Not really. Some collectors might like the teeth or claws, but they don¡¯t have any special effects. I¡¯ll check for a mana core now that the hide is secured though. Can you dig a hole further into the trees?¡± Rieka asked as we carried the hide back and spread it out to dry in the slowly rising sunlight.

    I could hear Kassandra stirring from inside the tent and some sulky noises coming from within the canvas as we passed.

    Going to have to make it up to her later. Or wait until she¡¯s more awake and reason works again. I thought before responding to Rieka¡¯s request.

    ¡°Sure. Makes me wonder if this was what was keeping the animals quiet yesterday. Or how it found us. The odds of the creature that we are here to hunt finding us first instead, but being distracted like that are slim after all.¡±

    Rieka grinned up at me, a small smear of blood on her cheek adding a level of savage allure to the expression. Despite the blood, she still looked beautiful with mussed hair and all.

    ¡°Not really. It likely found where we threw the viscera and whatnot from the babbit and followed the scent back to camp to get the rest. It probably didn¡¯t even think about us; it was after the meat. Speaking of, I¡¯ll start preparing breakfast when I¡¯m done looking for a core. It didn¡¯t actually get to eat any of the babbit we had stored and I think some seared meat and potatoes will help calm the savage beast that is Kassandra when her sleep is disturbed.¡±

    ¡°Glad you have a plan.¡± I laughed quietly and Rieka smirked.

    ¡°I should. I¡¯ve known her long enough. Anyway, go get to digging, Liam! I¡¯ll do the dirty work of poking through the remains and then you can bury it. That way we share the messy part. Just don¡¯t go too far into the trees, okay? There¡¯s enough blood here that it might attract something else.¡±

    ¡°I will. I also need to keep watch on you two.¡± I agreed and went to get the folding shovel out of the tent.

    Kassandra managed to snag me that time. She¡¯d shifted close enough that she could get hold of whoever stuck their head into the tent first. Thankfully, I was able to kiss my way free of her attack before she could get a coil wrapped around me and pin me down.

    ¡°Come on, Nugget. I know you don¡¯t like it but we are going to have to make it an early day. The fire is built up and you can make tea if you want while Rieka gets breakfast going.¡± I said gently while she sulked some more. Eventually Kassandra nodded and let me go. A devious smile was the only warning I got as I worked to extract myself after being half-drug into the tent.

    ¡°Oh Liaaaam?¡± Kassandra¡¯s words drew my attention back to her just as she tugged her sleeping shirt over her head. The glorious view of pale, freckled flesh was nearly enough to draw me back into the tent against my will, like a cartoon character smelling a pie, but I shook it off to a cavalcade of giggles from my temptress.

    ¡°Minx.¡±

    ¡°You love me.¡±

    ¡°I do. Now get some clothes on before your bits get too cold and fall off.¡±

    <><><>

    Rieka managed to locate a small mana core in the creature¡¯s chest and extracted it too while I dug a shallow hole to bury the remains in.

    The ground was too hard under the trees to get more than half a foot down and I started encountering tree roots almost immediately. It was about that point that I realized I was being an idiot, again.

    Using Manipulate Element and the bit of training I¡¯d been giving myself, I caused a hole to open up that was about three feet deep and large enough for the rest of the carcass. Dragging it over and dumping it in was only the work of a moment and then I used Manipulate Element again to seal the hole back up once more.

    ¡°Handy. Now I need to start thinking about doing it that way more often.¡± I mumbled while carrying the shovel back to the tent.

    Kassandra had emerged while I¡¯d been digging and was now curled up in a ball by the fire. I¡¯d filled the little kettle she used to make tea while we¡¯d been at the stream earlier and she was sipping carefully on a steaming mug. Rieka had already rinsed and was heating a pan by the fire for breakfast while I washed up. The savory smells quickly called me back to the campfire.

    Rieka¡¯s idea of breakfast didn¡¯t sound like much at first, but cubed and seared babbit meat with pan-roasted potatoes definitely hit the spot. She had seasoned them with just salt and a bit of aromatic herbs that I didn¡¯t recognize but lent a lot of flavor. Again, Kassandra ate more than both Rieka and me and I had to ask her about it.

    ¡°It¡¯s a size thing.¡± Kassandra answered with a demure smile in between bites. ¡°You didn¡¯t think that all of this awesomeness was free did you?¡± She gestured down at her figure and included her serpentine lower half in the gesture.

    ¡°I figured you¡¯d found some way to turn being a pain in the butt into a source of power.¡± The quip got Rieka an amused glare from Kassandra.

    ¡°I had figured it was something like that.¡± I said, trying to draw the conversation back onto track. ¡°You have a lot of snake traits. But laying in wait for your prey seems to be limited to just when you ambush me.¡±

    ¡°I ambush other people! Just ask Rieka.¡± Kassandra protested before she blushed furiously. Thankfully for her, Rieka didn¡¯t feel like teasing her friend.

    ¡°She does ambush other people, but not in the same fashion she ambushes you, Liam. Mostly, she just likes to pull the ¡®I was here the entire time while you talked trash¡¯ sort of surprise. You and I are the only ones who get her snuggly, affectionate ambush and you get it more often than I do nowadays.¡±

    ¡°I figured.¡± I leaned over to kiss Kassandra on the forehead, getting a quiet ¡®eep¡¯ of surprise and a happy coo from the redhead. ¡°So what is the plan then?¡±

    ¡°We head back to town.¡± Rieka shrugged while digging into her food. ¡°I had thought we¡¯d be hunting this thing exclusively for the larger score, so I didn¡¯t grab any other general contracts for things like herbs or mushrooms. The only other contract in this direction was for a pack of wild wolves that have been harassing the lumber camps. But, it was only worth as much as the lynx contract and more dangerous, so I avoided it.¡±

    ¡°Okay, so we can head back to campus early and do some practice then?¡± I suggested. Kassandra looked disappointed at first but perked up when I mentioned practice.

    She must have been worried I¡¯d ask to be sent home early since we finished the job. Silly noodle. Like I¡¯d want to return to the boring, normal life I have any sooner than I must.

    ¡°Probably good. We might be able to make a run through the market to get other needed supplies too. With the mountain lynx pelt, that should put us over the line to get that dimensional sack that we were talking about. We¡¯ve actually got an easy week coming up too. Several of the instructors will be gone for a religious observance and have canceled their classes. If we get approval, we could take that week off and make a run at that ruin we found as early as next weekend? That¡¯s infinitely easier than trying to duck out on a regular week and it would give us plenty of time to study it. Here¡¯s hoping it has something valuable inside. Even without that though¡­the opportunity to study it will be immense.¡± Rieka suggested while huffing on a steaming bite of meat before she popped it into her mouth with a happy noise.

    ¡°Ooh! Yes! I¡¯ve been studying the copies of the runes I took from the door and I think I know how to get it open. Not confirming I can, but I think I can!¡± Kassandra hummed happily and leaned in on my left.

    After she¡¯d forgiven me for the audacity of getting up early to take care of the task they¡¯d given me when being summoned, Kassandra had gone back into full limpet-mode while we waited. She was in her familiar spot, tucked into my side with her coils wrapped around as much of me as she could.

    Rieka had shifted her rock over to sit nearer, rather than on the ground, and was on Kassandra¡¯s other side, watching her friend in amusement.

    ¡°Good. Liam? Do you think you¡¯ll be free? I know it¡¯s kind of quick, but the next opportunity for an extended stay won¡¯t be for a few more weeks and it won¡¯t be as long.¡± Rieka turned her icy-blue eyes to me and I gave it some thought.

    ¡°Normally? It¡¯d be too short of a notice. Work always wants at least two weeks'' notice on any time off requests.¡± I said as I thought it over. ¡°I have a fair amount of vacation time saved up though, I¡¯m sure I could spin it as an emergency leave request to be sure they don¡¯t decline it.¡±

    It was true, I had over a month of paid time off stocked up that I hadn¡¯t used yet. Mostly because Dutcher always pissed and moaned if anyone took time off because of how slim he ran the schedule on the loading dock. He had decided to make that everyone¡¯s problem.

    A month of paid time off¡­that¡¯s enough time to find a new job. The thought crossed my mind and I shook it off. There¡¯s no guarantee I¡¯ll be able to get a new job in that time. The economy is such garbage after all.

    Pushing the thought to the back of my mind, I turned my attention back to the girls as they were patiently waiting for my answer.

    ¡°Sure, I can do next week. What day did you want to head out?¡±

    <><><>

    We had the tent broken down and packed up in short order once the food was finished.

    Kassandra was quite happy with the idea that we would have a far easier time transporting things in the future. She rambled on about the dimensional bag quite a bit and what she looked forward to most about having it for a while. Everything from being able to transport more supplies, to the idea of having another pot to do warm washes with while out.

    ¡°I have a hard enough time walking straight with these things, I don¡¯t need a heavy backpack making it worse.¡± She¡¯d complained, cupping her generous breasts with a wink aimed at me that got both Rieka and I laughing.

    Threading back through the foothills was a bit more difficult than it had been coming up the mountain. We ended up taking a wrong turn on the game trail and emerged a fair ways from the forester¡¯s road that we¡¯d walked up. The road was still in sight when we emerged from the trees, but was about a mile distant across the field of scattered stumps that we¡¯d seen them working in the previous day.

    ¡°Come on. Let''s get moving. I want to get the pelt confirmed and coin in hand.¡± Kassandra urged and we all ducked out of the tree cover and into the open field.

    The ground was torn up where the woodsmen had been cutting trees or pulling stumps. I wasn¡¯t sure if they were clearing the land for a farm or not, but they were at least being diligent about it. The combination of the early morning dew and the churned earth left it a bit muddy, but not so much so that it made travel difficult. Kassandra grumbled about getting mud on her scales but perked up when I offered to help her wash them when we got back.

    We¡¯d made it roughly halfway across the field of stumps when movement by the road caught my attention.

    Kassandra and Rieka were right behind me, discussing what they would need to do to ensure they could take the week off as well. The event being observed by the religious had something to do with a celestial alignment in the stars that occurred every year, but shifted through the year when it happened, and was related to a legend about when Mother Earth was able to finally meet and spend time with her husband, Father Sky. As the girls weren¡¯t openly religious, they would have to work ahead in the classes that weren¡¯t canceled for the event and they were conspiring on a study schedule.

    The rapid movement by the road was the first warning I got and so I sharpened my eyesight with Shape-Shifting to figure out what was happening.

    The forester¡¯s wagons were right there along the road, just moved slightly from where they¡¯d been the previous day. Using the eagle¡¯s telescopic vision, I scanned the wagons for what flash of movement had caught my eyes. I spotted a large man with the traits of a bear kin dash around the corner of one of the sturdy things. He quickly climbed up into the wagon and vanished out of sight in the deep bed.

    Glancing around, I checked the area. The woodsmen were nowhere to be seen at the moment. Their wagons were there, but none of the laborers. I cursed myself for not making the connection before we moved out into the open area of cleared stumps.

    Distant shouts finally made it to my ears but I wasn¡¯t able to understand what was being said, just the raised voices. The girls quieted when they saw me stop and Rieka growled deep in her throat. Her naturally sharper hearing finally picked them up without the distraction of conversation.

    ¡°Shit. Wolves.¡± Was what she said before she quickly shifted her cloak around to give her easier access to the quiver that hung under her pack. She already had her bow strung and in hand.

    I was about to question her more, but the distant noises finally clicked for me. While I couldn¡¯t understand the words, they were shouts for help and the snarls of animals. The distance and the tree-studded field had scattered the noise enough that I hadn¡¯t heard it well enough to figure it out.

    ¡°Well¡­at least it¡¯s not bandits this time.¡± I sighed and tugged my mace loose of the ring on my belt that it hung on. ¡°Do we help them or just make for the road?¡±

    Both girls glared at me; Rieka in surprise and Kassandra with a hint of disappointment. ¡°Don¡¯t give me that look! My job is to protect you two first and foremost! Of course I want to help. That¡¯s not my choice to make though. You summoned me. Not the other way around.¡± I barked. Both girls grimaced and Rieka nodded.

    ¡°Sorry, Liam. You don¡¯t act like a normal summoned creature, so it¡¯s easy to forget.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m glad he doesn¡¯t act like one, personally.¡± Kassandra snarked, attempting to inject some levity into the situation. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t be as much fun to cuddle.¡±

    ¡°We help them. People''s lives are at stake. Liam, keep us safe. However, I want you to do what you can to help them as well.¡± Rieka said decisively and we increased speed.

    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    The edges of my vision flashed a bright purple and text scrolled into view as we jogged.

    Assist your contracted companions, Rieka Coldeye and Kassandra Silverscale, in defense of the logging camp.

    Reward - 450 SP

    ¡°Shit. That¡¯s not good. The System just gave me a mission to protect the logging camp. It¡¯s paying nearly as well as the entire weekend.¡± I called to them.

    ¡°Why not?¡± Kassandra asked, clearly confused as to why it wasn¡¯t a good thing I was getting bonus pay.

    ¡°I was told the compensation tends to scale depending on several factors, but a major one is difficulty.¡± I responded and both girls swore since that made the connection for them. We increased our pace and both girls had their weapons ready.

    I didn¡¯t verbalize it because I didn¡¯t want Rieka to blame herself, but I couldn¡¯t help but think she had jinxed us by mentioning the other contract about the wolves earlier too. I tried hard not to think about what else might go wrong to avoid jinxing it worse.

    The trip across the last half-mile of the field was tense and agonizing. The closer we got, the louder the shouts, growls, and screams became.

    I saw several other men leap up into wagons like the first, some hiding and others throwing things down onto the ground. Focusing my eagle eyes, I realized that they were throwing the woodcutting axes down either to someone just the other side of the wagon or at something on the ground. The growling of animals fighting and men screaming in pain or anger was occasionally broken by other noises that had me worried.

    Noises that reminded me of when the girls used magic.

    ¡°Swing to the right. We need to get a view of what is going on.¡± Rieka ordered and we did so, moving out beyond the last wagon in the line and giving it a wide berth to get a view of the fight.

    The picket of oxen was nearby and untouched at the moment. Many of them were tossing their heads and lowing in concern, but we didn¡¯t have time to calm them. Coming around the edge of the wagon line revealed the battle that was going on.

    The logging teams must have been having an early lunch. The evidence of this was the large fire with a cauldron next to it. A table that had contained round loaves of bread was tipped over beside it, scattering the bread around on the ground. Men stood in small groups with their backs to the wagons, trying to fend off large wolves with a variety of improvised weapons.

    I¡¯d researched wolves some to get ideas for my Shape-Shifting and I learned some interesting facts. Gray wolves, for example, were on average about six feet long and stood two and a half feet high at the shoulder. They could weigh between seventy and one hundred pounds depending on the gender and age of the wolf and were considered quite dangerous at that size.

    These were not at that size.

    The wolves that we saw snapping at the men trying to fend them off with bush-hooks and axes were easily twice that size or more. They were higher at the shoulder than Kassandra was off the ground, though not quite as long as my dwarf lamia.

    As I watched, one of the wolves got hold of a man''s arm and yanked him away from the defensive line at the wagons. The man screamed in pain and fear before going silent when two other wolves got hold of him and the three tore him to pieces.

    There were easily two dozen of the wolves and the only reason they hadn¡¯t overwhelmed the foresters was because the men outnumbered them by nearly three to one, but had no weapons long enough to safely drive them off.

    ¡°Okay¡­this is not good.¡± Rieka muttered and I glanced over to find the wolf-eared woman was white with fear but she stood resolutely with her bow drawn. ¡°We need to get up onto one of the wagons. If we hit them from a flank, they¡¯ll turn and engulf us. Go!¡±

    Thankfully, we were only about ten feet from the front of the lead wagon and we raced over to the heavy, wooden thing with me in the lead while Rieka called to the woodsmen that we were here to help when a few turned weapons towards us.

    Rieka squeaked in surprise when I turned and grabbed her by the waist before throwing her up to land on her feet on the driver''s seat. Turning back to Kassandra, my smirking lover just rolled her eyes and rapidly slithered up, using me as a convenient post to climb high enough to just stretch herself out and land next to Rieka.

    ¡°Get up here, Liam!¡± Rieka ordered and I shook my head.

    ¡°Nope. Do your thing, girls. I¡¯ll keep them off you.¡± I shot back and rolled my shoulders to loosen the muscles there while I turned to check on the fight.

    Mace in right hand, not the best for dealing with wolves but it¡¯ll do. I don¡¯t need claws there and I have better armor. So I need to make the left more dangerous. I thought quickly and pushed on my Shape-Shifting.

    My left arm bulged slightly, putting me off balance for half a moment before I adjusted my stance. The muscles in my left arm grew and restructured a moment later to give that arm more power if I needed to use the long claws that sprouted at the same time. Armored scales rippled up my arm to protect it where the leather armor wasn¡¯t. My next step was to shake off the improved eyesight so I only had one animal shift in force, to give me a bit of flexibility if I had to adjust on the fly.

    The girls opened up with their spells a moment later. A crackling chain of lightning flicked through the air and slammed into the skull of one of the wolves just as it lunged for an off-balance woodsman.

    The bolt hit with such force that it drove the animal face first into the dirt and set its fur on fire. Moments later, an icy lance crashed into the hindquarters of another wolf next to the first one and tore open the creature''s belly in a spray of blood and viscera.

    The woodsmen gave a ragged cheer as the wolf pack came to a halt to stare at the injured members of their group.

    I expected the wolves to turn and run. The knowledge I had of wolves told me that they would retreat if some of their number were injured, but they didn¡¯t. Instead, they seemed to get angrier and attacked again.

    With the girls¡¯ spells going over my head, I was forcibly reminded that I also had magic for the second time that day.

    Once I was in position next to one burly man with red-furred fox ears, I stomped my foot and focused on the idea of spires of hardened earth shooting up to stop the charge of the four wolves angling for the flank I was on.

    One wolf balked and slid to a stop as the spikes of hard earth angled up at its throat. Another didn¡¯t stop and slid right onto the rocky defenses, impaling itself. The other two leapt right over my barricade and lunged forward with mouths snapping.

    ¡°Liam!¡± Kassandra¡¯s scream of warning was unnecessary as I stepped forward to meet the charge.

    After the encounter with the crag hunter, I¡¯d worked with Cerebaton during weapons training to work on deflecting charges from creatures larger than me. It had come up during our conversations around fighting enemies that didn¡¯t necessarily wield weapons.

    Thankfully, the two wolves that made it past my earth spikes split up. One moved to come at me and the other headed for the man at my side. I stepped to the outside of the charge and swung cross-body with the mace, turning with it to put the torque of my shoulder and hips into the blow as the wolf sailed past me.

    The strike landed just behind the wolf¡¯s ear with a satisfying crunch of breaking bone. A second crash of impact heralded the body slamming head first into the wagon before it fell limp to the ground.

    I finished my spin to see the second wolf had the fox-eared man by the arm and was thrashing its head back and forth as it tried to rip his arm off.

    I had a split-second to decide what to do and lashed out with my left hand. The long claws there raked over its face and slashed out an eye, which made the beast yelp in pain and drop its victim.

    Another crack of lightning heralded a second spell from my wolf-eared companion and I was surprised to hear a crackling of fire over the din of combat while I slammed my mace down on the blinded wolf¡¯s head to kill it.

    Turning to see what was happening, I only saw a rolling ball of fire headed directly at us. I reacted on instinct and yanked at the ground under my feet with Manipulate Element.

    An angled sheet of packed dirt and stones surged into the air in front of me. Abruptly, I felt the lightheaded rush of tapping my mana out in one burst and I swayed.

    I¡¯d found that if I did it slowly, with smaller spells one at a time, the effect wasn¡¯t as bad but doing it at once left me dizzy as all get out for several seconds. A weakness that I could hardly afford in a fight like this.

    The ball of fire impacted the dirt and was deflected upwards and away, sending a corona of flames up into the air overhead and just missing the girls.

    ¡°Liam! That came from one of the wolves!¡± Rieka called from above before launching another spell.

    A moment later, another ball of flames landed further down the line of defenders and sent screaming woodsmen flying in all directions. The third wolf, the one who had scrambled to a stop rather than run into my spikes earlier, leapt around the barrier and lunged at me. I was off balance from the mana drain so I couldn¡¯t dodge or swing my mace.

    Shit, this is gonna suck. I had time to think before jamming my scaled left arm into the creature¡¯s maw as it snapped. Its nose hit me in the chest as it slammed into me. Thankfully, I was able to get my arm deep enough into its mouth that only its back row of teeth slammed down on my arm and its jaw was locked partially open, minimizing injury and keeping it from being able to apply the full strength of its bite.

    I heard the girls screaming above me as the wolf bore me to the ground but I was too focused on what was happening to hear them. The wolf was too close to use the mace, so I dropped it.

    A weakness of wielded weapons; the mace needs space to swing. Dagger could stab right now but it lacks range for normal use. The thought raced through my mind as the fetid breath of the wolf washed over me and its clawed paws scrambled at my armor, tearing at the leather but not at my flesh¡­yet.

    ¡°You need to be flexible in your thinking.¡± The words echoed in my mind from memories of discussing the skill Shape-Shifting with Cerebaton. The daemon was the only other person I knew that had access to the skill and he used it to supplement his swordsmanship. He¡¯d shown me how he used it to reverse his joints without losing strength as an example once.

    ¡°He¡¯s not limited to animal¡¯s from his homeworld.¡± Rieka¡¯s comment from just last night echoed a moment later in my mind as the wolf shifted and its mouth opened further in an attempt to adjust its bite. I clawed the roof of its mouth with my injured left arm as it shifted, but didn¡¯t have time to do much more.

    I need to be flexible, but I don¡¯t have to obey normal body laws.

    My right hand was already free, having dropped my mace, so there was nothing impeding it when my hand melted and began to change. My right arm extended slightly and several additional joints formed along the entire limb while the internals of my arm adjusted and focused to one purpose.

    The blow that ended the wolf¡¯s life came in a flash of ivory and red chitin.

    A sharp talon -- as long as my hand and roughly triangular in shape with hard edges -- was buried in the wolf¡¯s side up to my new ¡®wrist¡¯, driving right between its ribs.

    The articulating limb that had replaced my right arm yanked the spike free of the dead animal¡¯s side a moment later, leaving a gaping wound and the shredded remains of its heart behind.

    I shoved it bodily off my chest and to one side. Rising, I examined the limb while the girls shouted, but I was lost in my own little world as I tried to understand what I¡¯d done.

    My arm had gained four new joints for a total of six, including wrist and elbow, and it now stretched a good four feet in length plus the long talon. Sheathed in articulating chitin the same brick-red of Kassandra¡¯s scales, it reminded me of a scorpion¡¯s tail, only much much larger. The spike at the end did not have the bulbous base of a scorpion¡¯s tail though. Instead it came to an angular tip like a much larger version of the claws I sported on my left arm and it was dripping gore from where it had pierced the wolf¡¯s heart due to the amount of force the tail/arm had put behind the blow.

    ¡°Crikey¡­¡± I muttered, before a giggle bubbled up as a line from the old Crocodile Hunter show ran through my mind.

    ¡°Liam!¡± Kassandra¡¯s voice pierced my disoriented mind and I whirled to look at my lover.

    Kassandra was still standing on the wagon, though her spell rod was in its holster by her side now and she held something small and metallic in her left hand. Rieka was finishing another of her ¡®Bolt Chain¡¯ spells with a flourish before firing an arrow, a grim look on her face. Kassandra pointed at something behind me and I spun to see what it was.

    Just as earlier, when the spin had aided my instinctive attack with the mace I carried, the spin to look saved my life as it added force to the instinctive strike I gave to defend myself.

    A wolf with red-tinted fur burst through my earthen wall with its mouth wide open to snap at me. Fire gushed from between its jaws in a gout of crackling crimson that I couldn¡¯t dodge. It was barreling right at me and even if I wanted to dodge, I couldn¡¯t because the girls were right behind me. So I stood my ground and let instincts take over even as the spin continued.

    My right arm/tail snapped out to full extension before curving inwards. The clawed tip whistled through the air as the pseudo-scorpion arm contracted a moment later with immense force to bring the spike into position. Fire from the wolf¡¯s maw engulfed me and I barely had time to shield my eyes with my scaled left hand before our mutual blows landed. I had to pray that my blow would be accurate as I blocked my vision with my free hand to try and save them from the fire.

    I felt the lurch of impact when my right hand/claw impacted with something and drove right through it before impacting something else much harder. That gave better resistance, but still cracked after a bare moment of impact. Muscles in my shoulder tore in protest to the hit and I felt my shoulder pop out of joint at the torque just as the fire seared me.

    My hair crisped and skin cooked moments before the fire cut off. But it wasn¡¯t a mercy yet, as something immense slammed into me and carried me backwards to impact the side of the wagon with a teeth-rattling force. The blow knocked me onto my ass. Again.

    The world spun and I fought to breathe while my skin screamed in agony from the burn. Whatever had slammed me into the wagon thrashed once before going limp on top of me, pinning me down. The fire burned me worse than the last time I¡¯d ¡®face-tanked¡¯ a creature¡¯s fire breath, with the flame serpents only weeks before.

    After what felt like a month of agony as I scrabbled for purchase both with my body and mind, I felt a wash of chill liquid splash down over my face. I screamed quite manfully in surprise at the sensation. The pain of the burns abated abruptly in the wake of the chill liquid.

    ¡°Liam! Oh gods, tell me he¡¯s not dead!¡± Kassandra¡¯s begging voice came from above me and I bit off my squeal of surprise and fought to breathe. My face was full of red fur and my right arm still hurt like it had been torn off.

    ¡°Nugget?¡± I managed to squeak out in half a breath.

    ¡°Yes! Rieka, he¡¯s alive. Help me!¡±

    ¡°Kass, there are still wolves¡ª¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care about the wolves! Help me get this flea-bitten excuse for a pocket-warmer off Liam!¡± Kassandra demanded furiously and a moment later I felt the weight shift slightly as both girls helped.

    It took a few seconds because the angle was bad for me to put my strength into it, but we managed to roll the dead monster off me and I saw the results of my attack.

    The hand/talon had taken it through the eye and then traveled further to cave in its skull. The entire left side of the wolf¡¯s head was a ruined mess of gore and bone. Its chest was what had hit me and carried me backwards to impact the wagon. The creature was quite obviously dead.

    ¡°Liam, you are still bleeding!¡± Kassandra swore and I felt another wash of cool liquid over my body as she sent another healing spell into me using the coin in her hand.

    The spots where the third wolf¡¯s teeth had pierced my left arm sealed up and my shoulder ached fiercely until I turned and pressed it back into the socket using the wagon to apply the pressure. As soon as the joint was properly aligned, the pain vanished as the spell did its work.

    ¡°Thanks, Nugget.¡± I panted, blinking furiously to clear the spots from my vision. My skin felt tender and overdone, like a bad sunburn, but no longer blistered at least.

    ¡°Liam¡­¡± Kassandra whimpered and I was promptly wrapped up in my dwarf lamia as she did her best to coil around all of me. Both her and Rieka had descended from the wagon to help roll the dead wolf off of me and Rieka lingered nearby, worry obvious in her face as she stood watch with her bow drawn. I wondered for a moment if they¡¯d both burned through all the coins in their rods already, a thought that worried me.

    A quick glance told me that the wolves had either been killed or broke and run when I killed the fire-breathing one. So, while Kassandra did her best to cover me with herself, I beckoned to Rieka with my clawed left hand.

    The wolf-eared woman bit her lip for a moment and glanced around one last time to ensure that nothing was about to jump us before she took three steps and buried her face in my chest.

    It took a moment to reverse the bizarre shift that I¡¯d done to my right arm. It seriously looked like a mixture between a scorpion''s tail and something out of a science-fiction movie and was hard to consciously control. I really wanted to look closer at it when I had a chance, but I needed to reassure the girls first.

    ¡°There there, it¡¯s okay. I¡¯m fine. Did either of you two get hurt?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Sniffed Kassandra. Rieka didn¡¯t say anything, but pushed her face harder into my neck and clung tighter to me.

    ¡°Then all is well. I¡¯m fine now.¡± I comforted them while looking across the field of the battle.

    There were half a dozen dead woodsmen, or at least the pieces of them, that I could see scattered around the line of the fight. Twice that many wolves lay dead, most with evidence of spell damage or the white-fletched arrows Rieka used.

    I spotted another of the red-furred wolves with a pillar of ice like a small tree protruding from its side on the other end of the battle line. I had to wonder if it was the mate of the one I killed.

    The woodsmen were picking themselves up and starting to work on bandaging the injured while some worked to ensure all of the downed wolves were dead.

    ¡°You three okay?¡± The gruff voice came from the fox-eared kin that had been standing closest to me. Blood still ran from his arm while he tried to put pressure on the bite wounds. Despite the obvious injury, his voice was filled with concern and I turned to talk to him while holding the girls close.

    ¡°Yea, we are fine now. I got burnt pretty bad there at the end, but my girl patched me up. Kass, can you help him too?¡± Kassandra nodded from her spot against my side, I felt the movement of her head, and she turned just enough to cast the same healing spell on the man she¡¯d used on me. She still refused to let me go though and went back to clinging to me as soon as the spell was done.

    ¡°Thanks, you three. I¡¯m pretty sure they¡¯d have gotten us all if you hadn¡¯t shown up.¡± The man said with a sigh of relief as the pain ended and his wounds closed. ¡°And you didn¡¯t get away entirely unscathed, friend. With the healing I mean.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± I glanced down quickly and, other than my brand new armor being already damaged --which irritated me to no end--, I was fine as far as I could tell. I wasn¡¯t about to peel the girls off of me to check the rest, but I figured Kassandra¡¯s spells would have fixed anything minor and if it was major, I¡¯d be feeling it.

    ¡°Your hair. It''s all burnt off now. Even your eyebrows.¡± The fox-eared man said with a quiet chuckle.

    ¡°Not his eyebrows! Now no one is going to trust him!¡± Kassandra giggled weakly from my chest, calling back to the complaints I¡¯d made last time this happened. I snorted derisively and crushed her closer to me.

    I was about to say something when my vision flashed again, this time first purple and then again gold when before messages in the same colors scrolled into view.

    Assist your contracted companions, Rieka Coldeye and Kassandra Silverscale, in defense of the logging camp.

    Reward - 450 SP

    COMPLETE

    Power Shape-Shifting (Lesser) has achieved Mastery 1000/1000.

    New Powers available in the System interface.

    Congratulations, Traveler.

    ¡°Huh¡­that might just be worth losing my eyebrows¡­¡±

 Chapter 49

    I barely managed to finish the thought concerning my, once again, missing-in-action eyebrows when Rieka forcefully dragged my mind back to current issues.

    ¡°Liam. I am so sorry.¡±

    ¡°What? Why are you sorry, Rieka?¡± I turned to look down at the kin woman who was clinging to my side as tightly as Kassandra was and doing a passable limpet impression as well. She refused to look up at me, but I could tell she was stressed from the way her ears laid back against her skull.

    ¡°You nearly got killed. Twice.¡± Rieka¡¯s voice was tiny and it broke my heart to see her so torn up. I had to find a way to bring back the energy that my favorite wolf girl usually displayed. The fox kin forester gave me a nod when I glanced his way and headed over to help his fellows while we sorted ourselves out, one hand rubbing his newly-healed arm.

    ¡°So?¡± I said when I turned my attention back down to the women in my arms.

    ¡°So!?¡± Rieka protested and shifted to look up at me with watery eyes. ¡°You keep getting hurt, Liam! We keep putting you at risk. I thought the new armor would help protect you better.¡±

    ¡°It did,¡± I protested right back. I would have patted my chest to prove it, but both of my arms were otherwise occupied with the young women clinging to me in the moment. ¡°Seriously, the only reason I got hurt there was because I jammed my arm down one¡¯s throat and the other breathed fire on me. No matter what kind of armor I have, the fire breath would have hurt me regardless. And the bite on my arm was better than to the face at least. I¡¯m still learning how to fight properly, just like you two are.¡±

    ¡°You learned a new trick today, Liam.¡± Kassandra giggled wetly, tears still marking her face as she prodded my chest over the scorched leather. ¡°What was that with your arm?¡±

    ¡°Instinct mostly. I needed to think outside the box and I remembered what Rieka said the other day about not having to use animals from my world. I based it off of a scorpion¡¯s tail but also combined it with some ideas from a well known science-fiction game about warring nations in space.¡±

    ¡°Scorpion? Space?¡± Rieka mumbled the words in confusion and I just squeezed her tighter. In response, she buried her face in my chest again and clung a bit tighter.

    ¡°It¡¯s a type of venomous insect that lives in deserts and space is the place beyond the sky, up where the stars hang,¡± Kassandra answered with a surprising amount of confidence.

    ¡°How do you know that?¡± Rieka asked accusingly, her voice muffled by my chest. Kassandra just shrugged before explaining.

    ¡°My parents traveled a lot for trade. I traveled with them. We saw scorpions out west in the Emirates territory while we traveled there. I also learned about astrology and space from scholars there too. It¡¯s not a commonly studied field since it¡¯s not really viewed as ¡®useful¡¯ for daily survival, but some people believe you can tell the future based on the actions of the stars. There are enough legends about spirits that live on or near the moon that it¡¯s theorized people can go there too. We just haven¡¯t figured out how to climb that high.¡± Kassandra shrugged again and I had to hide a smirk at the offhand way she brushed off astrology and divination. A mindset that I could wholeheartedly get behind as I had more than enough to worry about in front of me without thinking about how the stars might mess with it. The idea of climbing to the moon was just adorable as well.

    ¡°Regardless. Because of Rieka, I had an idea that got me to think outside the box with my shifting and that saved me. So you saved me, Rieka. Thank you.¡± I turned my attention back to the wolf kin in my arms to find that she was peeking up at me, her icy-blue eyes red from crying and stress, tear tracks marking her cheeks.

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to-¡° Rieka started to protest only to yelp when Kassandra reached over and pinched her arm.

    ¡°Don¡¯t argue, Rieka. Even I can see the point that he¡¯s making. You gave him the means to defend himself. Not with the armor we bought, but with his own skills. I get the feeling that Liam is going to be even more dangerous to anything that threatens us now,¡± Kassandra said primly before the grin managed to crack her stern expression once more.

    ¡°She¡¯s right. Thank you, again. You showed me the flaw in my thinking and now I can grow beyond it. I owe you, Rieka.¡± I locked eyes with the platinum-blonde princess and she drew back just a bit, resting her chin on my chest while her soft form molded closer to me. We continued to stare at each other for several long moments. A bit of movement behind her was what ended up breaking the staring contest in her favor.

    Rieka¡¯s tail was wagging again, rather than hanging limp like a flag on a windless day. The fluffy banner stirred slowly at first before picking up speed and I couldn¡¯t help a smile of my own at the visual confirmation of her improving mood.

    A quiet clearing of a throat drew my attention back to Rieka¡¯s face and I shifted my gaze in time to realize she was rising up on the tips of her toes. I had less than half a second to react, not nearly enough time given my pinned state, before her soft lips connected with mine.

    The kiss that Rieka and I shared was short and chaste. A barest pressure and a soft connection, but I felt the familiar protective urge in my chest surge higher. The arm I had draped around the wolf woman tightened, pulling her against my chest and getting a squeak of surprise out of her that was lost in the kiss. A moment later, Rieka retreated and nestled her head under my jaw shyly.

    ¡°Thank you, Liam. I am still sorry that you got hurt following my orders,¡± Rieka murmured after a moment passed in relative silence.

    ¡°I chose to do it. Remember, Rieka. I came willingly when you called me. I accept your apology but still hold to the fact that you have nothing to apologize for,¡± I replied.

    ¡°How about we stop trying to claim the blame of the issue and deal with what is in front of us? Namely this great, musty wolf that I bet also has an elemental core in it, given it was breathing fire! I think we just picked up the extra coin to make sure we get a really nice dimensional bag, or some extra comforts!¡± Kassandra injected some levity in the moment and both girls stirred enough that I knew they wanted to step away so I released my hold.

    Rieka scrubbed at her eyes a few times before pulling a handkerchief from her sleeve and wet it with her water-skin to wipe at her face. Kassandra swiped the cloth when she was done and used it on herself. I was about to ask for it, when Kassandra shook her head.

    ¡°Nuh, uh. No reason to get cleaned up, Liam. You are gonna have to skin this thing. Elemental wolf hide is actually worth something,¡± she teased. I could still see the worried look in her eyes, hanging just behind the amusement and energy.

    She¡¯s still just as freaked out as Rieka with how close that was. I thought to myself. She¡¯s just hiding it better behind the humor and teasing, silly noodle.

    ¡°Okay, fine. I¡¯ll deal with the harvest on this thing. I guess it¡¯s the same as the lynx? The meat isn¡¯t worth hauling back.¡± I rolled both my shoulders in their sockets, getting a quiet pop from the one that had been dislocated, and brushed the charred remains of my hair off my, now bald, head. ¡°I have got to remember to use Shape-Shifting to give myself eyebrows for work tomorrow,¡± I muttered the last bit under my breath as a reminder.

    ¡°Agreed. We don¡¯t have the means to transport the meat back. That might change in the future depending on the dimensional sack we get. Something for Kassandra and I to deal with during the week. Come on, Liam. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can head out. I¡¯ll help.¡± Rieka began to roll her sleeves up resolutely. ¡°Guess this is going to eat up that extra time we were going to train with.¡±

    ¡°I think Liam can still train,¡± Kassandra interjected as she wound in a wide circle around us in the grass, seeming to be full of nervous energy still.

    ¡°Oh, how so?¡± Rieka inquired while drawing her skinning knife from its spot on her pack.

    ¡°Well you have your knife. Liam, see if you can come up with some creative way to give yourself something similar. Like you did with the scorpion tail,¡± Kassandra demanded and I paused to think it over.

    <><><>

    Skinning with a knife was messy, skinning using a modified claw was even messier. Partially due to the fact that I was literally using a shifted bit of my hand to do it so the blood and bits ended up directly on me regardless.

    I¡¯d done some research back with the claws I used before. The average human hand weighs less than a pound. I have big mitts, given my size, but that doesn¡¯t change the fact that the weight of my hands was well within even the minor rank of Shape-Shifting to convert entirely. However, most claws are more about ripping and tearing with hooked tips than evenly cutting, so I had to get creative and crib some more ideas from science fiction. What I ended up with turned my hand into a curved blade of hardened keratin that was more like the back of a knife than anything; blunt but functional. At least it was enough to follow along behind Rieka and separate the hide from the meat once she had started the cuts.

    While the two of us worked, the foresters brought their worst injured over and asked Kassandra to heal them. Those with simple bites or claw marks bandaged and cleaned their own wounds, but the grievously injured needed magical assistance to survive. Thankfully, the foreman of the work-crew had his cash-box on hand and Kassandra only requested to be reimbursed for the mana spent, which he did happily. The foreman was even happier when he realized we only wanted the core and the pelt of the one wolf and they could have the rest of the pack. While we didn¡¯t have a way to transport the meat back to town, he was happy to take the carcasses and sell them to a butcher to recoup some of the losses of the day. The lumber wagons would transport the meat well enough and they needed to make a report of the situation in town as well as get to regular healers for treatment.

    Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    By the time the foresters were done dealing with the injured, we¡¯d managed to remove the hide and extract the core from the creature. Rieka found it tucked behind the wolf''s breastbone, a fist-sized crystal of a murky red-brown the color of drying blood. Bundling it all together, I traded the mountain lynx pelt to Rieka and hefted the folded wolf hide on my shoulder. It felt like it weighed as much as a rolled-up area rug, but I was used to balancing awkward loads from work and would make do.

    We struck out ahead of the foresters to get word back to town. The foreman promised to confirm our contribution to get a share of the reward for dealing with the wolves, which confirmed Rieka and my suspicion that this had been the pack that she had mentioned. I carefully did not bring up that she¡¯d jinxed us by mentioning it still, not wanting to give the blonde woman a reason to beat herself up more. Though I did add a mental tally mark to the idea that Fate was listening and had a bone to pick with me. Or just to pick on me.

    After the quick kiss that Rieka had given me she¡¯d been a bit more withdrawn, but I noticed her tail began to kick up a storm whenever she looked at me. It reminded me of Kassandra¡¯s repeated urging and mentions of Rieka¡¯s interest but uncertainty, and her own lack of jealousy. Something to talk to my Nugget about. I resolved as we left ahead of the wagons, since we¡¯d make better time on foot than with the heavy draft wagons that were still being loaded with the dead wolves. I am not going to risk my relationship with Kass to have a fling with Rieka. But if both of them are okay with it, who am I to argue? I¡¯m the visitor here after all.

    Thinking about visiting and my assignments to help the girls reminded me of the message I¡¯d received earlier. While we walked, I alternately closed my eyes to inspect my System interface to see what had changed and opened them to scan and keep watch.

    My current SP total was sitting at 1,220 SP, since the quick assignment to defend the lumber camp was complete. From past experience, my other mission to escort the girls and deliver them home safely would automatically complete when we reached Juneau¡¯s campus again, which would bring me up to 1,870 SP total.

    Armed with that knowledge, I prepared to delve into the ¡®Powers¡¯ tab when my eyes caught the ¡®Contracts¡¯ tab once more. It was something I hadn¡¯t really checked much since the initial introduction from Cariad regarding the System and the interface. I set aside my curiosity regarding new powers and opened it to have a look to see if anything changed.

    Listed under the tab was a full history of all the missions and contracts I¡¯d undertaken with the girls. I noted that if both were indicated in the contract assignment, it would appear under both of their names in a drop-down style menu. The small handful of times that I was summoned by only one of the two girls, the mission appeared under just their name. I was surprised at the sheer number of them, given that it felt like I hadn¡¯t been doing this for long. Beyond the appearance of the past contracts, with a ¡®COMPLETE¡¯ stamp at the bottom if they were done and the text shifting from silver to gold in the record, there had been a major change to two entries.

    The ranks of the ¡®guardian contracts¡¯.

    When I¡¯d checked them the first time at Cariad¡¯s insistence, they had both read as ¡®Guardian Contract level 1¡¯. But now it had changed.

    Kassandra Silverscale (Guardian Contract level 3)

    Rieka Coldeye (Guardian Contract level 2)

    ¡°Huh, wonder how that happened,¡± I muttered to myself and blinked my eyes open to check my surroundings.

    The girls were slightly ahead of me, talking to each other while keeping an eye on our surroundings. Rieka was blushing and protesting something quietly, but her wolf-ears were erect and focused on Kassandra while her tail wagged slowly, so I knew she wasn¡¯t actually upset. Kassandra was grinning like she¡¯d just gotten a week''s supply of sweets and I could see mischief dancing in her brown eyes from where they glimmered behind her silver spectacles.

    Something else to ask Cariad about. I thought and quickly input a message for my daemon caseworker and sent it off via the ¡®Messages¡¯ tab.

    Liam

    Hey Cari, question for you. Just checked on my guardian contracts with the girls and they have apparently leveled up? Also, one is slightly ahead of the other. Just curious if you can give me context on this and what it might mean? No rush, just wanted to ask while I was thinking about it.

    With that done, I turned my attention back to the item I¡¯d most wanted to check out. My ¡®Powers¡¯ tab.

    Opening it up, the Body entry appeared first. I immediately spotted the new entries and couldn¡¯t help the grin that grew on my lips as I read over the two new powers.

    Shape-Shifting (Moderate) - Cost: 1600 SP - User is able to draft large changes from an animal. Half forms are available as well, similar in appearance to a werewolf as an example. Unable to mix more than three animal''s features at a time, one must predominate. Maximum of up to half the casters original body weight in additional mass can be added, removed, or modified.

    Shape-Shifting (Mass Control) - Cost: 800 SP - (requires Shape-Shifting (Moderate)) Allows for the shift to affect mass of user by up to three times the stated limit in the highest tier available.

    Skimming over them, I chuckled in amusement. The game had shifted a great deal now. While before I¡¯d been constrained to shifting twenty pounds of additional mass, now it was a multiplier based on my actual body weight. Since I was a solid guy, that was going to give me over a hundred pounds of shifting mass to work with.

    And that¡¯s before I take the other one. I thought with glee. Shape-Shifting (Mass Control) would bring that total up to three hundred plus pounds of shifted body mass, which would allow me to either vastly increase in size or start looking into full body shifts. I mentally played with the image of ¡®hulking out¡¯ of my armor and into a full on werewolf shift, before brushing that off. Too simple. I mean, it can work but I also have all that flexibility I just discovered to remember. I need to focus on that. I¡¯m going to have five times the additional mass with just improving to the moderate tier of Shape-Shifting. I need to keep that in mind. It may be time to burn some points in Enhance Self to boost my mind some more to come up with ideas again. I know I¡¯ll be able to afford Shape-Shifting (Moderate) when we finish this run, and I¡¯d put good odds on being able to get Shape-Shifting (Mass Control) when we finish the next week¡¯s run. A full week of work with the girls will easily get me enough to snag that one and boost stats.

    The rest of the trip back to town I split between daydreaming of ideas to use with Shape-Shifting and keeping watch on our surroundings.

    <><><>

    The girls turned in the pelts and got their pay for the mission. They also secured an agreement from the clerk at the Hunt and Trade Hall to confirm with the lumber foreman that would be coming in later, so that they could pick up the bonus from that too when they had a chance to return.

    Rieka and Kassandra both promised to do what they could to prepare for the next week''s mission and get the dimensional sack arranged to carry our gear.

    ¡°We¡¯ll summon you back on the first day of the trip, at the latest. I believe you called it Saturday,¡± Rieka reassured me, sounding out the odd word with a bit of care. ¡°Since we have a long trip ahead, we will pick up fresh food supplies that day and make our way out to the camp site in the mountains. If we have any problems or things to discuss before then, we will summon you during the week in the evening. And if you are unable to free yourself from your work, just let us know when you see us next. From there we can figure something out. Sounds good?¡±

    ¡°Sounds like a plan, Rieka,¡± I replied with a smile for the wolf-eared woman. Rieka had continued to perk up during the walk back and was nearly skipping by the time we arrived in town.

    ¡°Liam! I demand kisses before you go home!¡± Kassandra said imperiously and I turned about to smile down at my serpentine lover.

    ¡°Well, get up here then, Nugget,¡± I said while opening my arms towards her. Kassandra launched herself forward like a spring while giggling, still clearly in love with her pet name. Bracing myself, I caught her and turned to bleed off the momentum from her sheer size. I was reminded again that, despite Kassandra¡¯s shorter stature, she was still many times heavier than I was based on the mass of that tail she had. I hadn¡¯t measured it yet, but she had to easily be twice as long as I was tall if not more.

    There clearly has to be magical fuckery going on that I can do this. I thought with a grin as Kassandra wrapped her tail around me before snuggling into my chest with hers and pressing her lips to mine in a searing kiss.

    The kiss continued for several minutes, long enough that Rieka began to make quiet throat-clearing noises and humming to herself, getting several muffled giggles from my redheaded troublemaker.

    ¡°Seriously, Kass!?¡± Rieka demanded after we entered the fifth minute of lip locking.

    ¡°Fiine,¡± Kassandra sighed, separating her lips from mine finally and laying one last peck on the tip of my nose. ¡°Be safe, Liam. Love you,¡± Kassandra whispered in my ear before wriggling free of my arms and dropping back to the ground. ¡°Your turn, Rieka!¡±

    ¡°What? Hey!¡± Rieka protested as Kassandra slithered rapidly around behind her and shoved the wolf kin woman into my arms. Rieka stumbled and caught herself against my chest, turning wide eyes up at me. I smiled down at her reassuringly, squeezing gently with the arms that wrapped around her automatically and getting an ¡®eep¡¯ of surprise from the woman.

    ¡°Be safe, Rieka. I¡¯d ask you to keep Kass out of trouble, but I doubt you could really. She¡¯s obstinate like that,¡± I whispered and Rieka flushed but smiled up at me in agreement.

    ¡°Very true. Be safe as well, Liam,¡± Rieka murmured. A coughing from Kassandra made Rieka flush again. She took a deep breath and seemed to steel herself before rising up to press a kiss of her own on my lips.

    Unlike before, this one lingered for some time. Rieka¡¯s fists balled in my shirt, I had already removed the armor as the girls promised they¡¯d have it maintained and repaired before the coming weekend, and she pressed tighter to me. I responded by squeezing her more firmly to my chest. I could hear her tail wagging furiously as well which brought a smile to my lips mid-kiss.

    We separated a minute later, Rieka blushing heavily but grinning up at me.

    ¡°Thank you for escorting us to safety, Liam. We will see you later on next week,¡± Rieka murmured, her voice trembling between happiness and desire.

    The edges of my vision flashed and the message appeared that I¡¯d been waiting for.

    Assist your contracted companions, Rieka Coldeye and Kassandra Silverscale, with their overnight hunt for the mountain lynx and escort them back to town.

    Reward - 650 SP

    COMPLETED

    I gave the girls a nod and a smile when I had shaken the message away, confirming the completion of the mission. Both girls¡¯ smiles grew wider and Kassandra lifted her spell rod then made the gestures to send me home.

    Landing in my living room once more, I glanced around at my dingy apartment and sighed. The excitement of the adventures with the girls had been helping me hang on to my sanity. But now, faced with yet another work week on the horizon, I was again questioning why I stayed at that damn job.

 Chapter 50

    Confronted with the stark and boring reality that was my apartment, it was hard to motivate myself to do anything worthwhile. So instead I just slumped onto the couch in yet another set of tattered clothing.

    At least this time it was just my shirt that got ripped up. The wolves only managed to claw my legs enough to slightly tear the jeans. I thought while staring up at the white stucco ceiling. My muscles and back ached from the exertion of the fight and then carrying that bloody hide back to the city. Even the top of my head felt tender. Poking it, I discovered that I¡¯d managed to develop a sunburn.

    ¡°Bugger,¡± I muttered. With a moment of focus, I used my Shape-Shifting to give myself hair once more as well as eyebrows again. The prickling sensation of hair sprouting from the skin was slightly painful because of the sunburn. Thankfully, once the hair settled into place it wasn¡¯t as bad.

    Doing that also reminded me to check the rest of my skills.

    Hmm. Okay, so the two ranks of Shape-Shifting I have are fully maxed on mastery. Probably why the moderate rank showed up. Completed the first rank of Enhance Self (Minor) and half the content of the Enhance Self (Lesser) rank too, mental stats only. I thought while flicking through a more detailed character sheet. Huh? My natural strength and fortitude went up a point each too. Wonder when that happened.

    As if summoned by the thought, a scrolling message in a more reserved font that was colored a bright blue popped up in another window on the screen behind my closed eyes.

    Due to exertions and cumulative exercise, the Traveler has gained additional points.

    Strength was gained during your last training session while Fortitude was gained earlier today as a result of the injuries received.

    Do you wish to have automatic notifications of latent stat increases?

    Y/N?

    ¡°Well yeah, I definitely want to be told when stats increase. Can they decay?¡± I mumbled while studying the message.

    Stat decay can happen. However, Travelers are more insulated against it.

    Notifications have been updated.

    ¡°Good to know.¡± I sighed again. I wondered at the response. The System rarely answered questions when I asked them. I¡¯d not thought of the ¡®help¡¯ menu as very helpful in a while after all.

    I shifted when my uncomfortable couch began to dig into my spine. A sudden pang of loneliness hit me and I wanted to see my girls again. I¡¯d spent the last two days in close contact with them and the last several weeks either with them, training for them, or thinking about them.

    Unconsciously, my left hand drifted to my right forearm where the runic tattoos that marked my Guardian contracts were located. The symbols defied description, they honestly seemed to shift and change when I wasn¡¯t looking at them, but I knew each one and what they signified intimately at this point.

    Pressing my index and middle finger to the symbol closest to my wrist, I felt a ghost of Kassandra¡¯s emotions. She was tired, but felt content and lazy. I could imagine her luxuriating in the large bath she had in her private room, sculpting a castle out of bubbles while humming quietly, the mischievous grin bouncing around on her lips.

    Shifting further up my right arm, I touched the other symbol there. A rush of emotions, stronger than Kassandra¡¯s, came to me in a flood. Normally, the tattoo that marked my bond with Rieka was the calmer of the two, but it was not true this time.

    Rieka was worried, excited, guilty, and overjoyed all at once. The mental image of her pacing back and forth in her room, her ears back in frustration but her tail whipping up a storm of blonde fur as she muttered to herself, popped into my mind''s eye.

    Don¡¯t stress, Rieka. It¡¯ll be fine. I thought and tried to push reassuring thoughts through the tattoo. I had no idea if it worked, as the alternating stress and happiness continued to flow as long as I touched the tattoo. It might have been my imagination but it felt like it did abate at least a bit before I removed my fingers from the mark.

    Touching the emotions of the girls renewed my resolve again and I went back to my character sheet to review my most recent powers.

    Hmm. Manipulate Elements (Minor) and Mana Reservoir (Minor) are making good progress. 493/1000 for the first and 472/1000 for the second on their mastery. I should expect them to leave the minor tier soon. Should I save the SP to boost them up then?

    I considered the option for a moment and then rejected it. As much fun as using magic was, I only had ten mana and had no idea how much the next rank of Mana Reservoir would give me. I¡¯d shot my load very quickly in the fight with the wolves earlier and I¡¯d already promised myself to focus on Shape-Shifting in order to be flexible.

    Before I could get lost second guessing myself, I checked my SP total to make sure my math had been right before and it was. I then opened the ¡®Powers¡¯ tab on my interface and selected Shape-Shifting (Moderate) and selected ¡®accept¡¯ when prompted. The ability flared and the mastery bar appeared under it. At the same time Shape-Shifting (Mass-Control) shifted colors and became available rather than just legible, but my SP total had dropped down too low to select it now.

    This left me with only 270 SP. Enough that I could buy one rank of Enhance Self (Moderate) to boost my mental stats with, or I could get the lesser rank to boost most of my physical stats to match the mental.

    Decide on that later, before bed maybe? Time to start working with my new rank of Shape-Shifting. I thought with a smirk and opened my eyes.

    It was mid-afternoon when I had gotten back from the other world and I spent the following two hours working my imagination with Shape-Shifting.

    I replicated the lashing, armored tail/arm from that morning and practiced weaving it back and forth to get used to the flexible appendage. I experimented with hardening my skin and creating chitinous armor over my torso, arms, and legs now that I had spare weight to do that with. I even spent a bit of time experimenting on how I could shift my legs to improve running and sprinting though I didn¡¯t go outside to test them yet.

    My already tattered shirt was sacrificed to the cause of amusement when I added the hundred pounds of mass as muscle to my upper torso. I¡¯m not afraid to admit I giggled like an idiot when I ripped through it like a certain green superhero with an anger problem.

    Having the extra muscle mass definitely helped me to lift things, something I demonstrated by doing a one-handed dead-lift with my couch. It also made it difficult to do small things, like touch my hands to my chest properly, as the swollen muscles actually puffed my physique out a large amount and made smaller gestures hard as it threw me out of proportion.

    ¡°Good thing this doesn¡¯t leave stretch marks or damage the skin. Imagine if it did,¡± I muttered as I reeled that shift in once more and shrunk to a more normal size. The mental image of myself with the loose flaps of stretched skin hanging under my biceps definitely made me glad that it did not. ¡°Nope, just shredded clothes.¡± I chuckled ruefully and began collecting the shreds of my shirt from the ground.

    The edges of my vision flashed and the return message from Cariad finally arrived, scrolling across my vision. So I flopped back down on the couch in just my jeans and closed my eyes to chat with her via this bizarre ¡®instant messaging¡¯ system using a cross-dimensional supercomputer as a hub.

    Cariad

    Hey Liam! So, I did some digging and apparently since you¡¯ve been such a busy boy with all the contracts you¡¯ve been completing, it¡¯s caused your Guardian contracts to level up as well. Normally it takes far longer than a few weeks for this to happen for a Traveler. But you have been working with them exclusively since you started, so I should have expected this.

    Liam

    That¡¯s good, right? What is the Guardian contract anyway? I remember seeing it way back when, but I don¡¯t remember if I ever got a specific explanation.

    As was usual, Cariad was quick to respond to my question and I had an answer in a few seconds. The only time she took longer to respond was usually the first message or if she had to go research something. While I waited, I shifted my left arm into another of the lashing tail/talon limbs and began weaving it through the air idly to try and build dexterity with my off hand.

    Cariad

    Oh that is simple enough to explain. The Guardian contract is your first contract with the girls. Think of it as the basic letterhead that all following contracts are written on. It establishes your relationship with them and the context that they use to summon you. Through that context, the System searches for prompts that they give in order to find out what service they require before it will pay out for you. You may have found that a notification pops up when one of them asks you directly to do something relating to protecting or caring for them, right?

    Liam

    Yup, noticed that. Got a snap mission today when we were heading back from a hunting trip when they decided to help out a lumber-operation that was dealing with wolves.

    Cariad

    Make sure to remind them that they need to blatantly state requests for help as soon as you arrive. The longer you wait, the more opportunities might fall through the cracks. Also for things like that, they need to formally request your assistance on it to trigger the System¡¯s response. But to the point! Since you are contracted to them as a ¡®Guardian¡¯, the system will only generate missions that relate to their protection or care. It might be flexible in the context to a point, but you won¡¯t ever get a mission to pass the salt or give them a foot-rub. That would be a servant or familiar contract instead. Likewise, the longer you have a Guardian contract in force, the more the System will search for powers that will improve your ability to fulfill them. You¡¯ve earned almost all your SP at this point from Guardian contracts, so expect to see some protector-type powers showing up. And by that I mean more narrow-purpose powers to that type.

    Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

    Liam

    Interesting. I look forward to it. What about the difference in levels?

    Cariad

    Just that you are closer to one than the other, or have answered her direct call a few more times. It¡¯s not an exact measurement as there are different ¡®values¡¯ assigned to each. If I had to guess, then the one that is a rank higher than the other is the girl you were summoned to personally save that one time, right? Just a shot in the dark since you didn¡¯t mention which one was ahead.

    Liam

    Yeah. That is right. Kass is rank 3 while Rieka is rank 2.

    Cariad

    That sounds accurate then. Give it time and they will even out. If Rieka ends up summoning you herself more in the future that will help speed it up. This is one of those things that the System keeps track of in the background and doesn¡¯t let us peek at the exact values, just a general summary. Also if she gives you more specific assignment requests that will help too. Some of them will be judged by the System under the same umbrella. Like if your first mission is to ¡®escort them from point A to point B¡¯, it won¡¯t trigger if they ask you to kill bandits that attack them on the road. But if, along the way, you happen to track the bandits back to a camp with captives, they could request your help retrieving them.

    Liam

    Gotcha. Thanks Cari. You going to be at one of my beatings with Cerebaton this week?

    Cariad

    I think I can make this next one. Why?

    Liam

    I have something to show off to the old man. Hoping he might have some more ideas and suggestions to use with it.

    Cariad

    Okay, just be careful, Liam. Mr. Cerebaton has a lot of experience and you don¡¯t want to catch him by surprise and have him react on instinct.

    Liam

    Got it. Don¡¯t scare the old soldier. Have a good night, Cari.

    We signed off a moment later and I opened my eyes and winced. While I¡¯d been mentally typing things out, my left tail/arm had been stretching and moving back and forth while I exercised it. I guess the talon that it ended in wasn¡¯t exactly sensitive to touch as it had thumped into the wall a few times and left triangular holes in the plaster half the size of my palm. Holes I¡¯d never felt it leave. Holes I was going to need to patch over now too.

    ¡°Damn it¡­¡± I groaned and got to my feet to get a new shirt and head to the hardware store.

    <><><>

    Work on Monday was an exercise in frustration and just generally shitty, more so than Mondays usually were.

    I¡¯d shown up early in order to post my request for emergency leave with the gal who did all the scheduling. Bernice was a nice old gal, but a stickler for the rules. She¡¯d initially declined the request outright until I reminded her that I hadn¡¯t taken any paid time off in over a year and it was a personal emergency. She¡¯d huffed a bit, but agreed I was overdue and set about rearranging the schedule for next week to ensure it was covered.

    It had taken less time than I expected to convince Bernice, so I¡¯d decided to go for a walk before my shift. That was until Dutcher spotted me on his way in from the parking lot.

    Dutcher had somehow convinced the company to install four of the electric-car chargers in the company lot, despite the fact he was the only person to drive an electric vehicle. That meant that he had his pick of the four parking spots daily and unfortunately they were all in the front row, closest to the building. So he was parking as I headed out to go for my walk to relax a bit before work.

    When I ran into him by the front door, he demanded I go punch in and get started on my shift early since I was here already. Figuring that one type of exertion was just like any other, I shrugged it off and complied. Either he¡¯d send me home a little early to avoid overtime or I¡¯d have a shorter work week in general. What was for sure though was that I¡¯d be able to get a jump start on the workday, regardless.

    I was wrong.

    As soon as I got back from the punch clock and before I¡¯d even gotten halfway to my regular dock, Dutcher was already chasing me down on his idiotic nerd-chariot. The whine of the Segway¡¯s little rubber wheels on the concrete of the warehouse floor was like the siren of an approaching air-raid to me.

    ¡°Cosgrave! Your loads aren¡¯t ready yet since you decided to come in early today,¡± Dutcher snapped from behind me. I stopped walking and took a deep breath to swallow my frustration before I turned on my heel to look him in the eye.

    ¡°Then why did you have me clock in early?¡±

    ¡°Because I need someone to finish the trailer on dock seven. It¡¯s been sitting since Friday,¡± the basketball-shaped man said with an evil grin. I had to physically force the scowl off of my face. Dock seven was Matheson¡¯s dock and I was getting really tired of being used to clean up after that idiot.

    Why is it that Dutcher hasn¡¯t fired him yet, anyway? I grumbled internally. Again, I questioned why I was even doing this. I hated this job and I knew there were other options out there. Hell, maybe other options I could make use of my Traveler abilities if I thought hard enough about it.

    That reminded me that I still had the 270 SP left to spend from the weekend, I¡¯d planned to use it on Enhance Self (Moderate) to boost my mental stats but had gotten distracted fixing the walls. Instead, I pushed the idea away as something to deal with later and focused on the current problem.

    ¡°Any idea why the weekend crew didn¡¯t do it?¡± I gritted out and I swear I saw amused joy light up in Dutcher¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°They were too busy dealing with other problems. But since you have time to show up for work early then you can help sort it out and get us caught back up! Hop to, Cosgrave. The others are going to be arriving for the start of the week shift soon and you don¡¯t want to fall behind.¡±

    I really wanted to just slap the smug look off of Dutcher¡¯s pinched face. But I managed to hold on to my temper. I stomped to my dock to drop off my lunch-bag on my little desk before going back to roll up the shutter on dock seven and take a look at the mess I had to deal with.

    The entire trailer reeked of stale weed and as soon as I opened it up, I was hit in the face with a blast of the rank odor. The trailer was less than half loaded and it looked like Matheson had just pulled most of the trolleys with their loads of groceries into the trailer and then closed it up to hide them when he took off on Friday.

    Checking the stack of papers on top of one pile of totes, I brushed away dried donut crumbs to find there were no notes as to where he was on the load. The scanner next to the papers was equally useless. The machine used to check in the orders was dead. It had been left here all weekend and that had drained its charge.

    Biting back profanity, I took the scanner back to the desk to swap it out and see if I could pull up the order on one that was actually usable.

    It took me an hour and a half to get the trailer sorted out and loaded. The final half-hour I had Matheson ¡®helping¡¯.

    The idiot spent more time out on smoke breaks than anything else.

    What time Matheson did spend in the trailer was helping me by scanning in the items slowly while I arranged them in the trailer. The lightest amount of work he could possibly get away with.

    As soon as the trailer was sorted, I rushed back to my dock and got busy on my actual workload before Dutcher could give me something else to do. This didn¡¯t stop him from his usual petty heckling whenever he patrolled past on his Segway, intent on ensuring that none of his little peons stopped working for even a moment.

    Normally, I¡¯d have been able to stifle the irritation by working on my Shape-Shifting when I knew he wasn¡¯t around and no one was watching. But after getting creative the previous weekend, turning my hands into claws wasn¡¯t as neat as growing a prehensile tail or practicing with a limb that had a dozen extra joints in it. That kind of thing was something I wasn¡¯t willing to risk in public.

    I¡¯d decided to skip my lunch and just eat while I worked to try and catch up enough to leave on time when the final straw hit the camel''s back.

    ¡°Cosgrave!¡± Dutcher¡¯s annoying voice grated on my nerves like a knife scraping down a taut wire.

    ¡°What do you need, Dutcher?¡± I asked, hefting another tote up onto the stack in the back of the truck.

    I daydreamed for just a moment about how he would react if I turned and threw the tote to him to catch before settling the heavy plastic object into place.

    ¡°Your leave for next week is denied.¡±

    The words made my muscles freeze as I parsed them, wondering if I¡¯d just heard what I thought I¡¯d heard.

    ¡°What?¡± I asked calmly, staring into the depths of the trailer in front of me. I had to fight not to grind my teeth at the tone of his voice as he answered.

    ¡°You heard me. Leave is a minimum two weeks notice. So your leave request for next week is canceled.¡±

    ¡°Bernice already approved the request.¡±

    ¡°And I canceled it. She shouldn¡¯t have approved it without going through me.¡± The cruel satisfaction in Dutcher¡¯s tone made me turn and he was grinning evilly at me. Wicked joy marked every flabby fold of his florid face.

    ¡°Bernice works with HR and scheduling. She¡¯s not under you and doesn¡¯t report to you. You don¡¯t need to approve time off, Dutcher. That¡¯s her job.¡± I reminded him and the man¡¯s piggy eyes narrowed while his smirk turned into a scowl.

    ¡°Don¡¯t challenge me, Cosgrave. You are working next week. Get used to the idea,¡± Dutcher snarled, his face going purple in anger.

    The tone and action wasn¡¯t intimidating on the fat man. I¡¯d been snarled at by a wolf bigger than some Asian cars already this week and been bitten by one nearly the same size. Dutcher wasn¡¯t scary and I decided abruptly I didn¡¯t need to deal with this anymore.

    ¡°Fuck it, I quit,¡± I growled and stormed out of the trailer. Dutcher blinked in surprise at me, his face going a shade darker as the tiny wheels clicked and ground in his mind while he tried to process what I said.

    ¡°What was that, Cosgrave?¡± Dutcher hissed, as if he expected me to change my mind suddenly. I slammed my thermos back into the lunch-box and zipped the whole thing up before I answered him.

    ¡°I said, ¡®I quit¡¯,¡± I repeated the statement a bit louder before I carefully saved the spot in the loading of the trailer on my scanner and then logged out of it. I had begun lowering the shutter on the door when Dutcher finally caught up mentally and exploded.

    ¡°The fuck you mean you quit!? You can¡¯t just quit like that!¡± roared the fat man and the clamor of the loading dock went silent as all eyes went to our end of the loading dock to observe the shitstorm in progress.

    ¡°I quit, Dutcher. I¡¯m tired of putting up with your bullshit. You constantly use me as a stopgap to fill in for work that you don¡¯t want to do or can¡¯t bully someone else into doing. You give us trouble every time that anyone puts in for time off, those that you don¡¯t find some way to bully into canceling it at least. You are trying to force me to give up emergency leave that was already approved as a power-play right now. You constantly insult employees and are a complete failure as a manager. I¡¯m done with this and I¡¯m done with you,¡± I growled, stepping up to tower over the pudgy man, my volume rising with every sentence.

    Dutcher looked like he was a firecracker about to explode. His face was going darker and darker as his temper rose while I spoke. Several veins on his face throbbed in fury and I swear he was seconds from smoke coming pouring out of his ears.

    However, when I stepped closer to deliver the last part of my statement to him and loomed over him, despite the fact he was on top of his scooter, he must have remembered our sheer difference in size.

    Dutcher shrank back from me suddenly, nearly falling off his scooter. His face went pale and left a blotchy mess of purple and white behind. It made him look like he had blackberry yogurt on his face and his piggy eyes darted back and forth in concern as he looked for an escape.

    Movement on his periphery must have caught his attention though and he realized everyone else on the dock was watching us. With that, Dutcher mustered what courage he had left and decided to stuff his foot even further down his throat to see if it came out of his ass.

    ¡°Fine! Then you are going to be forfeiting your PTO and last paycheck, Cosgrave! Insulting a member of management like this-¡± he began to bluster and I had to fight the urge to just pick him up by the throat and shake him like a dog shakes a rat. Thankfully, someone else intervened.

    ¡°No. He isn¡¯t. Colorado is a ¡®right to work¡¯ state, Dutcher. Cosgrave doesn¡¯t have to give notice and the company is required to pay him out his PTO. Stop talking out your ass and pull your head free so you can realize you just pushed your best loader to quit.¡± Hawthorne¡¯s gritty voice echoed from nearby and I glanced over to see the older man striding up with his clipboard in one hand. His flyaway gray hair and paunch did not detract from the solid strength in his old shoulders as he glared at Dutcher.

    ¡°Thank you, Hawthorne. I wish the loaders had someone half as clever as you as a manager.¡± I said, forcing myself to step back away from Dutcher before the urge to throttle the fat man became overwhelming.

    ¡°I wish you did too. Would make my job easier by half. Go on and punch out, Cosgrave. I¡¯ll make sure the report gets put in about this. Give HR a call tomorrow to make sure they are starting on the paperwork for your last check,¡± the manager of the pickers said, not taking his eyes off of Dutcher the entire time. Dutcher, for his part, was mouthing incoherently as he glared between Hawthorne and me.

    Deciding that it was probably a good choice to get moving before Dutcher managed to get his mouth in gear and I did something I couldn¡¯t walk back, I snatched up my lunch-box and left the building.

    I spotted Geoff giving me a smartass salute from inside one of the aisles as I went by. The old picker was grinning at me. I nodded to him in return as I stopped at the punch clock to mark the time I left.

    Emerging out into the midday sunlight outside the building, I wasn¡¯t sure what to feel. I strode across the lot with a disconnected feeling haunting my mind and unlocked my truck. Settling into the seat of my battered pickup, I sighed and slumped down in the seat. Now that I was out of the building, the tension and anger was draining out of me and the realization of what I¡¯d just done was finally sinking in.

    I was now, officially, unemployed. The one positive thing I could think of right now was that I hadn¡¯t tendered my resignation with my fist to the side of Dutcher¡¯s fat head.

    Small comforts.

 Chapter 51

    ¡°That was an ill-advised choice to make,¡± Cerebaton rumbled as our practice weapons clashed in the shadows of the gazebo. It was late, but neither of the daemons with me had issues seeing at night. Neither did I, since I¡¯d already shifted my eye to gain a cat''s night-vision.

    ¡°I know. I just couldn¡¯t take it anymore,¡± I countered, skipping backwards to gain space on the big man before lunging in to strike at an opening over his left hip.

    Cerebaton wasn¡¯t caught by the amateur feint I made. His weapon spun with a fluid grace and knocked mine away before coming around to tap my ribcage in a counter that ended the sparring match. We took a step back to separate and reset.

    ¡°I know your day job was rough. But, given how much you had insisted on staying with it to ¡®make ends meet¡¯ before, I am still surprised,¡± Cerebaton said as we squared up once more.

    Cerebaton was armed with the wooden sword that we¡¯d started with, but I was wielding a copy of my mace. After breaking the sword I¡¯d had on a dangerous creature, I¡¯d been using the mace as a stopgap until we decided if we should spend the money on something else. With the changes to my Shape-Shifting now, I was uncertain how often I¡¯d be using the weapon going forward. When you could turn a body part into a dangerous weapon, what was the point of carrying one after all, besides intimidation?

    You still don¡¯t know how resistant to damage you can make the limb, I reminded myself. Take it slow and steady.

    ¡°It was all thrown into context this weekend, I guess.¡± I feinted an initial blow towards Cerebaton¡¯s weapon-side shoulder before shifting and rolling my wrist to bring the attack down towards his thigh instead.

    ¡°This wasn¡¯t your first long stay with them, was it?¡± Cerebaton bought the feint and blocked it with his sword. But as soon as the blow was redirected at his leg, he simply shifted his weight and pulled the limb out of danger while bringing in a chop of his own from above.

    ¡°No. I¡¯ve stayed over once before. You could say it got started then, but this last weekend was what finished it. I was riding high over our success and the plans for the future. Everything looked like it was working out thus far and I was happy. Then Dutcher decided he couldn¡¯t stand me being content about anything and tried to ruin it. Asserting his idiotic dominance over my leave request in the moment and in the past over anything that challenged him was just another nail in the coffin.¡± I explained rapidly while turning in place to dodge the chop, using the momentum of the spin to bring my practice mace around into a broad blow at Cerebaton¡¯s side. ¡°A coffin that was already nailed shut, chained closed, and buried really.¡±

    The big daemon in his Drago-lookalike disguise ducked under the blow before coming up with a thrust at my chest that I sidestepped in the nick of time. I was covered in sweat and barely keeping up, but the blonde daemon was only slightly flushed with exertion and still looked as cool as ever.

    ¡°¡¯People don¡¯t quit bad jobs. They quit bad managers.¡¯ That¡¯s the saying right?¡± Cariad piped up from the sidelines and Cerebaton grunted in agreement while I nodded. ¡°The choice is made already, then. The question is: What are your plans now, Liam?¡±

    Cerebaton traded a few more blows with me while I considered Cariad¡¯s question.

    I¡¯d spent the rest of Monday going from a mixture of panic attack to elation while coming to terms with the fact I¡¯d never have to deal with Dutcher again. Tuesday morning had been burnt up in a mixture of exercise and looking through various want-ads for job options. I didn¡¯t want to tell these two that though. I wasn¡¯t afraid of being judged, but I still didn¡¯t feel right baring that part of my soul that worried constantly.

    What had kept me from completely losing my mind was the gentle affection I kept feeling whenever I touched the bond-tattoo¡¯s for the girls. Well, sometimes it was affection, sometimes it was pure mischief. Kassandra was clearly up to something over on her world.

    This sparring match ended with Cerebaton catching me on the inside of my left arm before the tip of his practice sword met my shoulder and then neck lightly.

    Stepping back again, I held my weapon over my head to signal a need to take a break and Cerebaton nodded. Together, we walked over to the corner where Cariad was perched on the railing overlooking the dimly lit park.

    While Cerebaton was disguised to look human, Cariad made no such concessions. Her strawberry-red hair shone dimly in the little bit of light that made it through the trees from the street as it fell in a waterfall of color that hung to her calves before curling upwards at the tips. The blue-gray skin of the daemon woman shone softly with health where it showed at her face and bodice. Her arms were covered in long, opera-style gloves of a black material that tucked into the white sleeves of her button-down blouse. A figure-hugging pencil-skirt encased her hips and thighs before long, stocking-clad legs emerged to tuck into sensibly heeled business shoes.

    While Cerebaton looked like a boxer turned office-man, Cariad was rocking the sexy secretary look, though decidedly more supernatural due to her skin and hair colors.

    The only reason she could get away with it though was the fact that no one came to this area at night, so no one would spot her. Even if someone did show up, she¡¯d assured me that they¡¯d know and she¡¯d be able to conceal herself.

    ¡°My plan?¡± I guzzled water from the jug that Cariad handed me before splashing some on my head to lower my temperature. I¡¯d let the Shape-Shifting that I used to restore my hair and eyebrows fade to get better cooling earlier and the lukewarm water felt great on my skin. ¡°I¡¯ve got about a month of paid time off that they have to pay out. I¡¯ve probably got another month of expenses in the bank right now. That gives me two months to figure something out.¡±

    ¡°Not a lot of time, but not as dire as it might have been,¡± Cerebaton rumbled. He accepted the water jug I offered him and carefully poured the liquid into his mouth without letting the plastic touch his lips.

    The big man was wearing a skin-tight shirt with long sleeves that tucked into something like fencers gloves. His pants were a set of loose jogging shorts and some cyclist leggings that left only the skin of his face exposed. All of them in grays and blacks, no sharp colors on the man.

    The reason that both of the daemons kept so much of their skin covered was that their touch was literally corrosive to the material of my world. Cerebaton¡¯s hand on the wrist-thick railing that Cariad was sitting on would eat through the wood in about a minute if it was uncovered, dissolving it like acid.

    The water hissed and bubbled as it touched his tongue but Cerebaton swallowed it quickly before handing the jug back.

    Cariad had explained it to me once that, even though their bodies corroded the material of this universe, they still were able to derive nutrition and sustenance from it. Just not as much as materials from their dimension. Unfortunately, the same was not true for me as it was a one way street in their favor. The natural habitat of the daemons was the barriers that kept the different universes separate and it was not a welcoming place because of the natural laws that governed it.

    ¡°I¡¯m hoping that, in that time, I can get the Dimensional Pocket ability to show up. My apartment isn¡¯t expensive after all, I don¡¯t need much to maintain it. If I¡¯m available more often, I can take more contracts for summoning and hopefully get something to unlock that I can use to earn money. Maybe I can work some financial compensation into missions or something once I have Dimensional Pocket.¡±

    The two daemon¡¯s shared a look that was unreadable even without the alien features. Cerebaton¡¯s yellow eyes, the only part he didn¡¯t change for his disguise, met with Cariad¡¯s sea-green ones and it felt like an entire conversation passed between the two of them. After a moment Cariad nodded and Cerebaton shrugged.

    ¡°You know that there is no way to know if or when the System will open a power to you, right?¡± Cerebaton said at last, reluctance in his posture as he leaned on the practice sword like it was a cane.

    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    ¡°I know. It¡¯s a gamble I feel like I have to take because the odds of me finding another job that has reliable days off for the girls is very small. Heck. Finding another job will be challenging, period. But I¡¯ll figure it out. Worst case I suppose I can get a part-time job or something doing nights like janitorial.¡± I sighed and shook myself. ¡°I have some time. So I¡¯ll worry about it after I get back from the long trip next week.¡±

    The two daemons shared another look and Cariad flexed her eyebrows up at Cerebaton who sighed gustily and waved one hand dismissively though he was looking decidedly irritated now. Cariad nodded before turning back to me with a sad smile.

    ¡°What?¡± I asked, knowing that more went on in that simple exchange than I¡¯d picked up.

    ¡°While it isn¡¯t encouraged, there is an option to trade SP for local currency as well. You remember that, right?¡± Cariad said gently.

    ¡°Yup. I also remember being told it was a bad idea.¡±

    ¡°It is a bad idea,¡± Cerebaton growled, breaking in. ¡°You are stealing from your future power for something as base as money.¡±

    ¡°Sir!¡± Cariad¡¯s voice was surprisingly stern and both of us stared at her in surprise. Now that she had both of our attention again, she continued in a calmer tone. ¡°Mr. Cerebaton, it is very insensitive to harp on such a thing while you have a job currently. You¡¯ve made your stance known already. I¡¯m sure that, if Liam were to make use of the service, it would only be an emergency measure. Frankly, I¡¯m glad he quit that job and it is entirely likely he will have better options coming up soon. We should not judge him for his choices without taking everything into account. Ultimately, it is his choice after all.¡±

    Cerebaton looked like he¡¯d taken a bite out of a particularly sour lemon but nodded in agreement to his underling¡¯s statement. The big man sighed again and shook his head slowly.

    ¡°You are right, Ms. Davies. I apologize for my tone, Liam. It is unfair to judge from a privileged position.¡± He turned his piercing, yellow gaze back to me. ¡°Remember that any points that are cashed out aren¡¯t counted towards unlocking powers. I trust you won¡¯t rely on it too much?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d rather do summoning work than do a day job, but I also don¡¯t want to hamstring my future either. I¡¯ll keep it in mind.¡±

    While I talked to Cerebaton, Cariad was making some notes on the legal pad she kept with her before tearing off a sheet and tossing it into the air behind her, where it vanished into a cloud of black smoke.

    ¡°There. The exchange will be activated in your interface shortly, Liam. Remember that it is a one-way trade. You cannot spend currency to acquire SP,¡± Cariad said when that was finished and she had tucked her pen behind her ear once more.

    ¡°I got it, Cari. Don¡¯t worry about it. I appreciate you two taking such an interest in helping me. I¡¯ll keep it as a backup.¡±

    ¡°Anytime, Liam!¡± Cariad chirped happily, a smile lighting up her features. She suddenly blinked several times as a thought crossed her mind as clearly as if a light-bulb had gone off over her head. ¡°Liam. You mentioned before that you had something you wanted to show us? Did you want to do that now?¡±

    I could appreciate that she wanted to change the subject now that the issue was addressed, but it took a minute to remember what she was talking about. I¡¯d mentioned it to her in our messages previously and it came back after a bit of thought. The events of Monday had distracted me quite a bit and I¡¯d forgotten entirely about the new rank of Shape-Shifting.

    I began to chastise myself mentally again. I had three more days ¡®free¡¯ before the planned long trip with the girls and then I¡¯d need to start getting seriously into looking for a new job. I would need to use those three ¡®free¡¯ days to practice with my new abilities as much as possible.

    Pushing my annoyance aside, I focused on what was in front of me again.

    ¡°I did, actually. Here. Can you hold this?¡± I offered the practice mace to Cariad, who took it delicately and with an angled eyebrow. Cerebaton leaned against the rail next to her while I strode back to the center of the gazebo we practiced in. It took a moment to center myself, but a second later both my arms shifted and extended.

    Getting the hang of applying the ¡®tail¡¯ morph to both limbs had been rough at first. It took a bit to find the best balance between strength, speed, and range that wouldn¡¯t just tip me over due to the shifting balance while the limb swung out in front of me. The bladed ¡®spike¡¯ at the end of the tail was only a foot long, but the segmented tail gave me a good four feet of reach now. I wove the limbs back and forth in front of me while both daemons looked on in surprise.

    Cerebaton was the first to react, letting out a surprised whistle while he watched the limbs move.

    ¡°Finally thinking outside the box then. Good to see!¡± he said with a widening grin. ¡°How much practice have you got with these?¡±

    ¡°I first came up with it on Sunday during the fight with the wolves. To be honest, it was part of what drove me to quit. I have this power and I¡¯m still loading trucks? I don¡¯t know how I could use it to earn money, at least not at the moment, but I feel like I should be able to find something better than that.¡± I wove the two segmented limbs together before lashing out with one playfully at Cerebaton. The big man slapped it aside with the flat of his blade before he advanced with his sword at the ready.

    ¡°Blunt them. I want to see what you can do. Treat the blades like short swords. How hard are the shells?¡± he ordered with a cool look, swapping his sword back and forth before moving to parry one of the ¡®talons¡¯ and bat the limb away.

    The blow was firm enough that it threw the flexible limb out wide and I had to shift my balance to bring it back in for another strike. I¡¯d already blunted the edges and tips, ensuring that they wouldn¡¯t cut the big man if I was lucky enough to get in a blow that would actually hit him.

    ¡°Amazing,¡± Cariad murmured from her perch on the railing. ¡°I saw a notice that you unlocked a new power as well on your file, but I figured it was a secondary effect or something else. You didn¡¯t ask me about it, so I figured it couldn¡¯t be something big.¡±

    ¡°Nope,¡± I grunted, sending one tail high and one low at Cerebaton. He parried the high strike and leapt over the lower one, letting the blunt tip of the lower tail scrape over the wood of the gazebo. ¡°Shape-Shifting (Moderate), earned it as part of this last weekend.¡± Cerebaton whistled again in amusement this time.

    ¡°Moving quickly. Faster than I had expected.¡±

    ¡°Was told by one of the girls that I¡¯d been ignoring something. That I was pigeon-holing myself into creatures from this world. Must have given me a boost to Mastery, enough to unlock the next rank.¡±

    ¡°Indeed. The skill only states that it has a limitation of different types of creature. This is what, two different ones combined?¡± Cerebaton¡¯s counter caught the joint of my right tail/arm and the blow hurt, telling me the joints were the obvious weakness and that likely would have cut the limb off if it hadn¡¯t been a practice weapon. Following our normal pattern, I let the limb fall limp to signify the ¡®injury¡¯ and he nodded.

    ¡°Two, yes. A scorpion and something else. A creature from science fiction that I am familiar with.¡± The daemon quirked one blond eyebrow at me in question. ¡°I figure if there are that many dimensions out there, it¡¯s likely that anything we¡¯ve thought of as fiction probably exists.¡±

    ¡°A fair summary. Experiment and see what you can make work. Have you tried adding additional limbs?¡±

    ¡°I did try an actual tail for a bit on Sunday. Was weird, but doable.¡±

    ¡°Good to know. Paws, wings, and tails are things that you are not familiar with but should still practice for now. But what about adding say¡­a second set of arms? Having four arms would allow for further flexibility, tactically, and prepare you for controlling odder limbs.¡±

    I blinked in surprise and was abruptly reminded of a comic I¡¯d seen in passing from Jameson of a character from a tabletop game: A multi-class druid and gunslinger combination that was nicknamed the ¡®Glocktopus¡¯. I had to smother a laugh and Cerebaton brought me back to the sparring with a sharp blow to the left tail/arm that also was a disabling blow. He surged forward then and tapped the blade to my gut to end the match.

    ¡°I can see from your face that you have not. You should consider them as well. You are not bound to the form you currently inhabit. You can change a great deal with what is available to you. But, you may not be familiar with it. Work on expanding your options. The last thing you need is to have to reach for something in a moment of panic and not know how to use it properly. My own skill is at the moderate rank so I know what you have to work with after all.¡±

    ¡°Moderate lets you do this?¡± I gestured to Cerebaton¡¯s human guise with one waving tail/arm while we reset for another match and he nodded.

    ¡°It says that ¡®half forms¡¯ are available. But it never states what half you have to use. My internals make up most of my mass after all and I did not shift them. I simply shifted my externals to look this way and removed some mass to shrink in size.¡± Cerebaton gestured to his muscled frame. ¡°Think about it, Liam. You have a lot of wiggle room to work with. You complained earlier about not being able to use your Shape-Shifting to earn a living. Think about what you could do by assuming other¡¯s shapes alone, not counting what else you might be able to do.¡±

    My mind immediately went to a familiar, blue-skinned shape-shifter villain from classic comics and her larcenous history. I scowled heavily and pushed the thought away.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to steal.¡±

    ¡°Never said you had to, Liam,¡± Cerebaton countered before lifting his sword. ¡°There are many things you could do for a living that don¡¯t require you to steal. Or at least not to steal from innocents. Think! Your body is moldable clay and you can do what you wish with half your body¡¯s weight in mass. Let your imagination wander. But not now. We have training to do for these new weapons of yours. For now, increase the armor you have on them and try to think about shifting the armor into the joints, or ways you can guard them without losing flexibility.¡±

 Chapter 52

    Settling onto my couch with a sigh, I groaned at how stiff my shoulders and back felt. Cerebaton hadn¡¯t been kidding about needing to get my body used to strange shifts.

    ¡°Would have been nice if he¡¯d warned me a bit more¡­specifically?¡± I grumbled while kneading the irate muscles.

    We had spent the rest of the evening drilling with the bladed tail/arm to get used to it. He¡¯d warned me that I¡¯d be feeling this in the morning, but it hadn¡¯t even taken that long. The walk back from the park was enough that now I was hurting worse than my first swordsmanship lesson. My lower back and shoulders were suffering from the change in mass distribution, having strained themselves supporting the odd limbs they were not used to, moving in ways I was not yet accustomed to.

    As was becoming my habit since walking off my job on Monday, I thumbed the bond-tattoos on my right forearm to check on the girls. Rieka was asleep, I could tell from the peaceful sensation I got touching hers. Kassandra was still awake and mildly irritated, but not angry.

    Concentrating, I tried to get a better feeling of what was happening to my favorite snake woman. All I could get was a general sort of grumbling irritation that reminded me of when I¡¯d been in school and had to stay up late working on homework.

    You got this, Nugget. I thought with a tired smile. Leaning back into the lumpy couch, I wriggled to try and get more comfortable and my back twinged again sharply.

    ¡°Owww. Damn it,¡± I groaned and sat up to rub at the offended muscle again, which caused my shoulder to twinge at the angle. ¡°Fuck it. Shower time.¡±

    I got the notice as I was stepping into the hot spray of my tiny shower.

    Access to Exchange has been enabled.

    Thankfully, I was used to the fluorescent words popping up without warning and it didn¡¯t make me stumble. Once I was situated under the hot spray and the water was beating down on my sore back, I leaned into the wall and closed my eyes to examine the System interface.

    A new tab was showing on the simple layout that appeared when I closed my eyes. Its name, ¡®Exchange¡±, was outlined in sparkling silver until I opened it up to reveal an informational pane and a very simple row interface.

    Welcome Traveler. The Exchange is a straightforward service offered to allow for transferring System Points out of the System interface and into physical currency.

    You can utilize any currency that you have previously encountered, though unless you have a power such as Dimensional Pocket you will still be unable to transfer the physical currency between realms, so select with care.

    Warning: The Exchange is a one-way transfer. The System does not offer refunds or returns on currency transfers.

    Do you understand and accept?

    Yes/No?

    The fact that the System had a warning attached to it that matched what both Cariad and Cerebaton had told me already was gratifying. Not that I expected to forget anytime soon, but it was nice to have the consistency.

    Selecting the ¡®Yes¡¯ option allowed for the message to clear and gave me access to the actual interface. It was a pretty simple setup. The upper right corner still had my ¡®Current SP¡¯ there, displayed as 270. In the middle of the tab there were two different rows, each labeled with the respective world''s name: Earth and Cortha.

    Huh, so their world is named Cortha? That¡¯s good to know. Didn¡¯t ever get around to asking, I thought while studying the two rows. Both had a drop-down option to select what currency I wanted and then a spot to enter in how many SP I wanted to exchange, a field for what that would translate to, and a button to finalize the transaction.

    Wanting to get an idea for what a single SP was worth, I entered a one in the ¡®to exchange¡¯ field for Earth and then selected United States Dollars from the ¡®to receive¡¯ drop-down. I noted that in ¡®to receive¡¯, I also had the option of pesos and pounds sterling, as I¡¯d handled that kind of money in the past.

    Cariad and Cerebaton had both warned me, but I was dismayed to discover that one SP was only worth $9.72 in dollars. Dropping down to the entry for Cortha, I did the same as before. One SP came out to ¡®three copper coins (no mana)¡¯, with the option of receiving payment in copper, silver, and gold with no option for mana-infused coins.

    ¡°Bad rate is right,¡± I grumbled and opened my eyes long enough to get some shampoo on my hands. It was only then that I realized that I hadn¡¯t returned the shift that gave me my hair and eyebrows back. Instead, I worked the shampoo into a lather in my hands, since it was already out of the bottle, and used that as body soap instead.

    Think about it though. You get about three hundred SP per mission, depending on the mission type. The most recent one you finished was six hundred and fifty SP for a two day mission with the girls, I thought while carefully shuffling in a circle to rinse off.

    The hot water was helping the muscles to not protest too much, but they were already starting to stiffen, even with the heat. Six hundred and fifty SP turned into cash would be¡­make it ten bucks a point to make the math easy. Hm. That¡¯s six and a half thousand dollars. That''s four months of rent, right there. Two and a bit if you include expenses like gas, insurance, groceries, and the credit card. I think the girls said that it was a ten-to-one exchange on the coins, so ten coppers made silver and the like. That¡¯s about twenty gold coins, though they aren¡¯t mana coins. That¡¯s a bit more than the girls earned in the mission, if the ten-to-one ratio still applies for infused coins. I wonder if that¡¯s what they spent on summoning me? I think they mentioned it costing mana silver though¡­

    Resolving to ask the girls about it when I saw them next, I ducked my head back under the spray of water and went back to the interface again. I input twenty points into the Earth exchange rate and saw nearly two hundred dollars appear on the interface.

    That¡¯s a lot closer to two hundred than I had thought. Reeling it back down to one point, I saw that the exchange rate had changed from $9.72/point to $9.93/point. The rate dropped again as I watched it, moving to $9.91/point while I watched it.

    ¡°Great. It¡¯s a fluid market. Is that based on a real-time assessment of the value of a dollar, or something else?¡± I grumbled while trying to roll my shoulder in its socket as I could already feel it stiffening, despite the heat of the shower.

    <><><>

    Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were glorious.

    I¡¯d spent so long working at the dock for the food company that I¡¯d forgotten what a real ¡®day off¡¯ was. Normally, my weekends had been full with either sleeping in to catch up on rest, doing various chores to keep busy and cross things off my ¡®to-do¡¯ list, or giving a hand to folks that asked for it. At least until I¡¯d met the girls.

    Since I¡¯d started working with Kassandra and Rieka, I¡¯d just stopped responding to those requests for things like helping someone that had never returned the favor to me. Now, without a day job to deal with or other obligations, I slept until I wasn¡¯t tired anymore and worked out my Shape-Shifting. And it was glorious.

    I still made sure to use Manipulate Element to practice with my earth magic. But it was meant as a supplement after all, so it got a lot less practice. I also did as Cerebaton ordered and began working with unfamiliar limbs while ensuring all the little tasks around the apartment that I normally put off for the weekends were done, since those weekends were now claimed by the girls.

    While in the safety of my apartment, I let Shape-Shifting play and stretched my limbs out in tendrils or tails with different types of grasping appendages on the end while dusting, scrubbing, or organizing. That had been a suggestion from Cerebaton in a message he sent me on Wednesday. He¡¯d recommended doing it in order to allow my mind to start reaching for the skill unconsciously. I still had to be careful in public so that I didn¡¯t have my arm suddenly extend to grab something out of reach at the store, but it felt like good practice regardless.

    Tracking the exchange rate of SP on my phone became a habit. I¡¯d created a spreadsheet and checked the Exchange option three times a day and recorded the entry there to try and spot patterns. It felt a bit like how I imagined day-trading stock to be, but it was nice to know that the 270 SP I had in the ¡®bank¡¯ currently was enough that I could use it to pay for at least one more month of rent in a pinch. The only pattern I noticed in the rate was that it never really dropped below $9/point, though it varied almost half a dollar back and forth on each check, which I assumed meant it was a volatile market. I¡¯d initially wanted to pour it into a stat increase, but decided to hold back until I got the work situation dealt with.

    I¡¯d just gotten back from a run to the park to continue exercising my Manipulate Element skill late on Friday when a notification flashed across my eyes.

    Kassandra Silverscale has sent a non-urgent request for your presence regarding a desire to spend time with her.

    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    Transit? View summoning?

    Since I was still just dressed in my sweaty shirt and jogging shorts, I quickly shucked out of them. I threw on a pair of clean jeans and a t-shirt before accepting the transfer option.

    The world swirled away from me in a riot of color. While the sensation of movement and gut-churning mess of sights, sounds, and tastes was still jarring, I was beginning to get used to it. Through the chaos, I swore I saw a primeval forest flashing underneath me for a moment. It was full of trees that would have made the redwoods of California look like saplings and I thought I saw a massive bird take wing from one branch. The view was gone before I could really focus my eyes though.

    The landing was softer than I¡¯d expected and I was surrounded by the restrained elegance and warm air of a familiar room.

    ¡°Liam!¡± Kassandra¡¯s welcoming cry being the only warning I needed, since it gave me a vector for the cuddle-attack of my lover.

    Turning slightly to my right, I spotted her sailing through the air at me. Kassandra¡¯s red-and-brown scaled tail uncoiling in the air behind her as the redhead lunged for me.

    Smiling, I opened my arms and spun with the hug/tackle to bleed off its momentum. This helped prevent Kassandra from simply bowling me over due to her much larger mass and had the additional side effect of letting her quickly coil her tail around my hips to help support her weight.

    The dwarf lamia giggled the entire time she trapped me. She rained kisses on my face while snuggling into my arms and making sure her coils were wrapped tightly around me so I couldn¡¯t escape.

    Not that I wanted to, really.

    ¡°Hello Nugget, how¡¯s my mischievous bit of rose-gold?¡± I teased her, using the nickname I¡¯d given the miniature lamia who¡¯d wrapped herself snugly around my heart and didn¡¯t seem willing to let go. The lustrous mane of red curls she sported danced as she burrowed her face into my neck and sighed happily. I could feel the cool weight of her silver-rimmed spectacles against my skin.

    ¡°You smell nice, Liam. Were you working? Did I interrupt you?¡± she asked, her voice muffled by pressing into me.

    ¡°No. Was just out for a run,¡± I said, feeling a guilty twinge all of a sudden at the mention of work.

    Stuffing the guilty sensation down, I squeezed Kassandra tightly enough that she let out a squeaky giggle and kissed my throat. Her arms slid up to wrap around my neck and pull me closer, if that was even possible given how tightly she was already clinging to me.

    ¡°Missed you, Liam,¡± Kassandra cooed happily before leaning back enough that I could actually get a view on what she was wearing.

    Normally, Kassandra dressed in a blouse and skirt combo with a corset over top to support her full breasts. The color and material of her clothes varied depending on the situation, but they usually matched her scales or hair in some manner. Right now though, she was clearly dressed for bed in a long, loose nightie in cream-colored cloth that hung down to just below the curve of her hips and barely worked to hide her sex from view. The material clung softly to her large breasts, leaving a wide slit of her lightly tanned chest exposed to show off the light smattering of freckles there.

    ¡°Not that I¡¯m complaining about coming to visit my favorite redhead. But, what¡¯s up, Kass? I thought you and Rieka wouldn¡¯t be summoning me until tomorrow, unless there was a problem. Is there a problem?¡± I asked after appreciating the view for several long moments, getting a blushing smile from Kassandra as she watched me examine her form.

    ¡°No. There¡¯s no problem. I just wanted to see you and spend some time with you before we left. Didn¡¯t want to torment Rieka too much, since she¡¯s finally opening up to you.¡± Kassandra grinned up at me wickedly, biting her bottom lip slightly with her teeth to be even more mischievous looking. ¡°Hopefully we won¡¯t need to kick her out of the tent for a bit. I¡¯d still prefer to do that than go back to the lake¡­¡±

    ¡°Because you don¡¯t like the cold?¡± I suggested and Kassandra bit her bottom lip lightly and smirked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t mind it when I have you to warm up with, but I¡¯d rather not risk it this time.¡±

    ¡°So this is a booty-call then?¡± I asked with a smirk, kneading her tight bum with the hand that was supporting it. ¡°Better make sure there are no problems first. Did you girls get everything done to prepare for the trip then? Is the dimensional sack all secured?¡±

    ¡°Yep, yep, and yep!¡± Kassandra chirped happily, wriggling in my arms to grind her crotch into the front of my pants. ¡°The only thing left is picking up fresh food supplies on the way out of town and giving the boards at the Hunt and Trade Hall a final check for anything we can pick up out that way. We are going to be gone for the better part of a week for the holiday, so want to make the most of it.¡±

    ¡°No concerns on the budget for summoning me? I don¡¯t mind staying home at night or for a few days if it would make it easier on you two,¡± I said, feeling a twinge of guilt that I might be taxing their funds. The girls needed the mana-infused metals for their classes after all. not just for summoning me. I had been able to ignore it before, but with my own financial situation starting to look rocky, I was beginning to worry more about theirs.

    ¡°Nope! Between the bonus we got for dealing with the crag hunter and the second bit for the partial wolf-pack bounty, Rieka and I are doing just fine for funds, even after the big purchase of the dimensional sack.¡± At her words, I felt a brief surge of irrational jealousy before I squashed it.

    You are getting paid in phenomenal cosmic powers, Liam. Do not be jealous that the girls are getting what they need. Remember the Exchange. In a pinch you can use it to get money, I reminded myself viciously. Kassandra, apparently sensing an opportunity in my distraction, used her arms around my neck to reel me in for a searing kiss that drove money concerns right out of my mind.

    Her nightie rode up as I pulled her grinding hips closer to mine. I got a handful of her toned, bare bottom. Squeezing it gently, Kassandra cooed happily into the kiss and the writhing of her hips got more intense. The arms wrapped around my neck slid down to tug at the bottom of my shirt, peeling it upwards to pull it over my head. The kiss only broke when she had to lean back to finish getting the shirt off of me.

    ¡°I think I¡¯ve allayed your worries about preparations. I¡¯ve missed your touch, your scent, and your warmth, Liam,¡± Kassandra husked in my ear, her warm breath tickling my neck and ear. She nipped the lobe lightly while she tossed my shirt to one side. Her talking about my scent reminded me that I was still covered in sweat after my run and I was about to suggest putting it off so I could bathe, when there came a click from the entrance to her room and the door swung open.

    ¡°Kassandra, I wanted to go over the plan for the week one las¡ª,¡± Rieka¡¯s voice trailed off as she finally looked up after making it several steps into the room and froze.

    The wolf kin woman was dressed in her usual outfit of a blouse and close fitting pants, both in a dark, walnut brown, with a slim white ribbon holding the top of the blouse shut in a simple bow under her slender neck. She had a sheaf of paper in one hand and stood in the open doorway staring at us.

    I could imagine what sort of strange sight we were presenting. Me facing Rieka and half-undressed while Kassandra was clinging tightly to me with her bum exposed and my hand kneading it lightly while her hips continued to wriggle back and forth. Kassandra was looking back over her shoulder at her friend and, from the devilish glint in her eyes, I could tell that my Nugget was about to get up to no good. Which, while bad, was not as bad as she might have been if it had been anyone else interrupting her and me.

    ¡°I¡­I¡¯m sorry!¡± Rieka stammered, flushing brilliantly and starting to back towards the door. ¡°I didn¡¯t realize you were occupied, Kass. Your door was unlocked so I figured you weren¡¯t busy. I¡¯m sorry for interrupting. Hello, Liam. Goodbye, Liam!¡± Rieka made to dart back towards the doorway when Kassandra called out to her.

    ¡°Rieka!¡± The wolf-eared woman froze, halfway out the door. ¡°Shut the door and come in. You are already here and so is Liam. We might as well go over the plans.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t¡­it¡¯s not necessary right now, Kass! I was just anxious about making sure we had everything planned out before summoning Liam.¡± Rieka refused to turn to look back at us, but Kassandra would not be denied.

    ¡°Then shut the door and come sit down so we can talk it through. I don¡¯t mind forgoing some of my private time with him to plan things out a bit more.¡± Kassandra¡¯s voice was sultry and I had a feeling that this was going to be more about teasing Rieka than planning. I didn¡¯t protest though. Kassandra continued to slowly grind her hips into the erection still trapped in my pants.

    ¡°Liam?¡± Rieka apparently had decided to change tactics and appeal to me instead.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, Rieka. Let''s get this knocked out so you can relax and get a good night''s sleep.¡± I was rather proud of the fact that my voice didn¡¯t shake as Kassandra continued to stimulate me. She¡¯d started scraping her nails down my back lightly and it felt so good.

    Unable to rally a good enough argument, Rieka did as she was asked. She closed and locked the door before proceeding over to sit on the love-seat by the crackling fire.

    ¡°Go sit next to her.¡± Kassandra whispered in my ear before nipping the outer edge of it lightly and giggling. She then unwound herself from me and dropped to the ground.

    ¡°My shirt?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°It¡¯s mine now. Go sit down.¡± Kassandra ordered imperiously and slithered quickly to the small tea-service she had in the corner by the fire to prepare cups while still carrying my stolen shirt in her hand.

    I did my best to adjust my erection in my jeans to make it as unobtrusive as possible before settling onto the seat next to Rieka. I was so concerned about not showing off the tent in my pants to the attractive, platinum-blonde woman that I didn¡¯t have the emotional bandwidth left to be self conscious about my lack of shirt.

    ¡°Rieka, how has your week gone?¡± I said into the awkward silence, shifting slightly to angle towards her. Rieka was stiff in her posture, but she turned her bright, icy-blue eyes to take me in. I noted that they widened further at my bare chest and a blush dusted her cheeks.

    ¡°Good, Liam. You?¡± she said, her voice strained.

    ¡°Productive.¡±

    ¡°That is good. We got everything done as far as preparing for next week.¡± Rieka seemed determined to find something to talk about.

    ¡°Oh? That is good. I¡¯ve been doing a lot of practicing with my new ability, so if anything dangerous happens to show up then we will be as safe as I can make it,¡± I reassured her. The wolf-eared woman¡¯s nervousness was obvious to see and it actually helped me push away the shredded remains of my own self-consciousness.

    When I¡¯d first met the girls, I¡¯d been carrying a bit of a spare tire around my middle despite having quite a bit of muscle from work. Between the extra training and having a desire to lose the weight, I¡¯d trimmed down a fair bit and could see the beginnings of a six-pack in my abs again. It definitely helped my confidence that Rieka kept stealing glances at it and the handful of scars I had on my chest, both from rough encounters when I was younger and from fights I¡¯d gotten into since coming to Cortha that first time accidentally.

    ¡°That¡¯s great to hear, Liam. I know you will do all you can to look after us.¡± Rieka gave me a genuine smile that was made even cuter by how her pointed ears arched upwards before flopping down again to either side. She was slowly relaxing as we sat there longer, her posture slowly relaxing. Rieka had draped her fluffy tail around her right side and it sat between us like a low, cloudy barrier that bounced occasionally.

    ¡°Tea¡¯s ready!¡± Kassandra interrupted the quiet moment by shoving an elegant porcelain cup into Rieka¡¯s hands before sliding up and into my lap with her own cup in hand.

    Kassandra let her serpentine tail sprawl out in front of the love-seat while she wiggled into my lap so that she was tucked into my right side and faced towards Rieka. She hadn¡¯t bothered to change out of her nightie, instead just making herself comfortable in the sheer outfit.

    I was partially thankful for Kassandra¡¯s decision to settle herself where she did. With her firm bottom on top of it, I knew that my erection was at least out of sight. I regretted it just a bit though. Each little wiggle of the redheaded, dwarf lamia was further torture.

    ¡°Thank you, Kass,¡± Rieka said politely, blushing a little more as she watched Kassandra wriggle until she was comfortable. The dwarf lamia also used the opportunity to push her backside against the arm of the love-seat and lever me closer to the, once more nervous, wolf kin woman. This ended up with Rieka nearly pressed to my side and her tail trapped between us.

    ¡°You are welcome, Rieka!¡± Kassandra chirped happily, a broad grin creasing her face as she shifted to press me further against her friend. ¡°Enjoy it,¡± she added and from the tone it was very obvious she didn¡¯t mean just the tea.

    ¡°Sorry about this.¡± I murmured to Rieka, causing one of her pointed ears to twitch and she gave me a wry smile while still blushing.

    ¡°I¡¯m not,¡± Rieka said quietly and her blush darkened. ¡°Sorry that is.¡±

 Chapter 53

    We spent around an hour talking before Rieka made her farewells and escaped once more. Kassandra had spent most of the hour either teasing her friend or doing what she could to press us closer together. The entire time she also continued to keep me at attention underneath her firm butt.

    As soon as Rieka had made her escape though, Kassandra had proceeded to pick up where we¡¯d been before being interrupted. She worked to ensure that I had no hard feelings left before falling asleep on top of me in a sprawl of coils on top of her bed.

    I fell asleep as well, pinned by the loving weight of my dwarf lamia. I only woke up when the mana for the summon ran out and I was returned home.

    Since I hadn¡¯t bothered to get dressed before falling asleep, I was entirely naked when I arrived back. Thankfully, I¡¯d been in my apartment before getting summoned, so it wasn¡¯t as awkward as it might have been in the past.

    I hadn¡¯t set an alarm for the past week, wanting to rest as much as possible. However, my body had still managed to get me up at the same time I usually did without it. Work had enforced a habit on my system that would take longer than a week to break it seemed.

    Apparently all I¡¯d needed was Kassandra to wear me out enough that I would have slept in. However, I had set an alarm to make sure I was up and ready for the girls and the alarm woke me from a deep sleep.

    Making sure that I was showered and ready, I was in the middle of considering if I had time for breakfast when the notification I¡¯d been waiting for the whole week arrived.

    Kassandra Silverscale and Rieka Coldeye have sent a non-urgent request for your presence regarding an extended protection contract.

    Transit? View summoning?

    Slamming the refrigerator closed, I made sure my cell phone was on the counter and plugged into its charger. I¡¯d updated my message on it to say I was camping and out of cell service, just in case Jameson called me. WIth that confirmed, I selected ¡®Transit¡¯.

    As the world swirled away from me, I realized that it had been some time since I¡¯d bothered using the ¡®View Summoning¡¯ option. I always just went whenever the girls called me. I had to wonder if I would come to regret doing that.

    No. As long as I take half a moment to look when it¡¯s an urgent summon, I think I¡¯ll be fine. Need to see what situation I¡¯m landing in then. I thought while reality and chaos ripped past me.

    For half of a moment, I saw a jungle clearing full of strange plants and massive, simian creatures with distended shoulders and tiny legs. Before I could really focus on them, I was pulled onwards and back into the maelstrom of colors.

    Landing in the grass, I quickly checked my surroundings to confirm my exact location.

    I was standing near the curtain wall of the Juneau campus, on the inside edge of the wall. I could see the stone shapes of the dorm buildings a short distance away and the path that led from there to the gate in the wall ran right beside me. Above me, I could hear the quiet clank of the guards walking back and forth on top of the wall. The sun was just beginning to rise high enough to paint the land in light and color, staining the sky a brilliant pink and soft orange while digging shadows out of the cracks of the wall and from behind the blades of grass underfoot.

    Kassandra and Rieka were waiting for me in the shadow of the wall. For the first time in a long time, Kassandra didn¡¯t throw herself at me in greeting.

    Instead, she just slithered over and proceeded to wrap her serpentine coils around me while trying to burrow under my shirt.

    Kassandra was dressed in her normal skirt, blouse, and corset combination. This time the skirt was a charcoal color while her top was a soft gray under the faun of her corset. She even had a short half-cape wrapped around her shoulders for warmth, though that didn¡¯t do anything to help her hands, unfortunately for me.

    ¡°Cooooold. Liam, warm me up?¡± Kassandra begged in a petulant tone. Her hands felt like little blocks of ice as she pressed them to my chest. I had to bite back the urge to yelp in surprise.

    Gathering the cold-blooded woman closer, I let her snuggle into me while the muscles of her lower half gently squeezed me in a warm, rhythmic hug.

    ¡°Good morning, Liam,¡± Rieka murmured quietly, following after her friend with a roll of her eyes. Kassandra made some quiet, grumbly noises before burying her face in my neck further. Her mass of red curls covered my face and I had to spit a few out before I could respond to Rieka¡¯s greeting.

    ¡°I guess she¡¯s colder than normal right now?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Sort of. I think she¡¯s playing it up some. Apparently, she didn¡¯t get enough sleep last night because she¡¯d spent all her energy on a distraction,¡± Rieka teased. She reached out and pinched Kassandra¡¯s bum lightly, making the dwarf lamia jump with an ¡®eep¡¯ noise.

    ¡°In her defense, I am at least partially to blame for that.¡± I laughed, shifting my grip to better support my serpentine lover.

    ¡°I don¡¯t blame you. She¡¯s the one who chose to summon you the night before our trip.¡± Rieka grinned up at me, her black-tipped, white-furred ears flicking merrily while her fluffy tail, also with a darkened tip, stirred lightly.

    Rieka was dressed in a pale-blue blouse that sat open at the neck for once, she had forgone her usual ribbon at the throat, and light-gray riding pants tucked into tall boots. Rieka also wore a cloak of dark-blue fabric at her shoulders that hung down over her pack and fell to her knees.

    Both Rieka and Kassandra still wore their smaller ¡®day packs¡¯ on their back, which I remembered had things like medical supplies and basic items they might need regularly. They also had their customary spell-rod¡¯s in holsters at their hips and pouches of various things they might need on their belts. Kassandra had her knife on her belt, while Rieka¡¯s bow was strapped to her day pack.

    ¡°Stop picking on me¡­,¡± whined Kassandra petulantly. She twisted in her snuggle to glare under my chin at Rieka. The fourth princess responded maturely with a quiet raspberry that sent both of them off in giggles.

    ¡°Are we ready to head out?¡± I asked once the giggles had calmed some.

    ¡°Yes. Just need to stop in town to pick up perishables. I got everything else secured during the week,¡± Rieka said. The wolf-eared woman patted the large, leather, messenger-pouch on her hip with a smile.

    ¡°And my armor?¡± I asked, gently scratching the top of Kassandra¡¯s spine with the hand I slipped under her cloak. The gesture made her groan happily and snuggle against me more firmly.

    ¡°In here. I was just waiting for the cuddle monster to release you,¡± Rieka laughed and pointed to the pouch again. ¡°Since you¡¯ve never experienced a dimensional container before, I wanted to give you a chance to fish it out and see what they were like.¡±

    ¡°Fiiine. Go diving into Rieka¡¯s bag. But I want hot cider when we get to town,¡± Kassandra groused before releasing her coils and delicately lowering herself to the ground once more. She made a big show of shivering and rubbing her arms like she was extremely cold already, which was amusing given the relative warmth of the morning as far as I could detect.

    ¡°I hope ¡®purse rules¡¯ don¡¯t apply.¡± I muttered when Rieka held the large, flat pouch to me and flipped the top open. I was still surprised at how much it looked like a laptop bag or courier pouch. The magical object even hung flat, like it was empty.

    ¡°Purse rules?¡± Rieka asked in confusion, one ear falling down while the other standing upright in confusion.

    ¡°A thing from back home. Some men swear that women booby-trap their purses or have some kind of eldritch spell on them to contain everything they have stored inside. I know several guys who absolutely refuse to delve into their girlfriend¡¯s purses, even with permission.¡± I explained while bending to look into the pouch.

    This move put me close enough to Rieka that I could smell the sweet, herbal scent of her soap and the faintest hint of ozone from the spell rod at her side.

    My mind drifted over the idea of burying my face in her soft hair for a moment to try and track down exactly what herbs were giving it that sweet scent, but I stopped myself. Shaking off the distraction of the smell, I caught a small smirk from Rieka at my explanation before looking into the pouch.

    The view actually gave me a bit of vertigo. The opening of the pouch was barely eighteen inches across and fell open about six inches naturally, but I swore I was looking down on the bed of a large trailer that was about two feet deep by nine long and around five across. The ¡®trailer-bed¡¯ was barely a fourth full with a collection of camping supplies and other necessities.

    The girls had included far more clothes than before, as well as a stack of nicer pillows and more bedding. I could see the tent rolled up and stuffed into a cauldron that I bet was for bathing in one corner of the storage space. A wooden crate beside the cauldron was full of books, paper, ink, quills, and charcoal sticks for writing while I spotted several more quivers of arrows for Rieka¡¯s bow in the mix. Any area that wasn¡¯t covered by items had the look of the interior of a cedar chest that had been lined in soft leather. My armor and the mace were set to one side in the open space of the storage object and I reached in to fish them out.

    To my view, it felt like I had to reach down a good four feet to get to what I was after. But as soon as my hand dipped into the pouch, I saw it stretch and it took only a moment to grip the leather shoulder of my armor. Pulling the armor out of the mouth of the bag was also bizarre. The bundle of leather and metal was larger than the opening, but it slid through into open air without a problem.

    ¡°How did it fit through that?¡± I asked, staring at the bundle of armor.

    ¡°Knew it! Drinks are on you then, Rieka,¡± Kassandra crowed while Rieka huffed in annoyance.

    ¡°What?¡± I blinked at the two of them in surprise while the formerly slow and shivering Kassandra wiggled happily back and forth, celebrating with plenty of energy now.

    ¡°We bet on what your first question would be in regards to the pouch. I bet that you would ask about the weight. Kass bet that you would want to know how things fit inside. Though her phrasing was a bit cruder.¡± Rieka sighed before stuffing her arm in and extracting my mace and belt.

    ¡°I would assume the weight would have been reduced, if not negligible, given that you are acting as if it weighs nothing,¡± I said. Shifting, I threw the armored jacket over my shoulders and worked to get into it and secure the buckles. The front where I¡¯d been hit with the wolf¡¯s fire-breath was still discolored, but someone had re-dyed it to make it more of a match to the rest of the armor. The damaged spot was supple once more as well. ¡°Is there an issue with the weight?¡± I addressed the last question towards the pouch on Rieka¡¯s hip.

    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    ¡°No. Your assumption is correct,¡± Kassandra interjected. ¡°The contents of the pouch are reduced to a bare fraction of their actual weight. We could probably fill it with boulders and it wouldn¡¯t weigh more than twenty pounds. The volume would become an issue before the weight would.¡±

    ¡°And, to answer your first question, the mouth of the pouch is able to contort reality to engulf objects roughly two to three times the size of the opening. It only works as long as you can get part of it inside the pouch,¡± Rieka explained. The wolf-eared woman¡¯s irritation had already passed. Instead, she was smiling as she talked, and her tail wagged happily.

    ¡°That is really cool. I¡¯m glad that we don¡¯t have to worry about carrying the heavy packs again. I think we can make better time this way for sure,¡± I said while doing up a buckle on the inside of the armor.

    Kassandra helped me with the last of my armor ties before Rieka tossed me the weapon-belt. Getting that secured, I rolled my shoulders to ensure that I was able to move well. It would take a bit of work in the armor to adjust to its weight, but I was confident I¡¯d be able to wield my new tricks without an issue.

    ¡°Rieka. Do you want to do the honors or shall I?¡± Kassandra asked while I was stretching.

    ¡°Hmm. You can do the honors this time and I¡¯ll see what I can come up with to wiggle extra for him. Since you did that duty last time,¡± Rieka replied.

    Their bit of banter confused me for a moment before Kassandra¡¯s next sentence removed that confusion quite deftly. When she used my full name, it made me blink in surprise.

    ¡°Liam Cosgrave. We are heading out on an extended series of collection and hunting missions. We need you to protect and look after the two of us for the next nine days while we are gone.¡± Kassandra recited formally, though her eyes flickered with mischief the entire time.

    A moment later there was a purple flare around the edges of my vision that outlined my mission.

    Assist your contracted companions, Kassandra Silverscale and Rieka Coldeye, with their work for the next nine days. See to their needs and return them safely home.

    Reward - 3100 SP

    I couldn¡¯t suppress the surprised whistle at the payment, which told the girls their attempt had been successful and both grinned broadly in response. I couldn¡¯t help but do the mental calculations based on the going rate in the Exchange for that.

    Rate was sitting at $10.03 per point earlier. Round it to ten for easy math¡­thirty-one thousand dollars for a week''s worth of work. That would definitely allow for rent to be paid without an issue for quite a while. That¡¯s also enough to easily pick up Shape-Shifting (Mass Control) as well as finally pump my stats up. Something to consider.

    Kassandra clearing her throat drew my attention back to my lover. She gestured to Rieka, who began to speak next.

    ¡°Liam Cosgrave. In addition to your duties of protection, I want to interview you for a report I am writing on humans to help Juneau understand them better. Besides that, Kassandra would like you to help her in inspecting the ruins we discovered before and interpreting what we find there.¡± Again, the use of my full name made it feel more¡­official somehow.

    There was a long pause after Rieka finished and then another flare of color. This time the light was a hot pink, rather than the iridescent violet, and two messages appeared.

    Assist your contracted companion, Rieka Coldeye, with her research on humans for her report.

    Reward - 400 SP

    Assist your contracted companion, Kassandra Silverscale, with infiltrating and examining the ruins.

    Reward - 400 SP and ???.

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­new?¡±

    <><><>

    Before we headed to town, I filled the girls in on what the System had sent me for assignments. The fact that the three missions for this weekend would nearly double the amount of SP I¡¯d earned so far was not something to sniff at, but I was also super curious what the mystery reward was that was included in the last one. Cariad had never mentioned anything like that popping up, so either it was going to be something super rare, or something not worth mentioning.

    Kassandra spent most of the trip to Kintos trying to guess what that mystery item could be. Everything from suggestions of explicit favors to a new carriage bounced back and forth from the dwarf lamia¡¯s cute mouth while her energy put paid to the lie that she was chilled from earlier. It had clearly been a ploy to try and cadge more snuggles from me, though it wasn¡¯t as if I was resistant to the idea of giving them.

    When we left Juneau on our way to Kintos, I checked over my shoulder with my eyesight already enhanced to see if anyone was watching us from the inner window that I¡¯d seen movement at previously.

    There was no sign of any watchers, but it was also earlier than we¡¯d gone out last time. Still, I was wary after the events of the last few missions we¡¯d gone on, especially the bandits planning kidnap. So I talked the girls into taking a bit of a circuitous route in order to try and avoid any watching eyes before we headed away from settled lands.

    Once we had the supplies in town and Kassandra had several mugs of hot cider, we exited from the gate opposite the one we wanted before cutting into the fields and circling back around Kintos. It added an extra hour to the walk, but we had time and it quieted the creeping feeling of being watched that I¡¯d had since we left Juneau.

    The dimensional pouch that Rieka was carrying proved to be a huge boon, since it allowed us to store up more than enough simple food as well as a few treats for the trip. The girls also explained that it functioned to slow time inside of it, so any animals we collected while out hunting could simply be stored in the pouch for proper processing when we returned to town.

    The girls discussed the slew of missions that they had picked up over the course of the week for this specifically. Most of them were collection quests for various herbs, mushrooms, and tree-fruits. Another order for vine-ray quills had been snagged as well and a request for a stone bear hide. There were several other standing orders for things that Rieka had memorized but not taken. Things like boulder rabbit hides or spring fox pelts.

    The only one we were uncertain about was the stone bear hide, as all of the other creatures or plants had been seen while we¡¯d been up at the campsite near the ruins. The crag hunter would have likely driven all other predators away, but it had been a few weeks and it was possible something else had moved in. The mountains were apparently rife with stone bears, so Rieka had judged it a worthwhile risk to claim that mission.

    Kassandra did her best to evoke another System mission for me as well. She tapped into her previous idea of ¡®keeping her warm while away from her nest¡¯, but nothing triggered.

    I assumed it would fall under the ¡®see to their needs¡¯ precept from the main mission, but she wanted to try anyway. Kassandra also tried to get it to give me a mission to bathe her, and then tried it for Rieka, but to no avail. From there it got more ridiculous, from amusing and entertaining them to pampering her with a scale-scrub.

    As I had expected, without the heavy packs we made better time. Our party reached the turnoff only an hour after breaking for lunch, despite the delay. There were no ruumo in the sky this time, which was a little disappointing. Seeing the airborne whale was one of the biggest reminders to date that I was not on Earth anymore.

    Though, if I need a reminder, I can just look at the girls. I thought with a smile as we followed the winding stream up into the hills.

    Kassandra had been her exuberant and affectionate self the whole trip, racing ahead slightly before falling back to us and talking a mile a minute. Rieka, on the other hand, had stuck close to me and we had talked quietly over the plans for the trip several times.

    I could tell Rieka was nervous, not only with the amount of time we were going to be away from town but also with the potential of breaching those ruins. The other missions we¡¯d picked up were just in case we got nothing out of the ruins to make the trip worth it. The big goal here was inspecting the cave and the door to see what we might learn from them, as well as what might be valuable inside.

    The conversation topics varied, between classwork and what their classmates were up to, but Rieka would always wind back to the trip itself. The most awkward part was when Rieka mentioned how happy she was that my employer had agreed to give me the time off and I¡¯d winced. I thought I¡¯d concealed the motion well, but she had caught it and pursued the reaction for more information.

    ¡°Liam, what is wrong?¡± Rieka demanded.

    ¡°Ah¡­well¡­,¡± I hedged for a moment before sighing. I¡¯d never been good at lying and I really didn¡¯t want to lie to either of the girls. I only hesitated because I didn¡¯t want them to think less of me, but I knew that was silly. ¡°I quit my job actually.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± both girls chorused in surprise. They came to a stop on the bank of the river that led up to the lake where we had camped before.

    ¡°Why did you do that, Liam?¡± Rieka demanded, her gaze intent.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me sooner?¡± Kassandra whined, her mind clearly on missed ¡®cuddle time¡¯.

    ¡°I quit because I was tired of the abuse from my boss. He tried to play power games by denying my time-off request when he had no authority to. Also, he has been verbally harassing me for a year or more. I¡¯d stuck it out this long because¡­well because I lacked self-confidence.¡± I rubbed at my forehead and stuffed the swell of anger over the whole situation back down again before I continued. ¡°Ever since meeting you two and starting to exercise my new powers that lack of confidence has been changing. It came to a head at the beginning of the week.¡± I sighed explosively before glancing between the two of them. ¡°I know that this might mess things up a bit in the future, but I will still always respond when you two summon me. We just might need to plan things a bit more finely is all.¡±

    Kassandra and Rieka exchanged a look that went right over my head before both of them stepped up and wrapped their arms around me in a tight hug on two separate levels of height.

    Rieka¡¯s arms went around my chest and she buried her face in my shoulder while Kassandra wrapped her arms around my waist and nuzzled into my abdomen.

    I wrapped my arms around both of them in return. The one around Rieka stroked the back of her head and the base of her ears, while the one on Kassandra rubbed her back in slow circles. Deep inside, an urge to be embarrassed tried to rise but the warm comfort of the contact caused that sensation to deflate before it ever reached the surface.

    Neither girl spoke, instead just giving me a tight hug that helped to sooth the ball of worry that had formed in my gut while I was explaining what happened.

    ¡°Good.¡± Rieka was the first to speak and I looked down to find the icy-blue eyes of my kin companion watching me softly. My expression must have conveyed a question because she continued to speak almost immediately. ¡°From what you told us of that job, it was a bad place and was costing you far more than you were being paid.¡±

    ¡°Agreed!¡± Kassandra interjected sharply. She twisted to look up at me as well with her slitted, brown eyes from behind the silver frames of the delicate spectacles she wore. ¡°It really is too bad we can¡¯t afford to bring you here on a more permanent basis, Liam. The amount of mana to do that would be staggering though¡­¡± Kassandra let the sentence trail off thoughtfully and her gaze grew distant.

    ¡°What?¡± I asked, feeling a bit of a chill run down my spine.

    Normally, when Kassandra got that thoughtful look on her face, she either ended up embarrassing the hell out of one of us or causing absolute havoc.

    Rieka shifted to look down at her friend as well, the motion causing the softness of her ears to brush my face. Out of instinct, I pressed a light kiss to the tip of one which made Rieka jump in surprise and look back up at me with wide eyes.

    I was saved from having to explain when Kassandra spoke again.

    ¡°I was just thinking about how we might make something like that work. It wouldn¡¯t be quick though. Liam, you are okay for now though, right? You mentioned you rent your home?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I have the funds for at least the next month or two in my current place. Cari and Cerebaton told me how to exchange the points I earn working for you girls for cash if I need to, but recommended against it. I¡¯m hoping I unlock the power to bring things back and forth so I can somehow work the market. That way, being summoned by you girls can be my full-time job.¡± I smiled down at the two of them and got two bright smiles back in return.

    ¡°I can see why they¡¯d be against that. You wouldn¡¯t be able to use them to grow stronger then.¡± Rieka commented softly. I just shrugged lightly and continued to smile down at them.

    ¡°Worst comes to worst, I can get another job back home. But that is a problem for the future. I¡¯ll start worrying about it when I get back from this mission. For now, we should focus on getting camp set up and planning out the coming week. Okay?¡±

    Both girls nodded and gave me another squeeze before separating once more. Kassandra muttered something about ¡®having an idea to explore¡¯ that she needed to think on as she peeled herself off of me.

    There was only another half-hour of walking at most to get to the chosen campsite and Kassandra led the charge along the river with Rieka falling in beside me while we hiked into the foothills.

    Due to her proximity, Rieka¡¯s tail would occasionally brush against the back of my legs as it wagged back and forth. I wouldn¡¯t have noticed it if it wasn¡¯t for the fact that the bottom half of my armor only fell to mid-thigh and I was only wearing jeans under it. Each time it would bat against me, I¡¯d glance over to check on her and Rieka would blush slightly and look away. Despite her shy expression, her ears were always upright and she would steal glances at me when she thought I wasn¡¯t looking. The generally affectionate vibe she was giving reminded me of the kisses we¡¯d shared previously and I really hoped I wasn¡¯t reading into the situation too much.

    I silently resolved to talk to Kassandra. She¡¯d expressed it before but I wanted to confirm it one last time before I responded to Rieka¡¯s clumsy flirting or not. I really wanted to, but I also respected Rieka too much to lead her on. It was just so cute to have the alternatively shy and brash wolf-woman flirting with me that I couldn¡¯t stop thinking about it.

    A direct answer from Kassandra would lay the last of my concerns on this to rest. I would talk to the perky redhead at the next opportunity.

 Chapter 54

    Arriving at the ridge overlooking the lake, the three of us talked it over and decided to use the same site as we had the last time we were here. While our primary goal here was to inspect the ruins and the damaged fountain/spring, we also didn¡¯t want to camp right on top of either and risk damaging something accidentally.

    Kassandra had taken the time between then and now to design better wardstones for the campsite. The bricks that she had used last time were drafted into duty to form the barrier again. As soon as we got to the location we had camped the last time, she collected the bricks up and had me use my earth magic to smooth them out again. That done, she began quickly carving runes and symbols into them while Rieka took each finished brick and charged them with a few spells of her own.

    After the last week of training and the stress of dealing with Dutcher for the very last time, being surrounded by nature was a wonderful change of pace. The walk up into the foothills had let me shed some of the pressure I¡¯d felt and now it was like I could stand taller with the clear, blue sky hanging over me instead of my apartment ceiling.

    Living in town for so long, I kept forgetting what the scent of nature was too. Now though, I could smell the fresh scent of the trees as the light wind tossed their branches nearby. The water of the nearby lake sparkled brilliantly in the afternoon sun while the light refracted through the spray of the short waterfall that fed the lake.

    ¡°Liam? Can you get the tent set up?¡± Rieka asked me. The words pulled me out of my meditative stare and I nodded to her silently. Rieka¡¯s responding smile lit up her aristocratic features.

    Using a touch of my earth magic to flatten the ground out without disturbing the grass, I got to work assembling the round canvas tent. This being the third time I¡¯d put it together, I was getting quicker with each repetition. I only stopped long enough to flatten and pack the earth around where we¡¯d had our fire before, having forgotten to do that before starting on the tent. With that area, I intentionally had the earth subsume the long grass to leave just packed dirt behind.

    While I sorted the tent out, Rieka got the fire-pit set up and unloaded the other general items. Things like a pair of small, folding stools for her and me and the cookware.

    We didn¡¯t have a stool for Kassandra, as her serpentine body didn¡¯t exactly lend itself to folding furniture. Instead, I expected she¡¯d curl up either against or on top of me. I was glad to see that the stool that Rieka declared was mine looked very sturdy, to be able to support both Kassandra and I¡¯s weight.

    As soon as I got the center pole up to support the top of the tent, Rieka crawled inside to help get the top and bottom laced together and began laying out the bedding, dragging the dimensional pouch with her. I couldn¡¯t blame her for not wanting to let the valuable item out of her sight.

    While Rieka was laying out the bedding I saw the opportunity that I¡¯d been hoping for, but hadn¡¯t expected so soon.

    I quickly staked down the last ropes I needed to support the tent before jogging over to where Kassandra sat in the sun with a brick in one hand and a metal engraving tool in the other.

    ¡°Hey there, love. Can I talk to you for a second?¡± I asked her in a low voice.

    Kassandra looked up at me in surprise. Her slitted, brown eyes blinked at me several times while the sun glimmered on her glasses. A moment later she quickly glanced around the clearing questioningly before turning back to me with a confused look. The motion sent her lustrous mane of red curls bouncing and shimmering in the warm sunlight, bright highlights racing all over the mass. After a moment, the confused look morphed into an amused one.

    ¡°Let me guess. Rieka either finally made a move obvious enough that you couldn¡¯t ignore it, or you wanted to confirm that you aren¡¯t seeing things and that she actually is attracted to you?¡± Kassandra said bluntly and I shushed her with one hand. Setting down her engraving tools and the brick she¡¯d been working on, Kassandra crossed her arms with an expectant smirk.

    ¡°Both? I don¡¯t know, Kass.¡± I blew out a sigh explosively and glanced back to the round tent of white canvas and saw it rustling as Rieka moved back and forth. ¡°She¡¯s been opening up more for a while now and I would have to be a blind idiot to not see that she¡¯s been flirting with me after that kiss. I also want to make doubly sure you are okay--.¡±

    ¡°You are a blind idiot,¡± Kassandra interrupted. The rebuke was softened by her gentle smile when I turned back to her. ¡°But you are our blind idiot, so you are forgiven. Rieka¡¯s had a thing for you just as long as I have. She¡¯s just had to wrestle with the whole ¡®being a princess¡¯ thing while I¡¯m just the daughter of a Viscountess. She¡¯s had expectations of herself that I never bothered with. Expectations that not even her mother laid on her.¡±

    ¡°Not everyone can be as free-spirited as you, dear.¡± I bent down and kissed Kassandra on the lips lightly.

    The angle was difficult, but she chirped happily and wrapped her arms around my neck to haul me into a passionate, tongue kiss. The hands knotted into my shirt told me she wanted to do far more, but she restrained the urge to just the lip-lock. When the kiss finally came to an end, Kassandra nuzzled into my cheek and whispered into my ear.

    ¡°I¡¯m not upset. I don¡¯t plan on trying to lay claim to you exclusively, Liam. I don¡¯t have an arranged marriage that I have to save myself for and I don¡¯t care for one. If you and Rieka start flirting more openly or doing more, it would only make me happier. Rieka is my dear friend and deserves happiness. I also won¡¯t deny that she¡¯s beautiful either. Before you ask, no. We haven¡¯t experimented with each other.¡± Kassandra pulled back slightly so I could stare directly into her slitted eyes. She kissed the side of my nose as she went past before she continued to speak with a devious grin on her soft lips. ¡°Not yet at least! So you have my blessing to chase my friend¡¯s fluffy tail around the glen if that¡¯s what she wants. As long as you don¡¯t hurt her and save some time and love for me.¡±

    ¡°Never,¡± was my fervent response.

    ¡°I know, Liam.¡± Kassandra¡¯s smile was bright and she finally released me to stand upright. ¡°To save you some stress? Trust that Rieka knows the score and will make her expectations plain for you, okay? No need to second guess yourself and hem and haw like you did with me. Let her know you are open to it if you are and trust she will reciprocate.¡±

    ¡°Got it. Thank you, Kass,¡± I murmured and she gave me another kiss and a smile.

    ¡°Now. Go check on Rieka would you? She¡¯s been in the tent for some time and we still have things to do today. I¡¯ll have the wardstones engraved and ready to set up soon. If we finish this quickly, we can take a quick look around the lake and check for any of our targets that are obvious before we get dinner started.¡±

    ¡°As you wish, Kass.¡± I bowed slightly to my redheaded lover.

    Kassandra gave me a saucy wink and let one of her hands drift under the front of my armor to stroke over my crotch just once, before turning her attention back to the brick in her lap. I groaned and turned away, trying to fight the physical reaction to her teasing so it wouldn¡¯t show as easily.

    I was about to leave her to it, but decided that turnabout''s fair play. Stepping away from Kassandra to be out of her direct line of sight, I let her get back into her work for just a moment before bending down once more to press a kiss to the side of her neck. Sucking lightly on her soft skin, I tasted just the hint of sweat there and she moaned, nearly dropping her tools in response. I let the suction go with a light pop, leaving a red mark on her pale skin but not a bruise.

    ¡°You are a tease,¡± Kassandra said, accusingly.

    ¡°Learned from one of the best,¡± I replied, before turning on my heel and heading to the tent.

    Rieka stuck her head out as I approached. Her hair and clothes were slightly disheveled from crawling back and forth in the tent but she was smiling happily as she emerged.

    ¡°All set in there?¡± I asked with a grin and Rieka nodded. ¡°Great. Kass is finishing up the wardstones now. Given our luck the last few weeks, I¡¯d prefer if none of us were alone for long. That way, we can protect each other. Soon as she¡¯s done, we can go and get water from the lake for dinner and washing. Kass suggested we also make a quick scouting check around the lake and the ruins to check for any changes as well.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like a good idea on both accounts,¡± Rieka said. She straightened up and brushed her clothes to get them to lay straight once more.

    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    Rieka missed that she had somehow managed to get a leaf stuck in her loose plait of blonde hair though. It stood out sharply amongst the bright, platinum color of her soft braid. Stepping closer to her, I reached up and plucked the bit of greenery out for her.

    ¡°Thank you, Liam,¡± she said, looking at the offending bit of greenery with a raised eyebrow.

    ¡°Any time, Rieka. Come on, let''s go sit with Kass while she finishes her part.¡± I took a deep breath and drew on the confidence that Kassandra had instilled with her advice just moments earlier before offering Rieka my arm with a slight bow. ¡°May I escort you there, my lady?¡± I asked in what I hoped was a polite, confident tone and wouldn¡¯t come across as mocking instead.

    Rieka stared at my offered arm for a moment, a blush creeping up her cheeks. Her eyes darted to my face, searching for something. She was apparently satisfied with what she found because Rieka took my arm a moment later with a small smile.

    ¡°I would be delighted.¡±

    <><><>

    It only took Kassandra a handful of minutes to get the last of the wardstones carved.

    The perky, dwarf lamia carved the runes then cast spells over the stones to ensure that anything larger than a house-cat crossing the line would set off both an audible alarm and get a dose of deterrent in the form of an electrical shock supplied by Rieka¡¯s magic.

    We set the wardstones up to give us a fair-sized perimeter around the tent and campfire before taking that walk to scout the valley as the sun began to cruise down towards the edge of the horizon.

    Since we didn¡¯t know what we might encounter, we took our gear with us and left just the tent and the general camp supplies behind. The girls were happy to refill the personal water-skins at the lake, though Kassandra begged me to do her¡¯s for her to avoid the chill of the water. I knew that later I would be filling up the large cauldron to warm for bathing water as well, given that all three of us had worked up a sweat getting to the valley. We would be making a trip back though, as the cauldron and kettles were back in the campsite now.

    Our scouting walk showed signs of several different animals returning to the lake to drink. We found fresh tracks for what Rieka believed to be spring foxes that we would try and track in the morning. A quick stop at the spring confirmed that the ruined statue was still there too. I was itching to wade in and see what I could fish out, but both girls talked me out of it.

    The vine rays had returned to the fruit trees where we had hunted them the first time. We stopped long enough to kill and collect enough of the spines for the orders the girls had, since it was a simple process. It only took one spell from Rieka to stun them and I used my Shape-Shifting to change my arms to make bringing them down quick and easy. Kassandra was happy to collect a fair amount of ripe fruit from the trees, mostly apples and an orange fruit that was the size and texture of a plum but smelled sweet. Rieka told me that they were called Ussava.

    ¡°These will make good snacks later. No reason not to hold them in the dimensional pouch,¡± Kassandra had insisted while she piled the fruit in the pouch. Rieka rolled her eyes but smiled at her companion. I was reminded that my serpentine companion had a sweet tooth too.

    Emerging into the clearing with the ruined walls and remains of buildings, I felt a chill run down my spine. Despite knowing that the crag hunter was dead, I still felt uneasy in that ruin-studded field that we¡¯d fought in. I had felt the same way when we¡¯d looked it over one last time before returning from our last mission. Something about the area just gave me chills. That sensation was the other reason I¡¯d advocated to camp on the far side of the lake instead.

    Kassandra¡¯s fascination with the ruins promised that we would be spending a fair amount of time here in the coming days, but from the look of Rieka¡¯s fluffed up tail, she was just as uneasy about this area as I was. Only Kassandra seemed enthused to be back in this area.

    Both girls kept their spell rods in hand while I used Shape-Shifting to armor my left arm and convert the hand into a sharp spike. It was one of the newer shifts I¡¯d been practicing. With it retracted and at ease, the limb looked normal, if oddly covered with a chitinous gauntlet. However, I could extend it nearly twice its length in an instant at need. It wasn¡¯t as flexible as the scorpion-tail morph, but it had more punching power. I also kept my mace loose in my right hand while we wound closer to the open cave that led down into darkness.

    ¡°There¡¯s the crag hunter¡¯s remains.¡± Rieka pointed and I peered into the edge of the trees, spotting where we¡¯d dumped the rest of the carcass after removing the hide. The bones were already mostly picked clean and there wasn¡¯t even a drop of blood anywhere nearby, though I could see a handful of bugs crawling over the stained bones still. Nature was quick to reclaim resources in this area, it seemed.

    ¡°Okay. So let''s duck into the cave and check it out one last time. Just need to make sure that nothing else has decided to take it for a den so we aren¡¯t surprised by something tonight. Then we head back and get dinner going. If we get an early start on it, we can probably knock out most of the gathering missions tomorrow morning. Then we either have the afternoon for Kass to really study the cave or head deeper into the mountains to look for that stone bear. Sound good?¡± The girls nodded their agreement to my question and we proceeded carefully to the depression that concealed the entrance into the cave.

    The last time we¡¯d been here, I had wondered about the layout of the ruins and the presence of the cave and its sealed door. The walls had been so regular in shape and definition and the buildings had been laid out around a flat, winding area not unlike a road.

    In the back of my mind I felt a tickle trying to tell me something, but I was focused on keeping watch for the girls in case something tried to sneak up on us again. The trees were well back along the edge of the clearing or inside the ruined building¡¯s outlines, so the only easy cover came from the tall grass that grew up between buildings.

    Enhancing my sense of smell, I gave the air coming from the burrow a sniff.

    Both girls smelled of sweat, herbs, and a bit of feminine musk that I was beginning to associate with them specifically. Kassandra had the faint scent of something like cinnamon around her, while Rieka smelled most often of sandalwood. Though the wolf-woman¡¯s scent was often covered up with the sharp traces of ozone due to her magic.

    The stink of the crag hunter still hung in the area, but it was fading away and I detected no other obvious smells.

    ¡°Fairly sure the burrow hasn¡¯t been claimed. I¡¯ll go in first. You girls follow right after, okay?¡± Again I got a set of silent nods from them.

    Heading down into the darkness, I carefully navigated the steep slope while ducking under the low roof. I shifted my nose back to normal and instead enhanced my eyes to sharpen my vision. The late afternoon light pouring down the slope into the cave was enough to illuminate the immediate area and gave enough low illumination for me to quickly scan the underground cave.

    The nest of the crag hunter was still off to the left as I came down the slope. The scent had clung the most to that area. The large space yawned away from me, open and uncluttered by anything other than the occasional pile of brown scraps and pooled water in the corners.

    Set into the far wall was the imposing set of iron doors, still sealed shut. Again, I felt the tingling at the back of my neck that made me think this was familiar somehow.

    A stray thought floated through my mind as the girls scrambled down the slope after me, with Rieka taking my right and Kassandra on my left as they reached the bottom.

    If the door was cog shaped, I¡¯d swear this was a bunker from that video game about nuclear fallout.

    The dots connected finally as I looked at the smooth walls and smooth ceiling.

    ¡°This is a parking garage¡­,¡± I breathed in surprise, my words barely traveling far enough to be heard by the girls.

    ¡°What?¡± Kassandra¡¯s sharp question echoed oddly through the tomb-like silence.

    Even though I could hear the distant tweeting of birds and shush of wind from the tunnel behind me, it felt muffled by that sensation of timeless graves. That odd pressure distorted her voice enough that I winced.

    ¡°A parking garage.¡± I struggled for a moment with how to explain. It was remembering Kassandra¡¯s jokes about winning a ¡®brand-new carriage¡¯ earlier that gave me the clue on how to translate it for them. ¡°A carriage house? Where people would store carts, wagons, and carriages?¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± Rieka murmured.

    ¡°Really?¡± questioned Kassandra.

    ¡°I think so. Look at those piles of brown material. I¡¯m pretty sure that''s rust and scrap. I suppose it could have been an underground warehouse too and that''s the remains of shelves or crates after they rotted away, but still,¡± I murmured, continuing to scan for threats. ¡°This really feels like a small parking garage.¡±

    There was nothing else in the darkness. Even when Rieka produced the glowing stone she had used the last time we camped, it just cast everything into sharper definition. With how oddly it was affecting sound right now, it felt like there should be more down here.

    We made a slow lap around the room. Kassandra paused by the cyclopean doorway of shimmering, mana-infused metal. She took the time to inspect the runes for a minute before nodding decisively.

    ¡°Think you can disable whatever is protecting the door?¡± Rieka asked her serpentine friend.

    ¡°Yes. I¡¯m positive about it now. These runes are old, but the meanings are familiar. I can make something tonight to break the flow and let us open the doors.¡± Kassandra shot me an odd look before turning back to Rieka. ¡°I¡¯ve seen these runes in a few historical texts. I was pretty sure before, but I am one hundred percent sure now that I checked them again.¡±

    ¡°Sure of what?¡± I asked. Rather than answer, Kassandra motioned for us to keep moving and follow her out. She led the way back up the ramp and into the open air once more in silence. The tweeting of the birds and stirring of wind returned to its normal volume as we gathered in the sunlight outside the low cave.

    Kassandra stretched her arms over her head and her tail out straight like she was working the kinks out of her back after a long sleep. Rieka and I waited patiently until the redhead turned to look back at us.

    The dipping sun sent shimmering sparks across Kassandra¡¯s scales and through her hair while she stared up at us for a long moment before gesturing down into the hole. She spoke evenly, but the excitement was clear in her voice.

    ¡°I know for a fact that this is a human ruin. And I think Liam is right. I bet this was either a delivery point for a larger complex or a place to store carriages. I don¡¯t think we are going to find just a lord¡¯s vault down there.¡±

 Chapter 55

    While neither Rieka nor I were surprised at Kassandra¡¯s revelation, it was the reason we were here after all, the blunt statement occupied our thoughts throughout the hike back to camp.

    Kassandra had set the password to get past the wards as my last name once more, something she was sure was a secret to the locals save for the two of them. We collected the pots from the camp before doubling back to the lake to get water before trooping back up to the tent. Rieka and Kass carried the cooking pot and tea-kettle, respectively, while I lugged the cauldron behind them.

    The girls spent part of that walk whispering back and forth between each other. I was curious, but chose not to pry into their conversation.

    Kassandra immediately dove into her notes from our previous trip while Rieka and I got the fire going and prepared dinner.

    Hot soup with fresh bread we¡¯d bought in town made for a good, if simple, meal. Kass spent most of the meal writing in her notebook and mumbling to herself distractedly. Enough so that we had to remind her to stop and eat while her food was warm.

    Rieka and I planned out the next morning. I wanted to get the annoying parts out of the way to ensure the girls broke even on the trip at the very least. While we talked, Kassandra continued to scribble in a leather-bound notebook, muttering to herself the entire time. Even when reminded to eat, she continued to mumble thoughtfully and kept stopping to change something in her notes.

    The three of us took turns using the hot water from the cauldron, which had been heating slowly while we prepared and ate dinner, and a bit of cloth to wipe off the dust of the day. The opportunity to tease me was what got Kassandra to put away her notebook finally.

    I gave the girls space by going to the other side of the tent while they washed, to the amused smiles of both girls. Neither one bothered to leave when I stripped down to wipe off. Kassandra watched me with a hungry look to her eyes while Rieka tried to be more subtle by sneaking glances while her tail bounced slowly behind her. I would have been self conscious, but all the work I¡¯d put in to get into proper shape once more helped a lot.

    When we¡¯d all finished eating and gotten cleaned up, the girls and I piled into the tent as the sun vanished behind the mountains above us.

    I was surprised again by the fact that Rieka hadn¡¯t insisted on a second tent this trip, since we had the space for it in the dimensional pouch finally. I was even more surprised when Rieka changed into her nightclothes right in front of me while Kassandra was digging her own out of the bag.

    I averted my eyes from Rieka as best I could, but I didn¡¯t miss the flash of white panties and her dark nipples against her lightly-tanned skin just before Rieka tugged on a soft, knee-length tunic in a light blue.

    Kassandra found her night-clothes and then slithered over to the entrance of the tent with them and her spell rod. While Kassandra made the gestures with her spell rod to power up the wards for the night, Rieka guided me to the bedding without looking me in the eye.

    She had laid out all three of our bedrolls next to each other. I¡¯d expected Kassandra to snuggle me for warmth like the last time, but was surprised Rieka tugged me down onto the pile of blankets before tucking herself into the crook of my shoulder. Apparently, she had decided she was going to be using me as a pillow with her back against my side.

    I¡¯d shifted my eyes to be better able to see in the dark as soon as the sun had gone down while we cleaned up from dinner. That shift was still in place when Rieka had pushed herself into the position tucked into my side. This meant I could see the dark blush on her cheeks as well as feel the warmth of it when she snuggled into my shoulder. She was tense at first, but the wolf-eared woman began to relax when I just squeezed her closer with the arm she¡¯d wrapped around herself.

    ¡°Sleep well, Rieka,¡± I whispered under the noise of Kassandra changing into her own nightclothes, doing my best not to stare at the expanse of pale flesh that the dwarf lamia was displaying only feet away. Kassandra was smirking down at me the entire time, clearly aware of how much I was appreciating the view.

    ¡°You do the same, Liam. We are going to be busy tomorrow.¡± Rieka¡¯s voice was slightly nervous, but she gave a quiet, happy sigh when I squeezed her a second time.

    Kassandra chose that moment to slither over, bundling her mass of red curls back in a loose braid held with a leather tie.

    As I watched my lover get ready for sleep, I couldn¡¯t help but notice that she was wearing something familiar. I¡¯d missed it at first, between being distracted reassuring Rieka and trying not to stare at Kassandra¡¯s soft body. What she had chosen as a nightshirt normally wouldn¡¯t have been anything especially sexy by itself. However, the fact she was wearing the shirt I¡¯d left behind by accident like a dress, and the small woman was absolutely swimming in it, was surprisingly hot.

    A woman wearing a man¡¯s shirt is like a flag on a conquered fortress, or something like that, I thought with a smirk. I doubt I¡¯ll ever fully conquer that minx, but it¡¯s fun to try.

    ¡°Kass?¡± I asked and she shot me a devilish grin before her amused eyes bounced from my face to Rieka¡¯s in the near total darkness of the tent.

    ¡°What is it, Liam?¡± Kassandra responded with a sweet smile from where she sat at the base of the pile of blankets. She didn¡¯t wait for a response before diving under the bottom of the blankets and burrowing up alongside me.

    A moment later, her head popped out beside mine and she claimed my other shoulder, but facing me instead of looking away.

    I considered my next words for a moment before giving a mental shrug. I wrapped my free arm around Kassandra to pull her tight to my side so I could press a kiss to the tip of her button nose. Kassandra let out a happy ¡®eep¡¯ noise before giggling quietly at the squeeze of the hug while I spoke.

    ¡°You look good in my shirt. Better without it, but you look good in it,¡± I whispered into her hair before sharing an actual goodnight kiss.

    <><><>

    ¡°I don¡¯t want us to separate. It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t trust either of you to be able to take care of yourselves, but I am here to protect both of you. I can¡¯t do that if you split up,¡± I grumbled while the three of us tromped through the early morning towards the lake.

    I had slept well the previous night, something I was thankful for since I wouldn¡¯t have been able to do anything to change that if it hadn¡¯t happened naturally. Rieka ended up wrapped around the arm she had claimed like it was a stuffed animal or a pillow, while Kassandra wrapped herself around the rest of me in her bid to steal all of my body heat.

    ¡°I know, Liam. But if any of us are going to be safe somewhere, it would be Kass while she¡¯s setting up the ritual to break the enchantment on the door,¡± Rieka cajoled. ¡°She can set up a basic ward-line on the cave mouth to warn her if anything comes along. But it is going to take hours to actually set the ritual up, as she has to carve it into the walls and floor.¡±

    ¡°Rieka is right, Liam. Of the two of us, I will have the easiest time of it. That¡¯s why we are gathering the wardstones from the lake. I can modify and set them up as a barrier just inside the cave. I promise to wait for you two before I actually power up the ritual to unlock the door. I know it¡¯s not perfect, but it is the most efficient use of our time.¡± Kassandra twisted her lithe body to smile reassuringly at me over her shoulder while not slowing down her forward movement.

    ¡°I still don¡¯t like it. Enough things have happened recently that it makes me nervous to have one of you where I cannot look after you.¡± Some would have interpreted my words as domineering and controlling, but thankfully Kassandra knew why I was having trouble. Instead of being offended, she just blew me a kiss.

    We collected the stones from the small section of bank that we¡¯d used to bathe the last time we were here and proceeded up the slope and through the fruit trees to the meadow.

    Rieka blushed the entire time we were on that part of the shore, no doubt remembering the fact that she¡¯d burst in on Kassandra and I while we were enjoying each other¡¯s bodies. She¡¯d thought we were under attack and came to help, to be fair Kassandra had been screaming quite a bit though.

    The wolf-eared woman was still fighting with her shyness, it seemed. She was getting over it though. Rieka had been the one to suggest that she and I head into the nearby forest to finish collecting what we could to satisfy the other requests the girls had gotten. Meanwhile, Kassandra would work with the runic spellwork that was her forte to drain the protective spells off the door in the cave.

    Arriving at the semi-hidden cave, Kassandra took another half an hour to modify the runes on the bricks to produce a deterrent barrier like she did with the camp. Once that was done, she set them up by the former den of the crag hunter in the upper meadow. While she did that, I scouted the interior of the cave intensely to ensure nothing would be trapped inside with her.

    I protested a few more times about leaving her behind, but my bespectacled lover insisted that I go ¡®do something constructive¡¯ with Rieka while she handled the boring part of seeing what was behind the door. She did promise she would evacuate the cave and invert her ward line if the door opened unexpectedly while we were gone.

    Rieka and I agreed to head back to the cave at noon, which would give Kassandra plenty of time to get the array¡¯s set up so we could crack the door.

    When we headed back across the meadow, I continued to idly thumb the bond-tattoos on my forearm. The only sensation I could get from Kassandra¡¯s mark was anticipation and excitement though. The eerie sensation of the meadow and the cave continued to linger in my mind though.

    Rieka was silent as we walked into the trees that backed the meadow, heading back to the edge of the lake to pick up the trail of the spring foxes we¡¯d spotted the previous day.

    At first, the wolf-eared woman acted slightly nervous but I couldn¡¯t figure out why. This wasn¡¯t the first time we¡¯d been alone together. I chalked it up to a changing dynamic between us. Or maybe the fact that we were out in the countryside for once, rather than back in a town or her mother¡¯s castle.

    The silence stretched on long enough that I was beginning to worry that something was really wrong and maybe she¡¯d come to regret snuggling with Kassandra and I the previous night. It had started with just her back tucked to my side, but Rieka had woken up being pressed even more firmly into my side as Kassandra¡¯s long tail had wound around us both in the night. That had made waking up both awkward and difficult, but amusing for Kassandra.

    ¡°Liam?¡± Rieka finally spoke as we picked our way along the lake shore by the waterfall, looking for fresh tracks.

    ¡°Yes, Rieka? What¡¯s up?¡± I did my best to sound at ease. It seemed to work, as she shot me a small smile before continuing.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t make things awkward last night, did I?¡±

    ¡°Awkward how?¡±

    ¡°By curling up with you like that. It occurred to me this morning that I never asked if it was okay¡­,¡± Rieka let the sentence trail off and I glanced over. Her ears had wilted down to either side and her expressive tail was hanging limp behind her. She was the picture of a guilty puppy and it tugged at my heart in a way that was entirely unfair.

    I glanced around quickly to check our surroundings before turning fully to the platinum-blonde and folding her into a hug that she hadn¡¯t expected. Rieka squeaked in surprise and went stiff as a board for a moment before relaxing into the hug and burying her face in my chest. A moment later, her arms threaded around my waist to return the hug.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t make anything awkward, Rieka,¡± I reassured her and she let out a shuddering breath. Rieka spoke a moment later, her voice muffled from where her face was pressed into my chest.

    ¡°Thank you. I worried because you are a good person and I don¡¯t want to take advantage of you. But I see how you interact with Kass and I am a bit¡­jealous of that connection.¡± The last part of the sentence was spoken near a whisper.

    I took a moment to consider my feelings, but nothing had changed. As much as I loved my redheaded trouble-noodle, I could tell a deep affection was forming for the woman in my arms too. Kassandra had warned me that it was coming and I¡¯d had time to come to terms with it. Apparently the little trouble maker knew me well, even with our limited interactions. Rieka wasn¡¯t like Kassandra though, she wasn¡¯t going to throw herself at me. She was too constrained to do something like that. I could only imagine how knotted up Rieka must be feeling, with how she would oscillate between confident and shy alternately around me.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to feel jealous, Rieka,¡± I murmured into her hair, pressing a kiss to her scalp between the pointed tips of her wolf ears. Rieka let out a quiet whine of frustration.

    ¡°But Kass¡ª,¡± she started to say, pushing at my chest lightly to try and back me up some, but I pulled her tighter.

    ¡°Knows and approves.¡± Rieka twitched in my arms. She then pushed harder on my chest. This time I let her push back enough so she could look up at me.

    Her icy-blue eyes were moist and she chewed her bottom lip in concern. Without speaking, she demanded I explain with her eyes.

    ¡°Kass and I have talked a few times. In her words, she doesn¡¯t plan on trying to claim me exclusively.¡± I couldn¡¯t hide the smile as I continued. ¡°I have permission to ¡®chase your fluffy tail around the glen¡¯ if that is what we want. So, if you want to find a closer connection, don¡¯t let worries about hurting her stop you. She¡¯s already told me she isn¡¯t bothered by it. If you have concerns, voice them so we can talk them out. But don¡¯t worry about Kass getting jealous of us. As long as we communicate, things will be fine. Communicate, and trust that one of us will speak up if there is a problem.¡±

    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    Rieka stared up at me for several long seconds while her wilted ears slowly perked back up. A small, reserved smile graced her features a moment later while she worked to show a calm front. The fact her tail was whipping up a storm behind her made the attempt at being calm into a lie almost immediately.

    ¡°Thank you, Liam,¡± Rieka murmured before standing up on tiptoes and pressing her lips to mine in a long, slow kiss.

    A possessive growl formed deep in my throat and I pulled Rieka against me again. I could feel her shivering in my arms as she clung onto me to continue the kiss. Our lips locked and tongues slowly emerged to dance between us while I held the wolf-eared woman to me for several long minutes. As we kissed, Rieka shifted and ground her hips into my thigh. Even through her riding pants and my jeans, I could feel the heat of her core against me and I knew she could feel my own arousal as well.

    While I could likely have shifted somehow to be able to breathe through my ears so I didn¡¯t have to stop kissing Rieka, I didn¡¯t get the chance to.

    Rieka had to come up for air before I did and we separated with a gasp and a pop of lips disconnecting. Rieka leaned into me drunkenly, clinging on for balance and I was happy to cradle her there while she found her feet once more.

    ¡°Thank you, Liam,¡± Rieka repeated, tucking her face into my shoulder. Her tail was furiously wagging still, the fluffy banner making a shushing noise while it caressed the air behind her.

    ¡°Anytime you want, Rieka. Whenever you are ready for more, I¡¯m happy to give it.¡± I brought one hand up to stroke her soft ears and she let out a happy moan. ¡°If all you want is kisses and cuddles, that is fine. If you want more, just tell me. I need you to do this for me, okay? I¡¯m just a guy, and guys are generally oblivious to subtle hints. You don¡¯t have to be as blatant as Kass, she¡¯s unsubtle enough for three girls. Just please, say it plainly to me if you want more? That way I know, for a fact, you are comfortable.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Liam. I can do that.¡± Rieka rubbed her face into my chest a bit more before continuing to speak, her voice muffled again. ¡°Regardless of the line of succession, I am still a princess. So I cannot be as blunt as Kassandra, at least not in public.¡±

    ¡°In public. We aren¡¯t in public right now,¡± I murmured gently into one ear and a shiver ran down Rieka¡¯s body, causing her tail to still for a moment.

    ¡°Exactly,¡± she breathed and the arms around my waist squeezed me tighter. ¡°But for now, I need to talk plainly with Kassandra.¡± Rieka released her grip on me and stepped away when I did the same. A happy smile sat on her lips and she wiped at her moist eyes with delicate fingers. ¡°It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t trust your word, Liam. But Kass and I do need to discuss what we are both comfortable with and where things may lead.¡± I gave her a questioning look but she just shook her head without speaking.

    Deciding to try and dismiss a bit of the tension I could still see in Rieka¡¯s features, I carefully considered my words before I spoke again.

    ¡°Makes sense, you two have to decide how best to share your ¡®pet human¡¯ after all. Just make sure to take me for plenty of walks and keep my water bowl fresh,¡± I teased, getting a surprised laugh from the wolf-eared girl and a slap on the shoulder.

    <><><>

    Rieka and I continued our patrol of the lake. Unfortunately, the spring fox tracks were several days old and we lost them only a few dozen feet into the trees when the ground firmed up.

    Instead, Rieka started teaching me how to properly collect the herbs and mushrooms that were part of the other requests that we would be trying to fill. When the sun began to reach its midpoint overhead, we headed back to the cave where we¡¯d left Kassandra.

    We¡¯d come in from the forest side rather than along the ¡®road¡¯ that came up from the ruined fountain, having to swing higher up the mountain to avoid passing by the crag hunter¡¯s bones.

    The feeling of being out of place was even stronger coming out of the trees and it made the hair on my arms stand up. Tapping the tattoo that marked my bond with Kassandra told me that she was still working happily away.

    ¡°Every time we come back to this field, it makes me feel odd,¡± I muttered as we crossed the open meadow between the remnants of walls and bones of the buildings.

    ¡°I get what you mean,¡± Rieka said gently from her place at my side.

    While we¡¯d been searching through the woods, the wolf-eared princess had slowly but surely edged closer and closer to me. It culminated in her walking with her right arm tucked into the elbow of my left, insisting that my right remain free if something were to jump out and I needed to act.

    ¡°It feels like something is watching, or waiting, for something to happen. There is a sense of anticipation; like we are missing some important sign here. Mother told me about a similar feeling she¡¯d had when visiting an ancient battlefield up along the western border. The land itself felt like it was holding its breath, even though the war was centuries passed.¡± Her voice remained quiet as she explained, as if concerned over waking something best left asleep.

    ¡°You comparing this to an old battlefield is not a reassuring thought, Rieka,¡± I muttered, scanning the trees and the tall grass warily. I felt the woman on my arm wince in response.

    ¡°Yes, probably not the best image to have. Let''s find Kass though. If I know her, she¡¯s either done or mostly so. And likely getting a bit annoyed at the idea of having to wait for us.¡±

    The two of us picked up our pace and hurried over to the entrance to the cave. The only sound I heard was the rustling of the wind in the grass and a quiet moan of shifting tree branches rubbing against each other in the same wind.

    Speaking the password out loud felt weird to me. I¡¯d almost forgotten to, but Rieka yanked me to a stop and insisted before we crossed the line of carefully hidden bricks. There was a quiet pop as the wards powered down and we ducked into the cave.

    Kassandra was working on the far side of the open space, surrounded by glowing, blue glyphs carved into the rock of the wall. She had her graver in her right hand while she held the light-stone in her left.

    The dwarf lamia glanced up when we came sliding down the slope and nodded once, sending a ripple of reflected light through her mane of red curls and a brief flash over her spectacles.

    ¡°How¡¯s it going, Kass?¡± Rieka called without removing her arm from mine as we hurried through the strange hush of the cave.

    ¡°Good, almost got this finished,¡± Kassandra said distractedly. She carefully widened one of the lines she cut into the wall before blowing on the cut lightly to clear the dust out. Kassandra considered it a moment before continuing to speak, her voice thick with amusement. ¡°I don¡¯t need to ask how you did, I can tell that you two had a good time.¡±

    Rieka blushed furiously but didn¡¯t pull away, which I considered a win. Instead, the platinum-blonde towed me over to her friend a little faster and we came to a stop in front of the large, iron door.

    ¡°How much more do you need to do?¡± Rieka asked, finally releasing my arm in order to take the light stone from Kassandra. She held it up for her friend to work.

    ¡°A few more runes in the array, then we are ready to power it up. I¡¯ve been slowly filling the sets with mana as I went¡± Kassandra gestured distractedly at the already glowing runes.

    ¡°I¡¯d meant to ask earlier, but didn¡¯t want to distract you. What is the plan with all of these anyway?¡± I gestured towards the runes.

    While the translation power that the System gave me when I first became a Traveler allowed me to read, speak, and understand any native language of a world I was on or called to, these runes didn¡¯t have clean translations. They embodied concepts, rather than direct words, and it was a bit overwhelming as my brain tried to process multiple meanings at once.

    For example, one rune in particular implied strength, virility, healing, and growth all at once. I wasn¡¯t sure which of the four concepts was the exact definition Kassandra was tapping into with it, as it stood alone without any others attached to it yet.

    ¡°Most of the array is set up to peel back or weaken individual layers of the wards worked into the door itself,¡± Kassandra explained while carefully cutting another angular line to match her first. She blew at an errant strand of hair for a moment before Rieka tucked it behind an ear for her, getting a smile of thanks from the dwarf lamia. ¡°That''s most of the runes on the right side of the door. They aren¡¯t disabling the defenses, simply unfolding them from the door so we can safely open it. I want to study the rune work on both sides of the door when I can do so without destroying them. Normally, the spell runes will wrap from one side of the door to the other, to keep a casual observer from finding how to break the enchantment. There are also likely bits and pieces worked into filigree or disguised as decoration too. Part of why I didn¡¯t try and open it when we found it the first time. I needed to study it.¡±

    ¡°That and we¡¯d just had a bit of a life-or-death battle,¡± I teased. Kassandra chuckled in response before replying.

    ¡°Trust me, Liam. If I could have opened it that day, I would have. Battle or not. My curiosity will not be denied!¡±

    ¡°What about the door itself? I know you girls cast by drawing mana from metal, and the iron of the door has that same shimmer as the iron coins you use. What¡¯s stopping you from just using it to cast a bunch of spells?¡± I stood well back from the girls and watched as Kassandra worked. It was Rieka who answered my question while Kassandra carefully scraped away with the sharp tool.

    ¡°The mana imbued in the door is sealed behind a barrier. That¡¯s part of what Kassandra is doing. She¡¯s disconnecting the protective measures from the power source that is the metal of the door. To actually be able to access the mana in the metal, we¡¯d need to disassemble the door entirely. At least we would if it¡¯s set up like most locked portals that I¡¯m familiar with. The runes that actually seal the metal of the door from outside tapping will be worked on the joints and underside of the inlay.¡±

    ¡°Well damn, there goes that idea.¡± The girls giggled at my response, almost perfectly in tune. The sound echoed oddly in the strangely silent cave. I felt another shiver run down my spine.

    Letting them work without bothering them, I studied the runes and symbols that Kassandra had drawn.

    Now that the girls had given me some context, I could see how the different symbols would work to counteract runes on the door. One that I was able to interpret was a chain of symbols that basically boiled down to ¡®bind, power, target, ground, dissipate¡¯ that led off of a rune circle full of intricate symbols that are all related to electricity and retribution.

    So that basically is to direct any electrical traps on the door to dissipate into the ground. Interesting, I thought while examining the marks. I kind of want to study this more, but it¡¯s not like I can bring back books from here to research while the girls don¡¯t need me. Too bad I can¡¯t just¡­stay here. I¡¯d miss a few people, mostly just Jameson, but would make things so much simpler.

    ¡°There!¡± Kassandra¡¯s declaration broke me from my distracted attempts to understand the runes.

    I glanced over at her to see that she had her spell rod in her hand and was carefully running the tip along the lines she¡¯d carved in the stone. The runes she was working to counter looked to be whatever was holding the door shut. It had runes for ¡®earth, seal, close, and bond¡¯ in the circle on the edge of the door, but Kassandra had carved counters for all the visible ones and several more on top of that.

    ¡°Should we, I don¡¯t know, step back?¡± I asked while Rieka watched her friend empower the construct in fascination.

    Rieka twitched at my words and looked back at me in surprise, as if she hadn¡¯t considered that idea until that moment. Before Rieka could speak though, the last of the symbols finished glowing and there came a loud cracking noise of something breaking.

    All three of us jumped. Rieka and Kassandra jumped back from the door and I lunged towards them.

    Moving on autopilot, I wrapped an arm around each of their waists and spun about to put myself between them and the door as the runic arrays on the door glowed brightly. I wasn¡¯t able to drag the entirety of Kassandra¡¯s length into shelter behind me, but I got most of her despite my back¡¯s protest at her larger mass.

    The light of the runes bathed the entire cave we were in with a multitude of different colored lights as the ones on the door lit up and then the others shone brighter. I was already working my Shape-Shifting to reinforce my back and arms with protection while crushing both girls to my chest to keep them as much out of the line of fire as possible.

    A moment later, the light show died away and there was a squealing of metal on metal that drilled down and made my teeth hurt. The sound slowly faded away into a distant echo that rang in my ears, but I didn¡¯t move.

    ¡°Liam, you can let us go,¡± Rieka squeaked as the squealing noise faded away entirely.

    ¡°Yeah. I appreciate the save, big guy, but it wasn¡¯t necessary. Have more faith in me, Liam,¡± Kassandra added dryly. She softened her rebuke with a kiss to the cheek.

    ¡°Wha?¡± I asked intelligently and glanced over my shoulder to find the iron doors now hanging part way open, having swung away from us. All of the runic arrays were now dark, leaving just the light stone and what early afternoon light came down from the cave mouth. ¡°Oh.¡±

    Releasing the girls gently back to their own feet/tail, I ran a hand through my hair sheepishly. Kassandra just smirked up at me and gave me a wink while Rieka smiled gently.

    ¡°Let''s have a look to see what¡¯s on the other side!¡± Kassandra gushed. Her restraint finally reaching its end, she slithered around me and Rieka to head towards the doors. Not wanting to be left behind, Rieka jogged after her friend and I fell in with them.

    Both of the women seemed more intent on finding what lay beyond the door rather than protecting themselves, so I took it upon myself to keep watch.

    My eyes had been shifted earlier to account for better vision in the lower light, so I adjusted my shifts to remove the armor from my back and instead changed the skin on my arms into rhino hide before giving myself the fighting claws I¡¯d borrowed from Lady Valda. I debated turning one into the striking tail that I¡¯d been practicing with, but didn¡¯t want to give up having fingers just yet. I¡¯d also have to give up one of the other morphs too.

    The door opened into a wide hallway that was at least ten feet across and several hundred feet long. The doors swung the rest of the way open with only a slight push and a squeal of protest until they actually sunk into recesses in the wall itself.

    While the cave that we had come from was mostly rough stone, the hallway that led off of it was clearly worked. The walls were smooth, gray stone with only the occasional chip or irregularity in them, same with the ceiling. They were almost smooth enough to have been poured concrete. What caught my attention though, was the floor.

    The floor was made up of a mosaic of small, thumb-nail sized tiles of different colors. With the accumulated dust on the floor, there was just a regular grid pattern in the loose, gray powder. The pattern initially caught the girl¡¯s attention and Kassandra swept a section clear with her long tail, and that revealed the colors.

    The tiles themselves were regular in shape and formed interlocking patterns in blue, white, and green. The patterns continued to repeat as the tunnel wound off into the distance. It was an abstract, tessellating pattern, rather than anything distinct. But the tiles were only dusty. They shone brightly when the loose, dry powder was stirred up in our passing.

    ¡°That is just fascinating. How did they make the tiles so regular?¡± Kassandra murmured the question into the still air, apparently having fixated on the same part that I had.

    ¡°No idea,¡± Rieka replied. ¡°Let¡¯s see where the tunnel goes.¡± Kassandra nodded distractedly, fishing out her leather-bound notebook to quickly record what she was observing.

    The feeling of familiarity from the other cave was back again. The sensation was similar to back when I¡¯d recognized that the cave looked a lot like a parking area. If I tried to focus on the feeling now, it vanished. So I just let the feeling stir in my mind as we continued along, hoping it would lead to another epiphany.

    Since the repeating pattern of the tiles underfoot never changed, I began to study the walls and the ceiling. Nothing stood out at first. But, as we went along, the glow from Rieka¡¯s light stone reflected off of a patch of wall and I stopped the girls to examine it closer.

    The patch was roughly the size of a loaf of bread and was protruding slightly from the smooth, regular wall. The ceiling of the tunnel we were in was easily almost ten feet up and the patch that caught my eye was barely a foot from the ceiling. So I had to use Shape-Shifting to extend my arm to prod the curved spot, sacrificing my claws for the moment to let my limb stretch out.

    Dust shifted and then fell free as I wiped at the caked-on buildup of what had to have been centuries until I revealed a patch of wall that was a dull yellow in color to the gray of the walls. There was a convex roundness to the protruding part that looked very familiar.

    The creeping sensation returned and settled in my mind a moment later as the realization connected as gently as a feather drifting down to land on the ground.

    ¡°Lights.¡± I muttered to myself as I stared up at the panel.

    A deep, resonating clunk echoed in the distance and the yellow panel burst into bright illumination that blinded all three of us.

 Chapter 56

    Let me tell you, Shape-Shifting has been one of the cooler things I¡¯ve gotten to experience since getting dragged to the world of Cortha.

    Being able to do things like see at night, hear like a bat, and change my body to fit a task at need has been awesome. I was really looking forward to the day that I was able to do full-body shifts and learn to fly. The best thing was, of course, getting to meet and spend time with the girls, but the shifting was up there.

    Until this exact moment.

    In order to keep the best sort of watch over the girls that I could, I¡¯d already shifted my eyes to be able to see well in the dim light, since our only source now was the light stone that Rieka was holding. So, when that panel of ancient glass illuminated while I was staring directly at it, the damn thing blinded me.

    Both of the girls let out startled yelps at the sudden light. I heard a scrambling noise as I blinked furiously to clear the whirling stars out of my vision. A sudden pressure around my waist made me jump in surprise. The musk and cinnamon scent that I detected a moment later told me who it was that was clinging to me. Another presence pressed to my back. From the quiet, almost canine whine I could hear, I knew that was Rieka.

    ¡°Everyone okay?¡± I asked, still blinking my furiously watering eyes and trying to focus enough to use Shape-Shifting to turn them back to normal.

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t expecting that, what happened?¡± Kassandra mumbled.

    ¡°It has to be enchanted lighting, there¡¯s no other way to explain them turning on like that. I wonder if it was somehow tied to the door?¡± Was Rieka¡¯s response.

    I could feel both of the girls trembling against me, either from fear or from pain caused by the sudden increase in light. Using their presence to focus, I was able to get enough control together to shift my eyes once more.

    Keeping my eyes pressed shut at first, I gave myself a count of three in hopes of my eyes recovering, then I opened them.

    Where I had seen nothing but glaring yellow light and dancing, flashing spots in my vision, I could now see perfectly fine down the hallway.

    Huh. Apparently shifting my eyes back corrected the dazzling? That¡¯s neat, I thought while checking the tunnel both ahead and behind us.

    There weren''t any signs of movement as far as I could see. Only a stirring in the air of dust disturbed by our passage. Thick motes of dirt and fluff floated sedately through the still air.

    The light that was directly above us, the one I had been unfortunately staring into, was the only one that burned brightly. Further down the tunnel, it was only around half as illuminated. The lights, while glowing, were still covered in a thick layer of grime. It gave them a surreal look and softened the light enough that dappled shadows darkened the tunnel as it disappeared off into the distance. It also made it hard to tell exactly how far the tunnel ran.

    ¡°You two okay?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yes. That was just really unexpected,¡± Kassandra grumbled in reply, still not looking up from where her face was pressed into my side.

    ¡°Agreed. I thought we were going to be attacked or something.¡± Rieka shifted and released her hold on my back, stepping around and partially into view.

    The wolf-eared woman had her spell rod out and was watching the tunnel warily, sparing the occasional glance at the light on the wall above us, though her eyes watered still as they adjusted.

    ¡°And your first instinct was to hide behind me?¡± I teased her gently. Rieka¡¯s ears wilted and she winced, so I was quick to clarify so she would not blame herself. ¡°That¡¯s good. I¡¯m supposed to protect you two after all. I can¡¯t do that if you girls race off on your own.¡± Rieka¡¯s tail slowly began to wag again and her ears popped back up.

    Kassandra giggled from her spot at my side, muffling it in my hip. She sneezed explosively almost as soon as she pulled her face free and groaned, waving her hand to waft the cloud of particulates away.

    ¡°Ugh, all this dust is getting to me,¡± Kassandra whined.

    ¡°Come on then, let¡¯s take a look where this goes. At least with the extra illumination we won¡¯t have to worry as much about being surprised,¡± I replied, stroking Kassandra¡¯s hair lightly and getting a smile from the shorter woman.

    The scare with the lights had apparently been enough to remind both of the girls that there may be dangers in this ruin, so they were now letting me lead the way down. Rieka was on my right now and Kassandra on my left, both of them had their spell rods out and at the ready now too. I could tell that the floor was slowly sloping downwards as well, but the slope was very gentle.

    We started our walk down the tunnel again, with Kassandra doing her best to not stir up the dust on the ground too much in her passing. Unfortunately, due to how her serpentine body moved as well as being the lowest to the ground, she caused the largest amount of dust to swell up and Kassandra suffered the worst. Rieka spent most of the walk theorizing what set off the lights in the walls.

    ¡°The timing itself was suspect,¡± Rieka began. ¡°I doubt they were tied to the door, since it took over a minute for them to illuminate from the time the door was opened. I think they are either touch-activated or voice-activated. Given their height off the ground, I¡¯m betting it was voice-activated. My mother has a few crystal orbs that are enchanted that way for kingdom functions.¡±

    ¡°Then why don¡¯t you try turning them off and on again?¡± Kassandra suggested.

    ¡°Lights off!¡± Rieka commanded in a stern voice as we passed another of the glowing panels.

    There was no response.

    ¡°Lights!¡± She tried next, but the strip of dusty illumination had not a care in the world.

    ¡°Maybe it has a different deactivation phrase?¡± Kassandra suggested after a moment of thought.

    ¡°I dunno, ¡®lights off¡¯ is a strai¡ª,¡± I started to say. The lights deactivated half a second after I spoke the phrase ¡®lights off¡¯ aloud with another distant clunk. This dropped the tunnel once more into darkness.

    I felt both girls shift and press into my back and sides as the darkness enveloped us once more. Rieka still had the light stone in her hand, so we weren¡¯t entirely engulfed in shadow, but it was a paltry pool of light compared to what our eyes had been adjusted to.

    ¡°Lights,¡± I said aloud. There came that distant clunk noise again before the tunnel illuminated once more.

    ¡°Lights off!¡± Kassandra demanded immediately, but there was no reaction.

    It took a few more experiments to confirm the fact, but apparently the lights only responded to the commands when I gave them aloud. Rieka and Kassandra could repeat the simple phrases of ¡®lights¡¯ or ¡®lights off¡¯ to no effect. They even tried several different pronunciations of the words, but none of them worked.

    ¡°So I have two theories here. Either it works for Liam because he¡¯s a Traveler, or because he¡¯s human,¡± Rieka mumbled thoughtfully.

    ¡°Or because he has earth magic!¡± Kassandra suggested, getting a nod from Rieka after a moment of thought.

    ¡°That is a distinct third, yes. We just have no way of testing it. I guess we will go deeper to see if there are any further clues?¡±

    ¡°The air doesn¡¯t feel stale, so I think it will be safe. If either of you two feel woozy though, let me know,¡± I said and both girls nodded in acknowledgment. With the overhead lights glowing once more, we continued down the tunnel.

    It ran for another half mile without deviation, other than the slight slope to the floor, before the tunnel ended in a pair of simple, metal doors. The doors had the same opalescent shimmer of the larger gateway further back, but not any of the curling decorations and accents of the larger main doors. Set in the middle where the two doors met were a pair of simple, wrought-iron handles. They were currently closed and the girls hurried to inspect them, checking the doors for any of the runic traps that had been on the previous set.

    While the girls worked, I studied the walls and ceiling. On the girl¡¯s request, I repeated my stretchy-limb maneuver to wipe the grime away from the nearest light to give them a better source of illumination to work with.

    The two talked quietly as they studied the door. The way that the tunnel swallowed their words without allowing an echo began to make the hair on my neck stand on end again. There just felt like something wrong here that made my skin crawl.

    Sharpening my vision again with a hawk''s telescopic vision, I looked back up the long tunnel. I was relieved to still see the distant glimmer of daylight from where the first door sat open into the parking lot/cave.

    A squealing noise of metal-on-metal immediately yanked my attention back to the girls and I turned to see Rieka pushing on one of the doors lightly with her spell rod. It swung open under the pressure with only noise as a protest.

    ¡°The door isn¡¯t trapped or sealed at all, it¡¯s just closed,¡± Rieka explained when she glanced back and caught me watching her. Kassandra nodded vigorously from beside her. Together, the three of us pushed the double doors the rest of the way open and surveyed what was on the other side.

    Given how many strange occurrences had happened already today, I was expecting a fair number of things to be found at the bottom of the tunnel. The fact that the tunnel had been curving down into the earth and was angled deeper into the mountains, combined with the length of said tunnel, I figured it was unlikely to be something as simple as a basement storage. I¡¯d actually been half expecting a mining complex, as the tunnels had been large enough to bring a wagon down here to load with ore.

    The room on the other side of the swinging doors was both similar and distinctly different from what I¡¯d been expecting to find.

    The room was large, with ceilings that soared upwards into shadows. Globes of glass that glowed from inside like dangling fluorescent lights hung from the ceiling, spreading pools of illumination around the open room. Right in front of the doors was an open deck that was easily eighty feet long and thirty wide. It was covered in dust, but was made up of the glimmering, colored tiles. I confirmed that by sweeping away a patch of dust with my boot.

    Benches were scattered around the platform, mostly against the walls. The leather that had covered them had long since rotted away, leaving behind only rusting metal frames and patterns in the dust to explain what they were. The walls were all made of the same smooth, gray stone as the walls of the tunnels, but unlike the tunnels, there were decorations here. I could see another set of doors off to my right, recessed into the wall. These were definitely sealed like the first had been though and were covered in runic symbols.

    ¡°Oooh!¡± Kassandra exclaimed, slithering rapidly to one side to inspect the nearest of the decorative pieces of art.

    It was some kind of three dimensional sculpture worked into the wall. It looked somewhat like a topographical map, but it had the milky-green coloration of copper verdigris. There were several distinct humps that rose up out of the wall, a few large valleys, and different gouges cut into the surface.

    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Rieka followed her friend to inspect the display while I continued to study the room. The same sense of stillness, of waiting, was building in my guts again.

    The shadows made it a little hard to make out, but I could see that the far side of the platform actually vanished off entirely into darkness, rather than butted up against the walls. After checking the tunnel earlier, I¡¯d changed my eyes back to normal to avoid being blinded by the glare in the room. Hawk eyes wouldn¡¯t have helped at the moment to pierce the gloom anyway.

    Instead of wandering over to look, I used Shape-Shifting to adjust my eyes. This time I tapped into the sharper night-vision of an owl to see into those shadows. I had to shade my eyes with one hand as the brighter lights from above made it harder to see at first, but I felt that familiar niggling of recognition at the edge of my consciousness. The same feeling when I recognized the lights.

    The shadows at the end of the platform concealed a large, round tunnel that vanished further into the mountain. Set into the ground both leading into and out of that tunnel were ancient and rusted iron tracks. Large ones.

    Glancing around the platform once more, at the benches set irregularly about and the odd bits of metal art on the walls, I could almost hear the crackle of an announcer in my mind and the distant rumble of a train moving through a tunnel. A chill ran down my spine.

    This looks like a subway platform¡­not exactly like one. But it definitely feels like one, I thought.

    Glancing over my shoulders at the smaller double doors, I reexamined my previous thought that maybe this was a mining complex and they would bring down wagons. The tunnel was large enough, but those double doors were not nearly big enough to pull a wagon through. The similarities to a subway station made the differences stand out in a bizarre way. There was no ticket counter, no vending machines, no lockers or advertisements either.

    ¡°Liam!¡± Kassandra¡¯s words yanked me out of my thoughts and I turned to check on my lover. She had her notebook out and was scribbling away in it while she glanced back and forth between the art piece and her parchment. ¡°Come look at this!¡±

    I hurried over to the girls, but I kept glancing over my shoulder to check that dark tunnel mouth.

    ¡°Tell me that this doesn¡¯t look like the ravine that leads to the harbor?¡± Rieka¡¯s voice was indignant and I pulled my eyes off the tunnel to look at the girls once more. Rieka was pointing at one particular cut between two of the lumps of green on the wall as she questioned Kassandra.

    ¡°It probably is,¡± I cut in, making both girls stop and turn to look at me in surprise. ¡°I was thinking about it earlier, but that looks like a topographical map. A map that shows land features. They are normally done with grid lines to show increasing elevations, but I¡¯ve seen displays like this set up in malls or museums. I bet that¡¯s a map of the local territory.¡± I nodded to the piece that Rieka was pointing at.

    ¡°But that can¡¯t be right,¡± Kassandra protested, turning her attention back to the map and gnawing on her bottom lip lightly.

    ¡°Why not? These are the Spearhead Mountains, that¡¯s the Greensward Hills, and this would be Ruumo¡¯s Rest.¡± Rieka rattled off, indicating one range of mountains, then a section of hills opposite them, before flicking one long finger at a singular mountain far to the east that I guessed would actually be out to sea.

    ¡°Yes, but what is this?¡± Kassandra demanded, indicating one peak far to the west. It was even more irregular than the other ¡®mountains¡¯, with odd pits and marks in the milk-green coating.

    ¡°I¡­don¡¯t know?¡± Rieka mumbled, squinting at the structure and glancing to the others she recognized as if measuring distances and trying to guess what feature that might be.

    ¡°That¡¯s because it doesn¡¯t exist!¡± Kassandra insisted. ¡°There isn¡¯t a mountain there. There¡¯s actually a lake there, not a mountain. Several in fact.¡±

    ¡°How long ago did humans vanish?¡± I asked and both women went silent again before turning to look at me. ¡°Look, I know it would take far longer than the lifetime of a species for a mountain to turn into a valley, but humor me?¡±

    ¡°Thousands of years is the estimate. There aren¡¯t written records, only those kept in stone. None of those in living memory have encountered humans besides you,¡± Rieka answered after a moment of thought.

    ¡°So is it possible that something catastrophic might have happened between now and then? I don¡¯t know about magic, but there is technology out there capable of leveling mountains.¡± Both girls'' eyes went wide at my statement and Kassandra went pale. It was clear that the idea of something that could level a mountain was terrifying.

    ¡°I¡­need to record this. If this is a map as you said, and I am leaning more and more towards that now, then I need an exact copy.¡±

    ¡°I wish that there wasn¡¯t this buildup on it.¡± Rieka grumbled, scraping at the milky-green coating and revealing dull copper beneath it. ¡°I have to wonder if there might be labels underneath the verdigris that might answer more about what this is.¡±

    ¡°Citrus or vinegar can help remove that.¡± I gestured to the green coating and both girls turned to stare questioningly at me.

    This is turning into a habit, that¡¯s the third time I¡¯ve surprised them both, I thought in amusement before explaining more aloud.

    ¡°My mum had a copper skillet that she loved, so I inherited it when she passed. Don¡¯t judge me.¡±

    Kassandra gave a delicate snort of laughter and turned to grin up at Rieka.

    ¡°Our Liam is so useful. I¡¯d never have thought of that,¡± my snakey lover said while giving me a loving smile.

    ¡°I mean, it¡¯s not something that they teach young noblewomen,¡± Rieka countered with a grin of her own. ¡°Too bad I didn¡¯t bring any¡­the ussava!¡±

    Rieka¡¯s sudden exclamation made me jump in surprise. Kassandra clapped happily as her friend dove into the dimensional pouch at her hip and began rooting around before she produced several of the fruit that we had collected the other day from the trees while hunting vine rays.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if those will work. I used lemons and table salt back home, but it¡¯s worth a try if it is acidic enough.¡± I suggested and Rieka set to work with a nod.

    We¡¯d packed everything but the tent and bedding into the bag when we left the campsite that morning, so while she didn¡¯t have much, Rieka did have some coarse salt from our cooking supplies. Cutting one of the ussava fruit in half, which exposed a bright orange interior, she sprinkled some of the salt on it first. Rieka then began using it to scrub at the section of the copper map she was curious about.

    It took some work, but the milky-green of the verdigris began to smear and shift finally, revealing the features underneath. While Rieka worked, Kassandra quickly sketched the map into her notebook and stood ready to take notes.

    While the girls had things under control, I went back to keeping watch. Using my shifted eyes, I scanned every part of the platform and the ceiling. Nothing stood out besides a few more abstract pieces of art. Several walls held metal frames that looked like they had held paintings of some kind at one time, but they had long since rotted away in the damp air.

    Once I was sure that nothing was creeping along the ceiling or hiding nearby, I started pacing the platform and squinting into the shadows of the tunnel. I could make out shapes of stones and other large objects that looked like they blocked the tunnel, but they were irregular and hard to define for sure without getting another light source closer to it. While there were plenty of lights on the platform, they did not run into the tunnel.

    ¡°Liam! We need you to come and read this!¡± Kassandra¡¯s shout echoed over the platform and I flinched.

    Again, just like the cave above, her words echoed strangely in the large room and the hair on my arms stood up to dance. Something else was wrong here and I couldn¡¯t put my finger on it.

    Shushing the girls, I hurried back to check on them. Rieka was bouncing in place excitedly, one hand stained by the dissolved verdigris and the pulp of the ussava fruit she still clutched. Kassandra was pointing at the smeared spot on the copper map with a grin on her face, but that fell away when she saw my expression.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Liam?¡± Kassandra asked, her slitted eyes watching me intently from behind her spectacles.

    ¡°Something just feels really off here. I don¡¯t know what it is, but something has me anxious.¡±

    ¡°It could just be the fact that no one has been inside these ruins since the time of humans,¡± Rieka suggested weakly. Her enthusiastic bouncing came to a stop as she took in my expression as well.

    ¡°Possible. But it still makes me nervous,¡± I countered. ¡°Shouting just feels¡­wrong here. What did you want me to look at?¡±

    ¡°This right here.¡± Kassandra pointed again. ¡°I know there is writing there, but I cannot read it. I was hoping that you might be able to interpret it.¡±

    I bent close to the map, trying to ignore the sharp scent of the odd citrus fruit that Rieka had used to clean that section of verdigris away.

    At the base of the irregular mountain shape that the girls had noted shouldn¡¯t be there, tiny words were inlaid in the copper in a different metal. Until Rieka had scrubbed it away, the verdigris had grown over it and left a puckered and unintelligible shape. Now though, I could read it.

    ¡°¡¯Yellowtooth Chemical Research Facility¡¯ is what it says,¡± I murmured after a moment of study. Kassandra stared at me in surprise and Rieka growled before elaborating when I gave her a questioning look.

    ¡°The lake that Kassandra mentioned is there? It¡¯s a caustic lake. Animals that touch the water die and the land around it is also dead for miles. It¡¯s one of the mysteries of the kingdom. Mother has a few alchemists studying it. But, since it isn¡¯t spreading, she isn¡¯t putting a lot of effort into it.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. That doesn¡¯t sound good,¡± I said, staring at the map. The section that Rieka had cleaned was only a small part, and we had already uncovered something important. I couldn¡¯t help the feeling that there had to be more bits of information hiding.

    On an impulse, I held my hand out for the pulpy bit of fruit Rieka had. She passed it over without comment and I used it to scrub at the area Kassandra had been pointing at before, roughly where we would be located.

    The milky-green buildup on the copper slowly scrubbed away until it revealed another inlaid label that I read aloud.

    ¡°Shadow Mountain Research Facility.¡±

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound ominous at all,¡± Rieka murmured in a tiny voice. All three of us shared a look before Kassandra made a note of the label as well.

    ¡°What did you find over there, Liam?¡± Kassandra asked after closing up her notebook. It was clear she was trying to change the subject, but I didn¡¯t feel like calling her on it. Kassandra gestured over one shoulder towards the far end of the cavern. ¡°We got distracted with this, but we should secure the area to make sure it¡¯s safe before we really get into studying this.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s another tunnel, much larger than the other one, that leads deeper into the mountain. I couldn¡¯t see well enough to find out more, but it looked to be blocked up. We have to hop down off the platform to go look though,¡± I explained.

    ¡°There¡¯s also that other set of doors,¡± Rieka suggested, pointing to the recessed and rune-clad doors further along the wall.

    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure those are as heavily locked as the first set,¡± Kassandra sighed. ¡°I¡¯ll have to study the runes on them to come up with a way to break through the wards later.¡±

    ¡°So the biggest unknown is the tunnel then?¡± Rieka asked and I nodded in agreement when she looked up at me.

    ¡°Well, let''s go look then! This map isn¡¯t going anywhere, so we can come back and study it more later. Maybe even detach that from the wall and take it with us?¡± Kassandra gestured to the sculpture. It was easily four feet on each side, but I remembered what the girls had told me. As long as they could get a portion of it into the dimensional pouch, the mouth would stretch to accommodate an object.

    ¡°Something to worry about later,¡± Rieka insisted and got a grudging nod from Kassandra.

    Moving as a group, the three of us headed over to the far edge of the platform once more. Rieka still held the light stone, so I had her keep back just behind me so that it wouldn¡¯t damage my currently shifted eyes. It didn¡¯t add much illumination until we got to the edge of the platform and away from the overhead lights.

    The drop down off the platform to the tracks was a good four feet onto rough gravel and packed earth. I hopped down first, then caught Rieka and Kassandra when the girls followed. For Kassandra I was more of a landing pad than a catcher. She used her coils as a counterbalance to ensure she didn¡¯t really need the help, but she took the opportunity to dive into my chest regardless and nearly managed to bowl me over. Again, it was only my increased strength and improved balance that let me catch several hundred pounds of affectionate dwarf lamia when it smacked into me.

    Once we were down by the tracks, we stopped to inspect them first. The tracks reminded me of something crossed between ancient railroad tracks and the sort of tracks one might see in a subway. Large, wooden beams crossed in between the trio of rails, supporting them from below. The wooden beams were slowly rotting away, but still remained generally intact despite their age. I vaguely remembered that railroad ties, the wooden beams, were often impregnated with chemicals and resins to make them far more resistant to damage than regular wood. The rails were different sizes, a smaller one on either side and one larger on the inside. All three looked to be made of iron and were heavily corroded.

    The excitement that the girls had been showing earlier was fading away slowly as we progressed down the tunnel further to see what lay within the darkness.

    Because of my sharper eyes, I recognized what I was seeing first, but waited until the girls were close enough to make it out before stopping them to let us all study it.

    The tunnel was blocked off entirely. There were two parts to the barrier. One was that the ceiling had, apparently, caved in. Soil and broken stone filled most of the tunnel in front of us in erratic piles. The other half of the blockage was the twisted remains of what I could only describe as a primitive train and its cars. A primitive train that had either slammed into the blockage, or derailed to cause the cave in.

    ¡°Dear Gods¡­,¡± Kassandra muttered as she studied the wreckage.

    ¡°Sounds about right. What is that?¡± replied Rieka.

    ¡°That. Is a train. A type of conveyance like a wagon that travels on rails. Think of it like a high-speed mine cart. But what would have led to one going this deep, and into the mountains?¡± I replied. Rieka turned to look at me in question.

    ¡°Well. Obviously to a mine, right?¡± The platinum-blonde asked, but I could see in her eyes that she didn¡¯t quite believe that thought.

    ¡°Wrong kind of cars. These are passenger cars,¡± I said gently.

    The statement didn¡¯t need further explanation. Both girls turned their eyes to the twisted wreckage. There were at least three of the large, passenger-style cars crumpled like crushed cans in the tunnel. Whatever had happened here, it had been violent. And while this had been a transport at one time, it was something entirely different now.

    Now, it was a grave.

 Chapter 57

    While it wasn¡¯t something any of us really wanted to do, I still checked inside the ruined cars for any signs of who or what might have been here.

    Though any bodies had long rotted away, there were still distinct stains and patterns on the metal that led me to believe that there had been corpses here in the distant past. That and a few bits of evidence, like a badly corroded circle of gold amongst the dusty pile of rust in one corner. I¡¯d have missed it entirely if my sensitive eyes hadn¡¯t caught the faintest glimmer of light on metal.

    ¡°That looks like a woman¡¯s ring?¡± Rieka murmured when I hopped down out of the crumpled ruin of the carriage and handed it to her. Kassandra was beside her friend, her delicate brows scrunched in confusion as they used the light stone to inspect the object.

    ¡°Agreed. I can see where stones would have been set, but the tines that would hold them in place have mostly worn away,¡± said Kassandra.

    ¡°I had to pry it out of a pool of mostly congealed rust. It¡¯s possible the stone is still in there. Do you think it¡¯s worth scraping up and sorting through the rust?¡± I asked the two of them. The women shared a long look before shaking their heads.

    ¡°No. From the setting, it would be tiny. Not worth the effort and the mess, and all too likely it broke off during¡­this.¡± Rieka gestured with her free hand at the crumpled remains of the cars scattered around the open space.

    From the way the falling of the ceiling had crushed the cars, it was obvious that they¡¯d been moving at speed when whatever happened went down.

    Another few minutes passed as we silently regarded the slowly rusting wreckage and piled earth. The entire adventure up to this point had been creepy, but interesting. Now, It was just creepy.

    ¡°So what¡¯s next?¡± Rieka was the first one to break the silence, and we looked over at her.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Kassandra asked a moment later, her head tilting to one side in confusion.

    ¡°I mean, what should we do next? I may be a princess, but I¡¯m not going to order you two around.¡±

    ¡°At least not all the time,¡± I teased her gently. Rieka rolled her eyes at me, but a smile gently curved her lips.

    ¡°Well, as I see it? We have a few options: we stay here and study this area some more. Head back to camp and do our tasks out in the valley. Or I start digging,¡± I listed off, counting the ideas on my fingers. Rieka and Kassandra both turned incredulous stares at me and I shrugged. ¡°What? Did you two forget that I have earth magic? And an internal mana well?¡±

    Kassandra grinned, her eyes sparkling behind the smudged glass of her spectacles. They had gotten dirty earlier, and she had never bothered to clean them off.

    Rieka, at least, had the decency to look sheepish, as it became obvious that she had forgotten. I couldn¡¯t actually blame her, as it was something I was still learning to master and not really my go-to skill.

    ¡°I¡¯d say have Liam dig out what he can without collapsing the tunnel and then head back to take care of the rest of our hunting,¡± Rieka suggested, still blushing furiously. ¡°I know it feels creepy around here, but we might want to move the campsite closer. That way, Liam can just come down and spend the mana he has in order to keep working on clearing the way..¡±

    ¡°Why can¡¯t we just give him some of our coins to use? I want to see what¡¯s behind this rockfall!¡± Kassandra protested. Rieka shrugged in response before turning back to me with a raised brow, as if to say the question was mine to answer.

    ¡°That would depend on you, Kass. Only I can use the internal reservoir that I have, but both of you can use the coins you have. Is it worth the cost to dig a bit faster?¡±

    ¡°That would depend on how much you can dig with what you have,¡± Kassandra said, ending in a playful ¡®hmph¡¯ and crossing her arms under her bust.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take that as a polite request to see how much I can do.¡± I turned away while Kassandra smirked triumphantly.

    Rieka must have done something in retribution while my back was turned, as I heard Kassandra yelp in surprise and then a playful argument broke out between the two of them.

    Where is going to be the best spot to do this? I wondered while staring at the collapsed earth and stone.

    There were several large rocks wedged into the collapsed tunnel, likely the roof itself, that had fallen and broken up over the tracks. A good majority of what filled the tunnel, though, was ancient and settled soil. I spared a moment to wonder if there was a hollow or depression on the surface above us somewhere to show the collapse, before shrugging and pushing the thought away as irrelevant.

    The rails that had once carried the train through the tunnel ran to either side of it, with about three feet of space between the rails and the outer walls. There weren¡¯t any central supports that I could see, but the tunnel itself was relatively low, only about ten or fifteen feet in height above us. Between the two tracks, there was probably about ten feet of space that would have given plenty of room for a support pillar or something similar.

    It¡¯s possible there were central supports, and that¡¯s what the train hit to cause the collapse. Even without that, the center of the tunnel would be the most prone to collapse, I would think.

    I doubled back a bit to get around the rearmost of the cars as the girls playfully argued back and forth. Both followed after me, giving me plenty of room so I could work while they watched.

    Coming around the far side of the ruined carriage, I followed the solid stone of the wall on my left until it met the tumble of rock and earth that closed off the passage.

    As I had hoped, the train itself, as well as the wall, helped support and shield this portion of the tunnel. There were still rocks here, but they were smaller by far. Rather than being man-sized boulders, most of these were the size of a human head instead, and far fewer in number.

    ¡°Hrm.¡± I made a few more thoughtful noises deep in my throat before nodding.

    I¡¯d been mostly casting on instinct so far, eschewing the established spells the girls had suggested other than to use them as a framework. Something similar would work here. I didn¡¯t need to clear a lot of space, it wasn¡¯t as if I was trying to unbury the train after all.

    At least not yet. I¡¯m sure Kass will want to see the full thing eventually, I thought with a smirk.

    Laying my hands on the collapsed section in front of me, I focused on shifting the rocks and compacting the soil to create a low tunnel that we could use to move through. It didn¡¯t need to be big, just enough for me to wiggle through, since both girls were smaller than I was across the shoulders. However, it did need to be sturdy. The still-standing wall sheltered this area on one side and the ruins of the train on the other. I didn¡¯t want to take chances, though, and worked carefully.

    Focusing just as Rachel Cedarfall, the elf woman the girls had asked to help by showing me the basics, had taught me. I focused on circulating the mana from the reservoir and into my left hand, up through my body and across through my shoulders and then down and out through my right hand. Since I wasn¡¯t drawing the mana in through my left, it went out of my chest and up, then back down my left arm, then across. Once the mana exited my right hand, it crossed through the stone and then was drawn back into my left palm.

    Granite, heavy and solid. This stone has sat here for a great deal of time and is comfortable in its place.

    The information popped into my mind and I blinked in surprise. I hadn¡¯t been directing the mana to do anything yet, just circling around in preparation for actually using it. I¡¯d been planning on doing something akin to a mining drill to push through along the floor, packing the loose dirt and stones upwards into a roof, but now I had another idea.

    Focusing on the heavy stones, I gently began to press the mana into them, packing them tighter and tighter together. The loose pile of earth and rocks gave a crunching noise and then shifted slightly. Both girls went silent as I began to work. A moment later, I heard a quiet murmur of surprise from them as, rather than away from the pile, more dust and dirt was flowing towards me.

    The loose earth and dust began to mix together and packed into solid shapes, which I used to shore up the sides of a low tunnel that formed under the pile of stones. I had to dig a few larger rocks out of the way, rolling them out of the hole and then off to one side, but it was doable. By focusing on slow and steady movements, I could work with the soil¡¯s natural inclination to settle into one spot. Using the packed earth as a crude mortar, I sealed the piled stones together to give them more stability and just enough of a curve to act as a roof, while the sides were made up of the more regularly shaped rocks supplemented by the wall or train where I needed to.

    The ten mana that I had ran out rather quickly, at least it felt that way. Barely twenty feet through the debris, and I could tell that there was at least another fifty more feet before I cleared the obstruction. I was, however, able to confirm that there were no major obstructions along the path I¡¯d chosen. I¡¯d have to wind the tunnel a bit to get around two larger boulders that had fallen between the cars, but that was doable with a bit of work. Being careful, I¡¯d even been able to pack spare earth in amongst the gravel that made up the floor of the tracks to ensure crawling through would be easier.

    ¡°Wow.¡± I wasn¡¯t sure which of my girls spoke, but I turned to smile at them, regardless. Kassandra was staring intently at the tunnel like she wanted to dive in and explore, while Rieka was studying me carefully.

    ¡°How are you feeling, Liam?¡±

    ¡°Doing okay, Rieka. Just a bit worn out. It¡¯ll take me two or three more rounds to get through to the far side, but I can do it.¡± My confident statement made Kassandra bounce on her coils and let out a little squee of excitement before launching herself at me. The confines were too tight to do my normal dodge or spin to bleed off her momentum, so I just braced as best I could and caught the happy dwarf lamia.

    ¡°Oof.¡±

    The impact drew a grunt from me as, despite her shorter stature and size, Kassandra still had quite a bit of mass behind her. Not for the first time, I wondered how much a normal Lamia would weigh if mine was considered a miniature breed at fourteen feet long.

    Anime never really got the length of the snake people anywhere near realistic, did they? I thought while Kassandra made happy cooing noises and buried her face in my neck. Her slim arms slid up to wrap around my neck as well while she hung on. I let my hands settle under her butt, using that as leverage to pull her against me while her tail wriggled around to wrap my legs.

    ¡°Thank you, Liam! I am so excited to see what lies behind this,¡± Kassandra said into my chest. ¡°Just think, secrets lay back there that might not have seen the light of day since the time humans walked this world. And that was hundreds to thousands of years ago!¡±

    ¡°Exciting, I know,¡± Rieka said drolly, joining us in the nook between the wall and the train. She peered around me to look at the tunnel, holding her light stone up enough to illuminate it. ¡°The question is: do we spend the mana to keep digging, or let Liam regenerate?¡±

    ¡°How did the hunting go earlier?¡± Kassandra pulled her face away from my neck long enough to look over at her friend questioningly.

    ¡°Fairly well. I got the aqua grass and the lyre mushrooms. We found a stand of singing aspen as well. Just need to fell a few of those trees and trim them down to tuck into the dimensional bag and we should have costs covered. If we can catch a few spring foxes or the stone bear, then we will come out ahead, guaranteed,¡± Rieka answered.

    The platinum-blonde, wolf kin woman reached forward to delicately pluck Kassandra¡¯s silver-rimmed glasses off her face. Before Kassandra could protest, she produced a white cloth and carefully wiped the smudged glasses clean before delicately settling them onto Kassandra¡¯s face.

    ¡°Thank you, Rieka. I was so excited that I kept forgetting to clean them.¡± Kassandra said with a grin up at her friend.

    ¡°No worries, Kass. They were just bugging me is all,¡± was Rieka¡¯s response.

    ¡°How are you feeling, Liam? Can you keep going? I know casting repeatedly can be exhausting, but I¡¯m not sure if the same effect occurs for Travelers or with how you use mana.¡± Kassandra turned her intent brown eyes back to me.

    Instinctively, I wanted to say yes and keep working. It was a conditioned response at this point. I held back, though, and actually checked myself.

    My mind felt a bit tired from the focus and there was a slight ache in my chest from my reservoir being empty. My lungs hurt a bit from all the dust in the air, but that was it.

    ¡°I can keep working if you two want to front me the mana coins for it. We figured that my pool was about three mana copper total, and I think it¡¯ll take just shy of a mana silver to finish this off,¡± I said.

    Both girls winced slightly and considered it. We¡¯d previously figured my each mana point I had to be around three mana-infused iron coins, which meant that it translated into three mana infused copper when converted over. Since I knew it¡¯d take at least two or three more ¡®full pools¡¯, that put it at between six and nine mana copper, or almost a mana silver in cost.

    ¡°That¡¯s almost as much as your initial summons, Liam,¡± Rieka said after a moment, biting her lower lip lightly as she considered it.

    ¡°I know. You both wanted to know what it would cost to have me keep digging immediately. I figured it would be easier for you to weigh the worth if I put it into coins,¡± I sighed. Kassandra was still in my arms and her coils gave me a slow squeeze before she exhaled explosively through her nose.

    ¡°I¡¯ll cover it.¡¯

    ¡°Kass! You don¡¯t need to do that, we both can¡ª,¡± Rieka began to protest, but Kassandra cut her off with a shake of her hair that sent her red-brown curls bouncing and stirring up a small cloud of dust. I had to smother a sneeze as the two argued.

    ¡°No, I need to know more about this place. There are so many questions that I want answered. If we burrow through and find that the rest of the complex is in shambles and destroyed, then we can focus on recouping for the rest of the week. I¡¯ll take the loss out of my share, though, because I don¡¯t want to wait.¡±

    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    ¡°Fine. But if you actually find anything of value back there, then pay yourself out of that.¡± Kassandra nodded in agreement with Rieka¡¯s statement before turning to look back up at me. Her slit irises, which had looked so odd at first but were now fascinating, studied my face for a moment before she leaned in to press a soft kiss to my lips.

    ¡°Thank you, Liam. You help us so much.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just doing what you need me to.¡± My reply got a giggle from the petite redhead in my arms and she wiggled her bum against my hands.

    ¡°I can tell you are helping yourself a bit, too.¡± Kassandra gave me a saucy wink before she opened the breast of her shirt wider and began fishing around inside of it. I was about to protest when she pulled a soft leather pouch from within her bosom and I remembered she liked to hide her higher value coins like that. I couldn¡¯t help the snicker as the thought of boobie money ran through my head.

    Kassandra gave me a side-eye look with a smirk before fishing out the requisite silver coin. It was like the others, with imprints of the country¡¯s mint pressed into the shimmering sides and a faint, opalescent sheen to the metal.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t use it all up, let me know, okay?¡± Kassandra asked gently and held the coin out to me. I accepted it, feeling the weight of the coin, still warm from her body, in my hand. A faint tingle ran through my body from touching the charged metal.

    ¡°I¡¯ll use as little as possible. Especially since I¡¯m thinking of this as one less time you can summon me for a bit of fun.¡± Kassandra blushed sharply at that and was about to turn away when I kissed her on the nose. She eep¡¯d again in surprise, her eyes crossing behind her spectacles to look at the tip of her button nose before Rieka burst into giggles from behind her.

    ¡°What?¡± Kassandra demanded, turning to glare at her friend while trying to get the blush under control.

    ¡°It¡¯s just so cute, watching you two!¡± Rieka continued to giggle, one hand covering her mouth but failing to muffle the sound of her laughter.

    ¡°You think it¡¯s funny now? Wait till he does the same to you!¡± growled Kassandra playfully, but Rieka just giggled harder. ¡°Liam! Do it to her too!¡± Kassandra turned pleading eyes on me and I raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°Do what?¡±

    ¡°Make her blush!¡± Kassandra ordered, her brows knitting in a cute glare.

    Shrugging, I shifted to let Kassandra down and she went willingly, for once. Rieka was unaware of the danger she was in until I had already divested myself of Kassandra.

    ¡°Wait! Liam, what are¡ª,¡± Rieka cut off her protests as I stepped over and pulled her against me. Her soft breasts squashed against my chest and I was annoyed that my armor made it so I couldn¡¯t appreciate the sensation more.

    Rieka¡¯s cheeks immediately took on a deep red color, but she did not shove me away. Instead, her hands settled on my chest, and she shyly looked up at me through her bangs. The black-tipped wolf-ears on her head folded back shyly, but they popped upright in surprise as I leaned in and kissed her gently on the tip of the nose.

    ¡°That wasn¡¯t nice!¡± Rieka protested, a disappointed scowl beginning to form on her lips. ¡°I thought you were going to, mmf!¡± The last part of her protest was muffled as I pressed the delayed kiss to her lips. Rieka went limp in my arms, melting into the light kiss and leaning into me. The hands that had been about to pound on my chest instead gripped at my armor and she ground into me. A rapid swishing noise told me her tail was stirring up a storm once more.

    The kiss continued for several more seconds before Kassandra cleared her throat nearby and made Rieka jump in surprise. My wolf kin princess had apparently forgotten that she had an audience, and we separated lips with a quiet pop a moment later.

    ¡°Sorr¡ª,¡± Rieka began to apologize but Kassandra cut her off.

    ¡°What is there to be sorry about? He¡¯s a good kisser! Either way, I was the one who sic¡¯d him on you.¡± Kassandra was grinning, her hands on her firm hips as she watched us. A faint blush, this time one of arousal I was sure, graced her cheeks. ¡°You two were hot!¡±

    Rieka let out a surprisingly canine whine of embarrassment and covered her face with her hands. I pressed a kiss to the back of each of her hands before I released her, getting two more whimpers in return.

    ¡°Don¡¯t tease her too much, Kass. Otherwise Rieka might change her mind.¡± My warning didn¡¯t have any effect, though, as I could hear the smile in Kassandra¡¯s tone.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I need to worry about that. She¡¯s far too attached to you, Liam.¡±

    Leaving the girls to deal with the argument themselves, I turned my attention back to the tunnel. A quiet smack and a yelp of surprise drew my gaze back to them and I saw Rieka rubbing her bottom with one hand while glaring down at Kassandra, who smirked sweetly up at her.

    ¡°You know you want it,¡± Kassandra teased, sticking her tongue out at Rieka.

    ¡°I will end you, Silverscale,¡± Rieka growled back, but I could see the amusement dancing in her eyes, so I just turned back to what I was doing.

    Using the side of the train car and the walls of the tunnel to help brace, I continued to bore into the slide. I had two separate scares while building the low tunnel. One came when the entire pile shifted and several rocks broke loose because of it, though the loose stones were on the other side of the wreckage from us. The second one came when I was about two-thirds of the way through and finally found the actual engine of the train.

    What I¡¯d thought was the engine must have been a different sort of car, because when I reached this one, I felt something react to my mana. There came a groaning noise from underneath the pile of rubble, and I had to draw back quickly. More soil sifted loose, but nothing collapsed.

    I worked quickly to shore up the tunnel and when I finally broke through to the other side, I groaned in relief. Kassandra asked me a question, but I shook my head and didn¡¯t lose focus on the work. Going back over the packed tunnel I had created, I worked to ensure it was properly compressed and supported as much as possible before finally drawing back. The mana silver in my left hand still had some power in it, but barely a fourth of the energy it had started with remained.

    ¡°What was that noise earlier?¡± Rieka asked when I finally turned back to the girls. Both of them had backed up to give me room, but now that I was finished they were approaching again.

    ¡°Which one?¡±

    ¡°When the entire line of carriages lurched. I thought for sure the ceiling was about to fall in.¡± Rieka was again gnawing on her bottom lip in concern. The expression, while cute, made me want to reassure her.

    ¡°Nothing like that, Rieka. The train reacted somehow when I got further along. The engine is buried under all of this rubble, and I guess its movement disturbed the mess.¡±

    ¡°Engine?¡±

    ¡°The thing that pulls the cars. Think of it like the team of horses that pulls a carriage, only the engines I am familiar with worked off of steam power by burning coal. Do you think that they might have built this one to run on mana somehow?¡±

    ¡°People have uncovered stranger things about humans,¡± Kassandra joined back into the conversation. ¡°I mean, there are those legends of humans who could spout fire from their hands without using mana, or humans that could fly through the air without wings. That is half the fun of working with you, Liam. We get to learn what is legend and what could be fact. Like that cake you said was made of cheese!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s called cheesecake, that doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯s made of cheese,¡± I sighed.

    ¡°What¡¯s the other half?¡± Rieka asked while squatting down to peer into the low tunnel.

    ¡°The sex, of course,¡± Kassandra said with such deadpan conviction that Rieka nearly slipped and fell on her face.

    ¡°And here I thought you loved me for my body-heat,¡± I said while feigning mock injury

    ¡°Distant third,¡± Kassandra said with a wicked smirk. ¡°Can we go through there? Are you done now, Liam?¡±

    ¡°Sure. I¡¯ll go first to scout ahead, but you two can decide the order you want to go in.¡±

    ¡°Eeee! I¡¯m so excited!¡± Kassandra¡¯s voice rose in pitch and the sharp sound breaking the silence echoed through the cave until Rieka turned to hush her friend.

    Silence returned once more, and it felt even more oppressive in the wake of being broken so abruptly.

    ¡°Sorry.¡± Kassandra looked contrite for once in the wake of Rieka¡¯s hissed scolding.

    The two of them began to discuss who would go second while I squatted down and peered through the tunnel. It was going to require me to crawl on my hands and knees, but it was at least wide enough that I should be able to get through without scraping the sides or having to wriggle on my belly.

    Almost wish I could steal Kassandra¡¯s tail. That¡¯ll be a fun shift to have when I can handle that sort of mass. But to make it work for someone my size, that¡¯s going to take a lot more than just fifty percent of my current mass. Even when I get Shape-Shifting (Mass Control) and it triples my current limit, I doubt it¡¯ll be enough. Three hundred pounds is a lot to work with, but wouldn¡¯t cover that. Maybe something else will come up that increases it further?

    Pushing aside the thoughts on the shifting, I began to crawl forward on my hands and knees into the tunnel. Shifting my eyes to an owl¡¯s once more, I did my best to maximize my sight with the bit of light that made it into the new passage from behind me. Rieka must have gone next, as the light stone cast further illumination ahead of us and I crawled a little faster.

    The air filtering back down the passage was not as musty as I had expected. Considering that the tunnel had been sealed for so long, I half expected the air in the confined tunnel to be foul and nearly unbreathable. I did my best to not think about gas pockets or areas full of carbon dioxide that could kill us without any warning.

    Wriggling past the two boulders, I had to use a little of the mana that had regenerated so far in my reservoir to widen the gap, but continued on. I¡¯d nearly made it to the exit when a gasp from behind me made me stop dead.

    I couldn¡¯t really turn around in the tight confines of the rock and packed earth tunnel, so I just dropped my head and peered backwards between my arms and legs.

    ¡°What is it?¡± My words were quiet as I asked. Rieka was a bare ten feet back and had rolled onto her side to inspect a portion of the train. I was pretty sure that she was next to the engine, based on where we were in the rock-slide.

    ¡°I can sense mana from inside here.¡± Rieka touched the rusted metal gently with her fingertips.

    Shifting slightly so I could see better, I examined what she was touching. The section of metal looked like an access hatch of some kind, though the long years and rust had eaten away at it until the panel looked more like it had sealed itself shut.

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t mess with that, Rieka. If you jostle too much, it might cause a cave in. The last thing we need is for someone to get trapped in here.¡± Rieka¡¯s ears wilted slightly at my rebuke, but she nodded. ¡°We¡¯ll remember it¡¯s there and try to get it later on. I can work on shoring up this section with my reserve, but right now, it¡¯s not safe to mess with.¡±

    ¡°Okay, Liam.¡± Rieka nodded once before righting herself and beginning to crawl after me.

    I emerged first into a darkness so absolute that, without the glow of Rieka¡¯s light stone, I would have been blind regardless of my Shape-Shifting.

    The tunnel continued to stretch out into the distance ahead of us, with both sets of rusty tracks guiding the way. The ceiling and walls of the tunnel appeared to be sturdy once it got past the collapsed portion, and I could see the faint edge of a central support column ahead of me between the tracks. To my right, I saw the blunt nose of the train¡¯s engine poking out of the rubble. It had several dents, and the metal was warped in some places, as if it had either melted or been torn up from an internal explosion.

    Stepping away from the train and the little tunnel I¡¯d made, I gave the girls space to come out. Rieka came next, holding her glowing stone over her head and glancing around curiously. Kassandra followed a moment later, dusting off her hands and the front of her corset, which had dirt smeared on it from where she¡¯d bent too far forward.

    The sight reminded me of a teasing bout between the two of them from a while ago, where Rieka had told me once of Kassandra leaning over too far while slithering and scooping sand into the front of her bodice because of her larger chest.

    Other than the sound of our breathing and the shuffle of footsteps or scales on stone, the cave was even more oppressively silent on this side of the blockage. Other than the collapse, there was only one other difference with this side of the blockage.

    Scratch marks covered the stones and the walls nearby. A thousand tiny scratches like someone had been trying, ineffectively, to dig through the stone of the blockage or through the walls, but had given up in seconds. Or possibly like the impact scars of several grenades that went off here, and the shrapnel had bounced back and forth inside the confines of the tunnel.

    ¡°How far does this go?¡± The oppressive silence muffled Kassandra¡¯s question, and the three of us shared a shrug.

    ¡°No idea. But I think we need more lights if we are going to keep going. I was hoping that the lights from the platform continued on down the tunnel.¡± Both girls nodded in agreement with my statement. Even Kassandra, who had been excited to see what was on the other side of the blockage, was biting her lip in hesitation as she glanced around.

    ¡°Let''s look around here. I want to see more about this ¡®injine¡¯ that you were talking about, Liam,¡± Kassandra suggested, finally turning away from the absolute darkness of the tunnel vanishing ahead of us.

    ¡°It¡¯s ¡®engine¡¯, dork,¡± Rieka told Kassandra. The wolf-eared woman rolled her eyes and gestured for Kassandra to follow her while she brought the sole light stone we had around to look at the wreckage from this side.

    We really need more of those. Or something like them. Didn¡¯t the girls mention they knew someone at Juneau who had light magic? Too bad we can¡¯t just zip back to town and borrow them to help with this. Maybe if we make another trip?

    Shaking myself free of the thoughts, I followed the girls but kept an eye on the tunnel behind us while the girls studied this side of the wreckage. Rieka bent to look closer at some of the deep scratches on the large stones, while Kassandra peered up at the side of the engine. The cave-in was more rock-heavy on this side, with the shattered remains of the support column blocking a good chunk of the tunnel. Part of that support column had crashed down on top of the engine, pinning it in place.

    ¡°Lucky you picked that spot to dig through, Liam.¡± Rieka gestured to the heavily scarred column. ¡°What do you think did that?¡±

    ¡°No idea. Was thinking it looks like scratches from an explosive or something? Maybe from when the engine blew? It does look like parts of it exploded outwards, right Kass?¡± I turned the last part of the statement into a question directed at my snaky lover and she hummed thoughtfully.

    ¡°It does. I want to see into the front part, though. I just don¡¯t want to risk climbing on the rock slide. Liam, can you come here for a minute?¡± Kassandra motioned me closer to the side of the engine and I dutifully obeyed.

    Kassandra quickly wound around me, climbing my body like a tree and using me as support to get the extra few feet of height she needed without climbing on top of the engine. She peered into one section that was torn outwards and squinted.

    Rieka didn¡¯t need the snapping fingers or the ¡®grabby-hands¡¯ motion that Kassandra made. She tossed the light stone up to Kassandra. The dwarf lamia caught the glowing crystal and held it over her head before she peered into the shattered compartment again.

    ¡°Jackpot!¡± Kassandra murmured a moment later. ¡°Liam, bring me closer. I need to fish some stuff out. I think we just made our investment back.¡±

    ¡°What did you find?¡± Rieka demanded, crowding in close to my side as I edged closer.

    I tested the side of the engine with one hand to ensure it wouldn¡¯t shift or shatter before leaning into one of the heavy wheels. Kassandra didn¡¯t respond to Rieka¡¯s words, just diving headfirst into the large, open crater in the side of the engine.

    The sudden lack of light as she took the glowing stone with her dropped Rieka and me into near darkness. All I could see when I looked over was the glittering, icy-blue points of Rieka¡¯s eyes in the darkness, and the faint halo of her pale hair.

    Kassandra grunted a few times, her body weight shifting such that I was glad I could brace my hip against the side of the engine. A squeal of metal on metal came before Kassandra¡¯s weight abruptly shifted backwards and she yelped in surprise. I nearly tipped over, but Rieka helped steady me.

    ¡°Catch!¡± Kassandra called before dropping something towards Rieka.

    Rieka immediately stuck her hands out and caught the item, grunting in surprise at the weight of it. A moment later, Kassandra yanked something else out of the engine compartment with a crunching sound before she retracted and began wriggling down from her perch on my shoulders. The reverse trip was far more enjoyable for me, as she made a point of grinding her crotch into my chest and rubbing her breasts into my face on the way down.

    ¡°Thank you, Liam,¡± Kassandra purred, pausing to drop a kiss on my lips on the way by.

    ¡°What the heck is this?¡± Rieka asked, peering at the odd bar of metal in her hands.

    It was about a foot long and looked somewhat like a pipe-wrench with a large sphere on the bottom end. An odd black metal, shimmering in the light of the glowing stone, made up the entire thing that Rieka held in her hands.

    ¡°Dunno, but I could feel the mana coming off of it. That¡¯s why I got it free. It was already mostly broken loose from the mounting from the explosion. This, though, should do us some good!¡± Kassandra said with a grin, brandishing what she had in her hand.

    The item she had was a spray of muddy-brown crystals that looked like quartz and was half the size of her hand.

    ¡°Mana crystals, specifically earth mana crystals. Not surprising in a cave like this. I think that might be why the engine reacted when Liam touched it with his mana.¡±

    ¡°Well, damn! That would have been nice to have before we burrowed through and used the silver,¡± Rieka muttered, hefting the metal in her hands. ¡°This might be worth something, too. Since it¡¯s got a mana charge to it.¡±

    ¡°Dunno what it is, but it might be useful. It definitely looked critical from where it was located in the engine. Whatever blew out the exterior clearly was what knocked it free.¡±

    ¡°Wonder what it¡¯s for,¡± Rieka murmured again, examining the item. ¡°There¡¯s writing on the side here. Liam, can you read it?¡±

    I stepped closer and Kassandra held the light stone so I could see the writing.

    Most of it was gibberish, just numbers and letters combined with a few symbols that looked like logos. Though I found one word stamped into the tarnished metal that made my eyebrows knit together.

    ¡°What the hell is a samoflange?¡±

 Chapter 58

    The girls spent a bit more time fishing around inside the damaged engine, extracting a few more of the earth-oriented mana crystals. After about ten minutes, I reminded them that it was getting late and we should head back up to the camp soon.

    Before the girls agreed to head back, Kassandra and Rieka stated that we should scout the tunnel for a distance, to see if we could find out where it ran and how far. After following the tracks under the mountain for nearly ten minutes without seeing any sign of change, we doubled back to the blockage.

    ¡°What do you think is down there?¡± Rieka asked once we got back to the cave-in and the ancient, ruined train.

    ¡°No idea. The copper map labeled this as a research facility, though. So I imagine it will have lots of scientific stuff,¡± Kassandra said gleefully.

    ¡°Provided that this end wasn¡¯t the research facility,¡± I interjected. Both girls turned curious looks at me and I shrugged. ¡°This whole thing reminds me of a subway, which is a type of underground conveyance back home. They run all over big cities and in some countries they handle travel all over the country by diving in and out of the earth. That track might run all throughout the mountains.¡±

    Rieka was back to biting her lip in thought, while Kassandra frowned cutely, her brow wrinkled in concentration as she considered.

    ¡°We might need to bring the tent and sleeping supplies back down with us,¡± Kassandra said with a sigh before leading the way into the passage. Her words echoed back to us as she vanished from sight. ¡°Having to double back each day would eat up a lot of time. While we are making light stones and the like, we should prepare a map too.¡±

    ¡°What about the other sealed room at this end?¡± Rieka suggested as she followed her friend. Rieka bent over and crawled into the tunnel without a care, her fluffy tail framing her muscular butt as it wiggled back and forth.

    I did my best to not stare at Rieka¡¯s butt in the tight riding pants she was wearing. I did notice her tail was puffed out in worry while doing my best to avoid staring at those tight curves. Crawling without at least glancing ahead of myself felt like a recipe for disaster, all right?

    ¡°I¡¯ll record the glyphs on it, and I can work on an unlocking ritual for it, too. If we are lucky, they used the same glyphs as the main door. But realistically? It¡¯ll be a day or two before I can get that one open. So it¡¯s something we can work on while we travel.¡± Kassandra¡¯s response was distant as she slithered through the hole I¡¯d made in the rockslide.

    While we crawled, I used what mana that had regenerated to further compress and reinforce the narrow passage to ensure it was as safe as possible.

    ¡°Huh? Hey, Liam! The lights are off,¡± Kassandra called a moment later, and I hurried to follow her out of the tunnel.

    It was true. The lights in the station were once more off and the room was as oppressively dark as the tunnel had been, with only Rieka¡¯s light and a faint glimmer of sun leaking down the long, sloping tunnel from above.

    ¡°Lights,¡± I called. Another distant clunk noise and the lights came back on in the station, though I felt like they were dimmer than they had been in the past.

    I wonder if they are on a timer or something?

    Shaking off the thought, I gestured for the girls to lead the way back onto the platform.

    We stopped long enough for Kassandra to copy down the engravings on the secured door that led off the platform before heading back up to the surface. Kassandra also wanted to take the topographical sculpture off the wall, but I didn¡¯t have the mana left to shape the stone to release its anchors. Rieka also advised her it was better to leave it safe down here so it wouldn¡¯t crowd the storage bag.

    Emerging into the warm afternoon sunlight, I let out a long breath and held my face up to the sun. It was good to be back up and out of that impartial, silent darkness.

    ¡°Come on, you two!¡± Kassandra urged, pointing back over the lake towards the campsite. ¡°Let''s go make some dinner. I¡¯m starving! The only thing I¡¯ve eaten so far besides breakfast was some dried meat while I was working.¡±

    ¡°Sure thing, Kass. I¡¯m sure you¡¯d like to wipe some of that dust off too.¡± Rieka nodded to the smudges and smears of dirt and dust all along Kassandra¡¯s normally pristine scales and the redhead scowled at her friend.

    ¡°Don¡¯t poke fun at me, Rieka. You look more like a gray fox than a white wolf right now.¡±

    ¡°Easy you two,¡± I interrupted and nodded towards the sinking sun, which was barely an hour above the horizon. ¡°Let¡¯s get back to camp. I want to get things set up so we can clean up and relax before it gets dark. Sooner we get to sleep, the sooner we can keep exploring. Right?¡±

    This turned out to be exactly the right thing to say in order to turn Kassandra¡¯s mood around. My dwarf lamia¡¯s grin returned and she once more led the charge out of the clearing and back towards the campsite. Rieka followed after her, talking quietly with her friend.

    I moved to follow, but kicked something in the long grass. Glancing down, I noted the ward stones that Kassandra had set up earlier in the day around the entrance to the underground cave and its door. The girls had deactivated them when we emerged, but hadn¡¯t bothered to collect the stones.

    ¡°Huh¡­¡± I mumbled under my breath before shrugging and nudging the stone back into place. ¡°Cosgrave,¡± I said clearly, using my last name that the girls had set as the password.

    I felt the stones take a small amount of my mana before the runes flared briefly in a blue-white color before fading.

    ¡°There, that¡¯ll keep anything else sneaking down there while we are gone,¡± I sighed before hurrying to follow the girls.

    <><><>

    I worked on making dinner for us, cooking pan-fried steak and potatoes in the large skillet, while the girls used both of the large pots to heat water to wash with. It also served to give me something to do besides staring at the girls while they washed themselves. They professed not to care if I looked, but I didn¡¯t want to be a creep and stare.

    Manually tossing the roasting potatoes in the pan, I caught Rieka teasing Kassandra about how she had refused to do a ¡®rag bath¡¯ last time they were here in order to tempt me into washing her. Kassandra¡¯s response made me grin.

    ¡°I don¡¯t need to tempt him anymore, I just have to ask our Liam and he¡¯d be happy to scrub all of me.¡±

    Rieka¡¯s sputtering in response had been cute, and they had lowered their voices after that point. I toyed with the idea of improving my hearing to see if I could catch what they were saying, but decided not to invade their privacy. It was obvious they were whispering to keep something secret.

    The girls finished their washing up relatively quickly. Rieka took over managing the pan while I quickly wiped down. Kassandra settled in next to the fire to watch. Whether she was watching her friend cook or me wash, I wasn¡¯t entirely sure.

    Most of today had been just walking about in my armor, so only my face and hands were really dirt from the dust and loose soil underground. I still made sure to wash the sweat away though and change into clean clothes that the girls had brought for me.

    While it wasn¡¯t a whole wardrobe, they¡¯d bought me a few sets of loose pants and shirts in the local styles to wear while I was here. The pair I chose was a set of russet pants with a high waist and a simple shirt in dark blue.

    Even with the excitement of delving further into the cave tomorrow, the hot food combined with the exertions of the day rendered all three of us exhausted. Kassandra was the first to slither into the tent and begin settling the bedding, with Rieka close behind her. I could hear giggling while I extinguished the fire using some of the extra wash-water from the cauldron.

    ¡°We should fill these up with fresh water before storing them, if we are going to be in that tunnel for a while,¡± I mumbled, pouring the rest of the water out to run down the slope back towards the lake. The thick grass of the clearing glittered beautifully with the moisture of the water, and the trees swished quietly in the wind. Pausing, I looked up at the night¡¯s sky.

    Darkness had fallen while we were unwinding and now the sky bore a glittering scarf of distant lights. A handful of clouds lingered to the east, out towards the sea, and blocked out the night sky in that direction. However, directly above us was a beautiful and surreal vista that made my heart ache.

    I wish we could still see a sight like this back home, I thought wistfully.

    ¡°Liam, come to bed?¡± Kassandra¡¯s request was muffled by the canvas of the tent. I pulled my eyes away from the speckled light show above me and back to the ground. The tent was illuminated from within by Rieka¡¯s light stone and I could see the curvy silhouette of Kassandra against the canvas.

    ¡°Coming.¡±

    ¡°No, you are not! Not yet at least,¡± Kassandra teased and I could hear the grin in her voice before a light swatting noise made her yelp and I saw her shadow jump against the tent.

    ¡°Not in the tent, Kass,¡± Rieka¡¯s muffled chastisement was followed by a yelp of surprise from the wolf girl, then by several giggles from them both.

    ¡°Such silly girls. I love them so much,¡± I mumbled before unbuckling my boots and ducking into the tent.

    The sight that greeted me was definitely a sweet one.

    Kassandra was wearing my old tee-shirt as a night dress again, the chest of the shirt straining slightly against her full figure. Her butt was entirely on display, framed by where her scaled tail met her human lower half while she playfully wrestled with Rieka on top of the bedding. Rieka, for her part, was wearing a loose nightshirt that would have fallen to her knees, but their wriggling and giggling had hiked it up as well to show the curve of her hip.

    ¡°Am I interrupting?¡± I asked with a smile. Both girls stopped, turning ruffled and amused looks towards me. Rieka was blushing slightly but made no move to cover herself, while Kassandra just grinned wickedly.

    ¡°Not yet at least,¡± quipped Kassandra as her grin turned lascivious. Rieka rolled her eyes and beckoned me with one hand, while smiling sweetly.

    ¡°No. Come to bed Liam?¡±

    Her request was done with such earnest affection that I couldn¡¯t have stopped myself if I wanted to. And I really did not want to resist at all.

    I undressed down to my boxers in less than a minute, amusing the girls with my hopping back and forth to shuck out of my clothes and gear, before joining them on the pile of bedding.

    Rieka snuggled into my right side, once again claiming my arm and wrapping it around her before tucking my forearm between her breasts so she could snuggle it like a pillow. Kassandra wound her serpentine length around both of us before draping her torso over my chest to rest her chin on my chest.

    ¡°Night, girls,¡± I murmured, squeezing both of them gently.

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°Good night, Liam,¡± Rieka mumbled with a cute little yawn.

    ¡°Love you.¡± Kassandra accented her words with a small kiss to my jaw and I drifted off happily.

    <><><>

    I don¡¯t know how long we slept, but it definitely wasn¡¯t long enough.

    A loud crack of lightning and a piercing, animalistic scream of pain tore me out of a very nice dream where both girls had been covering me with kisses. In response, my eyes flew open to take in the almost pitch black confines of the interior of the tent.

    A second crack of electricity and another scream, quite distant, shook the rest of the cobwebs from my mind. I was about to wake both girls, but from how tensely Rieka clung to my arm I knew she was already up.

    ¡°What was that?¡± Kassandra¡¯s murmured question told me she was up too.

    ¡°That can¡¯t have been the camp wards, they would be much louder.¡± Rieka wriggled to try to get free of Kassandra¡¯s coils and my redheaded dwarf lamia let her friend go.

    The mention of wards had me blinking for a moment before I recalled earlier that day and I growled. Kassandra was still draped over my chest, but she was pushing herself upright now, so I had to move carefully to untangle myself.

    ¡°The cave. I activated Kassandra¡¯s line by the mouth of the cave when we left. I didn¡¯t want to risk something sneaking down there, since we left that big door open inside the cave.¡±

    Both girls stopped moving in the darkness for a moment before speeding up once more. Rieka was already pulling on her pants underneath her nightshirt, tucking the flowing garment into the top of her pants while Kassandra folded her skirt around her hips, buttoning it closed on top of my old tee.

    ¡°We need to go check it out, then. Good thinking about doing that, Liam. I didn¡¯t charge them much, so I doubt they¡¯ll last long,¡± Kassandra rattled off as she writhed on her back to try to get the skirt into place on her sinuous hips.

    A third, quieter crack split the night and this time it was accompanied by a distant growl rather than a yelp of pain.

    ¡°Kass, did you finish enchanting those light stones?¡± Rieka demanded, belting on her spell rod and pouches while I yanked my pants on.

    I didn¡¯t have time to buckle my armor on. I¡¯d have to make do with the armor created by my Shape-Shifting for now.

    ¡°Pouch by the door. Just need to push mana into them.¡± Kassandra was locking her own utility belt into place when I pushed past both girls. I only had my pants on, but I was ready to fight if something was near the camp.

    Things had been so quiet up here thus far that I had almost forgotten the violent world that we were in right now.

    Poking my head out of the tent flap, I used Shape-Shifting to adapt my eyes and scanned the darkness.

    The clouds from over the sea had broken up and the night sky was now aided by a waxing moon in illuminating the surrounding landscape in its silvery glow. With the vastly improved night-vision, it might as well have been bright as day for me. I could see the grass dancing in the evening breeze and even spotted a large owl cruising over the lake nearby.

    A flash of light lit up the trees out towards the site of the cave and a fourth zap of electrical discharge told me that whatever was up there had not moved on. This burst was much weaker and there wasn¡¯t a screech of pain, either.

    The feeling of a soft hand on my back prompted me to step out into the cool grass of the evening and Rieka followed me with Kassandra close behind.

    ¡°Are you two sure you want to leave the campsite? It¡¯ll likely be dangerous. I can go scout it out?¡± I asked them, while focusing on my hands and feet.

    I¡¯d been experimenting with several new shifts during my last week without work and I thought that now would be a good chance to try one of them. My feet shifted and expanded, turning from their normal human shape into wide pads with sharp claws and tufts of gray-brown fur. My hands repeated the feat a moment later and, with a flex of the tendons in my arm, claws sprouted from the feline pads that were easily three inches long and wickedly sharp.

    That crag hunter really had sharp claws. Mine now, though! I thought with a grin while I studied the heavily muscled limbs. A thin layer of natural armor coated the limbs to protect them as well, giving me the look of wearing leather armor on my forearms and lower legs.

    I was so caught up in preparing that I missed the glares from both of the girls. I didn¡¯t miss the smack on the hip from Kassandra, though.

    ¡°We are not sending you out there alone, Liam!¡± she snapped. I turned to smile down at my irate lover. She looked adorably dangerous in her sleep-mussed state, with the wide neck of my old shirt hanging off one shoulder and exposing most of one breast. She also clutched the deadly weapon that was her spell rod in her right hand, ready to use it.

    ¡°I just wanted to make sure. Come on, let''s have a look.¡± My response drove the irritation away from both girls and we hurried down into the lake valley and across as a fifth, far quieter, zot of electrical discharge sounded in the distance.

    Rieka and Kassandra both carried light stones now, and the girls remained behind me so as not to ruin my improved vision. The twin sources of light threw crazed shadows all around us as we rushed through the trees and up the winding path on the far side of the lake and the spring that fed it.

    We emerged into the meadow around the entrance to the cave to find utter chaos.

    There were sections of the grass near the open mouth of the cave smoking, while two spots were actively burning with low flames. Several things thrashed in the grass, snarling in pain while they tried to fight off the twitches that came with a severe electrical shock.

    As I watched, something else emerged from the entrance to the cave and crossed the ward line. The wards gave a quiet crackle and there was a little flash of light that made whatever it was yip in surprise, but the rustling in the grass continued away from the cave.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what they are, but it looks like they are coming out of the cave, not going in!¡± I hissed to the girls, crouching and slowing down as we approached.

    ¡°Whatever it is, they shouldn¡¯t be here. My senses are going wild right now. Something is very wrong here.¡± The dwarf lamia straightened while gesturing with her spell rod. Rieka matched her a moment later while I moved to stand in front of and between the two women while they cast.

    ¡°Glacial Earth!¡± Kassandra cried a moment later, and a ripple of frost burst from the area around the entrance to the cave. Ice grew over both ground and grass, making the entire area slick and sending shapeless forms tumbling back into the open mouth of the burrow.

    ¡°Spark Net!¡± The spell from Rieka fell a bare second after Kassandra froze the ground. Lightning crackled through the icy grass and latched on to several targets that thrashed harder in the grass.

    Inhuman squeals and shrieks of pain rent the night air, and all three of us charged ahead.

    I was the first to actually lay eyes on the strange creatures that were, even now, trying to force their way out of the underground cave and past the frozen, slick earth and their twitching fallen.

    They were low to the ground, standing barely a foot high, and were black as pitch. The flashing of electricity and the glow of the stars both glinted off hardened carapaces and thrashing, four-clawed limbs. It was hard to count as the arms protruded off of a segmented body roughly the size of a medium dog, but I was pretty sure they had six limbs and at least two circular mouths full of jagged teeth, one on each end of their bodies.

    ¡°By the Gods!¡± Rieka exclaimed in disgust, her spell rod flicking back and forth before she launched one of her preferred spells. ¡°Bolt Chain!¡±

    The chain made of lightning lashed out and connected with the nearest of the creatures. Squealing in surprise, the creature thrashed and spun in place before it exploded with a wet pop. Rieka flicked her spell rod to send the other end of the chain out to find another target, which resulted in another of the creatures exploding a moment later. Kassandra was sending targeted spears of ice into the mouth of the cave, as far more of the creatures were crowding the opening still as they fought to escape the cave and rolled in the ichor and guts of their dead when they slipped on the slick ground.

    ¡°That¡¯s gross,¡± I grunted at the gruesome smell of the popped monsters.

    Movement caught my eye as one of the creatures circled around towards Kassandra¡¯s open side.

    Ducking low under Kassandra¡¯s barrage, I lunged at the creature and slapped down with one paw-hand. My palm caught the creature from the side and the claws exploded out of their hidden state, scoring deeply into the chitinous exterior of the critter.

    Shrieking in pain, the little monster tried to claw at my arm in revenge, but its claws just scraped over my armored forearm. Whipping my arm back, I lobbed it back towards the fray, intending for it to land amongst the ones by the cave mouth. My aim was off slightly, and it landed far closer to Rieka than the group. The creature bounced and rolled into the illuminated space of Rieka¡¯s light stone.

    The scream that rose up from the creature in response was even more piercing and actually made Rieka stumble away from the creature. Its limbs thrashed while it tried to scramble away from my wolf-eared girl, but couldn¡¯t seem to get them to work properly at first. I silenced its screaming with a powerful stomp a moment later that crunched the monster underfoot.

    ¡°Icicle Rain!¡± Kassandra snapped from right behind me and I spun to see her channeling with her spell rod into the air over the cave mouth.

    Hundreds of hand-sized icy spears formed about twenty feet above the mob in the cave and dove downwards to slam into the creatures, cracking chitin and sending the creatures stumbling on the frozen ground as their balance was interrupted.

    ¡°Drive them back into the cave, quickly!¡± Rieka ordered before flicking another of her Spark Net¡¯s into the group, sending them twitching and thrashing.

    We pushed forward, the girls holding their light stones up overhead to illuminate the way. I kept to the sides, crushing any of the creatures that tried to flank them. I got bit once, but the creature''s little fangs barely made it past the thick skin of my shin armor before I crushed it and then used the spindly body as an impromptu club on another.

    Thankfully, not many managed to make it out of the cave mouth before we got there, and the girls were able to corral the creatures back into the cave.

    Whenever the direct light of the glowing stones fell on the creatures, they hissed and retreated. Several that were injured enough not to be able to move simply screamed and thrashed in response to the light.

    Rieka noticed this reaction as we continued to drive them back. She paused for a moment to hold the glowing stone down directly in front of one of the creatures and its scream grew even more piercing. A lashing limb smacked the glowing stone out of her hand and, as soon as it was away from her, the creature lunged clumsily at Rieka. My wolf kin princess was ready and jammed her spell rod into the open mouth of the creature. A bolt of lightning caused it to explode like a watermelon hit with a hammer a moment later.

    Once Rieka collected her light stone, the three of us worked to bottle the creatures up in the cave. The area around the mouth of the cave was a mess of black blood, torn earth, and twitching corpses. It felt like there had to be hundreds of the little bastards, but I knew logically that had to be impossible.

    Once we got close enough to the cave, Kassandra tossed her light stone down right at the entrance, which sent the critters skittering back into the depths of the cave and away from the light. The glow of her light stone on the rocky interior reminded me of the lights down below, which were out again from what I could tell of the shadows in the cave below us.

    ¡°LIGHTS!¡± I shouted as loudly as I could. I didn¡¯t hear the clunk this time, but the hissing screams and rapid skittering of the little monsters picked up. A surge of the little beasts tried to push past us and up into the meadow, but the three of us drove them back.

    I don¡¯t know how long we ended up fighting, but the girls actually had to start fishing coins out of the pouches on their belt to power their magic before the final one of the scuttling beasts was dead. I made sure to stomp on each of them to ensure none of them survived with just an injury and, in the process, got a chance to count the dead.

    We¡¯d brought down sixty-seven of the little beasts.

    ¡°Liam? You okay?¡± Rieka¡¯s question brought me back to myself from the snarling anger that had been driving me throughout the fight. These little monsters had threatened my girls, and it didn¡¯t help that they were so disgusting. It felt like I¡¯d been stomping barefoot on cockroaches and I desperately wanted to clean my feet. The gross feeling of blood and ichor between my toes just further fueled my disgust.

    I turned back towards the two and had to take a firmer hold on my anger when I realized the girls hadn¡¯t gotten out of the fight entirely unscathed.

    Rieka had a narrow cut on the back of the hand that held her light stone, probably from the creature that had batted it away from her earlier. Kassandra was bleeding from a cut on one cheek. Both of them were speckled with the black blood of these little monsters, and all three of us were panting.

    ¡°Little hurt, are you two okay?¡± My voice was thick with anger and I stomped harder on the nearest critter, which splattered satisfyingly as a result.

    ¡°Minor cuts only. What the hell were these?¡± Kassandra was the one to respond.

    My inquisitive, serpentine lover bent close over one of the bodies. I walked over to check on her while she did. Shifting my hands back from paws did not remove the gore from them, so I swiped it off on the grass as best as I could before coming to a stop next to her.

    Kassandra leaned into me automatically while she studied the mostly intact body in front of her. It had to be one that must have crossed the ward while it was still fully charged. The creature''s body was smoking, but it was still intact.

    ¡°No idea, but they were vicious little bastards.¡± Rieka growled, joining us and holding her light stone up.

    ¡°That is¡­disturbing,¡± Kassandra mumbled. I looked down at where she was staring to see the shell of the creature begin to collapse, like an ice-cube melting in the sun, as the dual light of the two glowing stones hit it. As I had guessed during the fight, the creature had six limbs. Two protruded from each end of its body and the third set came from the joint between them. It looked an awful lot like a pair of mouths with legs that could run in either direction, covered in a slick exoskeleton to add fuel to their nightmarish appearance.

    All three of us watched as the body slowly melted away into the grass, leaving nothing behind but a faint stink and a lingering smoke that was shredded by the breeze after a long few seconds.

 Chapter 59

    We stood watch at the cave entrance to make sure the creatures didn¡¯t come back.

    Kassandra alternated between studying the dead creatures and carving into several stones more of the runes to create light. The light had proved to be a more effective barrier than the wards were, and once we had a half dozen of the glowing rocks set around the cave mouth, we could finally relax.

    We decided silently not to return to the tent to sleep. Instead, the three of us took turns standing watch while the other two dozed in the grass, using some of the spare blankets to keep warm.

    I had suggested collapsing the cave to seal them up, but both of my girls refused. The appearance of the strange monsters only confirmed that there was something important down there and they were bound and determined to find out what it was.

    Kassandra, after ensuring it was quite dead, wrapped one monster up in a spare cloth and tucked it into the dimensional sack to be examined later. This was something that creeped both Rieka and me out, but my dwarf lamia insisted it would be important to document as much as possible and the dimensional space would slow time for the remains to prevent it from rotting.

    The rising sun eliminated any of the creatures left above ground. While indirect or magical light caused them to slowly break up, the light of the morning sun caused any of the bodies we hadn¡¯t dealt with to collapse into ash and dissolve almost immediately on contact.

    I decided I would need to keep a careful watch on my girls to see how they handled everything now that the night was past. I know what happened last night would leave me with nightmares. I don¡¯t know how the girls will react, so I need to keep an eye on them.

    After we had settled down the previous night, I had stood watch first, then Rieka, then Kassandra from our spot about a hundred feet away from the battlefield in the grass. Which meant that when I woke up that morning, I was curled up in the fetal position with Rieka held to my chest and an arm around her waist. Kassandra had curled her serpentine tail around both of us and draped her cloak over top of the blankets too in order to keep all three of us as warm as possible.

    When she realized I was waking, Kassandra shifted to let us out, but remained close to get as much body heat as possible. My lover wasn¡¯t anywhere as mischievous as she normally was, pointing out the results of the sunlight hitting the remains of the shadow monsters before they¡¯d finished dissolving entirely. She was studying the process with an intense expression of curiosity.

    Once Rieka had woken and we were sure that the creatures weren¡¯t coming back out of the hole, we retreated back to our campsite. Kassandra took a moment to reinforce the barrier wards she¡¯d put up at the burrow entrance even further before we left.

    ¡°So, what¡¯s the plan?¡± Rieka asked while I set about getting the fire started to make the girls¡¯ breakfast. Kassandra was inside the tent, ruffling about doing something, while Rieka paced between the tent and the fire pit.

    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure those creatures came from beyond the sealed tunnel.¡±

    ¡°What makes you say that, Liam?¡± Rieka immediately jumped on the statement, her eyes hard as she chewed on her bottom lip.

    ¡°The dust on the ground. If that many critters were just beyond the door, we would have seen tracks. My money would be that they were sealed up in that tunnel by the cave-in. We already know the lights from the station do not run that deep and they seem to hate the light. I bet they avoided us yesterday and only came out because the lights were on a timer of some kind and it was dark out.¡± I shrugged after that statement, carefully stirring the porridge that I was making to ensure it didn¡¯t burn.

    ¡°But what do we do now? Do we keep delving into the tunnel? Seal it up and report it to the queen for the army to come investigate? I mean, I am curious, but I''m also second guessing going down there at the moment.¡± Rieka¡¯s concern was interrupted by Kassandra emerging from the tent with a pile of folded bedding in her arms and a determined expression on her face.

    ¡°No way in hell am I giving up a find like this to the army,¡± Kassandra said sternly. ¡°Those things hate the light. So we just have to make sure we have plenty of it. We easily found several gold worth of earth-aligned elemental crystals down there. Also, that samoflange thingy is oozing with power too and it¡¯s obviously worth something from that alone.¡±

    ¡°So what are you saying, Kass? Go down there and keep exploring?¡± Rieka didn¡¯t even sound surprised at her question now, which was good. We both knew Kassandra well enough to guess what was going to be said next.

    ¡°Damn straight. We¡¯ve already found so much information already. Let¡¯s get the tent packed up. If we are going to have to stand watch over that hole in the ground, then I want to be comfortable doing it. I can¡¯t just disable the rune set I put in to open the main door easily. So our best option is to clear out the burrow, the cave, tunnel, and the station then set up on the far side of the cave-in and have Liam seal that back up. He can draw mana from one of the earth crystals and do it easily.¡±

    Rieka and I shared a look for a moment and I shrugged. I was going to leave this up to the two of them to decide. I only needed to see the telltale wiggle of Rieka¡¯s tail beginning to move to let me know she was just as curious as Kassandra, just hiding it better. Whatever worries she¡¯d had before were clearly subsumed under Kassandra¡¯s determination and curiosity now.

    <><><>

    ¡°You know, we were joking about it before, back when we found the door the first time. But I feel like Rieka got it right on the head about this being a prison full of ghosts and zombies.¡± Kassandra¡¯s joke echoed oddly in the darkness on the far side of the cave-in.

    We¡¯d found only one of the shadow monsters hiding on the station side of the cave-in and dispatched it with ruthless efficiency. The fact that I called for the lights to turn on ahead of us might have helped, but I wasn¡¯t entirely sure.

    I¡¯d just finished using one of the smallest elemental crystals to fuel my earth magic to seal the narrow burrow I¡¯d made behind us. Rather than collapse a portion of it, I¡¯d built a plug of packed earth and large stones that was a good five feet long and sealed it into place on this side. My eyes kept being drawn to the scratches in the rock around the ruined engine of the train, and I began to wonder if it was from the ancient explosion or the claws of the scurrying shadow monsters.

    ¡°I¡¯d prefer if you¡¯d been the one who was right in that situation, Kass.¡± Rieka huffed, shifting to hold her light stone overhead.

    Kassandra had worked on carving runes to make a larger stone glow while we ate. Now, both she and Rieka carried softball sized stones that glowed brightly enough to illuminate the entire tunnel for a good fifty feet around them in bright light. I had one as well and with the three, we could form a walking barrier of light as we traveled down the tunnel. The other light stones were tucked safely away in the dimensional pouch.

    ¡°What? Wishing that it was a collection of time-locked priests? Or a harem of beautiful women who would throw themselves on Liam in thanks for being rescued?¡± The girls¡¯ words were doing that strange ¡®echo¡¯ thing. I could hear them, but they still sounded muffled, as if their voices refused to travel far down the tunnel.

    ¡°Either or both. Would be infinitely more comforting than the idea of those creatures being mutated ghosts or the like.¡± Rieka shivered and then jumped when I rested a hand on her shoulder. The platinum-blonde wolf-woman looked up at me with her sharp, ice-blue eyes and smiled wanly.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine, Rieka. We just need to make sure we keep in the light. The only reason those things were dangerous last night was their numbers and because they could spread out. Just keep your eyes open and we will keep safe. Don¡¯t hesitate to blast one of the little buggers if you see one. If we are lucky, this tunnel will be short and we won¡¯t have to camp down here.¡±

    ¡°Can do, Liam.¡± Rieka¡¯s ears didn¡¯t droop, but she bit her bottom lip in obvious concern. Wanting to reassure her and willing to take another step to show her my interest, given her own blatant moves previously, I bent down and pressed a light kiss to her lips. Rieka stiffened before melting into me, the hand with her spell rod shifting to grip the front of my armor with her fingertips while her tail whipped up a storm, stirring the dust into the air.

    ¡°Hey! I want a kiss, too!¡± Kassandra¡¯s protest brought Rieka back and the wolf-eared woman giggled, her cheeks pinking slightly when I kissed the tip of her aristocratic nose.

    ¡°Of course. Come here, gorgeous!¡± I said with gusto, turning towards Kassandra and bending down to scoop her torso and part of her tail up.

    Since I was only bringing her up to my height, the weight was manageable given her long tail. Kassandra giggled and threw her arms around my neck before stealing several kisses of her own. I was proud of my dwarf lamia, as she never once let her light stone fall or dropped her spell rod, despite the pleasant distraction.

    When we finally finished our motivational lip-lock, Kassandra separated and leaned back in my arms while wiggling her bottom in my hands, which had slipped under her skirt by accident during the whole maneuver. I could feel the softness of her bare skin under my hands, and was reminded of the fact that it was rather impossible for a lamia to wear panties.

    ¡°Such a thoughtful man, Liam. Rieka and I will have to make sure to reward you when this is all said and done. And I don¡¯t mean with tea and cookies.¡± The heat in Kassandra¡¯s voice left nothing to the imagination.

    A quiet ¡®oh gods¡¯ from Rieka resulted in Kassandra breaking down into giggles. A glance towards the fourth princess showed her lightly pinked cheeks were now far darker, but her tail was stirring up a storm once more.

    ¡°Sounds like a plan, Kass. Let¡¯s focus now though,¡± I reminded my lover, and she nodded with a sigh before slipping free of my arms.

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    The three of us formed a line, with me in the center and about ten feet ahead of the girls. Rieka was on my left and about six feet to one side, while Kassandra was on my right and roughly the same distance away. We kept to the center of the tunnel between the two sets of tracks, only diverting to either side when we ran into one of the large support pillars that occasionally graced the middle of the tunnel.

    The deeper we went into the complex, the more sturdy the walls and ceiling got. It went from what looked similar to concrete to chiseled stone over around a hundred feet. Underfoot, the gravel remained the same plain gray color that I felt was ubiquitous to all gravel, though the brilliant light we carried would sparkle off tiny infusions of crystalline material in the rock on occasion. The problem was that the slight flash, seen out of the corner of the eye, was very similar to how the light had glinted off the carapaces of the shadow monsters. So it never failed to make one of us jump, which would make the other two whirl to check on them.

    It took a bit before we made our first discovery. It was Rieka who spotted it, a different shade of glittering near the ground by one wall. Rieka called for us to stop and head over.

    There, growing in the narrow space where the curved wall met the gravel floor, was another spray of crystals that was almost the exact same color as the gravel but threw out duller sparks of light.

    ¡°More earth crystals?¡± I asked quietly, turning to put my back to it while Rieka carefully pried them free.

    ¡°Yup. I¡¯m not surprised, given how deep we are under the mountains right now. What¡¯s got me thinking instead is that the air is still good down here. There must be some kind of venting system to keep the air from going bad,¡± Rieka murmured, grunting as she finally broke the crystals free.

    All three of us were now well aware of the oppressive weight that hung in the air and pressed down to keep the silence of the caves. It was more than just the weight of the thousands of tons of stone above us. The darkness itself weighed on all of us. We¡¯d all taken to speaking whispers when we had to talk, not wanting to disturb the silence any more than we needed to. There hadn¡¯t been another sighting of the skittering shadow monsters, and I was glad for that. I half hoped that we¡¯d wiped them out the previous night, but wasn¡¯t willing to bet my life on it.

    When Rieka had the crystals secured in her pouch, we continued on down the tunnel. The gravel crackled quietly under both foot and tail as we moved, but the sound didn¡¯t seem to want to travel very far into that weighty darkness.

    We¡¯d been walking for at least an hour when the walls began to change again. The tightly bonded granite began to give way to lighter, striated layers of black shale. The gravel underfoot also changed colors to the darker shade of stone. This wouldn¡¯t have been a problem, normally, but the ceiling and walls began to show more wear and tear as the softer stone took over now. I wasn¡¯t sure how far into the mountains we were, but the chipped ceiling and scratched walls did not give the tunnel the same sense of stability that we had enjoyed during the first part of the trip. I was half expecting another cave-in to block our way, but Kassandra spotted another change first.

    ¡°Liam!¡± Kassandra¡¯s single word hiss of surprise immediately drew my attention to her side of the tunnel and all three of us stopped.

    I¡¯d first taken the shadows on the wall to just be more scraped spots where pieces of the softer slate had broken free and indeed there were piles of the fragments all over the ground at the base of the wall. But the shadows were deeper than that. The wall on Kassandra¡¯s side was honeycombed with what looked like dug out burrows just about big enough one could cram a good sized watermelon down them.

    My mind treated me to the image of the shadowy creatures boiling out of the walls like a stirred up hive of hornets, and I immediately shifted to put myself between Kassandra and Rieka.

    I¡¯d used Shape-Shifting to extend my right arm and add several joints, turning it into the scorpion-tail configuration from before and armoring it in the chitinous plating. My leather and metal chest armor made it a little hard to maneuver as fluidly with, but I could make do.

    Quickly counting them, I was not happy with what I found. There had to be easily fifty or sixty of the burrows in that one wall alone, but nothing stirred from within them while we watched.

    ¡°Can you seal them up, Liam?¡± The question came from Rieka and I could hear a tremor in her voice.

    ¡°We have no idea how many of them are in there, or even if there are any. But I would also feel better knowing they aren¡¯t just sitting open.¡± Kassandra¡¯s voice wasn¡¯t any firmer than her friends, so I nodded.

    I¡¯d kept three of the smallest earth crystals in a little pouch on my weapon belt, and it only took a moment to dig out the one I had used to seal up the burrow we had used to bypass the cave-in. I had to hold it with just my fingertips because of the light stone I had in that hand, but I was able to get it in place.

    Drawing on the mana in the crystal, I focused on what I wanted to happen. It took a moment before the piles of fallen slate near the wall shifted and began to flow like syrup dripping in reverse. Beginning at floor level and going upwards, the gravel and the piles of broken rock began to merge with the wall and fill in the burrows. The gravel and shattered pieces of slate merged with the wall like I was smearing putty over them, and I worked quickly to fill the holes. I didn¡¯t have an infinite amount of stone to work with, and it was obvious that not all the stone that had been removed from those burrows was left on the ground here, but I managed to seal up each of the narrow holes. Nothing stirred from inside them the entire time.

    I kept working until the crystal in my fingertips collapsed into dust, signifying that I had used all the mana contained inside of it.

    ¡°How well sealed are those?¡± Kassandra asked. I had to take a minute to catch my breath before I could respond.

    ¡°About three feet thick.¡±

    ¡°Three feet!?¡± Rieka¡¯s exclamation rebounded off the wall near us and returned distorted, making all three of us flinch. ¡°Three feet? Seriously? That had to have taken so much mana!¡± Rieka continued her protest, a bit quieter this time.

    ¡°It burned up one of the crystals.¡± I said with a shrug, and she bit her lip in concern. ¡°Well worth it if we don¡¯t get ambushed. We should keep going, though. There is no telling what else we might find down here.¡± Rieka still looked torn between astonishment and worry, and I was ready to reassure her further when a violet glow flared on the edges of my vision and text appeared.

    Power Manipulate Element (Minor) - (Earth) has achieved Mastery 1000/1000.

    New Power available in the System interface.

    Congratulations, Traveler.

    ¡°Oh! Well¡­that¡¯s cool,¡± I mumbled and blinked the message away.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Kassandra questioned, and I turned to smile down at my serpentine lover.

    ¡°Apparently, I¡¯ve mastered the rank of Manipulate Element that I had and it¡¯s ready to upgrade,¡± I answered her. Kassandra rewarded me with a broad smile. Turning back to the moment, I looked back to Rieka. ¡°For our safety, it is better to spend the resources than hoard them, right?¡±

    Rieka blinked at me in surprise before a small smile twisted her lips.

    ¡°Oh Liam, I wasn¡¯t concerned about the cost. I was surprised you could do all of that with just one crystal. Like Kass, I am proud of you for it and congratulations on your achievement. Do you want to take a minute?¡±

    ¡°No, not here.¡± I waved off the suggestion, instead gesturing down the tunnel. ¡°I¡¯ll look at the new stuff later. We don¡¯t want to hang around longer than we have to.¡± Both girls nodded, and we continued down the tunnel.

    We kept walking down the tunnel and encountered another mass of burrows, this time in the left-hand wall. I repeated the same feat as before, sealing them up and burning through my second of three crystals. Since Manipulate Elements was already mastered, it wasn¡¯t really doing anything for the skill but I also had a feeling I didn¡¯t have nearly enough SP to buy the next rank, which I was sure was what had unlocked, so I didn¡¯t worry about it.

    Besides the burrows, the only change in the scenery came about twenty minutes after we left the second group of sealed burrows behind.

    The shape loomed out of the darkness without warning and Kassandra squeaked in surprise when it did. Something large and metallic had been on the right-hand set of tracks that I guessed would have run down to the station we had left behind. Now, though, it was just a mass of shredded and quietly rusting metal shoved off to one side, not even on the tracks anymore.

    ¡°What do you think that was?¡± Rieka asked, peering at the roughly cigar-shaped mass of metal that was at least twenty feet long.

    ¡°Another transport, probably smaller than the big train that ran before. But what knocked it off the rails?¡± I didn¡¯t expect an answer to my question, and the entire thing was too trashed to really know its purpose.

    ¡°Wonder if it has a samoflange, too?¡± Kassandra¡¯s innocent question had both Rieka and I stumped, so we approached closer to inspect the ruined vehicle. A bit of digging about in the piles of rusting iron revealed a similar engine compartment to the other train, but much smaller. We found three separate growths of earth crystals in the wreckage, but no imbued metal and definitely no samoflange.

    ¡°Did you ever figure out what kind of metal that thing was made of?¡± Kassandra asked once we were done inspecting the wreckage.

    The dwarf lamia was a bit more upbeat now. With the crystals we¡¯d found alone, this trip was now profitable for the girls by a fair margin. So now she could focus on exploring and learning more from whatever we found down here.

    ¡°I hesitate to guess,¡± Rieka hedged uncharacteristically. I glanced over at the wolf-eared princess, and she was gnawing on her bottom lip. Reaching over, I gently tapped her chin. The gesture got a confused look from her.

    ¡°If you keep biting your lip like that, you are going to start bleeding. And I don¡¯t want you to scar up your face that way.¡± My gentle remonstration made her cheeks pink again, but she smiled at me before sighing slightly.

    ¡°I think the samoflange is made of silver.¡±

    ¡°Silver? Seriously? If that¡¯s silver¡­it¡¯s gotta be several pounds of it. And it¡¯s fully imbued!¡± Kassandra¡¯s excitement was easy to see. I didn¡¯t know the exact exchange rate, but that much imbued metal had to be valuable.

    ¡°I¡¯m just glad we have the dimensional pouch now,¡± I interjected. Both girls gave me questioning looks, so I elaborated. ¡°The pouch will look the same when we go back into town as it did when we left. Hard for thieves to target us if they don¡¯t know what we have. Sure, this stuff is valuable, but we need to find someone to buy it.¡±

    ¡°Mother will.¡± Rieka said with confidence. ¡°Something like that, both as a historic piece and being full of mana? She¡¯ll buy it for the treasury at the very least. The crystals will have to go to a broker, but the Hunt and Trade Hall have that service. It¡¯ll just take some time.¡±

    This seemed to satisfy Kassandra, who bounced excitedly on her tail as she slithered along. Deciding to accept the girls¡¯ word on it, I nodded and remained silent for the moment. I was curious how much they could earn from what we¡¯d found. I knew it would cover their costs and at least a bit more, but the economy here was something I still struggled to understand.

    Too bad I can¡¯t just buy raw palladium and bring it over here, I thought with a sigh. I bet with Rieka¡¯s contacts, I could trade it to their local mint to be made into coins and be paid in gold. Then just take that back home and find someone to buy it at a fair price. That would solve so much of my money troubles.

    My thoughts were interrupted by a gasp of surprise from Rieka, who had the best vision of the three of us currently. I had used my allotment of animal types to shift and armor my arm as well as improve my hearing, as the bright light would have made the owl eyes near useless because of proximity.

    What caused Rieka¡¯s gasp became apparent almost immediately as we took another few steps and a colossal metallic wall oozed out of the shadows and into view.

    Completely blocking the tunnel ahead of us was a heavy iron door that was flush with the walls. It covered the tunnel entirely and served as a barrier to block us off from the rest of the tunnel, while the stone walls crowded in close on either side.

    We had reached a dead end.

 Chapter 60

    ¡°I just don¡¯t understand how this is here. The tracks are rusted over, but this wall seems in perfect condition,¡± Kassandra mumbled while studying the monolithic wall of iron. We¡¯d been studying the barrier for a while now and hadn¡¯t gleaned how it operated yet. While the iron was a dull gray in color, it showed none of the rust that caked the rails or other metallic objects in the tunnel.

    Well, the girls had been studying it. I was watching the tunnel behind us while examining the new power that the System had offered me to see if it might help, now that we weren¡¯t moving.

    Manipulate Element (Lesser) - Cost: 400 SP - User has expanded control of one of their chosen elements.

    This can be selected multiple times to improve companion elements.

    Well, that is trash. What exactly does ¡®expanded control¡¯ mean? I thought grumpily. My reserve only had two-hundred and seventy SP currently, so buying it was out of the question at the moment. It was something I would have to look closer at once this weekend was over. I knew I¡¯d have plenty of SP at that point.

    ¡°I think it descends from above.¡± Rieka¡¯s suggestion broke me out of my thoughts, and I turned to check on the girls.

    Rieka was standing right up against the metal wall, inspecting the dull surface and studying several long scrapes in the metal. Kassandra was a bit further back, staring up at it like she could somehow read the scrapes in the face of the door like they were writing.

    ¡°I could try burrowing around it?¡± I suggested when neither girl continued to speak. Both of them turned to look at me in surprise and I just shrugged. ¡°What? That door is not moving, and it doesn¡¯t swing like the other ones. Unless there is some magical way to raise the door, I dunno how else we are going to get past it.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s got a point,¡± Kassandra mumbled, rubbing her chin with a finger while she glanced back towards the door.

    ¡°From a security standpoint, it would make sense to have the door sealed from one side. Do you think you can do it, Liam?¡± Rieka tilted her head cutely, her ears flopping to one side in that adorable canine fashion.

    ¡°Depends if you want me to be gentle about it. I¡¯m sure I could burrow through the surrounding wall manually with enough power, same with using Manipulate Elements abilities. Since this is set into the shale, then it should be far easier than the granite back at the entrance, and we know I can do it from when I sealed up the monster burrows earlier.¡± I didn¡¯t state that it would end up consuming more of the earth mana crystals, it wasn¡¯t needed. The girls already were aware of that. I was determined to use my personal mana pool first this time, though. No reason to not use the regenerating resource.

    ¡°Do it. I have been studying this thing for so long thinking that there had to be a rune array holding it shut, but I can¡¯t see anything that would confirm that at this point.¡± Kassandra was the first to cave and her shoulders slumped slightly. ¡°For all we know, it¡¯s just the weight of this giant lump of iron that denies entry.¡±

    Nodding, I walked over to the left-hand side of the immense door. The nearly black slate was coarse under my touch. While the walls had been excessively smooth before when it was made of granite; the wear of time was leaving the border of the tunnel craggy and textured as the softer rock flaked.

    I considered my options for a moment before nodding and pressing my mana into the surface. Aided by my hands peeling at it, I pried the stone away from itself and began smoothing it like it was clay. My measly ten mana actually lasted a fair amount of time. It didn¡¯t give out until it came time to turn the tunnel at ninety-degrees to get around the door. I had to dig several feet into the wall right beside the door before I found the edge of the metal frame.

    ¡°Cedarfall is going to be so jealous she isn¡¯t here to see this.¡± I heard Rieka mutter behind me.

    ¡°Hell, I¡¯m jealous,¡± Kassandra replied laughingly. ¡°Liam picking earth was a good choice. It¡¯s given us a lot of utility here. If we didn¡¯t have him, there would be no way we could have explored this complex. The cave-in alone would have been impassible without getting further help, and I have no idea if Rachel could have dug out that tunnel we used to get through.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. At least we are still useful for the amount of damage we can do with spells,¡± Rieka said with a sigh. I did my best to ignore their conversation while I worked, but it was distracting to say the least.

    ¡°Oh, we are useful for far more than that,¡± Kassandra said teasingly. ¡°You just have to say the word and I can give you two some alone time.¡±

    ¡°Kass!¡± Rieka¡¯s hissed remonstration was far louder than their normal conversation. I had to strain my ears to catch the next part. ¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind.¡±

    Shaking my head, I turned my focus back on the work in front of me. Rieka would do her own thing, and I would let her decide when to make the approach if that was what she wanted. Until then, I would continue to remind her of my interest without pushing or forcing her. That felt like the right choice to make in this situation.

    With how much stone I was moving to open up a path like this, I had to do something with the excess. I¡¯d started out smoothing it along the walls to reinforce the cracked and damaged patches, then spread the extra into the gravel below us to turn that into a flat slab of rock as well. That only consumed the extra stone for a foot or so past the turn, so I began packing it onto the wall to keep it out of the way. This ended up giving the wall a rounded, almost bulbous look from the exterior. After having crawled through the rough burrow at the cave-in several times now, I was making this tunnel wide enough that I wouldn¡¯t scrape the sides and could stoop to get through. Rieka would be able to walk right through, not even mentioning how easy it would be for Kassandra to wriggle her way past.

    I¡¯d made it far enough to be around the iron frame of the door when I realized the girls had gone silent. I¡¯d swapped over to my remaining earth mana stone at this point, so I paused and backtracked to check on the girls.

    Kassandra and Rieka had been standing watch while I worked. They stood with Kassandra beside the iron door and Rieka by the stone wall. Their light stones were bright enough to illuminate two-thirds of the tunnel in those positions.

    My serpentine lover glanced over at me when I emerged from the tunnel and held a finger to her lips. I nodded to her before glancing towards Rieka. The wolf-eared woman was standing with her eyes closed. Her tufted blonde ears were perked up and oriented back down the tunnel. While I watched, one flicked delicately before orienting in that direction again.

    ¡°Something is in the tunnel,¡± Rieka said before I could ask. ¡°I can hear scraping on stone. It sounds like claws scratching on rock.¡±

    ¡°Into the tunnel, you two.¡± I ordered and stepped out of the way. Rieka did as ordered, but Kassandra shook her head and glanced down at her coiled length.

    ¡°I won¡¯t fit with you two there, Liam. Just hurry and I¡¯ll follow after you are through.¡±

    ¡°Get in here, Kass!¡± Rieka demanded before I could say anything. ¡°You know that Liam isn¡¯t going to leave you out there while there is something coming, so stop arguing and squeeze in here with me. Liam, you can keep shaping the rock while you aren¡¯t touching the spot you need molded, right?¡±

    ¡°It just costs more, but I have a good range. You know that from me sealing the holes earlier.¡± I urged Kassandra into the U shaped tunnel before stepping in behind her. She had to coil tightly and rather uncomfortably to do it, but Kassandra managed to get her full fourteen feet of serpentine body into the tunnel.

    I straddled the end of her tail and stood with my back to her. Pressing the back of my left hand to the stone overhead ¡ª I had to use the back because that hand was still occupied by my light stone and the other was still shifted ¡ª I dragged on the mana I had pinched between my thumb and forefinger then pushed my intent into the stone.

    The rock flowed like honey as I shaped the entire section of tunnel we were in, except for the floor. The girls both made noises of surprise when the walls and the ceiling wiggled and flowed in response. I heard Rieka call something but had to remain focused while I stood watch on the more heavily shadowed tunnel. I swore I could see thrashing forms in the darkness that were edging closer.

    The flowing rock dripped down and formed bars to obscure the entrance like stalactites and that served to block even more of the light. This emboldened the chitinous monsters, it seemed.

    Scuttling forms rushed forward out of the darkness, using the patches of shadow as cover to approach. A spindly limb thrust between the bars to snatch at me. The bladed tail I had turned my right arm into lashed out and shattered the limb in a spray of ichor and chitin, making the creature scream and flail backwards.

    Unfortunately, this only enraged the other shadow creatures and more of them surged forward. Their claws dug thick scores in the stone pillars, but the amorphous stone quickly filled in the slashes they made. I had to use my arm/tail three more times to drive the creatures back when they tried to force themselves through the slowly thickening bars.

    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    ¡°I have an opening on this side!¡± Rieka¡¯s voice echoed back from around the bend.

    ¡°Confirm it¡¯s safe, then hop out. If it¡¯s not clear, tell me and I will burrow in a different direction,¡± I barked, kicking one of the flailing arms of the shadow monsters and smashing it flat against the rock. The creature gave a creepy bark/screech noise and jammed its oblong head into the crack to try to bite me, so I drove the spike on the end of my flexible right arm into its head. The blow cracked the exoskeleton there and sent it crumpling to the ground.

    ¡°Clear!¡± Rieka¡¯s statement brought with it a flood of relief and I stepped back more when Kassandra shifted to hurry through the tunnel as well. There were only two long slits, like arrow-slit windows on a castle, remaining of the entrance. The creatures were now restrained to just jamming limbs through in order to try to scratch at me.

    I needed to drive them away from the site of the tunnel or else they¡¯d just dig through. They¡¯d proven able to burrow through rock to make their little homes, and I was desperately hoping that we¡¯d just missed some of the earlier burrows rather than the monsters having already clawed their way through the softer shale that I¡¯d plugged them with.

    ¡°Liam, come on!¡± Kassandra called now, and I glanced back over my shoulder to ensure the way was clear. The tunnel that I¡¯d made was now empty, so I made a snap decision.

    Moving some mass around, I quickly armored the back of my left hand and forearm with a large, scoop-shaped section of articulating chitin. I jammed that hand, which held my light stone, through the narrowing crack and pressed the glowing rock into the outside of the tunnel.

    The sudden blast of light sent the creatures scrambling away. I felt several blows hit the back of my hand and arm. I felt no pain, so I was sure it hadn¡¯t pierced my armor. Redirecting my focus took only a moment, and the slate gripped the glowing hunk of rock firmly at about chest height. With the brilliant source of light right there, the scuttling horrors scampered back long enough that I could completely seal their end of my impromptu tunnel.

    It wasn¡¯t entirely dark where I stood, as some reflected bits of light still made it to me from where Rieka and Kassandra were on the other end of the U shaped tube. Gripping the earth crystal in my fist, I backed slowly down the tunnel while filling in as much as possible. I didn¡¯t stop until I bumped into something at the halfway point and had to fight the urge to whirl and attack.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay, Liam. It¡¯s safe. You can come through.¡± Rieka¡¯s voice soothed my thundering heart, and I wrapped my left arm around her to crush the wolf-eared woman to my chest. She grunted cutely at the tight embrace, but I could feel the pressure of her returning the hug through my armor. The tips of her fluffy ears tickled my chin while she pressed her face into my side.

    I enjoyed the hug for a few more seconds before releasing her, savoring being safe again.

    ¡°Keep an eye on Kassandra for me? I want to make sure this is as sealed up as possible to keep them from burrowing after us.¡±

    ¡°What happened to your light?¡± Rieka asked, and I quickly explained setting it into the wall before closing it up to drive them off. ¡°Clever. I wish they were easier to make. We could stud the walls with them as we walked in order to drive the critters off.¡±

    ¡°That would take way too many stones. Maybe in an official queendom-sanctioned expedition, but not for us.¡± Kassandra¡¯s voice echoed oddly in the tunnel. ¡°Come on, you two! You need to see this!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll keep watch over Kass. Don¡¯t take too long, Liam.¡± Rieka murmured into my chest before pushing back to go to her tip-toes. I felt soft lips on mine a moment later. Savoring the quick kiss for a moment, Rieka then separated and hurried back to check on our third member while I returned my attention to shaping the stone. I wasn¡¯t sure if it was just my overactive imagination, but I swore I could hear distant scraping on rock, even through the four feet I¡¯d already filled in.

    I kept at it until I¡¯d filled in almost seventy percent of the tunnel once more. I¡¯d made it to the other ninety-degree turn and gone a few inches past that when the crystal finally crumbled in my hand.

    With no other crystals on my person, I turned and strode the further five feet to emerge on the far side of the giant iron door. I wanted to see what had the girls¡¯ attention.

    I had been expecting either more tunnel, or another empty and dusty station like the first when I stepped up behind where Rieka and Kassandra waited patiently, staring into the shadowed cavern in surprise.

    I was surprised on both accounts.

    The tunnel continued for another twenty feet past the door and where we stood before it opened up into another enormous cavern. The light of the crystals reached far enough that I could see the tracks curving around and meeting with another platform.

    Another train with two cars behind it ¡ª this one in far better condition than the scrapped wreck in the tunnel or the one pinned under the cave-in ¡ª sat right against the platform. Its head was shaped roughly like a pyramid on its side, with the rest of the train sheltering behind it like logs laid end to end. It gave the machine the impression of a stubby spear.

    The two cars honestly looked more like liquid tanks than passenger cars, given their sausage-like appearance. But the mixture of broken and intact windows of vitreous glass told me that they had to be passenger cars.

    At the very edges of the light to either side, I could see a tunnel going in either direction that was also blocked off by a heavy iron door. Above the train, hanging just barely into vision, were the same light-globes that I remembered from the previous station.

    The entire place was eerily still, but my mind was still telling me it could hear faint scraping noises from the other side of the iron door. The itching feeling was beginning to really increase my anxiety.

    ¡°Lights.¡± I called into the echoing darkness, making both girls jump in surprise at my loud voice.

    A distant thunk sounded and light flooded the room abruptly, revealing the true mess that the platform was.

    The benches that had been scattered tastefully around the platform we had entered from were all smashed to kindling or piled around a set of doors against the far wall. Several of the ceiling lights had been torn down and smashed into the platform, leaving scattered hunks of crystal and metal that reminded me a bit like a fallen fluorescent light. Unlike the first platform, though, this one was entirely free of dust.

    The tiled floor, its mosaic only slightly damaged from the falling lights and shattered benches, was unfortunately also stained with the ancient mess of old blood that colored the grout and had fouled some of the lighter color tiles. There wasn¡¯t much of it. Time had seen it fade and rot but the faint stains remained. There were at least four distinct ¡®puddles¡¯ of stained grout and stone on the platform that I could see from here. No bodies lay in those places, but they still bore the ancient marks of something dying here.

    ¡°The air is moving,¡± Rieka muttered. The words broke both Kassandra and I out of our staring. We turned to look at our wolfish companion, and I could see the fluffy tips of her ears stirring slightly, like there was a breeze caressing them. Taking a breath, the air was surprisingly clean for how long this area had to have been sealed.

    It took a moment of visual search, but I spotted grates high in the ceiling that I would have bet were air-circulation vents and pointed them out to the girls.

    ¡°That is¡­ astonishing.¡± Kassandra was lost for words as she stared about with a hungry desire to learn and know more. Shifting on her tail, she started forward towards the platform and the intact train. The motion got my brain engaged once more.

    ¡°Hold up, Kass.¡± Thankfully, she actually stopped when I asked, though she shot me a pouting look. ¡°There have been enough dangerous things down here that I think we need to find a secure spot to use as a fall-back. Let¡¯s make sure the station is clear and block the doors before you go digging for discovery, okay?¡±

    Kassandra pouted for several more seconds before sighing gustily and nodding.

    ¡°Fine, Liam. You make a good point. I think I see a side door up on the platform. Let''s go see if that is somewhere we can rest and secure?¡±

    ¡°Good call,¡± Rieka agreed with a sharp nod that made her ears bounce.

    I idly wondered if she ever suffered from the ¡®inside-out-ear¡¯ thing that so many pets did, since her canine ears were the same shape and protruded from the top of her head. The mental image was so adorable that I immediately decided I would keep an eye out for it, but not ask outright in hopes of spotting the cute sight without Rieka feeling self-conscious.

    The platform had been set up exactly like the first one on the other side of the train tunnel, though it had far more decorations here.

    Ancient metal planters probably held trees or decorative plants at one time, but only held dry earth now. A few pieces of metallic art hung on the walls, but the majority had been torn down to use to barricade the double doors that lead deeper into this complex. The mosaic, exposed due to the lack of dust here, was a spiraling mix of blue and green tiles on a white background. The interlocking pattern looked vaguely familiar, but I didn¡¯t have the time to study it more right now.

    The side door that Kassandra had spotted was off to one side and in the corner, but not sealed with magic like the one on the outer platform had been.

    I led the way in after we ensured nothing was lurking in the shadows of the platform, or in the other two tunnels that were likewise sealed like the first had been.

    The room that sat on the other side reminded me so much of a high-end subway lounge that it was ridiculous. The skeletal remains of several pieces of furniture were scattered about the room, some of which showing drag marks ground into the floor where someone had tried to move them, maybe to barricade the door in the past. A wall nearby had dozens of shelves filled with ancient glass bottles, some of which held murky liquids inside them that I could tell Kassandra was excited to examine. Spread around the room and mounted to the wall were several abstract sculptures made of both metal and colored glass. The only one that I recognized was something that looked like how I imagined the statue in the spring outside the complex might.

    It was a four-foot tall statue made of tarnished bronze, depicting a human man in a robe holding a pen in one hand and a book in the other like he was taking notes while walking. The intense look in his eyes and the stern scowl on his face matched the marble statue so perfectly that I was sure it had to be the same guy.

    Other than the entrance, the room only had one way in or out and had several of the overhead lights to illuminate it. Like the platform, it was entirely free of dust.

    ¡°Okay. We camp here and gather ourselves.¡± Rieka¡¯s voice was firm, and she turned to look us over with a serious expression. ¡°We will explore only once we rest and recover. No one goes anywhere alone while we are down here. We all move as a group, and that includes the necessary.¡± Rieka blushed slightly at that statement but did not back down.

    I couldn¡¯t help but agree with her. Getting attacked while taking a piss would be quite the ignoble way of getting hurt or dying, and I was determined to make sure the girls remained safe.

    Kassandra understood the gravity as well and nodded several times, sending her mass of red curls bouncing and shimmering in the bright lights of the room.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you glad I insisted we pack the tent and bedding up?¡± Kassandra¡¯s question was cheeky, but Rieka just smiled down at her friend. ¡°If you dig out something to eat, I¡¯ll see about carving up some wardstones to act as a barrier for the door. Liam, can you clear us a spot in the corner?¡±

    ¡°Sure thing, Nugget.¡± I punctuated my agreement with a kiss for Kassandra that got a happy groan from her. Rieka didn¡¯t have a chance to ask for her own before I pulled her into a kiss as well, adding a gentle head-scratch that made the wolf-woman go limp against me with a happy moan and her tail began whipping side to side.

 Chapter 61

    Securing the little room didn¡¯t take long with only the one door to block.

    We¡¯d spent part of the day walking in the tunnel, so I estimated it to be around noon on Monday still or just a little bit after. Not enough time had passed in order for us to really need to sleep. So instead, we focused more on just catching our breath after the tense moment in the tunnel.

    Kassandra made a show of stealing some blankets out of Rieka¡¯s bag and made a rough nest in the corner furthest from the doorway to curl up in, as the stone underneath was actually cool to the touch. Rieka watched in amusement as her friend made off with the blankets while she was still carrying the dimensional sack before digging out some of the dried trail food we had bought, mostly just jerky and trail bread. Meanwhile, I dragged the remaining heavy furniture to the door to barricade it shut.

    Other than the doorway, there were only two possible entrances to the room, and those were iffy at best. Two ventilation ducts sat at the floor level, but were blocked with a thick metallic mesh that looked like cast iron and were the size of a hardback book. I made sure these were easily visible from our corner and set one of our light-stones next to each of them.

    I didn¡¯t know if the shadow-monsters had made it through to this side of the iron gate or not, and didn¡¯t want to take a chance of having them come out through the vents.

    There were already enough creepy vibes from the place to go around as it was.

    With that taken care of, I walked back over to where the girls were talking quietly while they ate. Kassandra¡¯s pitiful, pouting face combined with a grabby-hands gesture destroyed any hesitation I might have had about sitting on the ground. So I plunked down in the middle of the blankets and my dwarf lamia promptly wrapped her serpentine body around me before draping her humanoid torso over my back. I could feel the soft squish of her breasts against the back of my head and the firm edges of her corset digging into my neck as she leaned into me.

    ¡°That is so much better,¡± Kassandra groaned while sliding her right arm over my shoulder to pull my head back into her bust slightly. ¡°You are so warm and comfy, Liam.¡±

    ¡°Hot-water bottle reporting for duty,¡± I snarked back, but turned so I could kiss Kassandra lightly on the cheek to soften the verbal barb.

    ¡°Oh, you are so much more than just a hot-water bottle, Liam,¡± Kassandra purred and her coils kneaded my chest gently in a rhythmic squeezing motion.

    ¡°Ahem.¡±

    Rieka cleared her throat, and the noise drew both of our attention back to her. ¡°Thank you,¡± she said primly, though I thought I could see a faint hint of envy in her icy-blue eyes.

    ¡°You could always join us, Rieka,¡± Kassandra teased. ¡°It¡¯s been so long since you really snuggled with me.¡± Kassandra toyed with the top folds of my armor, slipping one hand under the leather and inside to rub my chest slowly.

    Rieka frowned, and at first I was worried she would snap at my serpentine lover. But, to my surprise, Rieka just huffed and stood up, her food in one hand.

    Kassandra squealed happily and before I knew it, she had unwrapped her coils from around me. Rieka stepped over and turned around with the intent of settling in next to me, but Kassandra hooked her right arm with both of hers and tugged Rieka down onto my lap instead

    The wolf-eared woman overbalanced with a yelp of surprise. I reached out both arms to catch her on instinct. Rieka landed on my lap with a soft thump and a sharp blush.

    Before the platinum-blonde woman could get her balance to shift or move, Kassandra used her grip on Rieka to pull her into my chest before promptly throwing her coils about us once more and pinning Rieka into my lap.

    ¡°Perfect,¡± cooed the redheaded trouble-maker, draping herself over my shoulders again.

    ¡°Kass!¡± Rieka protested, wiggling for a moment to try to get free. Kassandra¡¯s coils tightened and Rieka let out a little grunt before stopping her struggles.

    I was both sad and glad for my armor at the moment. I was sad because the heavy leather kept me from feeling the soft curves of the woman in my lap, soft curves I was already passingly familiar with from her cuddling while we slept. However, I was glad because the leather would blunt any embarrassing reactions I was guaranteed to have that would make the situation awkward. I knew I was getting a hard-on just from the sweet scent of Rieka¡¯s hair in my face and the sensation of Kassandra¡¯s breasts pillowing against my head.

    Rieka grumbled cutely under her breath, a noise that Kassandra made a point to counter by mumbling sweet-nothings in my other ear. After a minute or two, the grumbling stopped and Rieka sighed.

    ¡°Well, we are inside the ruins now. I expect we will have to either find an alternate route out or a method to deal with those shadow-creatures in the tunnel for when we leave. For the time being, we have supplies inside the dimensional pouch and can study these ruins.¡± Rieka¡¯s statement was only a bit annoyed now, and she went back to gnawing the hunk of dried meat she¡¯d had in her hand when Kassandra had pulled her into place.

    Rieka¡¯s ears were sitting sharply upright, the tips and back tickling my face slightly from her perch on my lap and I had had to fight the urge to kiss one of them since they were just so cute. Even with her pinned in her place with Kassandra¡¯s coils on her lap holding her there, I could feel the slight wiggle of her tail trying to wag in my lap. The sensation put to lie her protests. Kassandra seriously seemed bent on snuggling the shyness out of Rieka where I was concerned and I had a feeling the wolf-eared woman wasn¡¯t going to put up much of a real resistance.

    Pausing for a moment in her chewing, Rieka pulled the loosely plaited mass of blonde hair over her shoulder to get it out of my face, then shifted to look back over my shoulder with one eye.

    ¡°How are you feeling about all this, Liam? You channeled quite a bit of power around opening the way around the gate and you saw the main mass of the creatures. Of the three of us, you should be the most worn out or stressed.¡±

    ¡°Fine,¡± I replied automatically and got a snort of derision in my right ear from Kassandra.

    ¡°Be honest, Liam.¡± Kassandra poked me in the cheek after her snort and demand.

    ¡°Honestly, I do feel fine. I¡¯m a little disoriented from the mental exercise of the work, but that¡¯s about it.¡± I closed my eyes for a moment and checked my interface to see if my mana reserves had recovered at all.

    Mana - 10/10

    ¡°Huh,¡± I muttered, blinking my eyes open once more.

    ¡°What?¡± Rieka¡¯s head was tilted curiously now, one ear flopping over cutely. The urge to kiss it was even stronger now.

    ¡°Ah, uh. My mana recovered already.¡±

    ¡°Already?¡± The disbelief was thick in Kassandra¡¯s voice, as well as the confusion. ¡°I thought you said you were just going to use the crystal.¡±

    ¡°I changed my mind while we had time to work around the door. There was no way to know how much it was going to cost, so I just decided to empty my pool out since I don¡¯t really use it for anything besides general utility. Figured it was better to train with it while I could.¡±

    ¡°But isn¡¯t that recovery fast? I remember it took a lot longer while¡­¡± Rieka let the sentence drift off thoughtfully. I waited for her to finish the thought, but Kassandra wasn¡¯t so patient. The dwarf lamia gave her friend a squeeze with her coils that squished the two of us together, making Rieka grunt again.

    ¡°While what?¡± demanded the part-snake woman from her place with her chin on my shoulder.

    ¡°While we were on the surface. I was just thinking that it must be easier for Liam to regenerate his mana down here, where he¡¯s surrounded by earth-aligned mana,¡± Rieka explained when Kassandra loosened her grip.

    ¡°But my mana isn¡¯t earth aspected until I use it,¡± I protested.

    ¡°Exactly why I was thinking it over until Kass decided to try to throttle me.¡± Rieka turned to her right to glare over my shoulder at Kassandra. This motion brought the tip of her other ear around and it smacked me lightly in the face.

    At this point, I gave in to the intrusive thoughts and lightly kissed the soft, furred point in front of me. Rieka gave a surprised squeak and froze for a moment before pressing herself back into me and letting her head go slack on her neck. This allowed me equal access to both ears, and I lightly kissed the other one, getting another happy groan from the wolf-eared woman.

    ¡°Good points to make,¡± Kassandra teased after the happy groans stopped. ¡°But I agree with Liam. I have to wonder if there is some other environmental effect present here that alters his regeneration rate. I remember the power says something about your surroundings affecting it, right?¡±

    Thinking for a moment, I nodded once but closed my eyes to check the entry for the power again to be sure.

    Mana Reservoir (Minor) - Grants the Traveler a minor mana reservoir equivalent to 10 mana. This mana will regenerate at a fixed rate, depending on ambient mana of the environment. Spells cast by the Traveler will pull from this reserve first, then any other mana reservoirs in the Traveler¡¯s possession.

    Huh, that is odd. I wonder why it let me just use the stone then? I thought idly as I stared at the last line of the description. Or did it?

    ¡°It says that it¡¯s dependent on the ambient mana of the environment.¡±

    ¡°Okay, so that means that the ambient mana down here is far thicker than usual. Given that this is a sealed space that¡¯s been closed up for who knows how long, that does make some sense.¡± Kassandra¡¯s voice was thoughtful, and I sneaked a peek at my bespectacled lover to see she was picking at her bottom lip lightly with two fingers while she thought.

    ¡°Something we can theorize about later. Right now, we have a ruin to explore,¡± Rieka reminded her. The wolf-kin princess in my lap snuggled further back into me, still keeping her head positioned where I could easily reach her ears.

    Obliging Rieka¡¯s silent request for attention, I nuzzled those delicate, fluffy triangles gently and she let out a quiet, pleased hum in response.

    ¡°You are right, Rieka. I think we should be methodical about this. Secure this room as a safe-retreat location since it has a single entrance, and then check the station area over. We found that copper map back at the entrance of the first station, so I want to check for something similar here. The various bits of art and statuary will be worth something already, given that it¡¯s from the human era. But do we want to plunder it and stuff the dimensional pouch? Or leave it for now?¡± Kassandra raised several good points, and we paused to consider them.

    ¡°I¡¯d say leave it.¡± I added my two cents between nibbling on the tips of Rieka¡¯s ears lightly. ¡°No reason to fill the pouch with stuff that is already secure. Unless you expect to unleash some sort of nameless evil that was trapped inside the facility for untold millennia, we can just get it on the way out. I¡¯d say save the space for stuff we know is important and valuable. Heck, for all we know the ¡®facility¡¯ that opens off this area is just the bathrooms for a way-station here that divides the tracks on some kind of underground railway.¡±

    ¡°Railway?¡± Kassandra questioned, since Rieka was distracted by my affections still. I could see the pleased smirk on my dwarf lamia¡¯s face at her friend¡¯s expression, but was glad that the busty troublemaker decided not to tease her friend.

    Stolen novel; please report.

    ¡°It¡¯s a word from back home used to describe a method of transport using those metal rails that carry the trains,¡± I explained, wondering if I had somehow managed to not mention this yet or if Kassandra was just confused with the term. I¡¯d relied on the translation power that was part of being a Traveler so often that I didn¡¯t even consider if it would properly translate some concepts. Before I could ask, I was interrupted.

    ¡°The trains!¡± Rieka exclaimed, making both of us jump. ¡°That one that was parked still. We need to have a look at it.¡±

    ¡°Good point. Finish eating and we can go check it out. That work for you, princess?¡± When Kassandra had pulled Rieka down into my lap, I¡¯d wrapped one arm around her waist instinctively to steady her, so I used that arm to squeeze Rieka back into me.

    The wolf-eared woman grunted cutely before nodding, sending her ears flopping slightly before she went back to nibbling on her salted meat. I could tell she was still hoping for a bit more spoiling, since she kept her head tilted so that those delicate, fluffy ears of hers were within range, so I teased her lightly with a few soft kisses to them while the girls finished their food.

    Kassandra shared some of her food with me, since I¡¯d been drafted into body-heater duty before I could get some from the pack. She took an inordinate amount of delight in feeding me bits and pieces of dried meat or trail bread. I didn¡¯t complain; it felt remarkably decadent really.

    <><><>

    While we planned to use the room as a fall-back place, Rieka insisted that we not leave anything behind. So we folded up the blankets before I unblocked the doorway and crept out onto the platform.

    Nothing had changed in the time we were inside. The overhead lights still glared and illuminated the train platform. The only places remaining in shadows were within the three tunnels that lead away from the platform. Given that, we checked those first.

    All three tunnels were sealed with an enormous iron door that fitted into a slot in the stone of the walls; it even sealed away and entirely blocked the rails. None of the doors were damaged and the only ways I could only tell the one we had entered from was the opening that I¡¯d left when I partially sealed my circumventing tunnel and the orientation in relation to the station.

    Standing next to the door we had entered from, I thought I could hear a faint scratching of claws on metal through the door, but I wasn¡¯t entirely sure. Neither of the girls could detect it when I asked, so I chalked it up to my anxiety and nerves.

    With the confirmation that nothing lurked in the shadows once more, we proceeded back up onto the platform and made a quick circuit to check the remaining bits of art that hung on the walls.

    Unlike the first station we had come through, the displayed art was partially trashed. Several pieces had been pulled or knocked down and damaged. I found a few shards of broken clay scattered behind one of the displays that still showed the same brightly colored lacquer as the floor tiles, confirming that some of the plinths had held pottery that had been destroyed. The partial barricade around the swinging doors consisted mostly of furniture and a few larger, metallic bits of art that were not bolted directly into the wall.

    Several of those pieces that were attached directly to the wall were just flat plates of copper or bronze, covered in verdigris or tarnish. Kassandra voiced a theory that maybe they had something engraved on them or had been painted at one time, but the passage of time had occluded the decorations. Rieka didn¡¯t disagree, but pointed out that the metal wasn¡¯t mana-imbued and thus any value would be archaeological, so we should leave them be for now. Kassandra made a note of them in her leather-backed journal and we finally took the time to study the train.

    The interior of the stubby, pyramid-headed train was actually worse than the exterior. I had to manually pry the doors open, as time and a lack of maintenance had caused them to seal up. The doors folded into themselves and out of the way like a bifold closet door. The train and cars were made of the same iron as the tunnel gates. Though, unlike those massive gates, the train showed signs of wear and a bit of rust.

    ¡°I wish I knew why the wrecked train was rusted nearly to oblivion, but this one is almost pristine,¡± Kassandra mumbled while she waited for me to yank the door open. The train did not give up its secrets willingly. The doors squealed several times in protest, but I was able to open the passage up enough that we could proceed inside.

    The interior of the train was very simple. Metal bench seats that likely once held cushions lined either side of a narrow central aisle. Any cushions had long since crumbled into dust, which had remained trapped within the train cars. There was next to no decoration inside the train other than some elaborate molding along the ceiling and floors. Bits of the heavy glass from the broken windows were scattered about the interior of the train floor as well. There was a passage between the train cars, but no access to the engine compartment. We found more signs of death inside the second car after we threaded through the first.

    In the back corner of the second car, huddled down low so it was out of sight of the windows, was a brittle jumble of bones sitting amidst an ancient, stained portion of the metal deck.

    The body did not smell. Far too much time had passed for there to be any stink about it, and the bones looked like they were only one step away from crumbling into dust. The skull sat on top of the jumbled pile as nothing to keep it in the shape of a body remained.

    ¡°Fascinating.¡± Kassandra breathed in astonishment. She was at the head of the group and peering about intently inside the train carriage while I stood watch behind her. Rieka kept close at my back, watching the platform with her light-stone held high.

    ¡°Does it have anything of value on it?¡± Rieka asked from behind me. While Rieka was interested in the ruins, she apparently didn¡¯t have as much of an interest in bones or remains.

    ¡°Not exactly. There aren¡¯t really any examples of human remains left behind, though. The skeleton itself might be valuable if it didn¡¯t look like it was going to collapse into dust at a moment¡¯s notice,¡± Kassandra replied tartly.

    The dwarf lamia had turned to shoot a glare at Rieka from around me, so she didn¡¯t see the slight shift of the bones, but the movement caught my eye.

    Hissing Kassandra¡¯s name, I pulled her back away from the jumble of ancient calcium as the bones began to shift and wriggle to pull themselves together. I didn¡¯t wait for it to finish, dragging Kassandra¡¯s torso back bodily with my left arm around her waist while my right flowed and changed as Shape-Shifting altered it to defend my lover.

    My attack came before the skeleton even managed to halfway assemble itself. The armored spike that tipped the long, flexible appendage my right arm turned into drove into the skull and shattered it into a hundred pieces. The bones did not stop assembling themselves, so I ¡®backhanded¡¯ the half-formed body with the armored back of the limb and sent the bones scattering in the car with a sound like someone rattling a paint-can full of gravel. That did the trick and the skeleton stopped trying to assemble itself. Though that might have been because most of the bones were now only shards.

    ¡°Liam!¡± Kassandra hissed in surprise, but stopped when she saw the mobile bones as I batted them apart. ¡°Nevermind! Thank you, lover!¡± Kassandra used her position pulled tight to my side to kiss the side of my throat before turning her attention to Rieka. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m done here. Something animated those bones and I want out. Back it up, girl!¡±

    Rieka didn¡¯t need much encouragement at that, and we piled out of the train.

    Outside, the girls held a brief but whispered conversation that I wasn¡¯t able to follow much of regarding necromancy and potential for undead in a place like this. They both nodded and glanced at me before Rieka spoke.

    ¡°Don¡¯t trust anything that just looks dead. I didn¡¯t expect animated bones, but with that thing moving? We aren¡¯t taking chances.¡± I nodded in agreement and the girls relaxed slightly.

    While the cars held no value beyond historic or raw metal, the engine refused to give up its secrets. As it was intact, the engine wasn¡¯t exposed from behind the pyramidal, armored nose, and the door to the conductor¡¯s compartment was sealed with a key. Neither woman wanted to try to batter the door open, so we decided to leave it be for now.

    Standing on the platform and looking towards the sealed double-doors that lead into the complex, both girls kept close on either side and had their spell rods out. While Kassandra had been making notes before, she had packed away the notebook and stood ready to fight. The moving skeleton had clearly unnerved my dwarf lamia.

    ¡°Okay, so plan?¡± I asked the girls one last time. Rieka was the one who answered my question.

    ¡°Find out what is on the other side of the door. If there is anything dangerous down here, kill it. If we are outmatched, run. We already have earned enough to make this trip worth it between the samoflange we found earlier and the earth crystals. We can stop and study things more intently when we have time, but we aren¡¯t stripping this place down to the bedrock. Not yet, at least. Anything loose and valuable we can snatch up. Kassandra and I will check anything for historic value before we decide to sell it. If we find any surviving documentation, that goes to Kassandra for her to study first. Above all else, we keep each other safe.¡±

    ¡°Works for me.¡± I moved first, leading the way towards the double doors. Wading through the ancient barricade, I kicked and moved stuff out of the way to leave a clear path for the girls to follow in. We had discussed the marching order previously, and I stayed about ten feet ahead of them. My right arm remained shifted into the combat tail/spike that I had been favoring lately, while my left bore chitinous armor and the claws I¡¯d borrowed from Lady Valda. While I could do double tails in a pinch, I didn¡¯t like giving up the access to thumbs for things like turning door-knobs.

    The room remained ominously silent as I reached the metallic doors and hooked the handle of one with my left hand. I glanced over my shoulder at the girls to check on them before I opened it.

    Both had determined looks on their faces and their rods in hand, with Rieka slightly ahead of Kassandra at the moment. They both nodded, and I tried to smile reassuringly before I yanked the door open and was greeted with what lay on the other side.

    A tunnel drove away from me, sloping deeper into the stone for a good hundred feet before it reached a second set of doors. Nothing waited for us in the well-lit but rough-hewn tunnel, not even the thick layer of dust that we had seen on the exterior station and hall. Something kept it from accumulating and I had to wonder if there was some kind of ancient ventilation system that did it, or maybe magic like what pumped the water up for the fountain outside.

    ¡°Liam,¡± Kassandra¡¯s hissed words of surprise drew me to turn towards her to find out what it was, but I spotted it before I got even halfway through the turn.

    Deep claw marks marred the inside of the door in a dozen gouges that ran from the top of the doorway all the way to the bottom where it met the floor. Seeing the distinct marks dug in the metal drew my attention back into the tunnel. What I had assumed were tool marks in the slate walls took on a more sinister look as I noted they were in parallel sets of four.

    After gathering ourselves, the three of us proceeded down the tunnel and to the second set of doors. These were dented in the center and swung with a quiet squeal of protest on ancient and battered hinges. It looked like something had impacted the doors with a great deal of force and damaged the lock that sealed them shut enough that they didn¡¯t quite latch anymore.

    These doors opened into a larger space that had a looming ceiling, but not quite as high as the one in the station. The ceiling only went up about thirty feet at a gentle slope before curving back down once more. Shaped roughly like a rectangle, the large room was around eighty feet across and maybe forty wide. More of the crystal spheres set into the ceiling at regular intervals provided light. The room itself had the look of a large lobby or common space, with benches and tables made of polished stone and metal as well as decorative planters and bits of art. It had been a nice place, at least at one time.

    Now it was the wreckage of a battlefield.

    Several of the stone tables, which had the look of being carved directly from the underlying stone, were snapped off and had been thrown across the room. Planters were shattered and loose soil lay dry and scattered around them. The walls bore the marks and stresses of battle, with sections that looked like they had been melted and others where impacts had shattered the formerly smooth stone into fragments. There was no one location that looked like it had held the bulk of the battle, as the chaos and rubble were spread all throughout the room.

    I could see two doors, one on either end of the roughly rectangular room to our left and right. Straight ahead of us was a trio of stairwells carved into the stone that lead up to a partially collapsed second floor. On either side of the three stairwells, the floor we were on wrapped around and underneath the second floor, though the piled stone of the collapse was obviously blocking some of that area, mostly off to my right. I was fairly sure I could see another doorway set into the wall of the second floor, but the lighting in that area had been damaged during the fight and several of the globes were missing, leaving patches of darkness scattered around.

    I took all of this in with a glance as the girls stepped into the room behind me and spread to either side, Rieka going left and Kassandra to my right. As we came to a stop, the room echoed back the sound of our movement oddly. The strange pressure in the air distorted the sound again, or gave the perception of doing so. I spared a moment to wonder if this strange pressure was the mana that helped my reserves regenerate, but discarded that thought when I spotted movement amongst the rubble ahead of us.

    Something stirred from under the stairs, but the bulk of the carved stone blocked my view enough that I couldn¡¯t see more than a brief flicker of movement near the corner of the stairs that might have been a rat, but my survival instincts told me it wasn''t.

    ¡°Get ready girls, I think something is about to jump us,¡± I said quietly, getting a snort of agreement from Kassandra before Rieka spoke.

    ¡°It would be too much to ask that an ancient ruin of a dead race didn¡¯t have something guarding it.¡± Rieka¡¯s statement got a quiet chuckle from Kassandra before the movement happened again, but this time from the second floor.

    A flickering of movement from behind the balustrades at several points preceded the appearance of the dessicated heads and bodies of well over a dozen shambling creatures. All of them wore musty rags and dragged weapons forged of iron over the stone as they reached the stairs and stopped.

    The mummified remains of over a dozen ancient humans stared down at us from that second floor with eyeless sockets. The disturbing sight of their ancient bodies froze all three of us. They had the appearance of brittle and dried roadkill, with limbs bent at unnatural angles and some missing parts of their arms or ribcages even. One shuffled on a single leg, leaning on the wall to support itself as it shuffled forward.

    Our staring contest continued for a few more seconds until the dissonant echo of claws scraping on stone from the first floor under the stairs drew my attention there, and something even more disturbing dragged itself into view.

    The creature that emerged from under the stairs looked vaguely canine in its design, but at one time it had six sets of legs and was sized more like a small horse than a dog. Two of them had been broken off at the shoulder during some point in the past, the front two on the left side of its body. This resulted in a limping and unbalanced gait as it stomped into view, but its stone body with six glowing red eyes, set in a head almost the size of my torso, remained fixed on us as it stomped over the polished floor. Claws made of iron scraped against stone and left long, white scars behind as it limped towards us.

    ¡°A war-golem,¡± Kassandra¡¯s voice was a mixture of fear and awe as she stared at the stone beast stumbling out from behind the stairs. ¡°An honest-to-gods, human-made, war-golem¡­¡± Rieka was just gaping silently at the stone beast.

    I hated to crush the wonder in her voice, but the rumbling growl of the animated statue spurred on the mummified humans that stood on the second floor, and they began to stumble down the steps in our direction. I had to get the girls out of their surprise and awe and be able to defend themselves.

    ¡°Get ready to fight, Kass. We can study it later, when it¡¯s not intent on killing us.¡±

 Chapter 62

    Thankfully for our continued survival, the girls snapped out of their surprise quickly. The war-golem had barely managed its lopsided charge for more than ten feet before it was hit with their spells. They correctly identified the stone beast as the most immediate threat.

    ¡°Bolt Chain!¡± The flickering chain built of lightning flicked through the air to latch onto the war-golem between the stumps of its missing legs. The lightning didn¡¯t appear to do much damage to the stone, only blackening it and causing a few minor cracks in the side. I heard Rieka growl in frustration as she pumped more power into the spell.

    ¡°Glacial Spike!¡± Kassandra¡¯s incantation differed from her normal one. I could immediately feel the changed spell as a wave of cold washed through the surrounding air before a tree-trunk sized pillar of ice raced past me to slam into the charging golem. The pillar tapered to a blunt point that was half the size of my fist, but the whole thing was moving fast enough that it crashed home with significant effect.

    The war-golem tried to dodge to one side, but because of its past damage and the change to its balance from the missing legs worked together to ensure it only managed to stumble slightly to one side. So the pillar of ice caught it in the shoulder rather than the head.

    With a loud boom, the two crashed together. Shards of ice and slivers of stone exploding into the air. The pillar shattered from the force of impact, but it also annihilated the golem¡¯s remaining front shoulder and sent that leg flying so that the creature slammed face-first into the scarred stone floor.

    All of this happened in the course of about three seconds. In those three seconds, the mummified ancient humans had made it halfway down the stairs. So I decided it was time for me to add to the chaos. I had a second of indecision while trying to decide which was the greater threat, but the sheer number of the undead and their unsteady movements made my decision for me. The girls had the golem handled at the moment.

    A chunk of broken table that was about half the size of one of the plastic totes I used to sling around all the time was my choice of weapon. The stone shifted and flowed as Manipulate Element adjusted it to make it easier for me to get a grip on it using my left hand and the spike that had replaced my right before I hurtled the heavy lump of stone up the stairs with all the strength I had.

    The block of stone was heavy. It easily weighed over two hundred pounds, so it was more of a shot-put motion than actually throwing it, but the stone crashed into the three undead that were leading the charge with the same sort of effect that Kassandra¡¯s pillar of ice had on the war-golem. It crushed the chest of one before driving it to one side and smashing another off its feet before tumbling to a stop. This sent more than half of the group falling to the ground in a pile of broken bones and damaged weapons.

    A moment later I heard the sharp zot noise as Rieka tossed the other half of her Bolt Chain spell into the golem and completed the circuit. The sound was followed by a loud crack of stone breaking and I glanced over to see that the war-golem¡¯s torso had split between the two points that the electrical chain had connected. The front half still struggled to move forward, rocking back and forth and flailing with its broken limbs, but the back half had collapsed into a pile of rock once more.

    ¡°Glacial Earth!¡±

    ¡°Spark Net!¡±

    A combination of ice and lightning washed up the stairs and through the jumbled group of undead. The stone took on an icy sheen, and those undead that were still standing proceeded to stumble and slip before the flashing sphere of lightning burst over them and caused ancient muscles to seize and tear.

    I waited until the spells ended before I hurried up the stairs, giving the twitching war-golem space, and began laying about using my shifted right arm. The armored spike made quick work of these creatures. And when the heads were smashed, the bodies stopped moving as the spell damage had already done a good chunk of the work.

    Kassandra and Rieka stayed at the bottom of the stairs, covering my back as I ended the remaining undead. Two of them got a chance to lash out at me with their rusted weapons, but they only scratched the carapace shell on my right arm without actually damaging it. With the undead constrained to the stairwell and their already shaky balance ruined, it was relatively easy to end them all.

    ¡°Liam?¡± Rieka¡¯s call drew my attention back down to the base of the stairs. She pointed to the remaining half of the stone golem and quirked an eyebrow. ¡°You think you can finish that off? It¡¯d be a waste to use one of our spells when it¡¯s not really a threat right now.¡±

    ¡°Sure, hang on.¡± I bent and hoisted up the block of stone that I¡¯d thrown earlier from where it sat on the stairs. Climbing higher, so I was standing right over the still-living war-golem, I hefted the boulder over my head in preparation to end the threat. Dropping a block on it from above felt a bit like using a sledgehammer to kill a fly, but the two hunks of stone crashed together and shattered, leaving only unmoving stone behind.

    ¡°Thank you!¡± Rieka shot me a brilliant smile before wrapping her arms around a shivering Kassandra. Seeing the much smaller woman cling to her friend reminded me of Kassandra¡¯s cold-blooded nature again, and I growled at myself for forgetting.

    Of course. That first spell was probably overcharged. If I could feel the cold of that ice, it would have chilled Kassandra. We really need to get her an opportunity to practice more and build her control up. Normal folks wouldn¡¯t have an issue, but she had the misfortune of being cold-blooded while having the gift of ice magic, I thought before I started working my way down the stairs. I¡¯d made it three steps before I stopped in surprise, staring at my feet.

    I hadn¡¯t noticed when I climbed up them the first time, but the bodies of the undead were slowly dissolving into powder. The first two I¡¯d killed with the thrown stone were already mostly gone, while the others were rapidly following them in eroding. The process looked an awful lot like a time-lapse of a sand sculpture being eroded by the wind. Within seconds, the living dead were gone, leaving only a mass of grayish sand on the stairs and the rusted remains of their weapons.

    ¡°Well, that was creepy as fuck.¡±

    <><><>

    Once Kassandra recovered from the chill of having to use the upper levels of her ice magic, a process that she insisted required her to basically unbuckle my armor and crawl inside of it for some cuddles, the girls studied the remains of the golem.

    Rieka was excited to find that the glowing ¡®eyes¡¯ of the creature had actually been six individual rubies the size of my thumbnail. I helped her extract them as they had been molded into the stone. Kassandra stood watch in case something else emerged from the darkness to harass us. When Rieka had those tucked away in her pouch, Kassandra had me use my Manipulate Element ability to open up the carved head. The impact of the two stones crashing together had cracked the golem¡¯s head already. But, now that it wasn¡¯t moving, I could open it up carefully and properly now. This revealed an intricate runic structure carved inside a hollow of the stone head where a brain would normally be and a small mass of earth mana crystals that would power the construct.

    Kassandra quickly sketched out the array to record it while Rieka and I took over guard duty. Once that was done, we finished scouting the room out.

    In the rubble under the stairs, we found the ruined remains of another of the war-golems, but it was smashed to pieces already. I extracted its power source as well and passed that to Rieka to store away. We also found three more of the undead that had somehow gotten pinned in the collapse of the upper floor but not destroyed, so I put them out of their misery. The girls watched in awe as the bodies turned to sand and dust after whatever was animating the corpses was destroyed.

    ¡°It has to be some kind of magic that kept them intact. The only bodies we¡¯ve found so far were animated. Everything else has eroded from the passage of time. When the body is so damaged that the magic cannot keep it moving, the ravages of time catch up with them.¡± Rieka¡¯s suggestion sounded as valid as anything else, so we accepted it as the best solution for now before returning to the lobby area.

    After a bit of discussion, we decided to just start on the left and work our way around.

    Moving to the door that was directly left of the way we had entered, I led the girls over the damaged floor to that side of the room. Scattered about amongst the rubble, I found the shattered remains of several more ancient weapons, but nothing that was actually usable.

    We¡¯d made it most of the way to the door before Kassandra pointed out the empty plinth halfway between the left-hand door and the entryway.

    ¡°I bet the war-golems were standing on those before whatever happened here got them to activate,¡± my serpentine lover suggested, and Rieka nodded in agreement.

    ¡°That would make sense, to store them out in plain sight like that, especially when they are well constructed. It would be easy to mistake them for statues,¡± Rieka added her two cents to the pot. The three of us shared a look and a nod that confirmed we would be checking any and all statues from now on.

    The space around the left-hand door was actually rather clear once we got within about twenty feet of it. The paired doors bore several long gouges from flying stone but only minor dents. I held up a hand to stop the girls for a moment before opening the door slowly to check what was on the other side.

    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    Another short hallway continued on before turning to the right, so I motioned for them to follow me in.

    The floors of the hallway were tiled with the same kind of mosaic composed of small clay tiles as the platform had been. The same winding, spiraling pattern in green and blue marked either side of the hallway and it made me think of a dual-colored, spiraling staircase. I didn¡¯t spend too long on the mosaic as the hallway ended about thirty feet after the right turn before it opened up into an anteroom that was separated by a low wall from an even larger room that was so familiar it was eerie.

    Stacks and stacks of metallic ingots, plates, bars, and crates sat in orderly rows in what only could be a single, massive warehouse. It was hundreds of feet across and many times that long, but it did not have the soaring ceiling like I was used to back when I had to put up with Dutcher.

    The lights that studded the ceiling and walls illuminated the space and shone off of the ruddy surfaces of the carefully formed metal and the brightly polished floors. As had been the eerie standard since forcing our way past the iron gate in the tunnel, no dust accumulated in this area. The worst that marked the metals was a bit of tarnish here or there, or a slight patina of rust forming on the surfaces of the metal bars.

    ¡°Gods above¡­¡± Rieka muttered in awe as she peered past the low wall that divided the anteroom from the main warehouse floor. ¡°There has to be enough metal here to supply the kingdom¡¯s smiths for decades.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s have a look! If we are lucky, we¡¯ll find some imbued bars buried amongst the stacks. This place has been sealed up for so long that anything that could retain a mana charge should be fully charged!¡± Kassandra said excitedly and made to push past me and through the roughly ten-foot gap in the low wall.

    ¡°Wait.¡± My single word made the excited dwarf lamia freeze and then turn to pout at me. ¡°Let¡¯s check this area out first. This looks so much like how my old workplace was laid out. I would bet that there is some method of organizing this place.¡± I pointed to what had originally looked like just a pile of metal and wood in the corner of the anteroom, but after a moment to really study it, I¡¯d recognized the object for what it was.

    A desk.

    The whole thing had such an eerie resemblance to the old metal desk my third-grade math teacher used that I half expected to find a stack of multiplication worksheets when I pulled open the first drawer. It squealed in protest and the girls winced with Rieka even covering her ears with her hands and smashing the fluffy triangles flat on her skull. Rather than worksheets, though, the drawer contained a dozen or more thin metal plates that had strange runes carved into them that looked familiar, but odd.

    The metal plates were as thin as a sheet of paper and made of some kind of hammered bronze. There was a border around the outside of three edges that did not have any symbols, but the partial symbols came right up to the fourth and final side. I laid out several on the desk for the girls to look at while I pulled another drawer open to find it full of the same, but made of wood that dissolved into dust when I touched it.

    ¡°These are tally sticks!¡± Kassandra exclaimed after inspecting one. I must have had a confused look on my face because she elaborated. ¡°Some merchants still use them for some deals, though they usually make them out of wood rather than metal. You write out a contract or an agreement on a strip of the material so that it mostly fills the strip, then split it in half lengthwise. That is proof of the contract and you can then present your half to prove ownership or claim payment.¡±

    Rieka and I gave the serpentine woman a blank look, and she rolled her eyes before adjusting her spectacles while she considered something. That done, Kassandra selected one of the plates and held it up to show us while she explained further.

    ¡°Okay, look. A blacksmith might accept an order for, say, one hundred bars of iron at a specific purity and weight for a set amount of coin. The merchant who made the deal would then carve the tally stick and split it. The blacksmith would take the strip and return to his forge to craft the ingots. When finished, he would then present the ingots and his tally strip to the merchant to receive payment and the merchant would match up his stick with the smith¡¯s to confirm the amount due. You couldn¡¯t modify one stick to alter the deal as the other stick wouldn¡¯t be changed to match.¡±

    ¡°Interesting. I must have missed that lecture in the history classes,¡± Rieka said with a chuckle, glancing back over her shoulder to check the warehouse floor, wary that something else might be creeping up on us.

    ¡°It¡¯s not part of the normal curriculum. I told you before, my parents still act as merchants and do trade deals. This is something they taught me from back then. It¡¯s still a practice in use up in the Queendom of Glass Stars and to the west in the Emirates. Mostly for those who work a trade and may not know how to read elaborate contracts,¡± Kassandra explained with a smile before carefully gathering up the metal strips. She dug out a sheet of parchment from her supplies and made several notes on it with a charcoal stick before folding it around the metal strips. ¡°There, that will help me document where we found these. While it probably won¡¯t help us find anything down here, it might help me figure out what this place was at one time.¡±

    ¡°Fair enough. I think I found a ledger, but it¡¯s ruined,¡± I said after getting the third and final drawer open on the desk. Inside, I found a stack of parchment that was so faded with age and worn with time that actually opening the drawer caused it to mostly fall apart. There were only a few lines I could make out, and they were fragmented and missing whole portions.

    ¡­,095 grams sulfur¡­ west¡­ production ceased

    458 glass ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ workshop

    ¡­ ¡­ ¡­¡ªringes made ¡­ tin.

    There were entire sections that had simply dissolved on the page. I sighed before carefully sliding the drawer shut once more so it could preserve what was left of the pages until we had something that could do it, too.

    ¡°Well, I guess then we need to inspect the warehouse and see what all is in there then, don¡¯t we?¡± Kassandra said brightly and gestured over her shoulder to the cavernous room. I glanced at Rieka and the wolf-eared woman shrugged. A small smile on her face told me she was excited too.

    Moving carefully, the three of us stepped out of the anteroom space and into the main warehouse area. The room was easily two hundred feet across and three or four times longer than that. Stacks of metallic ingots alternated with metal racks holding rods and metal-sided crates full of individual pieces. The girls were intent on quickly cataloging what was here, so we hurried through the stacks and did not stop long to study them as we crept through the empty room.

    The same feeling of oppressive weight still hung over us as we moved, which made the echoes of our steps even stranger in the silence as the stacks further distorted the sounds. I was just glad of the crystal lights that hung overhead, as they gave us a decent view of the room. If we¡¯d had to move through here with just our light-stones, it would have had even more of a horror-movie vibe to it.

    ¡°I¡¯m astonished at how little corrosion has set in,¡± I said after the first twenty feet.

    We had passed bulk copper storage on our right with iron being on our left. The bars were thinner than I expected. I¡¯d figured that metal ingots would be the loaf-like shapes that one usually saw in movies. But these ingots were maybe eight inches long and two wide, shaped more like a single stick of Kit-Kat candy than anything else. I paused to glance into a copper bucket that was full of what looked like nails before glancing around again. The copper still shone a ruddy orange in color for the most part, with only a patina of the darkening beginning to show that indicated the formation of verdigris. The iron bars showed a faint speckle of rust and even then only the bottom of the waist-high stacks of ingots.

    ¡°Same. I have to believe that there is some kind of spell here to keep it at bay. It¡¯s the only reason all of this has lasted as long as it has. The humans have been gone for so long, I would have expected to only find corrosion and dust left behind.¡± Rieka kept close at my side as she spoke, while Kassandra wound a little ahead of us, pausing to inspect each item for a moment before moving on.

    ¡°You would think that there would be some kind of guardian here. This much metal, even without mana infusion, is still worth quite a bit,¡± Kassandra commented idly and her words made a chill race down my spine.

    Checking the surroundings once more, I made sure to pay special attention to the area on the edges of the ceiling, which is where security cameras would have been positioned back at Rykol Foods when I worked there. But there was nothing. The walls weren¡¯t even embellished, unless you counted the occasional scrape and scratch that came from items being dropped against them.

    We continued deeper into the room. Kassandra found crates full of ancient glass phials, metallic plates, pipes, bolts, screws, and nuts. Each of the items had the somewhat rough appearance of handmade items, rather than industrial-style mass production, but were still uniform enough that I doubted there would be any issues with compatibility unless they were used for something intricate.

    We found sections for copper, bronze, brass, zinc, tin, lead, and iron. There were several sections of metal that I did not recognize: one that had a rainbow shimmer to it but had no mana imbued in it, a whole section of different silvery bars that I didn¡¯t recognize but the girls confirmed were not actually silver so I guessed were some combination of nickel or other standard metals, and a small section that had a bluish tint to the silvery metal.

    There was even a section for timber. And, unlike the wood and parchment we¡¯d run into so far, this lumber still looked relatively fresh. It was aged and dry, but the different planks and blocks of wood didn¡¯t have the gray tinge that I associated with years old firewood and weren¡¯t cracking or splitting. I didn¡¯t know how to recognize any of the woods other than pine and redwood based on color, but the girls were happy with the find. Again, the subject of how it survived down here without damage was discussed, but none of us knew what might have allowed it.

    None of the stacks or piles were perfect. Every one of them had parts missing or depleted. This told me that this had been an active warehouse at one time, with orders coming in and out. The areas missing supplies were usually the ones closest to the center aisle, but there were occasional spots further back that looked ¡®depleted¡¯ as well. I explained it to the girls, and they agreed that this felt more like a regular warehouse rather than a stockpile, as a stockpile would only really have goods coming rather than rotating out, too.

    Rieka spotted the heavily armored door in the back corner just as we turned around to head back out of the warehouse.

    The door was set flush with the wall and constructed of iron, banded and reinforced with more iron. There was no lock on the door, but it screamed ¡®secure¡¯ in its appearance. Crouched on either side of the doorway, tucked away inside recesses in the walls, were a pair of squat forms that reminded me of the dwarves I¡¯d seen in town. But these were heavily armored and bore stone hammers in their hands, which they held in front of their chests.

    Kassandra wanted to immediately rush over to check it out, but Rieka and I held her back. There was a bit of an argument over whether we should just throw something at the statues to check and see if they were more golems or not, but it was eventually settled that I would approach to see if they reacted or not, while the girls stayed back to support me at a distance.

    The aisle that ran to the door was actually between the section of wood and a section filled with glass bottles and vials. So I had stacks of lumber on my right and crates of glassware on my left as I crept down the forty-odd feet of the aisle.

    Roughly ten feet across, the open space I was in was just wide enough that I had space to move and swing in a fight, but not so much that it felt comfortable. The lumber was stacked over my head while the crates only came up to my chest, so I could see over them at least. In all, it was giving me flashbacks to the job I had just recently quit, and that was irritating me.

    That irritation vanished when I got within ten feet of the iron door, and the two statues shifted. Their carved eyes flicked open to reveal glowing red gems just like the first golem¡¯s. They shifted to lift their hammers up while they stepped forward out of their recesses in the wall.

    Behind me, I heard Kassandra yelp in surprise and Rieka swear before there came the rush of movement over the stone as they hurried to get to me to join in the fight.

    ¡°Stop!¡± I shouted back to them while raising my shifted right arm to menace the statues with the thick, chitinous spike on the end.

 Chapter 63

    ¡°Stop!¡± I shouted towards the girls, hoping to keep them back so I could retreat if my shifted arm proved unable to damage the statues. Meanwhile, I adjusted to menace the statues with the shifted limb and ensure that I was directly between the two statues and the girls. I took up a familiar fencing stance presenting my right side to maximize the range of my shifted limb.

    The two statues, which had been moving forward with their weapons raised menacingly, froze in place.

    I could hear the girls speaking behind me, but their words did not make sense as the golem to my right began to speak in a surprisingly high-pitched tone.

    ¡°Cadence recognized. Scanning. Please submit a longer voice sample.¡±

    ¡°Uhh¡­¡± I mumbled intelligently before a sudden movement out of the corner of my eye got my attention.

    Turning my head, I saw Rieka brandishing her spell rod and jumped to stop her. ¡°Wait, don¡¯t attack them yet!¡±

    Rieka, who had been partway through the gesture to make her attack spell, stopped and waited. Her pointed, canine ears were trained on the golems and her tail was stiff behind her in anger.

    ¡°You understand what they are saying?¡± Rieka asked a moment later, and I nodded dumbly.

    ¡°Yeah, they asked me for a larger voice sample.¡± I glanced over my shoulder at the statues that remained still, their weapons held ready and the rubies that made up their eyes still shimmering with light. ¡°How long of a voice sample do you require?¡±

    ¡°Sample accepted. Trait recognized. Traveler override engaged,¡± the left-hand statue spoke this time, and its voice was the same high-pitched tone as its companion.

    Together, the two golems stepped backwards into their alcoves before assuming their relaxed stance and closing their eyes. The deafening silence only had a second to settle in once the statues had retired before my dwarf lamia lover spoke up and broke it.

    ¡°What did they say?¡±

    I was busy staring at the statues at first, so I didn¡¯t respond immediately.

    Traveler override? What the hell? What could that mean? Did a Traveler build this complex?

    As the questions swirled through my mind at a rapid pace, the gentle pressure of the girls leaning into me startled me out of my reverie. Kassandra was pressed to my lower back and I could feel her left arm wrapping around my waist. Rieka tucked herself under my left arm and against my front. Both girls still had their spell rods out and trained on the statues.

    The evident desire of the girls to be close to me, combined with the vague memory of Kassandra¡¯s question, brought me back to myself once more.

    ¡°They said something about accepting the voice sample and engaging a ¡®Traveler override¡¯, then just went still. You mean that you girls couldn¡¯t understand them?¡± I felt Rieka shake her head in response to my question. None of us appeared willing to take our eyes off the still statues.

    ¡°No, it sounded like a rather guttural language, somewhat similar to Dwarven. Traveler override?¡± Kassandra was the one to speak up next, and I felt the arm wrapped around me tighten against my stomach. ¡°Do you think it¡¯s safe? Does this override give you access?¡±

    I considered her question for a moment before shrugging.

    ¡°Let¡¯s find out. You two stand ready to cover me if they start moving again, but keep well back. If they do try to attack, I need room to retreat.¡±

    ¡°Be careful, Liam,¡± Rieka whispered before shifting away. Kassandra squeezed my stomach again, whether to reassure me or herself I wasn¡¯t sure, before she backed up to give me room.

    Approaching the two stationary golems once more, I kept the armored talon that had replaced my right hand ready and coiled to strike. But the statues did not respond. They remained stationary, with their hammers held in front of them the entire time. Even when I reached forward to lay my hand on the metal door that they stood on either side of.

    Though I about shit my pants when the door let out a loud clank when my hand contacted it and swung inward on squeaky hinges.

    I jumped back and got ready to defend myself, but the sentinel golems did not react to the noise, or the movement. The hanging lights that filled the room we were in currently did not carry into the other room, only what light fell past me to reveal a pristine floor paved in white marble.

    ¡°Liam?¡± Rieka called curiously, and I held up a hand to quiet her for a moment. Using the greater length of my shifted right arm, I pushed the metal door until it was fully open and then rolled my light stone into the room.

    It illuminated rows and rows of shelves in a room that was maybe twenty feet square. The shelves were constructed of black metal and held collections of small crates that mostly sat empty. Against the far wall was another set of shelves that had a dozen or so glass jars on them and a number of small objects piled on the lower shelves. But besides that, there was nothing in the room. No golems, no corpses, or even a speck of dust.

    Glancing over my shoulder at the girls, I held up a hand to keep them back for another moment before I turned back to the statues guarding the door. Lifting my right arm/tail, I poked one in the cheek with the chitinous tip. The sharp tip scraped over the stone, leaving a light scratch behind. The statue itself did not move or react.

    ¡°Okay, come on up. Just be slow about it. If they wake up, be ready to fall back,¡± I called to the girls.

    Despite my request to be slow, both of my girls rushed up to me. Kassandra to peer at the statues and Rieka to inspect the room. My light stone had come to a stop just off center of the room and was casting bizarre shadows all over because of the shelving.

    Neither of the statues reacted to their approach.

    Bolstered by the inaction of the golems, I led the girls past them. Once we were through the door, the girls both relaxed, but I kept a wary eye back on the statues while they looked around.

    Kassandra went to the right and began peering into the ancient crates and boxes on the shelves. Like the storage area outside, this room seemed to have been spared the ravages of time for the most part, with the wooden boxes only showing the faintest hint of their age in the gray color they were taking on.

    Rieka kept close to me, intent on covering my back while our companion poked around. She would peek into the open-topped boxes as we passed them, but wasn¡¯t searching as much as Kassandra was.

    ¡°What¡¯s in here, anyway?¡± I asked, bending over to scoop up my light stone. The girls still had theirs and were using them to light the way, but having my own source of light was reassuring. I could have shifted my eyes, but decided against it for the moment.

    ¡°Looks mostly like ritual components,¡± Kassandra called from part way down one aisle. ¡°I¡¯ve got jars of aromatic resins here. The box before it had non-magical crystals.

    ¡°Chalks here. Though from the texture they are alchemically created, not naturally occurring.¡± Rieka held up a thick stick of dark-blue chalk that she had fished from a box at her side and I could see what she meant. It had an almost waxy look to it, rather than the dusty texture I was used to.

    Experimentally, Rieka made a slight mark on the black metal of the shelf with the chalk and it left an almost perfect line on the metal. She then tried to smudge it with the heel of her hand and, while it would smudge, it took far more effort than chalk normally did. ¡°Huh, that¡¯ll be handy. Hang on, I¡¯ll grab these.¡±

    The girls continued to check through shelves and pick off bits and pieces of useful items, but nothing that was noticeably valuable in its own right. That was until we got towards the back of the room.

    Kassandra had just found an intricately carved iron bowl that was as large as her cupped hands and stashed it in Rieka¡¯s bag, saying that it was likely a ritual offering bowl and they needed to study it more, when I spotted a familiar shape.

    Roughly a third the size of a cell phone each, the squat stacks of metallic bars were set on a lower shelf in one corner. They were stacked in orderly rows and the light shimmered off their surfaces despite patches of tarnish discoloring their faces.

    ¡°Rieka,¡± my one word statement got the wolf-eared woman¡¯s attention. She turned from the crate full of glass jars to follow my pointing finger and her sky-blue eyes widened in surprise.

    Pushing the box back on the shelf, she hurried past me to inspect the find. The sudden movement drew Kassandra to her, and the two of them bent to inspect the small ingots tucked on the shelf.

    ¡°This is gold. I¡¯m sure of it.¡± I heard Rieka mumble as she hefted one bar that barely filled her petite hand. The bright, buttery yellow metal shimmered with only the faintest hints of tarnish at its edges. An unfamiliar stamp was pressed into the face, showing a mountain with a spear protruding from the side of it and then a collection of numbers under that.

    ¡°There¡¯s silver here too,¡± Kassandra hummed from where she was headfirst in the shelf. The tip of her serpentine tail was flicking back and forth in excitement. ¡°None of these are mana charged, but these ingots are good-sized and there are plenty of them. Split up, this is a good haul even if Rieka just gets the mint to buy them. Not to say what a collector might pay for them.¡±

    A shimmer of rainbow light caught my attention as the girls began stuffing the roughly playing-card deck sized ingots into Rieka¡¯s bag. Stepping past the shelf the girls were emptying, I came to a stop by the back wall of the small room.

    There were two sets of long shelves set against the back wall. Mostly empty, there were four flat boxes roughly the size of a traditional cigar-box and stained in dark colors on one shelf of the right-hand one. Set on the left-hand shelf were several glass jars that looked empty, despite being tightly sealed with elaborately engraved lids.

    The shimmer that caught my attention came from one of the boxes though, as it was sitting propped open. The boxes were set in a row and it was the third from the left that was propped partially open.

    Inside the box was a blue velvet bed that held about a dozen large, octagonal coins scattered around randomly. They had the same mountain-and-spear imprint on them and had a hole about as thick as a pencil punched through the center of them. They vaguely reminded me of ancient oriental coins. But what was more important was the oil-slicks shimmer of mana that covered the coins in a thin film.

    ¡°Oh sweet. Hey I found some mana silver here, girls.¡± The words were barely out of my mouth before Kassandra was already pushing between me and the shelf to have a look.

    My mischievous lover couldn¡¯t do anything normally, so rather than sliding around my side, she apparently decided the most expedient way of getting close enough to examine my find was to dive between my legs and come up that way between me and the shelf.

    Rieka, at least, acted politely and poked her head around my side, just under my still shifted right arm, and peered at the shelf.

    ¡°Ooh, excellent find, Liam. These will be¡­¡± Kassandra¡¯s sentence trailed off as she lifted one coin up to study it.

    When the statues hadn¡¯t reacted after a bit, both girls had tucked their spell rods away to have a hand free to inspect the shelves while they held up their light stones with the other. So Kassandra held the coin in her right hand and her light stone in the left, turning it slowly while she inspected it.

    Unlike the ingots or the other metals, these coins were entirely untouched by tarnish. The silvery metal was shiny and bright as it glimmered in the reflected light, the rainbow shimmer proving the presence of mana flickering with each turn. After a moment, Kassandra gently set the coin back down with a great deal of care. As her hand came away, I could see that it was shaking slightly.

    ¡°Kass?¡± She didn¡¯t respond to my question, instead fishing in her pouch for something before producing one of her own mana silver, which she set down next to the coin. The one bearing the mark of the Coldeye kingdom was silver in color, but the metal was a duller gray in color.

    Rieka gasped in surprise and my right arm went around her shoulders instinctively to steady her. Rieka clung to me, and I could feel her body trembling in excitement.

    ¡°Is that?¡± Rieka asked in wonder.

    ¡°Looks like it to me,¡± Kassandra responded, her voice small as she stared down at the coin. ¡°But I can tell just from touching it.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± I asked, concern welling in my chest.

    Rather than answer, Kassandra reached to her left and flipped the little bronze latch on the first box in the row and lifted the lid. Set in ordered ranks, not unlike poker chips in a travel box, were more coins that were silver in color. Four rows that ran from one side of the box to the other and only had a few missing. These were also bearing the same rainbow shimmer, but as Kassandra extracted one and set it on the shelf in front of the box, I could already tell the difference. This coin was a duller silver than the first, just like the mana silver she¡¯d taken from her pouch.

    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    The second box in the row had similar rows of coins to the first, but this time obviously of gold. At a glance, I guessed there were probably a good forty coins in it, not even a single full row full.

    Rieka was now trembling full-body against my side, and Kassandra pressed herself backwards against me. This ended up with the small of her back pressing into my junk, but I was too focused on the girl¡¯s mental states to really worry about that at the moment. Instead, I just held them close to me and waited for them to explain. I had a feeling I knew what the coins I¡¯d found were, but I wanted them to confirm it.

    ¡°Silver, gold, and¡­¡± Rieka¡¯s voice was full of wonder as she indicated the first, second, and then third boxes, ¡°platinum. Mana infused platinum coins from the era of humans.¡±

    The girls just stared at that third box and the dozen or so coins scattered about on the soft blue cloth lining. While the first two had the ordered rows, the third box just had a flat surface to lay the coins out on and they were scattered randomly on that flat surface.

    They said it¡¯s generally a ten to one exchange, so each of the platinum is worth ten gold in value, and that¡¯s well over a hundred gold there, plus whatever the others are worth. The thought ran through my head like a scrolling marquee and I turned my attention to the last box in the row, curious of what might be in it.

    ¡°Rieka.¡± The wolf-eared woman¡¯s trembling had calmed as she clung to my side and she looked up at me when I spoke her name. Smiling gently down at her, I gestured to the last box in the row. ¡°What do you think that one has in it?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m¡­ not sure I want to guess,¡± Rieka mumbled, but she turned her wide eyes back to it and just stared.

    ¡°Open it,¡± Kassandra¡¯s simple statement made her friend jump, and Rieka turned her head to look down at her friend. I had wrapped my left arm over Kassandra¡¯s shoulder and down over her chest to pull her back against me comfortingly and she was clinging to my arm with it wedged between her breasts at the moment. ¡°I said to open it, Rieka. You let me open the first two, you should do the honors for this one.¡±

    Kassandra¡¯s voice was small, but insistent. Rieka stared at her friend for a moment before nodding. Stepping away from me to reach the box, Rieka twisted the catch with a hand that was trembling again and carefully lifted the lid.

    While the interior of the first three boxes were blue velvet, this one had a deep purple color to it. Scattered at equal distances around the interior of the box were seven coins of a bright, silvery-white metal that were coated in singing rainbows of energy.

    When Rieka tipped the box open, I felt a nearly physical weight hit me in the chest as the mana radiated from the octagonal coins. They were even recessed in the velvet in little slots describing the shape of an octagon, with one slot sitting empty on the right side.

    ¡°Holy palladium¡­¡± Rieka¡¯s whisper was deafening in the suddenly silent room.

    <><><>

    ¡°How can we be sure?¡± This was the third repetition of Kassandra¡¯s question since the girls had carefully sealed up all four of the cigar-box coin containers and tucked them safely away into Rieka¡¯s bag. The girls hadn¡¯t moved from the shelves since exposing the coins, and neither of them had touched one of the shimmering plates of metal in that last box.

    ¡°There¡¯s only one way to be sure. We can have an alchemist test them. But with an emanation like that? There is no question.¡± Rieka¡¯s words were spoken with such confidence that Kassandra let out a long breath and turned to look at me. Her slitted brown eyes were confused, and she just stared at me for a long moment as if she couldn¡¯t see me.

    ¡°Kass?¡± My concern drew her back, and she turned around to wrap her arms around my waist and crush herself to my front in a hug.

    ¡°Thank you, Liam.¡± The snake girl¡¯s words were muffled from where she was pressing her face into my armored stomach, but I still hugged her back. Rieka joined her in hugging me, her tail stirring madly behind her all of a sudden.

    ¡°Yes. Thank you, Liam. The entire reason we are down here is because of your magic, and the only reason the golems at the door granted us entrance was because of that ¡®Traveler override¡¯ you spoke about.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t mention it, girls. You know I always do my best for you.¡± I wasn¡¯t really sure how to respond to their thanks. I¡¯d just opened a door and watched their backs while they inspected the room.

    ¡°You don¡¯t understand, Liam. This has changed everything. Those palladium coins are fully charged.¡± Kassandra¡¯s voice was still muffled, but there was a note of wonder detectable in it.

    ¡°Well yeah? You told me that any mana metal left down here since the time of the humans would have to have fully recharged. That just makes sense.¡±

    ¡°No, Liam. You don¡¯t get it.¡± Rieka pulled back slightly to look up at my face with watery eyes and a small smile. ¡°Those coins, the fact that they are fully charged holy palladium? They could cause a war if traded in the open market. The only person with a treasury large enough to secure them is my mother. I could present them to her and she would immediately make me her heir. Kassandra could present them to her and the Silverscale family would be elevated from the rank of viscount to an earl, or she might just grant Kassandra a title in her own right. What I have in my bag, in just that one box, is quite literally a queen¡¯s ransom.¡±

    I blinked.

    There really wasn¡¯t any other reaction I could make in the moment when confronted with the fact that those seven little coins were worth far, far more than I had initially calculated in my head. I¡¯d done the math as it being worth seven hundred gold coins, forgetting that the mana-infused coins were worth a lot more than the others. The fact that they referred to palladium as a ¡®holy¡¯ metal should have tipped me off.

    After almost a minute of gears grinding and the sound of a dial-up modem struggling in my head, I fished out an intelligent response.

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Yes, really.¡± Kassandra had finally pried her face out of my abdomen and she smiled brightly up at me. ¡°After gold, the amount of mana contained in an infused coin begins to increase at a greater rate. Copper to silver to gold is roughly equivalent, but platinum begins the surge and holy palladium is able to hold far more raw mana. People think that is why the presence of mana alloyed holy palladium is so rare.¡±

    My mental calculator started ringing in my head as I tried to figure it out. My ten mana in my personal pool was roughly three mana copper in equivalent exchange. Which meant a mana silver was around thirty-three mana.

    And a gold is ten silver, so three-hundred and thirty mana. Even if it proceeds linearly, and Kassandra just said it didn¡¯t, a single mana platinum is three-thousand, three-hundred and thirty, and thus one of those palladium coins is thirty-three thousand, three-hundred and thirty mana. If it¡¯s linear, which I already acknowledged it wasn¡¯t.

    All of a sudden I could appreciate the awe that the girls were holding those coins in when I considered what I had been able to do with just a mana silver and my pool.

    ¡°We need to get out of here.¡±

    The words fell from my lips on autopilot, and both girls bit their lower lips in sync and exchanged a glance.

    ¡°There might be even more to find down here,¡± Kassandra offered.

    ¡°He does have a point though, what we have is far beyond what we expected to find down here,¡± Rieka said in return.

    ¡°Yes, but we will have to tell your mother where we found those coins. The minting isn¡¯t anything that anyone would recognize and she will need to know where they are from. We need to treat this as if we will not get to return to these ruins ourselves. If the crown decides to claim the discovery of the ruins, then that¡¯s it.¡± Kassandra was firm in her resolve on this.

    Rieka worried at her bottom lip again and shared a glance with me. I shook my head to make it obvious I was leaving the decision up to the two of them. I¡¯d voiced my opinion, and it was up to them to decide.

    ¡°Let¡¯s¡­ check the rest of the ruins. If there are other treasures, then I want to claim them. What we have will benefit our people a great deal. I cannot imagine that, even split three ways, there won¡¯t be enough here to need to go on missions hunting wild animals for some time. We can relax and just work to train when we want to, without having to worry about the costs.¡±

    Something must have shown on my face, because Rieka immediately looked contrite and hurried to reassure me.

    ¡°We would still be summoning you, Liam. It just wouldn¡¯t be for something as banal as having to go collect herbs or the like.¡± Rieka flushed sharply and looked away, her ears falling back in concern and her tail stilling. ¡°I would still want to spend time with you, and I know Kass would, too.¡±

    ¡°Damn right I would,¡± interjected my spirited serpentine lover from her cuddling position.

    ¡°That¡¯s not what I was thinking about, Rieka.¡± I was quick to reassure her and the wolf-eared woman perked right back up.

    ¡°Oh? What were you thinking about?¡±

    ¡°You mentioned splitting it three ways, but you two¡ª,¡± I started to say but was cut off by Rieka immediately. The blushing and shy wolf-woman was gone, and in her place was the irritated princess that had ripped into the city-guard previously.

    ¡°You have earned a share just as much as the two of us, Liam. I know you don¡¯t believe it is true since we summon you here, but we do! I know that you cannot take it back with you, but a share you will have, nonetheless!¡±

    The vehemence in her tone nearly knocked me over, and I just started nodding in agreement. Rieka had shifted so that she was on her tiptoes and glaring up at me as intensely as possible with her ears pinned back and her right hand in my face with one finger out menacingly.

    ¡°I understand, Rieka,¡± I said gently, hoping to calm her down. An impulsive thought ran through my mind and I acted on it without thinking. ¡°I know better than to argue with a beautiful woman. I won¡¯t fight it.¡± Rieka blinked three times in rapid succession in surprise. I finished the act of short circuiting her brain by bumping her hand to one side with my cheek and pressing first a kiss to the inside of her wrist, then one to the tip of her nose.

    Sputtering, Rieka took a step back and glared at me as her cheeks flushed a brilliant red now. Kassandra¡¯s giggling told me that I¡¯d done something right though as the angry and assertive princess was once again replaced with my shy and blushing wolf-eared friend.

    To give Rieka a moment to gather herself, I bent to repeat the motion with Kassandra. The serpentine woman chirped happily and dragged out the kiss far longer than I had planned. Once she was done, Kassandra slithered out of her position between my legs and around towards the door.

    ¡°Come on you two, let¡¯s go check out the rest of the complex!

    Rieka was still blushing furiously as we emerged from the side room. I tugged the door closed behind me and heard a latch clunk into place after it closed. Pushing on the door told me it was sealed once more. On instinct, I spoke to one side at one of the golems.

    ¡°Resume your duty.¡± The statue¡¯s eyes flicked open and shimmered red before closing once more. Now that I was sure that the security was back in place on the door to the room of precious things, I urged the girls away just in case the statues decided to take exception to their presence.

    <><><>

    We threaded our way back to the main room where we¡¯d engaged the zombified remnants of the humans and the damaged war-golem. From the large room, there were only two other exits that were not covered with rubble. The one opposite the storeroom and then the door that was set into the partially collapsed second floor. The girls held a quick conversation before agreeing that we should clear the far door on the first floor before moving to the second floor doorway.

    Hurrying across the empty space, the sense of wonder at finding the very rare and valuable coins and precious metal ingots faded rapidly as the oppressive blanket that muffled sound wrapped around us again. In reality, that pressure had never left, but the wonder had kept the niggling weight of it off of us while we were in the warehouse.

    Moving as carefully as before, I led the girls through the other large door and the narrow hallway that followed after it. This hall was even more disheveled than the other had been. There were stains of ancient blood on the floor and the walls were scarred and melted like the main room had been.

    We found and disposed of a dozen more of the mummified humans in the hallway. I acted as soon as I saw the bodies, not giving them the chance to rise and harass me or the girls.

    My spike-arm smashed heads and time-worn rib-cages in rapid succession. Once whatever power was animating the corpses vanished, they rapidly eroded into dust again, leaving behind only inorganic items. Kassandra found an iron ring in the dust of one body that she kept to study. But, other than that, the only things they carried were ancient weapons like swords or maces.

    The side hallway we went down mirrored the one that led to the warehouse, terminating in a set of double doors that opened into a smaller entryway before the room ballooned out further. But the area with the desk that was similar to a reception or intake area was instead laid out with the shattered remains of stone tables. Metallic bowls and plates were scattered around on the floor, covered in ancient debris and scattered stains. Like the warehouse before, a low wall separated this eating or relaxing area from the rest of the room, which was divided by low walls that held the metallic remains of what looked like barrack bunks.

    Another dozen and a half of the undead were scattered around the room and the girls joined in this time. They struck down with spells the ones that clumped up too much or looked like they might have a chance to reach me before I could take them out.

    Set in the far right-hand wall were several doors that lead into private rooms, which I guessed were for the higher-ranking folk that used to live or work here. Time had spoiled much of what was here, with the girls only finding things carved of stone or metal. Rieka added several handfuls of regular, precious metal coins to her bag as we went. Once we were sure the room was clear, Kassandra set about recording everything she could in her notebook while Rieka and I went through the metallic footlockers for anything that might have survived the passage of time and was tucked out of sight.

    ¡°It¡¯s weird how anything organic seems to have decayed except for the bodies and certain wooden objects, but the stone and metal remains basically untouched,¡± Rieka muttered as she used the tip of her spell rod to sift through another pile of dust inside one locker.

    ¡°You saw the bodies, they were only spared the passage until they were no longer animated. Then they turned to dust as well,¡± I reminded her, pausing to scan the room again while Kassandra scribbled away using a nearby bed frame to support her notebook. she was safe in the knowledge that the only way in now was the hallway we¡¯d come back through.

    ¡°Something befell these people. The dead do not rise on their own, and it is obvious that those raised died violently,¡± Rieka replied, fishing out several coins and what looked like a metal cloak-pin that she stuffed into her bag before moving on to the next footlocker.

    ¡°Oh, that much is obvious from the damage on the walls and the signs of battle. I just wish we knew what this place was. We¡¯ve seen barely three dozen dead, and there are far more beds than that here.¡± I paused to glance around and do a rough estimate. With how the room was divided and the number of bunk beds, I guessed that there had to be space for almost two-hundred people in this room alone.

    ¡°Hard to say. Maybe the animation only took a few, or others escaped. Or they might be deeper into the complex.¡± Rieka grimaced as she dug into the dusty remains once more and fished out a belt buckle with an elaborate design on it.

    I glanced over my shoulder at Kassandra, who appeared to be wrapping up her notes as she was glancing around like she was looking for something, before stepping close to Rieka.

    The wolf-eared woman stopped mid-stride and turned to look up at me, a hesitant smile on her delicate lips. Behind her, I could see her tail stirring slowly. I was again thankful for the cheat-code to her emotions that was her tail.

    ¡°Hey, I just wanted to thank you for earlier,¡± I murmured, pulling Rieka into a hug that she happily melted into.

    ¡°What do you mean? Not that I will ever complain about being thanked.¡± Rieka tilted her head so her chin was on my chest and she could look up at me with those shimmering eyes of hers.

    ¡°For setting me straight. I have this bad habit of not thinking about myself. It¡¯s something Kass has been trying to break me of doing, and I wanted to tell you that I appreciate you doing it too. I did not, and still don¡¯t, expect an equal share of the loot that you girls acquire. But being treated as an equal, rather than just a useful peon, is gratifying.¡±

    ¡°You are far more than just a useful peon to both of us, Liam,¡± Rieka purred, her cheeks pinking just a bit while her tail began to stir even faster. I squeezed her tighter, and she squeaked adorably in response before turning to rub her cheek against my chest.

    ¡°And you two are important to me as well, Rieka. You both mean the world to me,¡± I murmured into her soft, platinum-blonde hair, right between her ears. The sensitive triangles flicked, tickling my cheeks slightly with their fuzzy points. We just relaxed for that moment in the dim room, enjoying each other¡¯s arms.

    ¡°I hate to interrupt, but are you two ready to go? Or should I give you a minute?¡± Kassandra¡¯s teasing voice broke into the moment a few minutes later and Rieka stiffened slightly and began to pull back, but I continued to hold her. Turning slightly, I raised an eyebrow at my dwarf lamia, who was smirking up at the two of us with her notebook in her hands.

    ¡°If you want to join in the cuddle, you know you don¡¯t have to ask, right?¡± My statement got a wicked grin from my lover and she slithered forward while sliding her notebook away into her pack.

 Chapter 64

    ¡°Not that I¡¯m complaining, but doesn¡¯t it feel odd to you two to be cuddling in a place we have confirmed has dangerous threats in it?¡±

    I hadn¡¯t wanted to ruin the affectionate moment that the girls and I had been sharing. But, as the minutes dragged by and neither girl really wanted to separate from me, it was something that needed to be said.

    ¡°Nope.¡± Kassandra¡¯s response was as short as she was. She went back to rubbing her face into my abdomen while her serpentine tail continued the gentle squeezing that trapped Rieka and I together. The serpentine woman had decided to just wrap herself around both of us to get maximum snuggles.

    ¡°Feels good like this, so I can¡¯t fault her.¡± Rieka¡¯s voice was more subdued, and a bit muffled, too.

    While she¡¯d started out with her chin on my chest, she¡¯d shifted around now so her face was tucked into the crook of my shoulder. Her fuzzy ears would twitch on occasion, their pointed tips tickling my throat, but she seemed no more willing to stop than Kassandra was.

    ¡°Feels safe,¡± Kassandra added to her friend¡¯s statement, and I felt Rieka nod slowly.

    I considered that for a moment.

    That eerie pressure that had been with us ever since we came down into the tunnels was still present. I had gotten used to it somewhat, to where it was just the way the pressure affected sound that bothered me. It was hard to tell if that oppressive weight that hung in the air was just the fact we were deep underground, in a place that had been lost to time for millennia, or had something far more nefarious to it. I also couldn¡¯t decide whether it was more or less creepy that the millennia seemed so selective in what it taxed in here, though. Regardless, it had been bothering my girls, and this was comforting to them. So I would wait until they were ready to move.

    Kassandra was the first to relax her grip, I think because she realized that she had to be the first, given her position squeezing us together. My position might have been more awkward, with the two attractive women cuddling into me, but I was able to maintain my decency when surrounded by the scents and soft sensations of the girls. And while she was being considerate, Kassandra did not miss the opportunity to be a pest and used her grip around us to squeeze Rieka tightly to me. Though I did curse my armor in my head for stealing some of the enjoyment of feeling them pressed to me.

    For her part, the wolf-eared princess did not protest. She simply burrowed into the cuddles and enjoyed them. When Kassandra began to unwrap us, though, she took the cue and stepped back as well.

    ¡°Either of you have any idea how long we¡¯ve been down here?¡± Rieka asked, rubbing at her eyes with one hand before squaring her shoulders determinedly.

    ¡°No idea. Without the sun, it¡¯s far harder to tell time,¡± Kassandra sighed.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have a watch or my phone right now, since that¡¯s something from my home and the System still refuses to give me the transport ability to bring stuff with me.¡± I closed my eyes to glare at the System interface. The extra-dimensional supercomputer was apparently unfazed, as it did not react.

    ¡°How are you two feeling? I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s the tension or what, but I am starting to feel rather tired right now. We¡¯ve been down here for almost a full day, I¡¯m pretty sure.¡±

    Rieka¡¯s frank statement made me blink in surprise. When I glanced at Kassandra, she looked startled as well.

    ¡°I hadn¡¯t thought of that, but I believe you are right,¡± I agreed after a moment. I could feel a yawn bubbling up in my throat, but I ruthlessly squashed it. I refused to let the tiredness that had suddenly surged up show in front of the girls.

    ¡°Uh, I could use a break? But I¡¯m also burning with curiosity as to what might be down here still.¡± Kassandra swayed slightly on her tail as she spoke, conveying her indecision in the movement.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t we go have a peek at the upper floor hallway that we have yet to check? If the complex has a lot more to it, then we can decide if we need to take a break. If it isn¡¯t more than a room or two, or the rest of this place is collapsed, then we can rest easier,¡± I suggested.

    The girls shared a look before Kassandra nodded and Rieka shrugged.

    ¡°Sounds good to me. We don¡¯t have to pick through this place with a fine-tooth comb, but I do want to check it over for anything important that we can secure. Let¡¯s get going!¡± Kassandra managed to dredge up more of her excited energy and urged us to head back to the main room.

    This time, I did not let myself become complacent and grow to ignore the pressure in the air. It had the oppressive feel of being watched, so I redoubled my vigilance over the girls.

    Once we made it back to the main lobby, the girls and I inspected the room once more.

    We checked under the stairs to find the collapsed section of stone was blocking several other hallways that lead deeper into the complex. While I could use my Manipulate Element power to meld and alter the stone, there were open sections of tunnels that we could delve into first that held priority.

    Navigating the stairs to the second floor, we found that most of that level had fallen in on the first floor. It looked like this was due to some kind of acid or fire-scarring, likely from whatever battle had taken place in antiquity that wiped out the ancient humans. I found two more of the undead that were partially pinned between stones, ending them quickly and without hesitation.

    Once I was sure there weren¡¯t any threats lurking amongst the tumbled stones, I led the girls on a roundabout path over the collapsed mezzanine. While we walked, I was running my Manipulate Element power to reinforce the stone ahead of us, so it didn¡¯t collapse. I wasn¡¯t sure how much of an effect I was having for stability, but it smoothed broken edges of stone and sealed up most of the cracks.

    ¡°More golems,¡± Rieka murmured when we were part way around the collapsed section of the mezzanine.

    Turning to my wolf-eared companion, I noticed her gesturing towards the collapsed area and turned to look. With the scattered lighting on the upper floor due to torn down lights we had seen earlier, I hadn¡¯t noticed it at first, but amongst the rubble in the collapse appeared to be several more of the six-legged, canine golems. They¡¯d been shattered into pieces and, thankfully, none of them stirred at our passage.

    ¡°Whatever destroyed them probably caused the collapse,¡± Kassandra whispered, edging closer to the lip of broken stone that marked the edge and peering downwards.

    ¡°Probably. Just gotta hope that whatever did this damage is either dead or has taken off,¡± I added in a low tone.

    The girls shared a look, but didn¡¯t comment. I knew the chance that whatever had caused the damage had escaped or left was small, given the intact status of the doors, but I had no idea if this complex had another exit or something we¡¯d missed. Honestly, I was hoping that it¡¯d been killed, and the complex was just abandoned.

    Even if it wasn¡¯t, there¡¯s no chance it survived this long. It would have starved, right?

    The thought sauntered through my mind and I did my best not to shudder, as it felt like I was just asking for fate to screw me over.

    To help assuage the nerves that I felt now, I began flowing my right arm through the different shifts that I¡¯d worked out for it. The armored scorpion¡¯s tail shifted and thickened with armor, then thinned again and gained dexterity. The head went from a pointed spike to a hooked head similar to a pickaxe. Then the base of the pickaxe swelled to give me a venom gland and I could feel my body start working to fill said gland, but I shifted it away as I didn¡¯t want to waste the components there. Nothing we had run into so far was vulnerable to venom, after all.

    The girls didn¡¯t mention my working of the Shape-Shifting ability, though it seemed to reassure Kassandra as she watched me cycle through different things. She stuck close to me on my left, and I felt her soft hand gently take my left one, being careful of the claws I still bore on that side. Rieka didn¡¯t comment, but I could tell she was also comforted with my readiness to defend them both.

    It took several minutes to work our way around to the last set of doors we could easily access. As with the others, I had the girls stand back while I checked the doorway. This time it felt like it was a far more important step to take since these doors were obviously damaged.

    Before, the doors had looked like a more archaic version of the heavy, metallic security doors that I was used to seeing in many buildings back home, though more crudely shaped. Previous doors had latched with a turning lever to open them or even just a handle to push on. These doors were missing that handle entirely. The center of the doors where they met over a latch were dented outwards and stress fractures marked the metal throughout. I was able to hook the pointed tip of my right tail/arm into one of those cracks and use it to pull the door open.

    The change in pressure caused a slight wash of air to flow outwards, and I felt a chill run down my spine at what I saw in the hallway on the other side.

    Blood had long ago painted the walls and floor in the corridor that lay beyond. Blood that had long since soaked into the stone and dried away, but left behind its ghost as odd, pooling stains that I was getting more and more familiar with.

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    The hallway continued deeper into the complex in a straight shot, with three different doors opening off of it, two to the left and one to the right. At the far end of the long hallway, easily longer than the two massive rooms we had already checked, was a place for another set of iron doors. However, one had been torn entirely off its hinges and lay in a twisted mass in the middle of the hallway about a hundred feet from the far end. The lights that illuminated the corridor were mixed, with some showing through an ancient, brown stain left by dried blood and the others still giving off clean light.

    I was about to turn back to the girls to get their opinion when I saw movement flicker around the edge of the nearest of the doorways.

    Movement that had a distinct skittering nature to it.

    Then something was launched out of the doorway and it smashed into the light fixture that was nearest to it, sending that section of the hallway falling into pitch darkness.

    ¡°Get ready, girls.¡± I called, while stepping up into the hallway.

    If more of the creatures came at us, I wanted to meet them in the narrowed portion where the girls¡¯ spells could do the most damage. Rieka slid in and took up position on my right while Kassandra wriggled into a spot on my left.

    I could hear the scrabbling of talons on stone from the darkness and was debating dropping my claws in favor of altering my eyes to see better in that dim light when Rieka acted first.

    With a flick of her spell rod and a gesture, Rieka snarled out her preferred opening spell.

    ¡°Bolt Chain!¡±

    The flickering chain of lightning lashed out and arced down the hallway like a perfectly cast fishing line. As it reached the darkened section of hall, it broke through the shadows before latching onto something horrifying in the darkness with a crack of discharged electricity and a scream of pain from the creature that it hit.

    In the light of Rieka¡¯s spell, we got a good view of the creature that had been hiding in the darkness and it made the mind reel for a moment.

    The shadow-beasts we had encountered in the tunnels earlier had been moderately scary before, but were ultimately no bigger than a small dog. It had been their numbers that were terrifying. This thing was so much more.

    It stood as tall at the shoulder as a horse, but four spindly legs on the front half of its body ended in long, three-fingered hands tipped in sharp claws. A pair of heavy, bent back legs supported the bottom half and propelled it forward in a loping gait like a bounding rabbit as the creature lunged out of the shadows. At the center of the quintet of arms hung a large torso. Saliva spewed from a gnashing mouth like someone had decided to give an asshole teeth and then dilate it up to be large enough to swallow the family dog.

    I swore. Kassandra screamed. And Rieka snarled something that was likely halfway between profanity and a curse as the creature lunged into the tainted light of one of the stained panels.

    Smoke erupted from its skin as the light hit it. The creature continued to thrash forward, intent on following the leash of ravening lightning to whatever was hurting it.

    Rieka remained in control of herself, though, and she made a whipping gesture with her spell rod. I was reminded exactly why she had told me Bolt Chain was her favorite combat spell.

    The chain, which had been as thick as two fingers and reminded me of a normal length of chain like one might use to support a porch swing, followed the flicking motion in a wave. As it did so, it swelled in size. With a rolling of thunder that would have made any god of storms proud, Rieka pumped far more mana into the spell than she had ever before. The chain tripled in thickness as the wave continued down the length of the chain before it reached the impact site where the head of the chain remained stuck in the creature¡¯s body, just behind the rightmost set of arms.

    With an almighty zot noise, like someone had just blown a power transformer, the spell discharged its current and blew the right half of the spindly legged creature¡¯s body off.

    Black blood splattered into the hallway and immediately began steaming away like dry ice left in the sun. The blast was so heavy it actually blew off those two legs and tossed the creature bodily into the wall.

    A bit of the current must have rippled back up the line. The chain failed before Rieka could break her connection and my wolfish companion yelped in pain when the echo of the current hit her. I spun to catch Rieka in the curling wrap of my right arm, but Kassandra was there to take her from me.

    ¡°Make sure it¡¯s dead, Liam. I¡¯ll see to Rieka,¡± my redheaded lover ordered. I nodded, relinquishing Rieka to her care.

    The monster was still thrashing in the hallway, trying to force itself backwards into the shadows despite its wounds. Whatever anger or hunger it might have had before was now gone, but I was not about to let it get away to threaten us again.

    Charging down the hallway, I coiled my right arm back over my head as I built up momentum before sliding to a stop just outside its range and torquing my body to whip my right arm around and over my head in a short arc like I was driving a nail with my fist. In this case, with the spike on the end of my arm.

    The creature hissed and tried to lunge at me, but that just put it slightly out of position for when the strike hit it from above. Rieka¡¯s spell had already weakened the chitinous shell from the side where it had blown off the legs and the residual electricity was still causing it to spasm quite a bit. So when my blow struck just behind where its maw ended, the shell crunched like a smashed egg.

    Flailing wildly for several seconds, the creature half-scrambled backwards and half-lunged at me, as if it couldn¡¯t decide if escape or trying to take me with it was a priority. When I wrenched my arm back and yanked the talon free of its ¡®head¡¯ with a sucking noise, though, the creature gave a full body shudder and collapsed, smoke still rising from its body as it had not made it back to the safety of the darkness.

    ¡°Fucker,¡± I spat at the creature, driving my right talon into it one more time to ensure it was dead, but the creature did not twitch again.

    <><><>

    ¡°Rieka¡¯s fine. She¡¯s just a little jittery from the spell backlash,¡± Kassandra explained when I made it back to the girls. I kept watch on the monster until the smoking effect had eaten away at the shell enough to expose the raw insides. With its death confirmed beyond a doubt, I hurried back to the girls while Kassandra was finishing up a restorative spell on her friend.

    ¡°Good work there, hon,¡± I said with a smile when Rieka caught my eye. Her ears had been pinned back in shame, but they perked right up at that.

    ¡°I could have done better. I should have known that I was pushing too much mana into it. The coins were drained before I could break the connection,¡± Rieka explained in a rush, a light tinge of red on her cheeks.

    ¡°You were too focused on putting a new asshole in that thing, since it had decided to try to eat people with the first one it¡¯d been given,¡± Kassandra encouraged crassly. The profanity got a giggle out of Rieka and the wolf-eared woman relaxed some. ¡°Did better than me. I panicked at the sheer size of the thing.¡±

    ¡°I panicked too, if we are being honest,¡± Rieka mumbled, her ears wilting to either side now.

    Not wanting to let my princess remain depressed, I shook my left hand like I was getting feeling back into it and pushed my Shape-Shifting to remove the claws. When my left hand was back to normal, I set it gently on top of Rieka¡¯s head and buried my fingers in her soft hair, stroking the base of her canine ears. Rieka let out a quiet groan of surprise before twisting her head to press up into my fingers with a radiant smile on her face.

    ¡°Slick, Liam,¡± Kassandra commended me with a grin.

    ¡°What? She did good, so she deserves a reward.¡±

    ¡°I can think of a reward she might enjoy a bit mooore,¡± Kassandra drew out the ¡®o¡¯ teasingly and Rieka blushed just a bit, but she also nodded silently without looking at me.

    Huh, I thought to myself. Good to know. Maybe we can explore that when we aren¡¯t in a dangerous and ancient dungeon full of monsters. All we would need is a dragon to¡ª I cut the thought off abruptly with a shake of my head. Nope, not going to tempt fate!

    It took Rieka a bit to be ready to get up and move again, but that might have also been because of her not wanting to give up her ear-scratches and head-pats. After a few minutes, I helped her to her feet, and the girls took the time to change out the spent iron coins in their spell rods so that they were ready for more trouble.

    By the time we made it back to the shadow monster, the bright lights of the hallway had already eroded it to where the corpse was half the size it had been before.

    Peeking into the room that it had been occupying revealed it was an entirely empty room. No tables, shelves, or anything else. Just an empty room with the walls covered in deep gouges from the creature¡¯s claws. Even the lights had been dug out of their recesses in the ceiling and were missing. I searched around a bit in the darkness and found what the creature had used to smash the light panel in the hallway. It had dug a chunk of rock out of the wall and then lobbed it out the door.

    Heading further down the hall, we found the lone doorway that opened to the right next and checked inside.

    The room was completely trashed. Based on the blocks of stone and the partially carved bodies, as well as the scattered remains of chisels and other tools, this had been a workshop to create statues at one point. Strewn about the room were the shattered remains of several golems. From the number of heads in comparison to the arms and legs, only a few of these had been completed and actually destroyed in a fight. The others had likely been in the process of assembly and were destroyed during the conflict.

    Kassandra was excited to claim several of the tools while we cleared the room and ensured nothing was lurking in the corners. As the lights had not been destroyed, I didn¡¯t expect that one of the shadow monsters had denned inside this place. We were still short of well over a hundred bodies if the barracks had been an accurate count of the occupancy of this place.

    Once the room was confirmed clear, we headed down the tunnel to check the last room on the left before the doors at the end of the row. The crumpled and broken door lay only a dozen feet further down the hall now.

    Peering inside, I wasn¡¯t sure if what I was seeing was real. I felt one of the girls nudge against my side to see past me. Glancing down, I recognized it as Rieka from the platinum-blonde hair as she peered into the room too.

    ¡°What in the world is this?¡± Rieka mumbled in confusion, which got Kassandra to poke her head in as well.

    The room in front of me was tiled like all the others had been, but this room had tiles on the walls and ceiling as well. Several bright light-spheres were set into the ceiling and illuminated the entire room in sharp relief, which honestly only added to the disturbed feeling twisting in my guts.

    The room was divided into two, with a barrier of metal set with a thick glass window that looked into the other half. A large door sat to one side of the observation window. On the far side of that window was a large room with open space in the center surrounding a table and another door set in the furthest wall.

    It was the table that disturbed me the most, though. Flat and angled slightly towards the window, there were channels cut into the metal table that I recognized from a few too many sleepless nights watching crime dramas and old horror movies on my one streaming service I could afford.

    The obvious restraints worked into the metal table made its purpose disturbingly clear as we looked into what I recognized as a dissection lab, with the faint stains of long dried blood still marking those restraints and the drain channels of the table.

 Chapter 65

    Entering the room that appeared to be an ancient version of a surgical or dissection suite set all the hairs on my body doing a jig at the eerie feeling in the air.

    I lead the way, with the girls following close behind me. The door was barred from the side of the observation room with a spinning wheel that threw a bar inside the door. It protested loudly at being used, with a scraping of ancient metal long past the point any grease would have dried.

    When the door dividing the observation room from the surgery theater opened, I half expected to smell the rank scent of old blood. The whole exploration had taken a turn from ¡®ancient mystery¡¯ back to ¡®horror movie¡¯ with the discovery of the surgery theater. However, the air on the other side of the door had no trace of the scent of blood. Only the same ancient and dusty scent that had permeated the rest of the ruins was here.

    Besides the table set in the middle of the room, there was nothing else to break up the monotony of the space. No trays holding tools or sample jars, mobile stands of lights to bring in closer illumination, or even a surface to hold writing materials for someone taking notes while others worked.

    ¡°This is really creepy,¡± Kassandra muttered, shuffling her serpentine tail so that she could press back against my hip while the three of us surveyed the room.

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Rieka¡¯s one-word reply pulled my attention to the wolf-eared woman, and I turned her way to check on Rieka.

    The fur on Rieka¡¯s ears and tail was fluffed up, nerves clearly showing in their poofy look. Her tail hung limply behind her while her ears flicked back and forth on top of her head, nervously scanning the room. As I watched, she checked, then re-checked the ceiling to ensure nothing was lurking there. The ceiling of the room was relatively low, only going to around ten feet off the floor, and studded with a dozen of the light-panels that cast brilliant illumination down on us. But she still checked it, and I was proud of her for keeping track of our surroundings.

    ¡°Well then, nothing here. Do we check through that door,¡± I indicated the still sealed doorway set into the back wall that led out of the surgery theater, ¡°or head back into the main hall and check the door at the end that is damaged?¡± I hiked a thumb over my shoulder, back the way we had come.

    The girls shared a silent look before Kassandra shrugged and made a wafting gesture towards Rieka, apparently turning the decision over to her.

    Rieka worried at her bottom lip with her teeth for a long moment before sighing and looking at the securely locked door.

    ¡°I¡¯d rather go clear the hallway. Given the number of things that have jumped out at us, I don¡¯t like leaving an open door at our rear that we haven¡¯t confirmed is safe. But there is also no way of knowing if the door before us has a latch on the other side.¡± Rieka huffed cutely through her nose and scowled at the door. I was about to offer to flip a coin to help her decide when she shook her head, which sent her wolf-ears flopping in that adorable fashion they did, and straightened up. ¡°We are already here. Let us check this door.¡±

    ¡°You got it, Rieka. Kass, keep an eye at our backs just in case, okay? Rieka raised a good point, and I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if more of those shadow thingies are running around. Having a section of bright light, like the surgery theater here, will act as a barrier to them. But, if we have more golems or something that doesn¡¯t care about the light, then we might have issues.¡± I got a smirk and a sloppy salute from my redheaded lover before I led our trio past the table and across the expanse of the empty stone room.

    The only thing that stood out the entire trip was the gaping opening in the floor right below where the table drains would empty. The opening had the same dark stains as the stone table. Clearly, this was where the blood or other fluids of whatever unfortunate were strapped into the table would drain away. I was again thankful that I could not smell anything. I doubt I could have put on as stoic a look if the whole place stank of blood.

    Unlatching the doorway in the back of the room took another effort of strength. The ancient mechanisms still protested being forced to work, despite whatever magic was preserving them from the ravages of time in this strange space. Rieka kept close to me, covering my front while I focused on the doorway, and Kassandra kept watch at our back.

    The door finally opened with another loud shriek of metal on metal, revealing a small antechamber that held shelves of tools as well as racks to hang clothing on.

    I did my absolute best to not look at the saws, blades, levers, and other implements of dubious medical purpose that lined shelves here.

    One corner of the room had a section of different tiles and a metal trough that looked like a wash basin. I only stepped close enough to confirm nothing was hiding in it.

    Another door led out on the far side of the room and the girls crowded in close with me as we crossed. Both it and the door that we had come through to enter this small room were larger than the other single doors we had encountered. They were still just a single door each, but were a good four to five feet wide and almost eight tall.

    I checked on my girls with a glance and the stoic expressions on both told me to push on. The other door let out a quieter squeal than the first two at being forced to operate, and I let out a sigh of relief. The shriek of metal on metal was grating on my nerves, and I was glad to not have to deal with it at close proximity more than I was absolutely required to.

    When the door opened far enough to get into the other room, I winced and immediately wished that the worst I¡¯d had to deal with was the squealing door when I got a view of what lay on the other side of the portal.

    Cages.

    There were easily two dozen cages made of flat bars of iron scattered about the room. They were arranged mostly against the walls with at least three feet of distance between each of them, but four larger cages sat in the middle of the room. Chains dangled from the center of the ceiling of each of the cages, clearly meant to restrain whatever was occupying them. The door we came through led to an open lane with the tiled floor clearly marked to denote where it was ¡®safe¡¯ to pass amongst the cages.

    The smaller cages were maybe eight feet square, while the larger ones in the center of the wide room were about fifteen feet square. Each of the cages had a locking door of the same metal lattice, though there was a short slot at the bottom of the door to slide food dishes through. Other than the dangling chains and a couple of ancient dishes marked by dessicated stains to show their long-dried remnants, the cages were without decoration or comfort.

    The presence of the cages, and the clinical arrangement of them, made the bodies that lay in them even more horrifying, though.

    Within the center of the room, three of the four larger cages were empty. One held the ancient remains of some large quadruped.

    The body was the size of an African lion, but without a mane and bearing two heads. It stirred weakly, and the bone-rattling groan told me that the only reason this corpse was still present was due to whatever power was animating the dead in this place. The dangling chain linked to a metal collar set around the throat of the left head.

    The cages against the walls held other bodies, but these were bipedal. Only about half of the outer cages had an occupant, and all of them were restrained with the chain linking to a thick collar around their neck, save for two bodies in a cell in the corner. These unrestrained bodies were also the only ones that appeared to be human. They were dressed in the time-worn rags of what looked to be long, pale-blue surgical garments.

    All around the room, the dead contained in the cages began to stir and moan, struggling to rise on damaged limbs or shift bodies that had not moved in centuries.

    ¡°Merciful heavens,¡± Kassandra breathed as she stared in disgust at the trapped undead. A raspy roar from the twin-headed lion in the central cage broke her from her staring and she flinched.

    ¡°We have to put them down,¡± Rieka¡¯s words were full of iron, and she stepped up to my back while brandishing her spell rod. I held her back with one arm and caught a glare because of it.

    ¡°I can do it. It¡¯ll be easy enough to get a shifted limb through the bars. You two watch my back.¡± Rieka stared at me for a moment before her features softened and she nodded.

    Taking a moment to study the cages, I found that each had a clearly denoted door in the front with an elaborate lock built into the metal cage and the door itself. The keyhole was deeply recessed and looked complicated, even with the type of construction we¡¯d seen so far. I doubted I¡¯d have been able to get inside the cage without a key unless I beat the doors down. This was a benefit, though, as none of the undead could escape to harm us.

    I dealt with the lion-thing first, as it was the loudest of the undead with its raspy roars.

    A pair of blows from the heavily armored version of my scorpion tail/arm was enough to send it ashing away into dust when the magic animating it fled. Being as close as I was to it, I noted the fact that the two heads appeared to be a natural state of the creature, rather than some kind of bizarre experiment that had been done on it.

    Kassandra and Rieka again kept watch, having followed me out into the lane marked ¡®safe¡¯ by the tiles. Rieka was focused entirely on the contents of the cages, while Kassandra swapped her gaze between the door leading back the way we had come, and another set of double doors in the right-hand wall that hung closed at the moment.

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    With the lion-thing dealt with, the groaning of the other undead was the only noise in here besides our own rapid breathing.

    ¡°You sure that I should put these down? They aren¡¯t a threat in the cages,¡± I started to ask, wondering if the girls would want to study the undead at all. I got a furious nod from both my girls.

    ¡°Some undead still retain memories of their life. It depends on what it was that reanimated them, if it bound the soul to the body once more. On the off chance that these poor unfortunates are like that, we have to bring them peace,¡± Rieka said firmly. I nodded before making a circuit of the outer cages.

    The chains in the cages actually kept the trapped undead from even reaching the bars, as it barely had the slack for the creatures to lay down. I saw several different species in the cages, some that I recognized and others that I did not.

    One cage held an obviously dwarven man from his stocky build. Another held an elven woman, her pointed ears dried and cracking as the undead struggled with mindless hate at the warmth of the living. A third cage held a large woman, easily seven feet tall, with skin the color of granite and a mouth full of sharp teeth. This one strained at its chain so hard that the collar was actually breaking skin and would have likely killed the undead if I left it be, now that it was riled up.

    All the cages with only one occupant held the remains of those who were obviously not human. I recognized the race of less than a third of them. And none of the cages held repeats of the same species, except for the sole cage that held humans in it. This was also the only cage that did not have the chain restraining the occupants, so I left it for last.

    The two mummified humans were up against the bars, thrusting dessicated arms through the bars in an attempt to get a hold of me. I had to aim carefully to get a blow through the narrow gap in the bars to pulp their heads. It felt somewhat unfair to end them while they were still in cages, but I swallowed that feeling because I knew it was infinitely safer for the girls this way. I wasn¡¯t about to worry about fighting fair with the undead.

    Being up close to those humans let me study their bodies a bit before I sent them back into dust, and I relayed what I found to the girls when I rejoined them.

    ¡°Those two in the corner cage. I think they actually locked themselves in.¡± Rieka and Kassandra both stared at me in surprise at the statement.

    ¡°What makes you say that?¡± Rieka was the first to formulate a question as I led the girls to the set of double doors to continue our inspection.

    ¡°The stains on their robes, the type of clothing they were wearing, and the fact they weren¡¯t chained up,¡± I answered quietly. ¡°Their robes were speckled with bloodstains and not slashed or damaged like the other undead we¡¯ve found. That implies blood-spray, since there are no injuries. They weren¡¯t chained up, either. I have the sneaking suspicion that, whatever it was that killed the other humans and damaged or destroyed the war-golems, chased them in here and they hid inside the cage. Probably starved there.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ bleak,¡± murmured Kassandra, and I felt my serpentine lover snuggle into my side for a moment of comfort. I dropped my arm around her shoulders to pull her close as well, and she sighed quietly.

    ¡°I want to find out what happened here. No, I need to know. This is¡­ far more disturbing than anything I¡¯ve read about,¡± Rieka said at last, glancing around the room.

    ¡°Agreed. We have a duty to document all that we can find here.¡± Kassandra straightened up as she spoke before shooting me a pained glance. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Liam. This sort of space isn¡¯t going to paint ancient humans in a positive light¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh, that is obvious, nugget,¡± I reassured her with a small smile and her pet name before I bent to press a kiss to her forehead. ¡°I don¡¯t care. These aren¡¯t my people. Even if they were, there are monsters in every race.¡±

    Nodding silently, Kassandra wrapped her arms around my neck before I could straighten and pulled me down into a more serious kiss. When she finally released me, I was promptly grabbed and turned around to look at Rieka.

    Expecting a rebuke, I was surprised when my wolf-eared companion also pressed a kiss to my lips.

    Given that Rieka was taller than Kassandra, I didn¡¯t have to bend nearly as far down to meet her lips. Rieka actually pressed herself to my chest during the kiss and I again cursed my armor for stealing the sensation of her leaning into me.

    I need to improve Shape-Shifting so I can disregard armor in the future. If I could just shift scales or the like into place, then I could shift it away to enjoy these moments when the girls need comfort. I couldn¡¯t help the irritated thought that crossed my mind, but I did keep it off my face as I enjoyed the sweet kiss of reassurance.

    Rieka released me a moment later, leaning her head against my chest for a moment and not saying anything before she too stepped away. The three of us stood in silence for a few more heartbeats, readying ourselves for what new surprises might come and taking comfort in the presence of companions.

    ¡°Okay,¡± I said with a sigh and shook myself. ¡°Double doors next.¡±

    <><><>

    The double doors for the cage room lead into another long hallway that I was pretty sure ran parallel with the main hall. The floor, like in the cage room, had a clearly marked pathway worked into the tile that denoted the center three or so feet of the hall and we followed it carefully.

    Set into the left-hand wall were eight doorways that had solid iron doors blocking them. At the furthest end of the hallway was another set of double doors that were distorted and damaged, like the set in the main hall, but these were not missing a door at least.

    Claw marks in the stone of the walls were the only decoration besides the tiles in this hallway. Clear gouges in the floor where chunks of tiles had been pried up in what had to have been a tremendous fight broke the path up ahead of us as well. In all, it gave the hallway a much more tattered feeling to the clean stone of the surgery we had left.

    The first door had a brass plaque set in the center of the door that had the blocky, runic writing that I had seen on the copper map. It took a minute for the translation ability of being a Traveler to kick in, but it did.

    ¡°It says ¡®Ritual Supply - Restricted¡¯.¡± I read out to the girls and both stopped to inspect the door. An oddly shaped keyhole sat above the bar handle and when I tugged on it, the door didn¡¯t budge. The girls and I shared a glance before all three of us looked back towards the cage-room.

    Doubling back, I sifted through the dusty piles from the two human zombies, but came up with nothing. I¡¯d hoped that one of them had the key, but no such luck. We were about to abandon it when Rieka spotted a gnarled, iron key hanging from one of several hooks above a desk by the door to the surgery theater. I took it down and hefted it in my hand. A quick test on an empty cage confirmed that it didn¡¯t work for them, so I took it back to the supply closet.

    Returning to the hallway, I inserted the key into the lock and gave it a twist. The tumblers shifted with a gritty sound of protest before I tugged the door open.

    On the far side of the door was a small room, a closet really, that held a number of tools. There were small iron braziers stacked on the ground under the lowest shelves. Several shelves had a waxy residue on them that led me to believe they once held candles, but time had claimed those. Smaller jars held lumps of the resin incense that we¡¯d found in the larger storeroom below and there was a crate of charcoal blocks for burning that incense. On another shelf was a slotted wooden rack that held sticks of the heavy chalk that the girls had claimed.

    The real treasure was tucked into a rack on the side of the room, though.

    Four glass containers roughly the size of a mason jar with a sealing lid were about two-thirds full of vibrating crystals. Blue, red, pale yellow, and deep brown crystals that I recognized immediately as the elemental mana crystals. Another jar, set slightly to one side and back, held three crystals roughly the size of my pinky nail that were clear, but glowed with the iridescent light of the mana infused coins.

    ¡°Are those¡­?¡± Rieka breathed in surprise, staring at the three smaller crystals.

    ¡°Pretty sure they are,¡± Kassandra said while alternately peeking into the supply room and down the tunnel as she kept watch.

    ¡°Care to fill me in, girls?¡± I asked, exasperated.

    ¡°Pure mana crystals. Unaspected mana in crystalline form,¡± Rieka explained sheepishly, her tail wagging slightly.

    ¡°Well then, that¡¯s gotta be useful. Let¡¯s secure these and keep looking.¡± I began lifting down the jars and worked to secure them in the dimensional pouch that Rieka carried.

    She took a moment to rearrange a blanket as well to pad the jars, just to be on the safe side. The jar with the pure crystals in it, Rieka actually kept out. She hefted it for a moment thoughtfully before glancing at Kassandra, who just smiled and nodded to her friend.

    Before I could ask, Rieka twisted the lid and opened the jar carefully. I felt the mana hit me like a punch in the chest as soon as the jar opened, so I had to guess that it was somehow shielding the contents.

    ¡°Here, Liam. These are yours.¡± Rieka gave me a shy smile as she offered the open jar to me.

    ¡°Wha? Why?¡± I asked intelligently. Rieka rolled her eyes with an amused smile before she elaborated.

    ¡°You said before that your mana is naturally unaspected. It¡¯s only when you filter it through Manipulate Element that it changes to earth mana. That is why you can use the earth crystals to power it. Do you remember what we talked about before with supplements and how summoners normally empower their companions through gifts?¡±

    I nodded slowly as I reached back into my memory for that. I remembered something that Cariad had said about being careful not to sway my natural mana by taking elementally aligned supplements, but time was still feeling weird. I couldn¡¯t remember if it was last week or a month ago that I had the conversation with Cariad.

    ¡°So what should I do with these? It feels like a waste to use them to power Manipulate Elements when you already said I could use the earth ones and those aren¡¯t nearly as rare as these pure ones seem to be.¡± I stared into the open mouth of the jar at the glimmering stones curiously.

    ¡°You eat them, Liam. At least that is what other summoned creatures do,¡± Kassandra interjected. ¡°They consume the crystals, and that is supposed to fuel their natural powers. Don¡¯t know if it works for Travelers the same, but for other summoned creatures, it does.¡±

    Not really knowing what else to do with them, and with the girls staring at me expectantly, I reached into the jar to fish out the shimmering crystals.

    As soon as my hand touched one of them, a golden flash outlined my vision and text the color of a purple neon sign scrolled into my vision.

    The Traveler has encountered a source of pure, unrefined mana.

    This pure mana can either be exchanged directly for SP, or used to boost the mastery of powers that have not reached one-hundred percent mastery.

    Do you wish to absorb this source?

    Yes/No

    ¡°Huh?¡±

 Chapter 66

    It turned out that the girls were right. When I selected ¡®yes¡¯ to absorb the crystals, the System message cleared up and displayed another message directing me to place the crystals in my mouth.

    As soon as the first one touched my tongue it dissolved like cotton candy, but left no flavor behind. There was only a fizzing sensation that quickly faded as another message flared into being.

    Crystals absorbed 1 of 3

    The message continued to hang in my vision, so I shrugged and popped the other two into my mouth like they were M&M¡¯s, which was about perfect for the size that they were. The counter ticked up twice before the message flared brighter and was replaced in my vision.

    Does the Traveler wish to redeem for System points, or allocate power directly to improving Mastery rating?

    SP // Mastery?

    While I knew that SP would be useful in the short term, I knew that Mastery would be harder to gain, especially for my Shape-Shifting as it had been creeping up much slower. So I mentally selected the option for improving my mastery. A faint memory of a discussion with Cerebaton and Cariad about mastery floated up as well while the message faded.

    I swear I remember them telling me the only way to improve my mastery rating was through using the abilities. I guess this must be an exception to the rule? I thought while the flare of light around the edges of my vision shifted to gold.

    Allocating improved mastery, please stand by.

    Mastery allocated between the two powers the Traveler possesses that have not been fully mastered.

    Power Mana Reservoir (Minor) has achieved Mastery 1000/1000.

    New Powers available in the System interface.

    Congratulations, Traveler.

    Smiling happily to myself, I quickly closed my eyes and checked my character sheet. The only skill I had that was dependent on mastery rating now was just Shape-Shifting (Moderate), and it was now at 630/1000. It had been in the low four hundreds when I¡¯d checked it during our break before entering the complex, and I knew from my training that it had added maybe ten points since then, just based on how slowly it was growing now.

    Flipping over to the new powers section, I quickly skimmed to find out what had been unlocked. Surprisingly, there were actually three new entries, one that I was expecting ¡ª the next level of Mana Reservoir ¡ª and two that I had not expected.

    Mana Reservoir (Lesser) - Cost: 2,000 SP - Grants the Traveler a lesser mana reservoir equivalent to 50 mana. This mana will regenerate at a fixed rate, depending on ambient mana of the environment. Spells cast by the Traveler will pull from this reserve first, then any other mana reservoirs in the Traveler¡¯s possession.

    Drain Reservoir - Cost: 1,500 SP - Grants the Traveler the ability to drain physical embodiments of mana into their personal reservoir of power. This allows for quicker casting and a better exchange rate than casting using an external reservoir.

    Empower Reservoir - Cost: 1,500 SP - Grants the Traveler the ability to drain their mana reservoir into an appropriate medium and store mana inside of it for later use. Mana spent in this fashion regenerates slower.

    ¡°Huh. Those will come in handy, but not for the moment,¡± I muttered to myself, checking my remaining SP to see it was still hanging at two-hundred and seventy. I¡¯d have plenty to spend when we finished this mission, so I filed the knowledge away to use when it became pertinent.

    Opening my eyes, I nearly fell backwards in surprise to find Rieka standing only inches from me as she intently peered at me.

    ¡°Did you know that your eyes glowed during that whole event?¡± the wolf-eared woman asked curiously, her head tilting to one side. The motion made her pointed ears flop to one side.

    ¡°Nope. News to me.¡±

    ¡°What happened, Liam?¡± Kassandra urged, the desire for knowledge thick in her voice. I turned towards my serpentine companion to find her alternating between glancing up and down the hall, and into the cupboard where we stood, bouncing slightly on her tail in excitement.

    ¡°It gave me the option to exchange the crystals directly for SP, which is the resource I get for doing missions with you girls. I use it to buy my powers. It also gave me the option to have the energy directly infused into the powers I already have to boost their mastery. That¡¯s what dictates mostly what new powers unlock. It gave my Shape-Shifting a big boost, but also mastered my Mana Reservoir power. This opened up the option to get a larger pool, as well as a few other powers.¡±

    ¡°Like?¡± Rieka had stepped up beside me while she settled the empty jar into her bag, she must have decided that it was worth keeping with her for now.

    ¡°Apparently, I can get the ability to drain mana from physical sources like the coins into my reservoir, and there is another one to then pour my reservoir into ¡®appropriate mediums¡¯ to store it for later use.¡±

    Rieka had been nodding thoughtfully, but when I said the last part, she whipped her head around to stare at me in surprise.

    The platinum-blonde woman¡¯s head moved so fast in the moment that her left ear turned partially inside out, exposing the pink inner-shell of her ear. Kassandra just gaped at me, her cute mouth hanging open while her eyes were wide behind her silver-rimmed spectacles.

    ¡°What?¡± Rieka demanded in a high-pitched voice.

    ¡°If I spend the SP for it, I can get a power that lets me drain mana into my reservoir?¡± I suggested, smirking internally at the cute image that Rieka made with her ear turned inside out. I¡¯d been hoping to see that, and it was definitely adorable beyond belief.

    ¡°Not that! The other one!¡± Rieka demanded. I debated playing with her, but I knew which one she wanted to hear again.

    ¡°If I take the correct power, I can pour my mana reservoir into a container. Which means that I can refill some of your coins for you,¡± I said gently.

    Deciding to take advantage of the moment to help calm Rieka down again, I shifted my right arm back from its fighting configuration into a hand. I then brought that around to dig my fingers into the loose braid my companion kept her hair in, right at the base of her ears. I used the motion to gently flip Rieka¡¯s ear back right-side-out, before beginning to rub the base of her ears.

    Rieka¡¯s intense expression melted into a radiant smile, and she leaned into the hand with a contented groan. Meanwhile, Kassandra continued to gape at me in surprise. It took her a few moments to gather herself enough to respond.

    ¡°Liam, that is huge! There is no known way to speed the regeneration of the mana-infused metals, other than isolating them so they can absorb from the environment without competing with each other,¡± Kassandra squeaked at last.

    ¡°Yeah. But there are some limitations,¡± I said to calm Kassandra down before she got too excited. ¡°The investment isn¡¯t cheap, and I still only have ten mana at the moment. That¡¯s about thirty iron coins worth, if I pour the whole ten into coins. The power states that mana spent this way regenerates slower, but not specifically how much slower. Hell, it might slow to match whatever it is that I¡¯m investing power into.¡±

    Kassandra¡¯s face fell at that thought. It was clear that she had not considered that idea, and she glared down at the ground in irritation while she thought it over.

    ¡°I¡¯m still going to get it, though.¡± My words brought both girls out of their distractions, though Rieka was struggling to focus through the feeling of her head-scratches. ¡°It¡¯s got too much potential not to use. And both my Manipulate Element and Mana Reservoir are ready to upgrade. Mana Reservoir increases my amount on hand to fifty mana as well.¡±

    ¡°That would be equivalent to around one-hundred and fifty iron coins, fifteen copper, or one and a half silver,¡± Kassandra mumbled, her dismay giving way to thoughtfulness.

    ¡°Liam.¡± Rieka still refused to step away from me, but she was doing her best to focus through her favorite kind of affection with hooded eyes. ¡°You don¡¯t need to take these abilities just for us.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not.¡±

    ¡°You aren¡¯t?¡± The girls chorused before smirking at each other.

    ¡°Nope,¡± I agreed with a smile. ¡°Think about it. Mana-infused metals are considered the upper end of your currency and also how you ¡®pay¡¯ for me to come and visit. The power basically allows me to create money for you, and it also means I can use it to defray the cost of you girls summoning me if I get the power. Which I plan to do.¡±

    Both of my girls stared at me in surprise, utterly still as they considered the implications there. I knew that they hadn¡¯t thought about it that far yet. The two of them were both spell casters. So their minds had likely gone to me being able to refill their reserves of spell coins. This would have allowed them to cast more at the cost of my own magic usage, which was minor to begin with.

    I¡¯ll likely keep boosting Mana Reservoir in the future for that exact reason. The Manipulate Element thing is already showing utility at this level, with Shape-Shifting being my primary combat power. I thought with a smile while the girls worked to reboot their brains. Rieka wasn¡¯t helped by the fact I was still rubbing the base of her ears with the fingers gently tangled in her braid. Despite that distraction, it was Rieka who was first to form words.

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°That would be interesting for sure. We¡¯d be able to have you top up our coins for us, rather than having to just spend the expended coins to get them back into circulation to let them renew naturally. How much use it gives would depend entirely on how quickly you regenerate the mana. It was, what, two or so points an hour?¡±

    ¡°About that,¡± I agreed, smiling down at the distracted wolf kin woman. ¡°Though it¡¯s probably double that down here since the ambient mana is so thick.¡±

    ¡°We would need to experiment to see. I think the only thing that would make it next to useless would be if it hamstrings your regeneration to where you cannot recover at a reasonable rate,¡± Kassandra interjected. I turned to look at my redheaded lover to find she was smiling at Rieka and me, specifically at the happily wagging tail of the wolf kin woman. ¡°The summoning costs have been slowly increasing as time went by. You are up to four mana silver to summon and about three mana iron per hour to maintain. I¡¯m not sure what governs the exact amount of the increase, but that¡¯s what it¡¯s costing. If you can meet or beat that rate, then we will actually be able to get mana back in a refund if you spend long enough with us.¡±

    This thought clearly excited the dwarf lamia, as Kassandra was beginning to bounce on her tail in excitement.

    ¡°Provided that him doing that doesn¡¯t negatively affect the local mana levels,¡± Rieka interjected. She had been shifting slowly, but now pressed herself into my side. Rieka settled her head to rest her chin on my shoulder and lean into me while I continued to give her scritches. ¡°We can¡¯t impede the local fields, as that would actually affect the economy. But in remote areas like this?¡± Rieka let the idea trail off and Kassandra grinned wider at that.

    ¡°Or at our estates¡­ there is a lot of potential there!¡±

    ¡°Something to consider for later,¡± I sighed. I finally pulled my hand from Rieka¡¯s hair, getting a soft whine of disappointment from the fourth princess. Rieka remained leaning into me, but her tail began to slow its back and forth. ¡°We can worry about all this when we are done here. We need to finish inspecting these ruins. Once that is done, I can consider buying some of the powers. No reason to get excited about it right now, as it¡¯s not something I can use.¡±

    ¡°Fair point,¡± Kassandra grumbled before glancing back down the hall. ¡°Come on, then. Let¡¯s check these rooms out. I never thought I¡¯d be one to hope for fewer secrets to discover, but I could use a break.¡±

    ¡°If this takes much longer to finish searching, then we can head back to the safe room we established by the station platform and rest.¡± Rieka stepped away from me and took a moment to adjust her hair. I¡¯d been careful not to make a mess of her braid while I was ¡®helping¡¯ her out with her ears so it only took her a moment. A faint blush graced her pale cheeks, but she was smiling softly and stealing the occasional glance at me, so I was pretty sure she was happy.

    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s take a look at these other rooms, then. We can worry about my ability to potentially crash economies later,¡± I teased. Rieka rolled her eyes and Kassandra giggled mischievously before we headed back into the hallway.

    <><><>

    The other seven rooms off the left-hand side of the hall were nearly identical. Their doors were large iron affairs that were barred from the outside. The iron bar for the door was usually sitting in a cradle next to the door, where it could be lifted into place without too much effort. Several of these cradles had been torn off the wall and the bars were missing, but the holes in the wall for the racks remained to show that each door should have had one.

    None of the other seven doors were obviously damaged, beyond some superficial scarring. So, after checking the first one to ensure it wasn¡¯t locked, I opened it up to look inside.

    The room itself was about twenty feet square, with the glowing light panels set into the walls and ceiling at regular intervals to ensure the room was well lit. Unlike the hallways and the other rooms, it was not tiled at all. The walls and floor were instead a single plane of smooth stone. They were covered in elaborate sigils and symbols drawn in the blue chalk that we had seen in the storeroom.

    Kassandra excitedly set about studying the runic circle and drafting it into her notebook. Meanwhile, Rieka and I stood guard over her. There was nowhere to hide in the room and the lights ensured there were no shadows to conceal a threat. So, after a minute or two, I told Rieka to go study it as well, since I could tell she was curious from the glances she kept stealing at Kassandra while she worked.

    I stood by the door to ensure we weren¡¯t locked inside the room while the girls scampered back and forth. Whatever binders that had been in the chalk to begin with, they had long dissolved and it was only the stillness of the air and whatever odd magic preserved the place that kept the pigments where they were. Rieka discovered this when she accidentally scuffed one line with her boot and was scolded by Kassandra.

    The two girls worked quickly to document the elaborate circle in Kassandra¡¯s notebook. Only when they were satisfied did we move on to the next room in the row. This one was much like the first, but with a few key differences that had Kassandra bouncing excitedly on her tail. When I asked about it, she urged me to wait until she confirmed her theory so we didn¡¯t waste time.

    We¡¯d made it to the fifth room before Kassandra¡¯s smile dropped away and she was staring at the circle in confusion.

    ¡°What¡¯s up, nugget?¡±

    ¡°This one doesn¡¯t fit the pattern¡­ it¡¯s thrown my theory off.¡±

    ¡°Tell me the theory, then? Maybe we can figure it out if we talk through it.¡± I didn¡¯t know enough about magic to really have a guess, but I¡¯d known a guy in high school who would use me to ¡®rubber duck¡¯ his computer programming problems. Apparently, that was where you explain your work in excruciating detail to someone who doesn¡¯t understand the mechanics so that you go over every bit of it, and that usually helped a programmer spot errors in their work. I was hoping something similar might work here, since he¡¯d usually figured his problem out before he even finished explaining it to me.

    ¡°These are all a type of summoning circle,¡± Kassandra began after a moment of thought. She slithered over to show me the diagram she¡¯d copied onto the page of her notebook. ¡°You can tell the circle¡¯s purpose from a handful of key points. The shielded section for the summoner to stand that would protect them from the creature that they summon is here.¡± She pointed to a curved section towards the bottom of the diagram. ¡°Right before it is the offering space, that is where you would place the crystals or coins to power the ritual, and any items you wish to use to bribe a specific spirit to appear. Like fruits to summon an avian form creature. This is the targeting matrix, where you would enter information on what you are trying to summon.¡± She pointed to another section to the right of the main circle. ¡°The binding circle is here in the center and links to the specific protections to help contain the summoned creature.¡± Kassandra drew a line to the left where familiar looking symbols were drawn.

    I recognized that part of the circle from my initial summoning, the one that had ripped me off the side of the highway up in the mountains and brought me here to meet the girls initially. A portion of that section of the circle had been damaged and it hadn¡¯t been functioning properly. This had allowed me to wander out of the center ring of the summon, and apparently scared the sense out of most of their housemates.

    ¡°Okay, following that part so far,¡± I said to her after a moment. ¡°Are all the circles the same?¡±

    ¡°Yes! All five we¡¯ve looked at have all been laid out the same, except for the targeting matrix and protection list. The first circle we found had these,¡± Kassandra pointed to the opposite page to a block of symbols at the top that included a rune cluster that my Traveler power told me meant ¡®fire.¡¯ ¡°These were meant specifically to target and summon creatures of a fiery nature. The protections list was extensive and didn¡¯t have any smearing around it, but the targeting information was altered in small ways and showed some ancient smearing from corrections being made. It was like they were dialing in how to summon a specific entity or type of elemental entity.¡±

    ¡°That makes sense,¡± I muttered and glanced over the next three entries. Each of them were similar, but had the other three major elements listed instead: water, air, and earth.

    ¡°What I don¡¯t get is this one, though,¡± Kassandra grumbled and pointed at the fifth entry. ¡°I don¡¯t recognize these runes. I had figured they would have gone into more specific or expanded elemental types, like lightning or ice, as we have.¡± Kassandra indicated Rieka and herself. ¡°But this one is strange and I don¡¯t know what the heck it is.¡±

    I stared at the entry for a moment, and the translation power continued to boil in my mind before it presented an answer for the symbols that actually translated directly into a concept. When it finally settled on an answer, I blinked in surprise.

    ¡°That one means light¡­¡± I murmured, tapping the rune set that would have designated the ¡®elemental¡¯ portion of it. The other runes around it were not as well written as the first four, and I couldn¡¯t help but wonder if they had been refining this circle at the time that whatever disaster occurred.

    Kassandra stared down at the glyph thoughtfully before snapping her fingers. The sharp sound made Rieka and me jump, and we both turned to stare at her.

    ¡°That¡¯s it! Primal elements, rather than advanced forms! I¡¯m not as familiar with them, so I hadn¡¯t recognized the rune set,¡± Kassandra crowed and turned to hurry towards the door. ¡°That translation power of yours is impressive, Liam. Come on! We can confirm this theory with the next room, if you can decode it.¡±

    I shared a glance with Rieka and the wolf-eared woman shrugged, so we followed our serpentine companion. The hallway was still as dead silent and empty as it had been before, so we proceeded down to the next door. There was only one more after this before we reached the end of the hallway and the damaged double doors, so I kept a wary eye in that direction while opening the door to the next ritual room.

    This was the first room where things had deviated from the norm. While the previous five rooms had been brightly lit by the glowing panels, this one was dim and dark, with barely a fourth as many lights to illuminate it. We were quick to produce our light stones to ensure nothing was lurking in dark corners, but the room was empty save for the broad chalk circle on the smooth floor.

    ¡°Liam, come look here,¡± Kassandra called, urging me to follow her to the right side where the targeting matrix was. She scanned over it quickly before pointing to one cluster. ¡°There! What does that say? I¡¯m positive I know, and given the light levels in the room it should be obvious. Double check it for me?¡±

    Studying the angular glyphs drawn on the floor, I waited for the translation to pop into my head. It did a moment later, and I turned to smile down at the excited dwarf lamia.

    ¡°I think that just confirmed your theory. It¡¯s ¡®darkness¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Kassandra cheered. She quickly began scribbling down the runes before winding around the room to document the binding symbols.

    ¡°Wonder what all this means,¡± Rieka muttered from her place beside me. She was studying the circle again, but seemed content to let Kassandra document it herself, now that we¡¯d seen so many of the same circles with only minor changes.

    ¡°They were clearly researching summoning, or using summoning to try to contact specific creatures for their research. The dissection room and the cages lead me to believe that they weren¡¯t too picky about if the creatures they summoned were not compliant,¡± I replied. The idea made my stomach roll, but I had to say something.

    ¡°That or whatever they were summoning provided the captives. There are dark things amongst even the best of species,¡± Rieka said gently, stroking my left arm lightly with one hand.

    I¡¯d shifted my right back to my current combat form of the scorpion tail, but my left arm was still my original and the sensation of her fingers on my skin sent a shiver down my spine.

    I was about to speak when Kassandra returned and urged us to move to the next room, as it would firmly lock in her theory. While we walked down the hall, the dwarf lamia rambled on about how the primal elements were only barely known, with only light and dark being confirmed as part of their makeup. There were many theories as to what the other two points on the compass were. Since the regular elements numbered four, it was believed that the primal elements numbered four as well.

    We reached the last door and Kassandra hesitated before opening it, still bouncing slightly in place in excitement. She shot me a quick grin before yanking the door open to peer inside. She¡¯d made it about five feet into the room before Kassandra let out a yelp of surprise and abruptly reversed direction.

    Her noise of surprise was such that I acted immediately. As soon as her torso reached me, I looped my left arm around her waist and dragged her back down the hall away from the door, letting it swing shut. Rieka was right beside me, her spell-rod trained on the doorway and ready for any threat that would emerge.

    ¡°No, no. Wait!¡± Kassandra protested as I pulled her back bodily. Since most of her weight was in her tail, it wasn¡¯t as hard as it might have been to just lift her up and run.

    ¡°What?¡± demanded Rieka as Kassandra started trying to wriggle free of us.

    ¡°I was just taken by surprise, is all. That room has been trashed. Something fought and died in there, but there¡¯s no body.¡± Kassandra was babbling, trying to reassure the two of us. It took a moment before I relaxed enough to set her down and we could return to the room.

    This time, I led the way. The door had a bit more damage to it than the others had in the form of several deeper gashes. The door¡¯s bar was bent at a thirty-degree angle and lying on the chipped tiles of the hall. But the door itself wasn¡¯t dented at least. Pulling the door open revealed what Kassandra was saying.

    While the other six rooms had been clean, orderly, and untouched, this room looked like it had been the site of a battle.

    The chalk lines were smeared and washed out; large, dark stains covered much of the floor and speckled the walls with drops and streaks. There were dents, scratches, and chunks clawed out of the walls as well and broken rubble all over the place. The room looked like the site of a battle, but without the physical remnants of a fight in the form of the dead. Which was good, as I didn¡¯t want to run into whatever could dig those kinds of pits in the granite walls.

    Kassandra cautiously slithered over to inspect the targeting matrix, but it was one large smear of ancient blue pigment, the rusty color of old blood, and an odd black/brown color that reminded me of the oil stains in a parking lot. The section with the protections had actually been dug out of the ground, leaving chunks of broken stone lying nearby from some blow or explosion.

    ¡°Well damn! That ruins the chance to confirm that theory,¡± Rieka sighed from her spot by the door, keeping watch on the hallway.

    ¡°Not entirely,¡± Kassandra said, her voice subdued but clearly trying to maintain her previous energy. ¡°There¡¯s still that room at the end of the hallway. It might have a clue we can use.¡±

    The three of us shared a look and trooped back into the main hallway. The reminder that we were exploring an ancient tomb had marred the sense of adventure and discovery. We were in the ruins of something that was once great, but now was full of only the ghosts of the dead and dangerous threats.

    Standing out in the hallway, with Kassandra on my right and Rieka on my left, all three of us stared down the roughly fifty feet of the hall at the double iron doors that guarded that end. Iron doors that were obviously distorted from a massive impact on their far side, an impact heavy enough that it belled the doors outwards into a dent almost as wide as the doors themselves.

 Chapter 67

    The door let out a loud squeal when I tugged on one. Because of the deformation from the dent, the door no longer swung cleanly in the jamb. It only made it about six inches before sticking with a thunk.

    Glancing over my shoulder to check on the girls, I caught Rieka¡¯s nod of encouragement while Kassandra gave me a thumbs up. Both girls had their spell rods drawn and held at the ready to cover me.

    Nodding to them, I turned back to the door. First, I shifted my grip. Then, I shifted my body.

    Shape-Shifting had given me a lot of utility so far, between adding natural weapons to my body or allowing me to meddle with my senses. This time, though, I just needed more power.

    My arms bulged as I divided the roughly one hundred pounds of shifted mass I could access between both arms and to strengthen my back. I felt my torso swell against my leather armor and grunted at the pressure, but I only needed the extra mass for a moment. I gripped firmly and wrenched at the solid iron doors.

    Screaming in protest, the two doors grated against the stone of the jamb before slamming open with an echoing bang. As soon as the doors moved, I let the shift fall away and shrank back to my normal size.

    I hadn¡¯t heard the seams in my shirt tearing during the whole motion. But, as I shrank, I could feel the ragged edges of my sleeves tickling my arms inside the armor.

    Pushing that thought away, I slid to one side to give the girls a clear line of fire if anything came out of the darkness ahead of us. The lights that had lit the hallway and the other rooms did not continue into this larger space.

    ¡°I¡¯m not seeing anything. Rieka?¡± Kassandra was the first to speak, and I heard the quiet rasp of her scales against stone.

    ¡°Nothing I can hear either,¡± the wolf-eared princess responded.

    I glanced back to see my girls edging forward, still at the ready and wary. I held up a hand to slow them before turning my attention back to the dark room, trusting they would wait and give me the moment I needed.

    Using that moment to focus, my eyes changed. I reminded myself before starting it to not consciously think about what was changing inside my skull, and just trust the power to not fuck up. Within seconds, my eyes enlarged and I took on the night sight of an owl. I trusted Rieka¡¯s hearing on this, so rather than doing that as well, I focused on a different sense.

    My face began to elongate as a muzzle emerged and I sniffed deeply at the air. I briefly wished that I¡¯d taken enough time to research snakes before this trip, as the heat sense of a viper would have been handy, and I also remembered snakes supposedly having a very strong sense of smell. Sadly, I didn¡¯t understand them enough to want to risk the change, yet.

    The first scent I picked up was that of ancient dust and the faintest hint of long-past blood. The scent of my girls mostly masked those smells. Theirs was the scent of sweat and their soaps, as well as the faint odor that was unique to each girl. Kassandra had the scent of cinnamon and musk about her, while Rieka had an even stronger scent of herbs underlaid with the sharp scent of ozone that I was never sure if it clung to her skin, or her spell rod.

    There was something else, though. Something that I couldn¡¯t exactly name. It felt both familiar, and not. I couldn¡¯t quite put my finger on what it was. I could smell it, but only in comparison to the other scents in the room. As if my brain just did not have a source to reference it to.

    Filing the odd scent away, I leaned forward and peered into the room.

    The light shed by the enchanted stones in the girl¡¯s off-hands was enough to illuminate part of the room, and it was a large one. The other summoning rooms had been around twenty-feet square, and this was easily four or five times that in size. Above, the ceiling loomed up and away, giving a good forty or fifty feet of space before the curved stone met in the center of the ceiling.

    The floor was the same as the summoning rooms, the tiles of the hall ending abruptly at smooth stone. The smooth section did not go very deeply into the room, as the floor was littered with deep gouges and craters, as well as piled stone that had either fallen from above, or been gouged out of the walls during whatever ancient battle had taken place. The same hanging lamps that had been in most of the previous sections of the ruins had either been smashed or knocked free to land and shatter on the expanse of the damaged floor, joining the broken stone in cluttering it..

    All except for the large summoning ring that sat at the center of the room.

    Drawn on the floor in what appeared to be the same kind of ancient chalk as the others, this circle was drawn on the pale stone in a bright silver that shimmered in the reflected light of the girl¡¯s glowing stones. Not a single bit of damage marked the ground where the circle was inscribed and if any rubble had landed in it, that rubble had been cleared away now. But a large portion of the diagram had been smeared and was illegible. This was obvious because of the large swaths of shimmering silver on one side of the meticulously inscribed ring. While everywhere else, it was still in neat and orderly shapes.

    ¡°Summoning circle, big one too,¡± I murmured to the girls, leaning forward further to scout the room before we left the hallway.

    The piles of rubble made it hard to see clearly in the room, but I wanted to make sure nothing was hiding out of sight. The oppressive stillness of the ruins had built to where I felt like there were a dozen invisible creatures in the room that were staring directly at me, and it was making the hairs on my neck stand up and line dance.

    ¡°Be careful, Liam,¡± Rieka hissed, and I turned back to nod to her in agreement.

    It was when I turned back to the room that I came eye to dome with a nightmare, and that bizarre scent I could not name filled my lungs.

    I had barely half of a second to take in what I was looking at before it attacked.

    The initial impression that I got was of a curved carapace, like the shadow-monsters had before. But, unlike them, it didn¡¯t shine. Instead, it seemed to consume light that struck it and left behind only the impression of a rounded, almost bulbous head. That was all I could take in before the creature grabbed me and heaved me further into the room.

    The screams of the girls echoed in my ears as I sailed a good twenty feet while turning in midair. This gave me the opportunity to take in the sight of the creature where it clung to the wall just above the door we were set to enter by. The one direction I hadn¡¯t had the chance to check yet was, of course, up.

    It was bunched up, with limbs sticking out at odd angles, and what felt like a dozen knobbly joints pointing in all directions that reminded me of a spider crouched on its web. The ¡®head¡¯ I had seen was perched on a long neck that protruded from an emaciated torso tucked amongst those bent limbs. Four long arms emerged, two to a side, from the torso. Those long arms ended in three-fingered hands that were tipped with wickedly long claws the creature used to cling to the stone. Its entire body was covered in that same light-drinking black skin that made it feel like a dark stain on reality.

    ¡°Liam!¡± I couldn¡¯t tell which of my girls it was that was screaming my name, because that was the point I landed on the rubble-strewn ground. Hard.

    I at least had the wherewithal to tuck and roll so I didn¡¯t smack my head against a bit of rubble. The leather of my armor protected me from anything more than a bruise, but the impact still drove the air from my lungs.

    The rattling hiss of anger that came from the monster made the air vibrate around me like a struck drum. I fought to right myself and go to the girls¡¯ aid. A glance told me that the creature was reaching back into the tunnel with one long arm and my anger surged in my chest. As I scrambled to my feet, I felt my skin boil and both my right arm begin to shift and elongate.

    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°Hey, shitstain!¡± I screamed as loud as I could, the sound echoing in the large room oddly.

    The bulbous head turned towards me, the faint pits that might have been its eyes turning away from the girls who were staring in shock at the beast as it loomed into the doorway. ¡°Yeah, I was talking to you! Get away from them!¡± I lunged forward even as I grabbed at the terrain under the creature and yanked hard with all ten mana that I could summon up at once.

    It occurred to me then, in one of those odd moments of passing clarity that you get as your adrenaline surges, that I could have used Manipulate Elements to open the door silently, rather than just brute force. Then the moment passed, and the four-foot-wide pillar of earth I¡¯d just yanked out of the wall slammed the creature in its ass, and sent it tumbling into the room towards me in a flailing mass of bone-thin limbs.

    I met it partway, having taken four long steps over the uneven ground before spinning into a turn that would slam my right fist into its body. The creatures¡¯ flailing limbs came together to try to block the punch, but the blow was far more than just a regular punch.

    The chitinous mass of the eighty-pound crab claw that I had shifted my forearm into slammed into the creature¡¯s side with all the momentum and force I could put into it with my weight. I tried to get hold of the creature with the pincher, but the flailing limbs slipped away as the creature went tumbling into the center of the room in a sprawl of limbs. My heart was pounding in my ears and I could feel a faint, searing pain from my right arm. Glancing down at the red chitin of the claw, I saw several deep scores in the thick material. Even in midair, and without having the ability to properly brace, the creature had clawed the hell out of my arm.

    Need to be faster if I¡¯m going to get hold of it, I thought and quickly began pushing through different ideas in my head as the creature scrambled to its feet with a wordless hiss of fury that made the air tremble. I saw movement in the corner of my eye and turned to see the girls beginning to emerge from the tunnel.

    ¡°No! Stay back in cover, you two. The tunnel is easier to defend than open ground. Just fire from there!¡± I shouted to them and got a nod from Rieka, who was pale as a sheet but with her face set in a stern expression.

    ¡°Kass, throw the spare light stones into the room so we can see better, then start chipping away at it. Don¡¯t ice the floor, Liam might slip.¡±

    ¡°Got it. You better stay safe, Liam!¡± My redheaded lover was scowling furiously, but I could tell she was even paler than normal in worry. A moment later, my serpentine lover tossed several of the glowing stones into the room to illuminate it, and I took the opportunity to shift my eyes and nose back to normal.

    The monster had managed to right itself now, and it stood to its full height. The creature had to be at least ten feet tall, but it didn¡¯t look like it weighed much more than I did, just based on how skinny it was. It had five legs radiating from a central joint that sat where the waist of its torso would be, and the legs had a good four or so joints to them, as if someone had built a gross approximation of a spider using the bodies of starvation victims. The torso was just as thin as the legs, with that light-drinking black skin clinging tight to its bones, though far longer than mine. The monster¡¯s bulbous head pulsed as it thrashed back and forth on the neck, but the hissing noise came from down low on its body while its four arms spread wide.

    With a smooth motion, the creature ducked low and scooped up a fist sized bit of broken stone and threw it at me with all the force of a major league pitcher. I had just enough time to push Shape-Shifting to reinforce my right arm while I moved the enormous claw into place like a shield. The stone impacted the heavy plate of chitin with a solid thunk and bounced off, but left behind an ache that I knew would translate into a bruise given time.

    Peeking over the edge of my crab-claw, I saw the creature rear up and lash the air with its front two feet. I finally spotted where the hissing noise was coming from.

    A salivating mouth, shaped like a lamprey¡¯s nightmarish, puckered maw, was set in the middle of the creature¡¯s legs. The mouth was lined with teeth that glimmered like black glass, the only part of its body that reflected the light, and they flexed outwards when it hissed. Spittle dribbled from underneath the creature¡¯s body to land on the ground and begin to eat away at the stone silently.

    ¡°Bolt Chain!¡±

    ¡°Ice Lance!¡±

    My girls had not been idle in the time between throwing the light stones out and now. The two spells slammed into the creature¡¯s body with fervor, and the monster screamed in surprise.

    The ice tore off one of its four arms at the spindly shoulder joint, sending a spray of black ichor into the air that began to eat away at the stone when it contacted the ground. Rieka¡¯s lightning bolt caught it above the joint of one leg and the limb began to flail and spasm furiously, but the other four limbs worked together to help it scramble away from the glittering chain of lightning.

    Taking my opportunity, I charged forward. A thought struck me as I lunged between the stones and I seized on it without hesitation. It was keeping away from me, trying to circle around to reach the girls, so I had to be quicker than it. The creature was fast, shuffling sideways and actually breaking the lightning chain by grounding it out on the side of the doorway that the girls sheltered behind. As soon as it did, the beast lunged at me with its three remaining arms slashing.

    I had to abort my charge and duck to one side in a roll to avoid its counterattack. But a moment later, another spear of ice lashed past me. The shadow beast dodged that, aborting its own attack to avoid the spear of magical ice that would have caught it in the chest.

    ¡°Spark Net!¡± I stayed on the ground as the shimmering sphere of lightning flashed past me. As soon as it was gone, I jumped to my feet and implemented my plan. If Rieka¡¯s spell could slow it down, my idea might work to counter this devilish speed.

    The sphere of lightning popped almost a foot away from the monster, just as it was getting ready to dodge. The crackling corona of lightning lashed out, and the beast squealed in surprise as the electricity disrupted its motor control for just a second.

    Both my arms flowed and changed. My elbow reversed as my arms folded in half and I raised my arms up like a boxer in a ready stance, but rather than holding out my fists, my elbows were what was aimed at it instead as my hands flowed and changed shape.

    Before I could reach it, the creature had shaken off the lightning and scampered away again. This time it circled deeper into the room to put the summoning circle between it and me.

    I pursued it relentlessly as the girls continued to pepper it with spells. The creature kept ahead of me, throwing rocks every so often or dodging with a disjointed rush when it needed to, but the girls were wearing it down. Kassandra would corral it into a spot with her spell, and Rieka would slam it with a bolt of lightning a moment later, then they would switch.

    Screaming in pain, the creature finally had enough and charged forward, its two remaining arms ¡ª Rieka had claimed one as well with a lucky spell to an already damaged joint ¡ª windmilled in front of it as it sought to plow over top of me to reach the girls. But I was ready this time.

    Rather than dodge, I met the charge as it finally chose to close with me. It juked to one side to avoid me, but not fast enough. The knob of chitin that had replaced my hand snapped forward in the blink of an eye and shattered the closest knee joint with a sharp crunch of impact. Before the creature could react, I fired off with my left arm as the right retracted. The left club slammed into another knee in the forward leg and the monster began to crumple towards me, arms flailing.

    Another blow, as fast as a gunshot, smashed one of its clawed hands as they came for my face, before the left snapped into its emaciated chest and caved in a softball-sized lump of its midnight hide.

    The girls hadn¡¯t been content to wait. Kassandra had taken advantage of the creature¡¯s stumble to slam another spear of magical ice into the base of one of the legs, ripping it off in another spray of blood. A questing chain of lightning wrapped around the creature¡¯s bulbous head where it bobbed above me. The creature screamed in pain while electricity poured through its body.

    Tucking both my clubs back in order to wind up for my next series of blows, I couldn¡¯t help but thank the pluckiest, and likely most dangerous, shrimp of them all for the inspiration for this shift. I fired off both of the dactyl clubs, which was what my arms had shifted into, directly into the already damaged chest of the monster like a mantis shrimp in search of its dinner. Which felt appropriate, since it was that feisty little crustacean that I had taken the idea of my new arms from.

    The one-two blow completed what my previous left-hand shot had started. Its rib cage crunched and collapsed entirely, bones the same shimmering obsidian color as the teeth punched out of the frail skin like a fast-growing forest. The creature collapsed with a wheeze and a whimper, but the girls did not let up.

    Rieka continued to pump electricity into its head, focusing it through her Bolt Chain spell, while Kassandra continued to drive spears of ice into the corpse until it stopped moving.

    ¡°Rieka, you can stop!¡± I called after the creature stopped twitching.

    I wasn¡¯t sure if my wolf-eared princess was going to listen, but a second or two after I spoke, she completed the circuit and flicked the other end of the chain into the corpse with a pop. It didn¡¯t even twitch now, though the stone was melting under the body as the blood flowed across the ground and the body began to collapse inwards.

    There was something eerily familiar about how the body was dissolving the stone. It didn¡¯t boil like acid would, it just slowly began to dissolve the floor.

    I kept watch on the body while slowly backing towards the girls, but I only made it three steps before a flying, platinum-blonde projectile struck me from behind.

 Chapter 68

    ¡°Liam! Are you okay?¡± Rieka¡¯s voice was filled with worry and fear as she wrapped her arms around me before she immediately began inspecting my body for injuries. Despite hitting me at speed from an unexpected angle, the slight woman didn¡¯t really have the mass to knock me over. Thankfully, I recognized my ¡®assailant¡¯ before I reacted instinctively to defend myself.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, Rieka. Are you two okay?¡± I responded while shaking my shifted limbs to remove as much of the blood from them as possible before shifting them back to normal.

    The change from the hardened clubs into flesh felt good, and all my finger joints popped as a result. That was the only pleasant moment of the motion though, as my hands began to itch and burn a second later.

    ¡°We are fine, Liam. The creature never got close to us.¡± Rieka hadn¡¯t unwrapped her arms from around my middle yet while she spoke directly into my ear. Kassandra slithered up next to us with an intense look on her face, like she was about to chastise me. That intense look changed to fear as she looked me over.

    ¡°Liam! Your hands, oh by the gods! Hold your hands out, quickly!¡±

    I reacted on autopilot to the tone of voice Kassandra was using and held both my hands out towards her. A moment later, she dumped her water skin over them. The cool feeling of the water soothed the burning sensation that had been slowly growing stronger. As the water washed away, I was slightly horrified to see that my skin had begun to dissolve in spots, leaving exposed muscle behind.

    Rieka saw it too and yelped in surprise, releasing me finally to fumble for her own water skin to repeat the process of rinsing my hands off. While she did this, Kassandra quickly chanted a healing spell.

    The burning in my hands returned, but it was weaker now. The spell from Kassandra completed, and a chill from the icy spell raced up my arms. My exposed muscles and tendons began to knit, and fresh skin rushed to cover the injuries as Rieka continued to rinse my hands.

    ¡°What the hell was that?¡± Rieka demanded after her water skin was empty and Kassandra¡¯s spells had finished mending my skin. My hands still felt tender and a bit stiff, but the pain was only a memory now.

    ¡°No idea. I just happened to glance down at his hands and saw some of his skin crumble off where the blood was smeared,¡± Kassandra responded, finally lowering her spell rod and lifting her eyes from my hands.

    I could see a tumble of emotions in her slitted, brown eyes. There was worry, concern, love, and pride all fighting for dominance. I made it easier for her by squatting down and opening my arms to her.

    Kassandra hit my chest like a cannon shot and nearly knocked me over. Despite barely coming up to my ribcage normally, her additional mass from her serpentine tail made my redheaded lover quite a bit heavier.

    ¡°Oof!¡± I grunted in surprise. I lurched, but was able to catch and cradle Kassandra¡¯s soft form to my chest as she clung to me. Rieka stood at my back, one hand resting on my shoulder and her legs pressing into my spine while she also sought comfort, but clearly didn¡¯t want to interrupt Kassandra¡¯s moment.

    Kassandra didn¡¯t speak, she just clung to me silently for nearly a minute. I could feel her shoulder shaking every so often, and the coils of her tail shifted back and forth anxiously. So I just held her close and stroked her hair gently.

    Finally, Kassandra pushed gently against my chest until we were separated. Her silver-rimmed spectacles were a bit crooked on her face, and she swiped at her runny nose before smacking me on the shoulder with one hand while she fixed her glasses with the other.

    ¡°Ow! What was that for?¡± I played up the injury and got a weak smile from Kassandra.

    ¡°Worrying me. I can¡¯t tell which scared me more: When you dove at that creature, or when I saw your hands literally dissolving in front of me. I¡¯m just glad that we could wash that stuff off and I could heal them.¡± Rieka made a cute grunt noise of agreement with Kassandra¡¯s statement from behind me. The mention of the creature drew my eyes towards it.

    The body had continued to dissolve as the blood ate away at it. All that was left was the glittering bones and teeth at this point, and they were sitting in a low cradle of hollowed stone while the blood continued to eat away at the ground. It looked like the blood was slowly being consumed as it dissolved the stone, thankfully. But there was something familiar about how the stone was just melting away. It was as if it was being erased by some cosmic-level artist with an oversized eraser, leaving behind a faint smoke that also vanished a moment later.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know about you two,¡± Rieka said, heaving a long sigh before she continued. ¡°But I want out of here. We¡¯ve found more than enough to make this mission valuable, and I need real rest.¡±

    Kassandra didn¡¯t protest as she glanced around the savaged room. Her eyes landed on the glittering sigils of the partially preserved summoning circle and she sighed, her shoulders slumping slightly.

    ¡°I agree, but we should at least copy down this circle before we leave.¡±

    ¡°Just don¡¯t get close to the body. I don¡¯t want you to end up like Liam did, with the blood melting your body with a touch.¡± Rieka¡¯s flat statement sent my mind spinning back down the paths of my memory before coming to a screeching halt on a conversation I¡¯d had weeks before.

    ¡°A stranger who could melt me with a touch of her hand, no less. That I have no real way to defend myself against, after all.¡± I replied, attempting to sound flippant, though I wasn¡¯t sure how successful I was.

    ¡°Oh, I wouldn¡¯t do that. I¡¯m your case-worker, assigned to help resolve this whole situation for you. Also, I couldn¡¯t melt you with just a touch. I¡¯d have to spend a great deal more time poking away at you, given your size,¡± Cariad joked without looking up.

    The only creature that I knew of who was capable of the level of destruction that I was seeing from the blood of that creature was Cariad, and to a similar extent her boss, Cerebaton. Daemons, creatures that existed inside of the volatile membrane that separated different realities by being antithetical to the existence of native matter. The similarities were there, and I was reminded of that smell. The nameless scent that was more of an absence of smell than anything. My mind jumped next to training with Cerebaton. That was where I¡¯d smelled it before.

    I don¡¯t know if this thing was one of the daemons once, or just something from their home space. Either way, I need to let Cariad know, I thought while the girls talked.

    We were all keyed up from the fight still, so we watched each other¡¯s backs as Kassandra got her notebook out and began recording what she could of the circle. She also scraped up a sample of the silver material used to draw it from the smeared section.

    While Rieka stood guard, I closed my eyes to send a message to my caseworker about my suspicions.

    Liam

    Hey Cariad, got a bit of an issue here for you. Was on a mission with the girls and we stumbled across an underground research facility that was being used by some of the ancient people from this world. Everything went well until we got to what the girls are convinced is a summoning research area. We ran into some kind of twisted monster whose blood is dissolving everything it touches, including its flesh. This is going to sound weird, but the creature kind of smells like Cerebaton does when we are sparring? And the way it¡¯s dissolving stuff reminds me of how my cups never survive a visit from you two.

    With the message sent, I opened my eyes to check on the girls once more while I waited. Cariad was usually quick to respond, so it gave me a moment to survey my surroundings.

    The shallow pit where the dead creature¡¯s blood had pooled was now half a foot deep, but only the skeleton and scattered teeth remained. From how they were arrayed, I had the sickening feeling that the creature would have simply enveloped someone with that mouth, like you would stuff a ham into a grocery bag. It took an effort of will to not think about the fate of a person swallowed like that. Instead, I focused on the bones. I was not surprised to see them continuing to sink, admittedly slower than the blood, into the stone.

    ¡°Okay, that¡¯s enough of that. I just need Liam to come and translate this. The elemental targeting rune cluster is here, but I don¡¯t have a clue what it means.¡± Kassandra¡¯s tired sigh and words drew my attention back to her. She had moved about ten feet past the smeared section and Rieka stood between her and me, her spell rod held at the ready.

    Ambling over, I studied the cluster of runes inside the elaborately drawn circle while I waited for my translation power to kick in. It took a moment, just like the rune clusters for darkness and light. But after a bit of time, the meaning became clear to me and I stiffened.

    Entropy. That set of runes means entropy, the end of all things, I thought. I was about to answer Kassandra when the edges of my vision flashed to indicate a return message from Cariad.

    Cariad

    It did what now? That is bizarre to run into. Any other information you can give me to help figure out what it might have been? While it¡¯s not common, caustic lifeforms do exist. Was anyone hurt?

    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    I considered her question for a moment before responding while Kassandra waited patiently for my answer.

    Liam

    Yes, to both. Since its blood was caustic, my hands were hurt during the fight. Thankfully, the girls noticed quickly and got the blood rinsed off before it did too much damage and Kass got me mended up. As to clues? There is a summoning circle in the room we fought with it. It¡¯s damaged, but Kassandra was able to locate the array that she says is the ¡®elemental targeting matrix¡¯. The runes in that state the targeted element were ¡®entropy.¡¯

    Cariad¡¯s response was nearly immediate.

    Cariad

    WHAT?! Liam, you need to get away from that area. Right now. Do not touch the body, do not touch anything else. I¡¯m explaining this to Mr. Cerebaton as I write this, and he looks furious. Give me about a minute, then I need you and your girls out of there. Mr. Cerebaton is sending in a research team right now. The only thing that would have that elemental designation in a summoning would be creatures that exist within the barrier between realities, like us daemons do. Creatures that are antithetical to your reality. If there are any more of that creature, we will deal with them. This is an official DSR issue.

    Liam

    Understood. The girls and I were going to retreat to the entrance of the complex to rest. But if you insist, then I will have us vacate the complex entirely.

    Cariad

    Do that. Be safe, Liam. Make sure you seal any gates you go through and watch your backs. The fact you brought down something that sounds like it was from within the barrier between worlds is astonishing. I¡¯m sure Mr. Cerebaton will want to talk to you about it later. Get moving. Mr. Cerebaton has a fix on your location and we can send operatives there shortly. Per DSR protocol, they cannot step through until the local witnesses have vacated the area.

    Liam

    Got it. We are moving out now.

    I opened my eyes to meet Kassandra¡¯s concerned gaze and grimaced.

    ¡°We need to leave. My contact with the System is sending people in to check this over. She was horrified to hear a creature like that,¡± I hooked a thumb over my shoulder at the still sinking bones, ¡°is here. We need to scoot to give them space.¡±

    ¡°Does that mean going back to the surface?¡± Rieka¡¯s voice was filled with exhausted resignation, so I just nodded to her. ¡°Fine¡­ let''s get moving. I want to wash and I don¡¯t care if it¡¯s in the lake. The sooner we get moving, the sooner I can breathe fresh air.¡±

    ¡°Lead the way, Liam.¡± Kassandra gave me a look as she spoke that told me she expected a fuller explanation shortly, including a meaningful glance at the rune cluster that I had had not answered her question on.

    We wound our way back through the ruins, this time exiting the damaged set of doors. There were only the two exits from the larger summoning room, the main one and the doors that led to the cage room. That meant that we had already explored all that we could, at least without trying to dig out the collapsed mezzanine from the entryway.

    The oppressive weight still hung over the ruins, though the sensation of being watched had dropped away after the fight and continued to fade the further we got from the summoning rooms.

    Kassandra had us stop in the main foyer and she collected a chunk of stone that had been part of one of the war-golems initially. When Rieka asked what she wanted it for, Kassandra had a good reason for deciding to lug the hunk of stone around.

    ¡°While Liam is reopening the pathway back around the door, I¡¯m going to carve a short-term spell onto this thing. Since we recovered so much, I¡¯m not afraid of dipping into my mana reserves now that we are leaving.¡± She tossed the head sized chunk of rock into the air and nearly dropped it. Once she had secured it against her chest once more, Kassandra continued. ¡°I plan to make this thing glow as bright as the sun to help us get past the swarm of shadow monsters in the tunnel. If it¡¯s bright enough, I doubt they¡¯ll even come close.¡±

    ¡°Crap,¡± Rieka swore, and I turned to stare at her in surprise. While Rieka did swear, it was a rare thing. Her ears had wilted, and she was scowling at the ground. I could see the exhaustion in every line of her slim face, and had an idea what was causing the problem.

    ¡°You forgot about them, right?¡± I asked. She nodded once.

    Seeing Rieka down like that made my heart hurt. She was normally such an energetic person, so I immediately moved to try to cheer her up. My hand settled on her hair between her pointed wolf¡¯s ears and she leaned into it immediately, her tail starting to flick slowly again as I rubbed at the base of those fluffy points.

    ¡°Hang in there, Rieka. Kass will slap a light spell on that hunk of rock, then it¡¯s just a bit of a walk to get back to the surface,¡± I said gently, being careful not to remind her just how long of a walk it was. She knew already, there was no reason to bring it up.

    Rieka nodded slightly against my hand, her nose flaring cutely while she took another deep breath.

    ¡°Okay. Let¡¯s get moving. Kass and I can rest a bit while you shape the stone by the gate again. We still have some of the earth aligned mana crystals.¡±

    ¡°You got it, hon,¡± I replied gently, leaning in to kiss the tip of one of her ears. Rieka let out a low, contented groan in response and her hands came up to grip the front of my armor.

    I hadn¡¯t noticed it before, but when Rieka¡¯ gripped the leather armor on my chest the whole outfit gave slightly. There were deep cuts in the leather from the creature¡¯s claws, but the blows had not pierced the layered leather. Something I was very glad of as any injuries from the monster would have likely been quite serious.

    Emerging onto the station platform once more, the oppressive weight of the ruins thinned further, but it still hung in the air like a stench. The girls stayed close to me as we dropped down onto the tracks, and I set to work on melding the stone open to get around the sealed gate.

    I remembered Cariad¡¯s warning to seal all the doors behind us, so I kept the passage narrow to ensure I could close it quickly. I was getting more and more familiar with the process now, so It took less than two minutes to open the passage up. The glowing stone I had left behind when I sealed the passage the first time remained stuck in the wall of the far side, and I hurried the girls through so I could seal the passage up behind us.

    None of the skittering shadows were waiting for us. I did find several deep scratches in the stone where they might have been trying to burrow in pursuit. I ended up using two more of the earth crystals in the process of opening and closing our passage around the gate, but we got back into the tunnel without an issue.

    With the solid iron door between us and the ruins, the girls relaxed a bit more. But I could tell that they were still tense given that we knew a danger lurked in this tunnel.

    Kassandra¡¯s work on the lump of stone paid off. She did just as she had threatened earlier and turned the hunk of rock into a miniature sun. I carried it for her, keeping one girl on either side of me and close to hand so that our shadows did not provide the critters with a safe approach. We ran into a handful of them partway down the tunnel, but the creatures retreated into the darkness with a hiss, unwilling to approach the bright light.

    The girls were running on fumes by the time we got to the far end of the ancient train tunnel. To be fair, I was as well. It felt somewhat like trying to squeeze water from a stone. I knew that once we stopped moving, then we wouldn¡¯t be getting back up. I shifted the stone plug that I had made for our crawl-through to get by the collapsed section of the tunnel and urged the girls ahead of me.

    I left Kassandra¡¯s miniature sun by the exit of the crawlway, so that we could get through without dealing with the little skittering beasts trying to follow. I¡¯d caught sight of several keeping well back in the shadow, but the occasional glint of light off of chitin would tell me that they were still following us. While we walked, I had searched but hadn¡¯t seen any more burrows to seal up as we passed. Though to be fair, I had been more focused on encouraging the girls to not stop. I was sure that we were easily going on nearly two days of activity at this point and after the fight, the girls were dealing with a serious emotional drop.

    I found Kassandra wrapped around Rieka and using the wolf-eared woman as a prop to lean against when I got free of the tunnel. Letting them rest, I used the practice from earlier with Manipulate Element once again to seal the crawlway behind us, filling in the last ten feet with stone. Between that and the artificial sun, the shadow beasts should remain contained.

    ¡°Come on girls, let¡¯s get up into the fresh air. I¡¯ll handle setting up the tent. You just gotta get back to the campsite,¡± I urged as I approached the two of them. They both let out the same exhausted groan, but stirred weakly. The sound reminded me of someone being woken up well before they were ready to be, and I had to fight down a smile. I could empathize with that. I knew once I sat down then I was going to sleep wherever I ended up.

    ¡°Carry me¡­¡± Kassandra whined pitifully, holding her arms up over her head like a child and giving me a pouty look.

    ¡°Nope, you can keep moving under your own power,¡± interjected Rieka, poking Kassandra in the side with one long finger, getting a scowl from the serpentine woman. Kassandra huffed but nodded, turning to lead the way back to the platform and up the passage to the outside world.

    The lights had gone out in the station again, but the light stones that the girls had recovered after the fight were enough to get us out into the open air of the field. I decided against commanding the lights to turn on for now, my eyes were aching already from exhaustion and getting stabbed with bright light when it wasn¡¯t necessary didn¡¯t sound good.

    That first brush of fresh air against my face as we came out of the old den and up into the surface reinvigorated me.

    The sun was just now dipping below the horizon, spreading a wash of red and orange light across the bellies of the clouds that hung overhead. Birds and crickets were singing and peeping as they settled in for the night. The distant roar of the waterfall was a welcome change to the ominous silence that had hounded us for the last few days.

    Glancing over at the girls they both gave me tired smiles, though they also seemed to be invigorated by the fresh air.

    Without having to discuss it, Kassandra and Rieka poured fresh energy into the line of wardstones that sat around the exit to the underground cave. I resolved that before we left, I¡¯d seal it over as well with Manipulate Earth to keep the area secret, but that would be a problem for the future. For now, the wards would work just fine since the tunnel was sealed up.

    Without talking, the three of us stumbled through the woods around the waterfall lake to where we had camped before. The small meadow felt like the most welcoming place I had ever been in. Rieka worked with me to get the tent set up while Kassandra set out her wardstones to guard the tent while we slept.

    Too tired to wash, or even to really care at the moment, the three of us stripped out of our gear and piled together in our underclothes to sleep.

    ¡°Tomorrow,¡± Rieka murmured as she cuddled up with her back to my side and her head on my right shoulder, pulling my arm around to squeeze between her breasts. Rieka only wore a thin, white breast-band and a pair of cute panties in the same color. I could feel the softness of her skin and if it wasn¡¯t for the level of exhaustion in both of us, it would have been distracting.

    ¡°Agreed,¡± mumbled Kassandra from her spot sprawled on top of me. The redheaded dwarf lamia was loosely wrapped around the two of us and, rather than cuddling up to me, was literally just lying on top of me, naked as the day she was born and shameless about it.

    I had no idea what the two of them were talking about, but figured it was something that could wait until later. Exhaustion finally won the fight and dragged my eyes closed. My last conscious thought was taken up by the dull flare of a message.

    Assist your contracted companion, Rieka Coldeye, with her research on humans for her report.

    Reward - 400 SP

    COMPLETED

    Assist your contracted companion, Kassandra Silverscale, with her infiltration and examination of the ruins.

    Reward - 400 SP and ???

    COMPLETED

    Access character sheet to unlock additional reward.

 Chapter 69 <3<3<3

    I slept the sleep of the truly exhausted.

    I woke twice during the night, but only for a brief few moments as one of the girls got up to leave the tent for a moment. I fell asleep again as soon as they tucked themselves back against me.

    The pile that we slept in was warm and comfortable. The sweet scents of their hair surrounded me and the soft sensation of my girls was close at hand to soothe me back to sleep.

    It wasn¡¯t until my feet grew cold that I finally woke up.

    Blinking slowly in the dim light that made it into the thick canvas tent, I stared up at the peaked ceiling. Based on the amount of light leaking in, it had to be around mid-morning of the next day; I wasn¡¯t entirely sure what day it was, but it didn¡¯t matter at the moment. I still had several days left with my girls before I had to return to Earth and deal with the reality of a job hunt again.

    A stirring on my left side drew my attention down to where Kassandra lay nestled into my side.

    My dwarf lamia had managed to steal all the covers from on top of me and wrapped her serpentine length around and inside of them, the only things peeking out were a bit of her coils, the curly mass of her red hair, and the hint of rounded bottom that was rubbing into my hip as she tucked her back into me.

    ¡°She¡¯s such a blanket-hog.¡± A brief yawn punctuated Rieka¡¯s soft words, and I turned to look down at my wolf-eared princess.

    Rieka had shifted in her sleep as well. While she had started the night with her back to me, she had rolled over and tucked herself into the crook of my shoulder. Her long, platinum-blonde mane draped over my arm and the pillow while her sky-blue eyes gleamed up at me while her bare curves glowed softly in the dim light.

    The wolf-eared woman blinked a few times and yawned again cutely, the tip of her tongue curling up like a dog¡¯s for a moment while her canine ears laid back. Then she relaxed and nuzzled her cheek into my shoulder once more.

    ¡°Good morning, Rieka,¡± I rumbled, my voice husky from sleep. I cleared my throat quietly before continuing. ¡°Sleep well?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, until Kass stole my blankets,¡± Rieka pouted cutely, sticking her tongue out at the sleeping dwarf lamia. ¡°You?¡±

    ¡°Couldn¡¯t sleep any more peacefully. I had my girls with me.¡± I punctuated the statement by shifting to press a kiss to Rieka¡¯s forehead.

    Her response was a happy groaning noise, and she rubbed her cheek against my shoulder some more. The hand that had rested on my chest began to stroke over my bare skin, toying with my chest hair lightly as she ran her fingers up and down.

    ¡°Love you, Liam,¡± Rieka murmured quietly.

    My ears rang and my head cleared of the sleep fog suddenly at her words.

    Rieka and I had been exchanging kisses and cuddles for a while now and I could tell she was developing feelings for me, but love? It wasn¡¯t something I¡¯d expected, or had the time to consider since our last conversation by the lake before we headed down into the ruins.

    I studied my feelings and how they swirled in reaction to Rieka¡¯s words while stroking her back for several long moments.

    While I thought, Rieka shifted and buried her face in my shoulder. From the warmth emanating from her face, I could tell she was blushing and likely felt embarrassed for saying it out loud like that. The hand on my chest slowed and came to a rest on my stomach as I made my decision.

    ¡°Love you too, Rieka,¡± I spoke directly into one of her fluffy ears right before kissing the inner edge of it lightly.

    Rieka stiffened in my arms for a moment before lifting her head to peek up at me through her bangs. I smiled down at her, making sure to let all my affection flow into the expression, and pressed another kiss to her forehead.

    The happy stirring of her fluffy white tail with its charcoal-dusted tip was the only warning I got before Rieka lunged up onto my chest so she could get to my face. She then proceeded to cover it with enthusiastic kisses while giggling quietly.

    Wrapping my right arm around her waist, I squeezed her to me and Rieka let out another happy groan. I could feel the furious stirring of her tail whipping against the back of my arm as well as the soft, warm curves of her hips against me.

    A heat against my stomach confused me for a moment before I remembered that Rieka had gone to bed in nothing more than a chest wrap and a pair of thin, white panties. And I was feeling the warmth of what lay beneath those panties pressed against my abdomen, stirred up by her excitement.

    Around the time I realized that, Rieka must have also made that mental connection because her kissing stopped and she drew back to stare down at me with wide eyes. A faint blush colored her pale cheeks, and she bit her bottom lip.

    We stared at each other for several long moments; her searching my face and me letting her decide. I shifted slightly under her to ease a twinge in my back and Rieka let out a quiet moan, her hips grinding unconsciously for a moment before she stopped herself. The entire time, her tail continued to whip back and forth, portraying her excited and happy mood.

    Rieka¡¯s hesitation faded away a moment later, and she gave a decisive nod.

    Shifting back in her pose partially astride me, Rieka arched her back and pressed her chest out. The simple, white breast band was just a wrapping of cloth to support and cover her soft mounds. Even now, I could see the pert tips of her breasts poking against the thin material, a slightly darker pink evident through the white.

    ¡°Do you think I¡¯m attractive?¡± Rieka purred quietly, running her hands up her ribs slowly to stroke the edge of her breast band. I could tell she was making an effort to be alluring, but my wolf-eared princess was still blushing faintly in embarrassment.

    ¡°Of course I do,¡± I rumbled in reply. Kassandra was still pinning down my left arm with her head, so I gently ran the back of my right hand over Rieka¡¯s delicate tummy, getting a giggle of happiness from the wolf-eared woman.

    Rieka looked like she was about to say something, her fingertips digging into the wrapping at her chest like she was about to strip it off, when Kassandra spoke up suddenly.

    ¡°Oh, just fuck him already, Rieka. No funny business in the tent.¡±

    The dwarf lamia¡¯s voice was gravelly with sleep and she rolled over a moment to glare at her friend with one slitted eye. My redheaded lover shifted that bleary glare to me as well. ¡°Treat her right, Liam. I¡¯ll make you regret it if you don¡¯t,¡± Kassandra threatened halfheartedly before yawning, pulling her stolen blankets over her head, and then curling up into a tighter ball.

    Both Rieka and I stared at Kassandra for a moment before Rieka began to giggle. I chuckled as well, and the noise got another grumble of protest from Kassandra.

    ¡°Come, Liam. Let¡¯s take this outside. I did make Kass promise not to get up to anything inside the tent, so it is fair that she is kicking us out,¡± Rieka said, shooting me a smoldering look before climbing to her feet.

    I watched as Rieka smoothly unbound her breast-band and let it fall to the ground by her pile of things. A moment later, she slid her panties down and dropped them next to it. Her fluffy tail draped down low to shield the sight of the treasure that lay between her legs, but the rounded shape of her tight butt still protruded from either side.

    Rieka collected a spare blanket from her bag and then turned to shoot me another alluring look from the mouth of the tent, the light of the early day silhouetting her form and showing the hard peaks of her breasts sharply against the blue sky.

    ¡°Coming?¡± she husked before ducking through the tent flap in a flash of pale skin and light fur.

    I shifted and rolled to my hands and knees. As soon as I had vacated the pile of blankets that was our bed, Kassandra wriggled over to steal my warm spot and began to snore quietly, only one cheek of her full bottom poking out of the covers now. I stopped to smile at my serpentine lover for a moment before moving to pursue my wolf-eared princess.

    Stopping only long enough to mirror Rieka, I dropped my underwear on the pile of gear and followed after her. The open affection of my girls had banished my previous self-consciousness about my body and, with Rieka leading the way, I had no reason to hesitate in stepping out of the tent completely naked.

    The early day sun bathed the world in a warm light. A slight breeze stirred the long grass of the clearing and made the trees rustle around us, sending dappled shadows out over the tent. They all conspired together to leave a slightly warm day perfectly comfortable against my bare skin.

    A flash of movement to one side drew my attention.

    I caught sight of Rieka flapping the blanket out over a patch of long grass that would act as a sort of cushion. The motion threw her arms wide, and I saw the soft curves of her breasts bounce and jiggle while she settled the blanket and smoothed it into place. At this angle, I could see her dark, pink nipples firmly capping those creamy mounds.

    Rieka had picked a spot that was still within the line of the wardstones Kassandra had set before, so I just gave the clearing a quick scan to make sure nothing was nearby before I started towards her.

    Not wanting my lover to think I was hesitating at all, because I sure as hell was not about to hesitate at this point, I dashed over and wrapped both arms around Rieka from behind, pulling her tight to my chest.

    Rieka let out an eep and a giggle of surprise before nuzzling back against my chest and my neck, reaching up to press kisses to my throat while my arms pinned hers to her sides. My right arm wrapped just under her breasts and one big hand landed on top of her left breast, cupping it gently and drawing a moan of joy from the blonde. My left arm wrapped low around her stomach and cupped her right thigh, pulling her tight bottom back against me. I could feel the soft fur of her tail whipping back and forth as my growing erection pressed into Rieka¡¯s back.

    ¡°I¡¯m only going to ask once to be sure, Rieka,¡± I rasped in her ear before nibbling the fluffy tip. The nip drew another long moan out of my lover-to-be, and she nodded a moment later to indicate she was listening. ¡°You are a princess. You deserve more than just a tumble out in the grass like this. If you want to wait until we have the bed you deserve, then¡ª¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Rieka cut me off, a low growl of desire in her throat. ¡°No, I do not want to wait, Liam. I want you here and now. I want to feel free beneath the sky. I¡¯ve spent my entire life as a princess. For now, I just want to be a woman in love with a man.¡± Her voice was full of need and she ground her soft bottom back against me. Her tail shifted to one side so that the pert cheeks of her bottom could sandwich the underside of my cock, and I groaned in response this time.

    ¡°As you wish, Rieka,¡± I growled in her ear and nipped her ear again. Rieka let out another low moan. She wriggled a bit to get her arms free so her hands could come up to thread through my hair and pull me down and into her neck so that I could nibble, kiss, and bite there too.

    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    Rieka was smaller than I was. Both my girls stood shorter than me on average, but Rieka wasn¡¯t nearly as bad as Kassandra. Thankfully, I had the strength to spare to lift my wolf-eared princess up and hold her tightly against my chest while I laid sucking kisses and nips across her neck and shoulder. Each nibble and bite drew another quiet yelp of pleasure or a moan of arousal from her. I could already feel Rieka¡¯s nipple digging into my right palm, hard as a bit of metal.

    ¡°Liam,¡± Rieka panted hotly, tugging at my hair to pull me up to where our lips could meet in an ardent kiss. There was no reason for me to resist the desires of my wolf-eared princess, and I met her lips with mine.

    The kiss was long and deep, our tongues meeting and dancing in midair. I¡¯d half expected to have to contend with morning breath, given how long we¡¯d been asleep, but my princess tasted sweet.

    The surprising taste of her lips gave me an idea, and I pushed on Shape-Shifting slightly, urging it to change the glands in my mouth that produced saliva.

    A moment later, Rieka moaned happily and dove deeper into the kiss, her tongue probing my mouth for several long seconds.

    ¡°How?¡± she panted after we separated to breathe.

    ¡°Shape-shifter, remember?¡± I teased and stuck my tongue out at her while pushing on the Shape-Shifting again.

    My tongue grew longer and Rieka¡¯s eyes widened as my tongue stretched out between us and lightly booping the tip of her nose before I retracted it once more.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m ready for that yet, but good to know. I meant the taste!¡± she giggled. I just shrugged with a smirk.

    ¡°Your lips tasted sweet, and I didn¡¯t want you to deal with morning breath. Does it bother you?¡± Rieka shook her head furiously in denial.

    ¡°No! I just wondered. I snatched a sweet out of my bag, but I couldn¡¯t figure out how you did that. It¡¯s handy!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m handy in many ways,¡± I husked, leaning in to nuzzle her nose lightly while squeezing her left breast gently. Rieka moaned sharply into the motion and ground her hips back against me.

    ¡°Oh, Liam¡­ I want you to take me like this, helpless and in midair. That would be so hot¡­¡± Rieka murmured in my ear before nipping sharply at my earlobe as she wiggled up.

    Her writhing achieved her goal as my member finally slipped down between us and slid between Rieka¡¯s legs before coming up to slap wetly against her sex with a quiet plap. Rieka moaned sharply in response to my shaft hitting her secret place, and I groaned at the wet heat pressed down on me.

    ¡°Is this how you want our first time to be? You at my mercy?¡± I ground out into one of her pointed ears. Rieka nodded, her hips gyrating as she tried to shift my shaft so that I slipped into her while she gripped my hair with both hands.

    ¡°Yes, fuck me like this. Displayed for the world to see, a princess taken and pleased in a field, rather than a perfumed bed,¡± Rieka moaned. ¡°You can have me on the ground later. I¡¯ll bend happily before you so that you can mount me, but right now I want to feel the sun on my face and breeze on my skin like this, Liam.¡±

    Gods, hearing her beg like that was hot.

    I shifted slightly, leaning back to counterbalance her slight weight and Rieka whined in protest, nearly slamming her back into my chest to maintain contact. Until, that is, she realized this angle put her clit directly in contact with my shaft and she began to grind furiously. Her arms shifted down to cling to mine while I shifted my grip slightly.

    Just as I was about to adjust and thrust into her, I hesitated. Rieka must have noticed it and twisted to shoot me an alluring grin over her shoulder. The nips and bites on her neck and shoulder were beginning to color slightly as the hickies darkened. The sight of them sent a thrill through my body. My cock hardened even further, pressing up against her wet heat and making my princess moan.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, Liam. Take me, claim your pleasure from my body, and then mark me with your seed,¡± she moaned hotly, writhing in my arms and grinding on my shaft.

    Her gyrations were such that Rieka actually managed to catch the head of my cock in the opening of her sweet box. She was so wet that I slid right in, aided by her body weight and the angle. There was no resistance at all until our thighs met again.

    Rieka let out a loud squeal of pleasure, her whole body trembling while her sex gripped at my shaft like it was trying to strangle me. The angle was delicious, and I drove deep into her, but I knew I could go deeper. Because of the positioning, it didn¡¯t allow me to get fully seated in her body from behind like this. But it was enough to get started.

    Whimpering joyfully at the sensation, Rieka clung to me with her body sharply bowed while I began to bounce her in my lap midair. The range of motion was small, but each thrust of my hips brought her entire weight down on my shaft with a sharp slap of flesh meeting and a jolt of sensation as she squeezed me sharply, hanging helplessly in my arms.

    I held her there like that, displayed as proudly as any flag to the blue sky and the surrounding forest, and fucked Rieka like I owned her.

    I knew that I could have used Shape-Shifting to alter my body to make this position more comfortable and to get deeper, but I wanted to hang on to that for later. For now, I was happy to please her with my body as I¡¯d always had it.

    Rieka moaned loudly, squeaking sharply with each blow of my hips as I bodily lifted her up and down my cock. I pummeled her ass with my crotch and teased her captured nipple. But she really lit up when I bit down on her left shoulder while buried to the root in her.

    Shrieking in pleasure, Rieka came hard around me. Her sex tightened even more and her whole body convulsed while my teeth dug into her shoulder and left a bruise marking her soft body as claimed. As her sex pulsed around me, I had to fight the urge to fill her up right there.

    I had so much more that I wanted to do with my wolf-eared princess.

    I pumped my hips a few more times to continue stimulating my lover through her climax. Her juices dripped down our joined crotches and spattered into the grass at our feet.

    ¡°Liam¡­¡± Rieka moaned softly, a full-body twitch wracking her before she could continue. ¡°Gods and gold, that was glorious¡­ more?¡± Rieka said the last part in a slightly begging tone, and I smothered a laugh.

    My princess shifted slightly to pout at me out of one eye and squeezed down on my shaft with her sex. A calculating expression surged onto her face and Rieka¡¯s pout morphed into a grin.

    ¡°Let me down, Liam?¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± I rumbled in her ear, pulling her tightly against my chest and giving my hips another pump. Rieka moaned sharply and clung to me, her sex squeezing tight once more.

    ¡°You gave me the pleasure I asked for, so I will return it to you. Let me please you with my mouth?¡±

    The thought of the platinum-haired princess submissively on her knees in front of me set my mind afire, and I almost complied without thinking.

    I hadn¡¯t had any problem supporting her slight weight in this acrobatic bit of midair sex, and I had a devious idea that would ensure my wolf-eared princess enjoyed this as much as I would.

    ¡°I have a better idea. Up you go!¡± I whispered hotly into her ear before lifting her up and off my cock.

    Rieka squeaked in surprise as I shifted my grip on her hips and spun her about so that she was hanging upside down with her face in my crotch and hers pointed up at me like some perverse chalice of allure. The motion sent a billow of her unique scent into my face, the smell of herbs and ozone thick in the air as well as that musky tang of an aroused woman.

    ¡°Liam, what is thi¡ªooh!¡± Rieka protested at first before I bent down and thrust my tongue out to run over her clit. The tangy flavor of her sex coated my tongue, and I smirked as her tail began wagging furiously when she realized her position and my plan.

    A moment later, Rieka¡¯s lips wrapped around my cock and she began to bob slowly, slurping at my shaft in an earnest, though inexperienced, attempt to please me. The fact she was willing to do so made my heart sing and I dove into lapping at her puffy sex with gusto.

    Rieka¡¯s legs wrapped around my head to help support herself, but my arms around her waist and hips ensured she would not fall. The only thing that interfered with the entire moment was when her tail would occasionally bap me in the face when her wagging got too enthusiastic.

    I bathed her sex with licks and kisses, elongating my tongue to dive into her honey-pot every so often. This would elicit a squeak of surprise or a vibrating groan of pleasure that made my cock stiffen in her mouth. In return, Rieka suckled, licked, kissed, and nuzzled my shaft and balls with the messy enthusiasm of someone learning what felt good and happy to apply the knowledge as she gained it.

    This continued for several minutes and Rieka climaxed again, sending a squirt of juices up into the air like the most sexual of fountains while she squealed and gagged on my shaft.

    I had to pull her off at last, though. I knew my climax was coming, and I wanted the first load I gave her to go inside her sweet sex. The imagery she¡¯d painted before of being mounted was stuck in my mind and I wanted that.

    Apparently, Rieka wanted it too. As soon as I lifted her up and off my cock, she kissed the tip one last time in parting before helping scramble down from my grip and onto the blanket finally.

    Posing with her hips up and back arched, Rieka¡¯s tail whipped back and forth furiously as she bent forward and spread her legs to show her sex to me. Moisture dewed her full lower lips and her pert butt-cheeks jiggled enticingly as she swayed.

    ¡°Come and claim me, Liam!¡± Rieka moaned hotly, shooting a needy look over her shoulder. ¡°You have toyed with me and marked me. Teased me and pleased me. Now¡­ now you need to seed me.¡±

    The husky desire in her voice drew me like a magnet draws iron filings. Her smaller body looked so ripe and sexy there, spread on the blanket like some kind of goddess of the wild, descended on a woodsman for an afternoon of pleasure.

    I knew that this wouldn¡¯t be the only time I got to sample my wolf-eared princess, but I still wanted to savor her.

    Kneeling behind her, I knee walked forward until the tip of my spit-slicked cock bumped against her blushing flower.

    Rieka moaned hotly at the sensation and rolled her hips again, presenting her sex to me and bobbing her hips to try to catch my tip.

    I let her wriggle and flex against me for a moment, trying to capture me, before I thrust forward and buried myself in one smooth motion.

    Rieka shrieked in pleasure, her tail bushing out as her back arched in pleasure when our hips met with a wet smack.

    The echo of her scream of joy bounced throughout the valley, setting a small flock of birds to flight before it vanished into echoes.

    ¡°Take me, Liam?¡± Rieka begged when it became obvious that I was waiting on something. I just smirked down at her and slowly settled my hands onto her slender waist, sliding them down to grab her firm hips.

    Using my grip on her, I slowly drew her forward and off my shaft. Rieka moaned in disappointment as my shaft left her until only the head remained inside. I leaned over top of her and growled deep in my throat. The rumble of noise from within my chest made Rieka shudder and moan, her hips bobbing to draw me back in but only succeeding in catching an inch of my shaft before I stopped her.

    ¡°Mine,¡± I rumbled to finish off the deep growl. My wolf-eared princess nodded furiously.

    ¡°Yours, all yours!¡±

    I nipped the tip of first her right ear, then her left. The sensations sent a shiver of pleasure down her body and she clenched on me before I leaned back and used my grip on her hips to begin pumping into her.

    I started slowly. Our initial coupling had proved that either Rieka didn¡¯t have a hymen, or had broken it somehow in the past. So I didn¡¯t need to hesitate for fear of hurting her. But I wanted to give her a chance to acclimate to the position before I gave her all that I had.

    My lover¡¯s secret garden accepted my rough plowing without hesitation. It gripped and pulled at me like it was trying to hold me captive within her wet heat. I could feel her body shaking underneath me as she met my pumping hips with her own joyous thrusts to accept my shaft.

    Rieka moaned loudly as I bent low enough to bite the side of her neck again, leaving behind another coloring bruise to claim her.

    The realization that the marks I¡¯d left on her pale skin would be obvious to anyone who saw her¨Cunless she wore a very high-necked shirt¨Csent a thrill down my spine.

    Those marks would show to any observer that I had claimed my princess.

    That thrill was the last pebble to start the avalanche of my climax.

    The steady pounding I was giving Rieka¡¯s pert bottom abruptly picked up in speed to a rapid clapping of bodies meeting.

    Rieka keened happily, her face buried in the blanket while she clung on with her hands and used the leverage to push back against me.

    The hot squirt of her juices and the tightening of her sex around me signaled her own climax only seconds before mine rumbled over me.

    My vision whited out as my entire body contracted. I felt my balls jerk as I shot rope after rope of my cream deep into Rieka. Each contraction expelling a hot load of seed, and each burning blast triggering another moan or yip of joy from my lover.

    As all things are prone to, my climax eventually came to an end and my vision returned to normal.

    I slumped down over top of Rieka, pressing her to the blanket and getting a contented groan from my lover. Shifting my grip on her, I wrapped my arms around her waist and guided us onto our side in a sweaty heap. My cock slid out of her sex in the process, unleashing a small gush of my cream and Rieka moaned.

    The two of us lay on the grass in the sun and just cuddled into each other, savoring the moment and the peace of the mountainside.

    ¡°Gods above! I think they might have heard you two fucking back in Juneau!¡± Kassandra¡¯s grumpy voice echoed from inside the tent a moment later.

    Rieka and I shared a glance before both of us burst into laughter, joined a moment later by Kassandra.

 Chapter 70

    Unsurprisingly, Kassandra teased us.

    She didn¡¯t tease us about the fact that Rieka and I had finally hooked up. That actually got an ¡®about damn time¡¯ from the redheaded dwarf lamia. No, Kassandra decided she was going to tease us about just how loud Rieka had gotten.

    ¡°I mean, I know what you are like, Liam. But seriously! Someone might be coming up the mountain looking to see who was getting murdered,¡± Kassandra said with a wicked smirk.

    My dwarf lamia hadn¡¯t bothered to dress beyond throwing on the shirt of mine that she¡¯d stolen days before to act as a dress and slipping her glasses on.

    Rieka decided to mirror her, claiming one of the shirts that the girls had bought me and draping it over her shoulders. She didn¡¯t bother to button it closed, letting it hang open to her mid-thigh. Her tail continued to wiggle happily and I would occasionally catch sight of her beautiful form when the open shirt would billow in the breeze.

    ¡°You are just jealous,¡± Rieka huffed at her friend. Only a faint blush colored her cheeks now, despite Kassandra¡¯s attempts.

    ¡°Damn right I am! I¡¯ve been holding off because you said ¡®no mischief in the tent¡¯,¡± Kassandra pouted.

    ¡°Well, you are welcome to entertain our Liam out in the grass, or down in the lake again.¡± Rieka¡¯s smirk told me she knew exactly what Kassandra would think of another dalliance in the lake.

    Kassandra was cold-blooded, so even the pleasantly cool water of the lake was something she tried to avoid. It was dangerous for her if her body temperature dropped too much. Though bathing wouldn¡¯t necessarily harm her, bathing in cold water was still a risk she did not like taking. This was on top of the fact it was just not comfortable for her.

    ¡°As much as I would enjoy that, I think I¡¯d rather go from your example and just spread a blanket out in the sun. You don¡¯t mind, do you?¡± Kassandra¡¯s slitted brown eyes twinkled with amusement.

    ¡°As long as you don¡¯t mind if I watch,¡± Rieka replied quickly. ¡°I want to know if it looks as sexy from the side as it does in the midst of it.¡±

    ¡°Sure. Not like it¡¯s the first time you¡¯ve seen me naked.¡± Kassandra shrugged nonchalantly and Rieka grinned.

    ¡°Do I get a vote in this?¡± I asked with a smirk, more curious to what they¡¯d say than actually in protest. They shared a look for a moment before looking at me with twin smiles.

    ¡°Of course you do, Liam,¡± both my girls chorused in eerie sync and I winced.

    ¡°We¡¯d never take advantage of you,¡± Kassandra chirped happily.

    ¡°You know that, Liam,¡± finished Rieka.

    ¡°Okay, stop. That¡¯s just eerie when you finish each other¡¯s sentences.¡± I waved my hands in surrender and both girls giggled.

    ¡°Mother used to say the same thing when we were little,¡± Rieka giggled, her tail whipping back and forth behind her.

    ¡°Yes, it was quite a bit of fun to freak the queen out when we were young enough to get away with that kind of thing. We¡¯d just get in trouble now.¡±

    ¡°The perils of being old enough to ¡®know better¡¯,¡± I empathized and stroked Kassandra¡¯s hair gently. She chirped happily and nuzzled into the hand.

    Rieka and I were still seated on the blanket in the sun, with her leaning into my left side. Kassandra sprawled in a large circle around us on her back, tummy exposed to the sun by the open front of her stolen night-shirt. My dwarf lamia had her head in my lap and was smirking up at me.

    The fact that I was the only one still naked should have been uncomfortable. I should have felt self-conscious right now.

    But I didn¡¯t.

    The girl¡¯s open affection made it easy to disregard, as I had realized earlier that morning when I chased Rieka out of the tent. That and we had not seen anyone else on this mountainside in the time that the three of us had been up here, nor any sign that anyone was likely to come up here.

    ¡°You know, Kass? If you keep teasing Liam, he might not be willing to go fill the cauldron up for you so that you can get a hot bath. I know you don¡¯t like being wet and cold, but personally? The grime I can feel sticking to my skin from down in the tunnels is finally starting to bother me through the afterglow,¡± Rieka said after we sat there for several more minutes.

    I immediately agreed with her summation of it being time for a bath. We¡¯d been so tired the night before that the idea of stopping to wash before getting to sleep had been impossible. We¡¯d barely bothered to get the tent set up. Now that the sexual tension between Rieka and I was relieved, the gritty sensation of the ancient dust, sweat, and old blood clinging to my skin was driving me crazy.

    ¡°Liaaaaam¡­¡± Kassandra gave me her best pouty face. Her bottom lip protruded, and her brown eyes were wide and pitiful behind those large spectacles of hers. I swear I even saw crocodile tears in her eyes.

    I smirked down at Kassandra, about to repay some of her teasing when she gripped the front of her shirt with both hands and flapped it open, flashing her pale, freckled chest at me.

    ¡°Cheater!¡± Rieka laughed loudly, lightly smacking Kassandra on the shoulder.

    ¡°I¡¯ll cheat however I have to! Besides, Liam wouldn¡¯t hold it against me. Would you, Liam?¡±

    ¡°Nope. Might tease you a bit to make sure you earn it, nugget. But I¡¯d never hold it against you,¡± I replied with a smile only partially motivated by those pale acres of flesh.

    Kassandra grinned up at me before carefully uncoiling and rising up to press a kiss to my lips. Her red curls haloed around us in a russet-red sea that smelled just like her.

    When the lip-lock finished, Kassandra nuzzled into my jawline and pressed a kiss into the pulse point on my throat.

    ¡°Mm, you smell like Rieka, Liam,¡± she giggled before poking me in the chest. ¡°Why don¡¯t you two go wash really quickly, then bring back the cauldron to heat?¡±

    ¡°You just want to monopolize the hot water!¡± Rieka snorted, shifting to stand upright on shaky legs, I reached up to help steady her since it was partially my fault.

    ¡°Yes, and?¡± Kassandra replied primly. ¡°It¡¯s not a bad idea. If you two wash by the lake, then that will take care of the worst of the sweat and dirt. Then you can finish up when the cauldron is heated. I¡¯ll get the fire started and built up while you two do that. I won¡¯t even comment if you decide to get up to a bit more mischief down by the lake.¡±

    Rieka looked like she wanted to protest again, but she caught my eyes and another faint blush colored her cheeks. Through the material of my shirt she was wearing, I could see the peaks of her breasts harden as her imagination ran away with her.

    ¡°Come on then, my princess,¡± I said at last, gently pushing Kassandra back so I could get to my feet. ¡°Let¡¯s go wash up while Kass does something useful.¡±

    The last teasing comment at my dwarf lamia might have offended her slightly. The big clue to this was the open-palmed smack she gave my bare ass as I led Rieka past her.

    <><><>

    Despite the warmth of the afternoon, the lake was rather cold still, and we did not linger.

    Rieka stopped by the tent long enough to get a cake of her traveling soap, washing cloths, and a hairbrush. She slung the leather belt and holster with her spell rod around her hips under the shirt too, after casting the familiar contraceptive spell over herself. I didn¡¯t comment on it; she was blushing enough already.

    Helping Rieka wash herself was the sort of gentle, affectionate attention that I really enjoyed. Just some time spent with one of my girls without something either fighting with us, getting struck by lightning, or me losing my eyebrows to a fire.

    Rieka had to teach me how to use the brush on her tail and hair. But, once I got the hang of it, the action was soothing. Rieka¡¯s hair and the tail were smooth and soft to the touch.

    Lugging the cauldron up the hill to the campsite again while it was full of water was another matter entirely.

    I had managed to avoid stepping on anything sharp on the way down, but on the way back up with my arms full? I think I stepped on four different sticks and a sharp rock. Rieka, of course, managed to avoid anything with her dainty feet.

    It wasn¡¯t until I stepped on the third stick that I remembered I had cosmic powers and used Shape-Shifting to thicken the soles of my feet. Rieka poked fun at me for the rest of the walk up.

    Kassandra hadn¡¯t wasted time while we were bathing. She¡¯d built the fire up nice and hot, to the point where it was a bit uncomfortable for us to sit too close to it in the warmth of the morning. She¡¯d also taken the opportunity to cook us a breakfast of sausages, trail bread, and eggs in an iron frying pan she¡¯d taken out of Rieka¡¯s bag.

    This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    The fact that my dwarf lamia knew how to cook despite being a noble had surprised me at first, but I reminded myself that this wasn¡¯t the first time she¡¯d cooked for me. Apparently, her parents¡ªas well as Rieka¡¯s¡ªwere quite progressive and wanted their daughters to be self-sufficient regardless of the situation.

    I was a bit sad when Rieka dressed once more, pulling her pants on over those firm hips of hers and buttoning the hole around her tail so that the fluffy appendage wouldn¡¯t be in the way.

    Rieka caught my disappointed expression and grinned. Rather than putting on one of her regular tops, she kept my shirt and just knotted it beneath her breasts. The combination was a loose and breezy top that still held that mysterious allure of a woman wearing her man¡¯s shirt the day after a hookup.

    Kassandra was as brazen as ever, stripping naked as soon as the water in the cauldron was steaming and using a clean cloth to wash herself down. She only had to make pouty faces at me a few times before I caved and helped her scrub her scales clean.

    Such struggles, I know. Woe is me, I had to help a beautiful, sexy redhead wash herself.

    While we were out in the wilderness like this, I knew it was pointless to expect to stay clean, but both my girls looked much happier after getting a chance to clean up. Both Rieka and I used the hot water for a second quick wash to make sure we were as clean as we could be, but all three of us knew that it wouldn¡¯t last. Camping was dirty work, after all.

    ¡°So, what¡¯s next?¡± Rieka asked after we had finished washing and dumped the cauldron out once more.

    Since the area around the fire was too hot, the three of us had gone back to the blanket in the grass.

    Kassandra was curled around us, draping her body over Rieka¡¯s tummy so her head could rest on my chest while Rieka took up what was becoming ¡®her spot¡¯ tucked under my right arm. This allowed my right hand to gently stroke her ears, drawing happy murmurs from my wolf-eared princess. My other hand softly caressed Kassandra¡¯s mane of curls as it dried after her bath and fluffed up once more.

    ¡°Well, Cari told me that the DSR are investigating the ruins now. Apparently, that monster we killed at the end was something that shouldn¡¯t have made it to this plane at all. They have to remove the traces of it. Apparently, blood and bones aren¡¯t supposed to just dissolve reality where they fall,¡± I said after a moment of thought.

    ¡°How do we know that it was actually from¡­ well, wherever they are afraid it was from?¡± Kassandra asked, shifting so that she had her little chin propped up on my chest.

    ¡°We don¡¯t, but I had enough suspicion that I sent the message to her. And if I know Cerebaton, that¡¯s Cari¡¯s boss, he won¡¯t take chances. I expect that I¡¯ll get a message from them when it¡¯s all clear. But do you girls really want to go back into those caves?¡±

    My question made both of my girls shiver slightly. I would have missed it if the two of them weren¡¯t pressed into me at the moment. But since they were so close, I didn¡¯t miss it.

    ¡°I know we should go back in,¡± Rieka said with a gusty sigh through her cute nose. ¡°But I think that we have more than enough to go off of for now. I need to start documenting all that we saw for my report on humans. Kass?¡±

    ¡°Same. There is a lot of information to go over and ensure that we have it all properly recorded. I know there are parts of the complex that we haven¡¯t explored yet because of the collapsed ceiling blocking them off, but I think we have more than enough right now. I¡¯ll need to properly research what we found, compile it all, and then present it to my professor. Or at least the parts that I¡¯m willing and ready to share right now¡­¡± my dwarf lamia said with a sigh.

    ¡°Probably best not to mention the summoning circles yet. I¡¯ll touch bases with Cari if that¡¯s something we need to keep to ourselves,¡± I said gently and Kassandra nodded, a thoughtful look glimmering behind her silver-rimmed spectacles.

    ¡°Makes sense,¡± she grumbled a moment later while puffing out her cheeks. Kassandra shifted to look at Rieka through one eye. ¡°We are going to have to hold off on giving those to your mother.¡±

    ¡°Those?¡± Rieka¡¯s ears twitched in confusion.

    Kassandra gave her a pointed look and then tapped the spell rod that hung from her hip meaningfully. Rieka stared at her a moment before her eyes widened and she groaned. Her pointed ears folded back over my hand in irritation, but she nodded a moment later.

    ¡°You are right. If we try to sell her those, then she will need to know where they come from. But if we have to wait to explore the rest of the ruins, then we can¡¯t forfeit control of it to the crown. I know she¡¯ll claim it, and then the entire discovery will go to whatever noble she has to appease,¡± Rieka said in annoyance. She knew why her mother had to do things the way she did to rule the country, but Rieka didn¡¯t like it.

    ¡°Still, between the samoflange, the crystals, and the other bits and pieces of valuable material, we have plenty that we can sell. That much imbued silver from the samoflange will still fetch quite a price. We¡¯ll have more than enough mana to keep summoning Liam without having to worry. Which is good, as we do have that end-of-term competition coming up.¡± Kassandra¡¯s words were simple and to the point, which got a resigned nod from Rieka.

    ¡°It just sucks that we have something so valuable, but we can¡¯t even talk about it. We could easily get enchanted equipment for ourselves and Liam for even just one coin¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s only for now. Think of it as a guarantee for the future. You know that you have it. The only trick is going to be keeping it a secret. Keeping silent on that is going to be safest for now, they can¡¯t be stolen if no one knows of them,¡± I said gently, turning to kiss the edge of one of Rieka¡¯s ears. She sighed contentedly and snuggled in closer to me.

    ¡°You are right, Liam. It¡¯s not like we need the coin right now. We have gotten by just fine without it. And, if things get dire, we can still take it to Mother. I won¡¯t risk either of your lives over potential gains from the rest of the ruins,¡± Rieka said a moment later.

    ¡°Agreed,¡± Kassandra added her two cents. ¡°But that doesn¡¯t resolve the immediate problems for our Liam. You still need to find a source of income back home to support yourself. I haven¡¯t pried at it because that is your own business, but I wanted to ask if you¡¯ve made any progress?¡±

    I sighed, the action bouncing Kassandra on my chest and making her giggle sweetly.

    ¡°Not yet. I was more focused on getting ready for this trip with you girls. I¡¯ll start looking for ways to make money in earnest when I get back. I don¡¯t want to take a traditional job if I can help it though. There has to be a way that I can make some money with these powers on the sly,¡± I said at last. ¡°I don¡¯t need a ton, but I also don¡¯t want to end up committed to a regular job schedule. I¡¯d rather be available for you girls to call me whenever and be able to practice more.¡±

    ¡°And your world doesn¡¯t have magic, so it isn¡¯t as if you can hire yourself out to help construct buildings and the like?¡± Rieka asked after a moment of thought and I blinked before turning to look down at her. Her icy-blue eyes stared up at me curiously, and I turned over the idea in my head.

    ¡°General construction¡­ there¡¯d be too much visibility to really work it. But I might be able to get contract work on stuff like landscaping or general repair. I haven¡¯t tried to manipulate stuff like concrete. But, if I can mold it like I did the stone down there, I could seal up damaged basements and help ensure foundations are set up right. How to spin it though¡­¡± I lost myself in thought for several moments before Rieka poked me in the side.

    ¡°Liam? Kass asked you something,¡± my wolf-eared princess whispered into my ear.

    I blinked and locked eyes with Kassandra, who was smiling down at me from her spot on my chest.

    ¡°Sorry, I got distracted there, nugget. What was that?¡±

    ¡°I was thinking, Liam,¡± Kassandra began slowly, tracing circles on my chest with her fingertips. ¡°You said before you could exchange the points that the System gives you for money in a pinch. Rieka and I talked about it, and we were thinking of ways we can get you more of those. What would you say to taking on another summoner?¡±

    I stared at Kassandra in surprise. I hadn¡¯t even considered adding more summoners to the group that could call me, but it made sense. More summoners meant more work, and more work meant points. The exchange wasn¡¯t great, but it was at least something until I could find a way to make my skills work for me back home.

    ¡°I think that would depend on how my girls feel about it, and who you were thinking of? Would they be joining this group, or would I be joining theirs?¡± I asked after a moment of thought.

    ¡°We haven¡¯t decided who to invite into the group, though I am leaning more towards one than another with what we found in the ruins,¡± Kassandra said, giving Rieka a meaningful look.

    My wolf-eared princess looked thoughtful before nodding.

    ¡°I have no problem with her. But it¡¯s not like we need to rush at the moment, and we should talk to her first to see if she¡¯s even interested. We have several more days before we need to return to Juneau. I think, after the last day or so, we can relax and just practice our spell work. Liam has earned some actual time off too.¡± Rieka finished her statement by pressing a kiss just below my ear.

    ¡°So Liam, you are interested in increasing the number of pretty women expecting you to protect them?¡± Kassandra asked, her eyes sparkling with mischief now as the finger rubbing my chest transitioned to an entire hand.

    ¡°As long as the women who have already laid claim to my heart are okay with it,¡± I replied instantly and got happy smiles from my girls.

    Kassandra and Rieka took it in turns to kiss me while we lay sprawled out in the warm sun for several more hours, just savoring the safe feeling of the bright day and the blue sky above us. We could worry about the rest of the ruins later, when Cariad got back to me about it.

    Thinking about Cariad reminded me of the messages I¡¯d gotten the previous night right before passing out.

    While Kassandra and Rieka discussed how they would like to spend the next few days in low voices, I closed my eyes and accessed the System interface.

    Checking my message history showed me the last two messages that I¡¯d received before passing out the night before.

    Assist your contracted companion, Rieka Coldeye, with her research on humans for her report.

    Reward - 400 SP

    COMPLETED

    Assist your contracted companion, Kassandra Silverscale, with her infiltration and examination of the ruins.

    Reward - 400 SP and ???

    COMPLETED

    Access character sheet to unlock additional reward.

    Curious, I thought silently, still stroking my girls¡¯ hair. I accessed my character sheet and the familiar readout popped up. Overlaid on it was another message.

    Congratulations, Traveler.

    You have completed the necessary feats of strength and personal sacrifices to qualify for the Guardian skill track.

    This will show on your Skills page with a secondary tab.

    You have been awarded the first skill on the Guardian track. Develop this skill to unlock further options.

    Traveler has unlocked Introductory Skill - Contact Contracted Companion

    Contact Contracted Companions - By touching the associated bond mark for a long-term contracted summoner, the Traveler can communicate with them across the dimensional barriers. This communication is two-way, as the bonded companion can also reach out to the Traveler by focusing on them. It is up to the Traveler to inform their companions of this. When contacted, the Traveler¡¯s bond mark will react.

    ¡°Huh¡­¡± I muttered. ¡°That is going to be handy.¡±

 Chapter 71

    The girls and I spent the rest of the day lazing in the sun and just enjoying being in the fresh air once more. I wanted to explain to them the new power I¡¯d gotten, but it was impossible to ignore the draw of just wanting to snuggle in the bright sunlight and savor the scent of their skin.

    We had spent the last nearly forty-eight hours in a mixture of fights for our lives, and digging for treasure underground. And now we needed a break.

    The only thing that the three of us did that was remotely responsible that day was going to check on the cave to ensure that Kassandra¡¯s wardstones remained charged.

    I put on pants at that point, much to the disappointment of my girls. They understood the reasoning though, since we were moving away from the camp. Both girls refused to change out of my shirts, something that pleased me greatly.

    In the mid-afternoon, Rieka and Kassandra decided to spread our ¡®loot¡¯ out on a cloth to look it over and see what all we had dragged out of the ruins. For the sake of security, we decided to do it inside the tent, also so that we wouldn¡¯t lose anything in the grass.

    By unspoken agreement, we left the case of palladium coins tucked into the dimensional bag.

    First laid out was the samoflange. The knobbly bit of tarnished metal glimmered dully under its tarnish. I¡¯d taken a moment to scrub at it with a bit of soap and, while it wasn¡¯t easy, enough of the tarnish had scrubbed away to confirm the identity of the metal as silver.

    Next to the samoflange, Rieka set the four jars full of quietly vibrating elemental crystals. Three of them were nearly two-thirds full of the colored sprays of crystallized mana, and the one for earth mana was almost entirely full as Rieka had added the ones we¡¯d recovered to the jar. She also set the empty containers down that she had taken as well, since they were also an item recovered from the ruins.

    Set on the cloth next to the crystals were one of each of the deck-sized ingots of silver and gold with their ancient stamp impressed in the face.

    ¡°I¡¯d put the weight of those bars to be around a pound each,¡± Rieka murmured quietly, tapping on the silver bar with one delicate finger as we all stared at them in the dim light of the tent.

    I sat in the middle of the two of them, watching as Rieka reached into her bag and began counting under her breath while she sat with her back tucked into my side.

    Kassandra then wriggled her way under one arm and up onto my lap so that her back pressed to my chest. She watched Rieka count with fascination, and I swear I could hear the gears turning in my redheaded lover¡¯s mind.

    ¡°There are forty-one bars of the gold and seventy-nine of the silver,¡± Rieka murmured quietly while she drew her hand out of the bag.

    My heart ached in my chest suddenly, while a ringing started in my ears.

    The girls were talking to each other, but I couldn¡¯t make out what they were saying. The sheer idea that we had pulled forty plus pounds of gold out of that ruin was making my mind boggle. I had no idea what gold was worth back home, but I could only imagine that one third of forty pounds of the stuff would be worth quite a bit.

    If you can even sell it, Liam, I forcibly reminded myself with a shake of the head. It¡¯s not like you could just walk into a bank and bang a bar of gold on the counter to deposit it. Focus on what you can do. You¡¯ve got some ridiculous powers right now, and that is only going to get more outlandish when you cash in the points from this trip.

    The hope that new powers gave me was enough to at least quash the ringing in my ears before the girls noticed my freak out.

    ¡°¡­lot we can do with that kind of money. I know that we can use the mana for school, but I¡¯ll be the first to admit that I plan on investing a good chunk of my share into my lands. The season is too late to plant more trees in the orchards. But, if I start the process now, they can get land cleared and ready to expand in the spring. Also, the village would welcome the repairs to the roads and public buildings that the money can provide,¡± Kassandra was saying from her spot on my lap.

    The serpentine woman¡¯s hips wiggled slightly as she made herself comfortable and my arms went around her automatically to hold her in place.

    ¡°Agreed. I think expanding the local constable¡¯s forces would be good for me, at the very least. Will you speak to your parents for me about investing in a trading caravan as well? I know that is their primary income, but diversifying will help me. Especially if I can bring more trade into the territory,¡± Rieka said with a serious look on her slim face. I couldn¡¯t help but smile at how intense my wolf-eared princess was looking at the moment.

    ¡°Fair. What about the coins, though? The ones that we can liquidate.¡± Kassandra quickly added on the last bit to clarify when Rieka¡¯s expression turned downward.

    Instead of anger though, my princess frowned thoughtfully while stroking one hand over the loose braid she¡¯d thrown her hair into.

    ¡°The silver we can just use and circulate normally. The gold¡­ might be good to hold on to for the future. Spend some of it to spread it around so it doesn¡¯t draw attention. Imprints vary all over, but the purity will tell and satisfy most merchants. The platinum coins, though?¡± Rieka bit her lip hard enough that her pale skin turned bone white.

    ¡°There are so few of those coins, maybe two dozen total. We can drip them into the economy, especially if I use the money changers back in the capital next time I go to visit my mother,¡± Rieka said after a long moment of silence.

    ¡°Then that is what we will do,¡± Kassandra said decisively. ¡°I¡¯d rather you sell them to your mother, or at least secure them in the royal vault for now.¡±

    Rieka looked like she wanted to object, but her ears drooped and she nodded once.

    ¡°I can do that. Mother will ask what they are, to give approval. But I don¡¯t think she will complain. Especially if I tell her it is money I am planning to invest.¡± Rieka turned thoughtful at this and nodded after a moment. ¡°You should talk to your professor, see if there is anyone that they know of that collects human-era artifacts. We might spread them around that way too. Pose it as a rare find from an unnamed ruin. As long as we don¡¯t sell more than one or two of them to an individual¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a good way of doing it.¡± I joined the conversation a moment later. ¡°I remember reading about a man who found a bunch of old, gold coins that he sold through a rare coin dealer. And it would be good to have some of them placed in a collection, or secured in a museum, too.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a good idea. We will have to see what kind of options we can get. Part of me wants to report this to the Queen, regardless of what other secrets we might miss out on. I don¡¯t know about you two, but I was rather concerned about something dangerous escaping out into the countryside while we were down there.¡± Rieka¡¯s ears were drooping once more, and I didn¡¯t like seeing my wolf-eared princess sad. But Kassandra spoke before I could.

    ¡°I¡¯m not surprised that you aren¡¯t worried about the treasure, Rieka,¡± Kassandra said with a grin. ¡°And you make a good point. Why don¡¯t we reserve judgment on that until after Liam¡¯s lady-friend gets back to us? She¡¯s got people checking the ruin for dangerous stuff like that freaky sack-beast that jumped us in the summoning room?¡±

    ¡°First of all, she¡¯s not a lady-friend. She¡¯s just a friend,¡± I protested.

    ¡°Who is a lady?¡± countered Kassandra. I rolled my eyes at her smirking grin and continued.

    ¡°Who is a lady. A lady who could melt my body by touching me, just like that creature¡¯s blood was doing,¡± I reminded them. Rieka nodded seriously, but Kassandra¡¯s smirk did not fade away. ¡°But yes, that''s what she said they were going to do. It wasn¡¯t her that sent investigators, though, it was her boss.¡±

    ¡°Is her boss cute?¡± Kassandra immediately jumped on that idea, eyes twinkling madly behind her silver-rimmed spectacles.

    ¡°I can¡¯t say I¡¯m an excellent judge of such things, but HE is rather handsome. If you like eight-foot-tall behemoths with green skin and antlers?¡±

    ¡°I mean, I like tall guys? I¡¯m firmly interested in you after all, Liam.¡± Kassandra¡¯s grin remained firmly in place. ¡°But I only have room for one giant in my coils, so you don¡¯t have to worry.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not a giant,¡± I protested, which got a snigger from both of the girls.

    ¡°Liam, you tower over me. From my perspective, you are all giants,¡± Kassandra snarked while shooting a meaningful look at my crotch.

    ¡°She¡¯s right though, you are rather large compared to most men that both of us know,¡± Rieka said blithely before her mind caught up with what she said and her cheeks flamed with a blush.

    ¡°Anyway, I¡¯ll check with Cariad to see what she thinks. I can see where you are coming from, Rieka. There is no reason to get greedy. We did get quite a haul from this place. And if we continue to pick through it, the Queen might get suspicious when we do eventually turn it over. But Kassandra is also right that you should get whatever resources you can out of it.¡±

    Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!

    ¡°WE should get the resources we can out of it,¡± Kassandra insisted, her face turning into a serious mask. ¡°I know that you can¡¯t take it back with you, Liam. But we are reserving a share of what we collect that is yours.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to do that. You girls are already paying me for the service of protecting you via the SP.¡±

    ¡°SP that you earn from your work. This is a bonus. Don¡¯t argue, Liam. Rieka and I agreed on this a while back. If you do end up with some way to take things back with you, then we want you to have funds as well. Worst case, it means you have money you can use while you are here.¡± Kassandra rolled over to squint up at me, her hands propped on her generous hips and the tip of her serpentine tail flicked irritably.

    Knowing that I was over-matched at this point, I just raised my hands in surrender. Having some money on this side would be handy. And it meant that the girls would have a slush fund to buy me gear, which meant that I didn¡¯t need to feel bad about them getting me armor now.

    Not that I really need armor, I thought with a slight smile, glancing down at my arms. With a flicker of thought, I sent a ripple of red-black scales racing up my arms before returning it to skin. Going to need to experiment and do some research to find out what the best natural armor is out there, but it might be worthwhile to forgo the leather armor. It¡¯s not like it¡¯s helped me enough to be worth the weight anymore. I should see if there are any animals with naturally metallic skin or scales, too. Even if Earth doesn¡¯t have them, I¡¯ve already proven that I can adopt and adapt functions of creatures from this world. Elemental types still evade me, but I think that¡¯s because I don¡¯t have that elemental shift ability?

    Thinking about the abilities and the points I¡¯d earned, it reminded me that two of my three System assigned quests had been completed. Which meant I finally had the SP to pick up some of my other abilities.

    Kassandra, satisfied with my lack of argument, went back to discussing with Rieka about how they might get the platinum coins with the strange imprints into the market. They both agreed that, even if they turned the information of the site over to the Queen, it wouldn¡¯t hurt to have a plan in place. While they talked, I closed my eyes to look over my ability options.

    I still had the rest of Enhance Self that I could utilize, and it would be an easy improvement to make. Before, I¡¯d hesitated boosting it to give myself time to adjust, but that excuse was getting thin. I¡¯d been able to get used to it on the fly before and, until Cariad got back to me, I had time to burn. I also had the points now to purchase Shape-Shifting (Mass Control), something I¡¯d been looking forward to for a while. There was also the next rank of Manipulate Element to consider, too.

    Turning the options over in my mind, I weighed them against each other. Enhance Self did not have a mastery effect, it was either done, or it wasn¡¯t. Shape-Shifting (Moderate) still had a good chunk of its bar to fill, and having the extra mass from the (Mass Control) variant would help with that. I used Manipulate Element as a filler and support right now, so it wasn¡¯t a tremendous boost. But I already had ideas of how I could twist it around and use it for the future to maybe earn some money back home.

    Oh, quit with the debating, I chastised myself. You know exactly what you want to do. You have another sizable chunk coming when you drop the girls off, but you still have, like, half a week left before then.

    Smirking, I checked my total to find that I had one-thousand and seventy SP on hand right now before I made my choices.

    First, I spent eight-hundred SP to buy Shape-Shifting (Mass Control). That brought my total down to two-hundred and seventy SP. I¡¯d considered burning it up before but hesitated. Now I was regretting that, it would have been better to have the extra strength in the ruins.

    So I spent two-hundred and fifty of that for five separate instances of Enhance Self (Lesser). This left me with twenty SP remaining for now, and I considered my purchases.

    Shape-Shifting (Mass Control) - Cost: 800 SP - (requires Shape-Shifting (Moderate)) Allows for the shift to affect mass of user by up to three times the stated limit in the highest tier available.

    No question that one is going to be useful, I thought to myself. My current limit is half my body-mass as shifted material. Last time I weighed myself, I was two-oh-five, and not much of that was extra body-fat anymore. So a bit over three-hundred pounds of moldable mass now. I wonder what I¡¯d look like at five-hundred pounds of efficient body-mass? Would it let me pack on an extra three-hundred pounds? It did with the smaller amounts¡­ hmm.

    The thought brought a smile to my face, and I turned my attention back to the other purchase.

    Enhance Self (Lesser) - Cost: 50 SP - Increase personal stats by 5 points. These points can be spread out, up to a maximum of ten points per stat beyond (Minor) effects. May be selected multiple times. If the previous tier was not fully exploited, that opportunity is not lost. Previous tier will become unavailable once max points are allotted from it.

    I¡¯d bought it five times, so I had twenty-five points available. I knew that I¡¯d maxed out my mental stats before, so it was purely physical stats that I could put the twenty-five points into, but that made the math easy.

    Flipping back to my character sheet, where the three mental stats sat grayed out and the three physical ones were not, I considered my current stats.

    Name - Liam Cosgrave

    Strength - 20

    Agility - 17

    Fortitude - 22

    Willpower - 30

    Mental Acuity - 28

    Wisdom - 27

    I blinked at the numbers for a moment, as they had increased slightly since the last time I¡¯d looked at them.

    Pretty sure my strength and agility went up a point naturally. Maybe all that training that I¡¯ve been doing back home? I think my wisdom went up too¡­ school of hard knocks?

    Shrugging, I slotted the points in and studied the results.

    Name - Liam Cosgrave

    Strength - 30

    Agility - 22

    Fortitude - 32

    Willpower - 30

    Mental Acuity - 28

    Wisdom - 27

    Dunno if dumping ten points each into strength and fortitude was the good call, but I feel like agility is the one I can let slide a bit since my shifting will give me the extra nimbleness I might need. Better to not let it get too far out of whack. I¡¯ll make sure to grab the last five points for it after I get ¡®paid¡¯ when I get Kass and Rieka home at the end of the week, I thought with a satisfied smile and stretched my arms over my head.

    Opening my eyes, I was about to ask the girls what they had decided with the coins when another System message raced across my vision.

    Processing changes¡­ ¡­ ¡­ Changes applied to Travelers¡¯ body.

    New neural and physical pathways are being forged.

    It is recommended that the Traveler rest to allow System time to make changes.

    Crap! I thought a moment too late as my head swam and I felt a ripple travel through my body, something akin to a cramp combined with an involuntary muscle twitch. It would have tipped me over backwards if the girls hadn¡¯t snuggled up against my sides and I grimaced.

    Apparently, both of my girls felt the shift and twitch from me, and they turned to look up at me in concern.

    ¡°Liam, are you okay?¡± Rieka was the first to speak, but Kassandra nodded rapidly in agreement with her question.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine. I just¡­ spent some of the SP that I¡¯d earned already to boost my skills,¡± I gritted out as my muscles writhed again. ¡°One thing I boosted was my general bodily health and strength, and it feels weird as the System is adjusting me. I need to rest.¡±

    ¡°Oh, well, that is no problem. Here, you pack this up Rieka and I¡¯ll make sure Liam is comfortable!¡± Kassandra said quickly, gesturing to the piled loot laying on the floor of the tent.

    Rieka nodded in agreement and began to pack the jars of crystals, ingots, and boxes of coins back into her dimensional sack. Meanwhile, Kassandra slithered around until she was behind me and tugged me to crawl backwards until I was amongst the nest of bedding again.

    ¡°Okay, now to make sure you are plenty comfortable, Liam,¡± purred Kassandra.

    I was about to ask her what she meant when my serpentine lover rapidly unlaced her under-bust corset and tossed it aside, before unbuttoning the russet-brown top she¡¯d been wearing.

    When the milky curves of her full breasts danced into view, I lost track of what protest or question I might have had. When she wriggled around so that she was laying against the piled pillows and drew me down to pillow my head on her soft chest, I stopped caring as the soft feeling against my head banished all other concerns.

    ¡°There we go, Liam. You rest and recover. Rieka and I can use this time to review our notes and figure out what we can report on this. Until we get the all-clear from your friend, then we can¡¯t even go back in. And at this point, hunting for alchemical components feels a bit¡­ lackluster with what we already recovered,¡± Kassandra purred happily, stroking my hair.

    ¡°Fair. Love you, Kass,¡± I murmured, grimacing when another twitch ran through my legs this time.

    ¡°Love you too, Liam. Now get comfy and relax.¡±

    ¡°You spend enough time looking after the two of us. Let us look after you,¡± Rieka murmured as she knee-walked up to me before turning to curl up against my side.

    The platinum blonde settled in to use my chest as a pillow while she folded her legs up to lean a notebook against them. She began making notes on the parchment inside the leather-bound book while humming thoughtfully.

    Without thinking, I set my hand on her head and began stroking her fluffy ears gently, like Kassandra was lightly finger-combing my hair. Rieka cooed happily at the touch.

    Snuggled up with my girls, I let myself relax and drift off into a nap as my body began to shift and change to accommodate my improved stats. Just before I fell asleep, I reminded myself to explain the communication power with the girls when I woke up next.

 Chapter 72

    Having four legs felt bizarre, but so cool!

    The trees were whipping past me as I ran, a blur of green and brown with the occasional flash of blue sky leaking through from above. The grasses rushed around me, a whispering horde of trailing strands that caressed my flanks.

    ¡°Fuck! Now I know why dogs get zoomies!¡± I crowed happily as I tried to slide into a turn and raced back around the edge of the clearing to where the girls watched in amusement.

    I¡¯d been experimenting more with what sort of options that I could tap into aided by the vastly increased amount of mass I could shift now. This form was the absolute edge of what I could do. I could feel Shape-Shifting straining at the edge of my awareness as it fought to keep me balanced with my vastly changed center of gravity.

    Earlier, I¡¯d been using Shape-Shifting to help the girls pack up the tent and scour the campsite for any further evidence of our presence. I¡¯d gotten to thinking about how, despite there being so many beast-folk¨C known simply as kin¨CI hadn¡¯t seen anyone with paws or claws. The closest were the lamia so far, and Kassandra¡¯s people were not actually members of the kin subtype. That, of course, had urged me to try assuming a mixed form of my own.

    My paws dug furrows in the dirt as I slid to a stop and nearly ended up on my face when my balance shifted. I had to break into a skipping trot that carried me past the girls again to finish bleeding off my speed.

    Kassandra giggled wildly into her folded hands while she watched me, amusement dancing in her eyes. Rieka, on the other hand, was staring with a more reserved expression of entertainment, though her tail wagged wildly behind her to betray just how funny she found my antics to be.

    ¡°You okay, Liam?¡± Rieka called as I trotted about to get back to the girls.

    The mental adjustments needed to maneuver with four legs was still taking a bit. But, as long as I did not focus exclusively on how I moved, then I did a lot better.

    ¡°Yeah, this is awesome. I am going to have to remember this one if I need to move in a hurry. Still ungainly as hell, but time will hopefully fix that.¡± I couldn¡¯t help the grin on my face.

    ¡°You look so strange like that, Liam! Your torso is way too big for that body. I don¡¯t know how you are managing it.¡± Kassandra added in, biting her lips to keep from bursting into giggles. I gave her a mock-offended look before replying.

    ¡°Well, it works. That¡¯s what matters. Shall we get going, girls?¡±

    We¡¯d slacked around for the rest of the previous day. I¡¯d woken up from my adjustment nap in the middle of the afternoon to find that both of my girls had been napping alongside me. I¡¯d also had a simple message from Cariad filling me in on the situation.

    Cariad

    Hey Liam. Wanted to update you on the situation. The investigation team has neutralized and removed the contaminant and is combing the facility for similar items. Whoever was experimenting here was meddling with unrestrained summoning in the worst kind of way. I don¡¯t know how much you and your girls found, but it looks like they were basically using summoning rituals to either kidnap or trick occupants of other planes into stepping through to be experimented on. My guess is that they eventually hooked a fish that was WAY too big for them.

    Mr. Cerebaton wanted me to let you know that the investigation team is erasing the dangerous parts of the summoning rituals for the safety of the locals. We aren¡¯t going to take anything from the ruins that is not deemed a security risk, as that violates the DSR¡¯s charter. But we are removing references to entropic beings and their summoning. Other protections in the caves are being left in place, as we do not want to leave signs of our presence, but the information will be gone shortly.

    Whoever was doing these experiments should have known doing something like this would go badly. The nature of creatures from the dimensional membrane is such that their presence corrodes reality. Things like binding runes or circles of protection do not work for them. We were just lucky that the contaminant remained in the facility.

    Either way, it¡¯s going to be a week or two before the investigators finish removing the dangerous clues and information. Please make sure to ask your girls to erase or destroy any of the references to entropy or entropic summoning for their own safety. The DSR is calling on you in your official role as a Traveler to do so, as such information in the hands of a mortal race would be like leaving a baby to play with a live grenade.

    I had told the girls about the message once they woke up from their nap and, while Kassandra was grumpy about having to tear pages out of her notes, she understood the reasoning behind it. She cheered up when I explained that it was only the information in reference to the entropy creatures that needed to be removed. I did caution her to make sure that she only shared the summoning circle information with those that she trusted and Kassandra agreed.

    With the news that it would be a week or two before we could return to the ruins, the girls conferred and agreed that it was time to head back to Juneau. They could get a start on turning in their jobs from the board and liquidating our loot, and all of us could enjoy an actual bath since there were only three days left on the summon for me now. While Kassandra wanted to return for the copper map, she agreed that it could wait for another time.

    Once we agreed on that course of action, the girls and I returned to the cave entrance and its secret door. Kassandra had, after having me confirm with Cariad that it was okay, undone the work she¡¯d set in place to unseal the door. I¡¯d then filled in the entrance to the burrow with tightly packed dirt. While it didn¡¯t fill in the cave, it would hopefully block the exit of anything inside and also prevent anyone else from finding the ruins.

    All that we left behind was a narrow oval of bare earth that I was sure the grass would happily grow over in short order. I¡¯d tried to move some of the nearby soil with grass over top of it, but the root systems of the prairie grass were so dense that I was worried I¡¯d kill it. I made sure to memorize the location so we could find it again, even though I was fairly confident I could find the hollow with my magic.

    On our way back from concealing the cave, we stopped to check on the ancient statue still in its spring. The girls studied it for a bit but didn¡¯t feel that there was much of anything else to be learned from it, so we left it for the time being.

    I¡¯d been surprised to find that it was Thursday night once the girls took time to figure out how long we¡¯d been underground. I trusted the girl¡¯s time sense though. Without a watch, I was useless in that regard and they¡¯d grown up with keeping track of time and days passing in their heads.

    So we¡¯d made plans to pack up and head back the following morning. Which had led to my experimenting with Shape-Shifting, and that had led into my bout of the zoomies.

    The body that I¡¯d taken was of a large, white wolf from the waist down. I¡¯d done it more as a proof of concept than anything else, to really stretch how far I could push Shape-Shifting. While it hadn¡¯t worked quite as well as I had hoped, being top-heavy really messed with my balance, it had worked. The energy flowing from the new lower half was enough that I could ignore the fact I¡¯d ruined another set of jeans when I¡¯d forced the shift through while wearing my pants.

    ¡°Come on, Liam. Let¡¯s head back down the mountain. As comfortable as sleeping in a pile with you and Rieka has been, I¡¯m looking forward to my nice warm bed and getting to cuddle you in it,¡± Kassandra urged. I rolled my eyes before trotting over to the two of them.

    I could see Rieka eying me like she desperately wanted to hop on my canine back and ride me around while I ran, but she seemed to know that wouldn¡¯t end well. I¡¯d need to improve the amount of mass I could control again before I¡¯d be able to transport either of my girls. But when I did¡­

    So, rather than tempting her more, I fell in beside Rieka with Kassandra on her other side and we started down the mountain. The girls were quiet for the first part of the walk. Because we had packed up early in the morning, Kassandra was still waking up. It took until we made it down to the road before my perky redhead broached a conversation subject.

    ¡°So, Liam, tell us about this new power you picked up?¡±

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    <><><>

    The idea that the girls could simply reach out to me from their world fascinated them to no end, and we experimented while we walked. All it took for them was to focus on me mentally and push a thought out like they would push a bit of mana. This would cause my bond-tattoos to hum against my skin. As soon as I touched them, I could hear my girl¡¯s voice in my mind speaking whatever the message had been, but with a faint echo.

    ¡°This is such an odd way to communicate, but it also means we can let you know of plans in advance,¡± Rieka¡¯s voice whispered in my mind, sounding just a touch more sultry than I had expected. She blushed faintly when I looked at her questioningly.

    ¡°Sweet, now I don¡¯t have to censor myself as much in public,¡± Kassandra sent to me a moment later, smirking when I looked at her.

    ¡°Like you censor yourself to begin with, Kass,¡± I said with a roll of my eyes.

    ¡°Liam! Don¡¯t spill secrets given to you in confidence!¡± Kassandra chastised me with mock annoyance. Rieka couldn¡¯t contain a derisive snort of her own at her friend¡¯s statement.

    Their banter continued, with the occasional salacious remark being slipped in by both of them to me in a direct sending. Rieka still blushed more than Kassandra did, but she gave as good as she got verbally and didn¡¯t hesitate to remind me how much she enjoyed our liaison the other day. Her shyness seemed to be fading fast.

    Both of my girls had made it obvious that, despite the fact we were heading back to town a few days early, they were expecting me to hang around and spend time with them. We¡¯d just have to be more subtle about it, as I was going to be in their dorm rooms at Rue House until the pre-charged summon faded on Sunday night.

    I was looking forward to getting to stay with them, since I rarely got to spend time with my girls for more than a few hours on the campus. And even then, we were usually running about doing something.

    The discussions of what we were looking forward to on campus distracted all of us enough so that the first arrow that came flying from the bushes would have hit me right in the chest, if the aim had been better.

    My gait was odd and bobbing, because of the quadrupedal lower half that I retained. Instead of driving into my chest, the arrow went zipping over my shoulder.

    I felt a sting along the spine of my canine half where it nicked me instead, but I had more important things on my mind than a graze.

    Kobolds came boiling out of the bushes in a swarm of mottled brown and red scales wielding stone-tipped spears. I couldn¡¯t tell how many of them there were, but there had to be nearly forty of the little monsters.

    The throng of kobolds barked at us in their squeaky-growl language, but my girls were already acting even as I lunged forward to intercept the first wave of enemies.

    This wasn¡¯t the first time we¡¯d encountered kobolds. The squat, lizard-men were actually the first enemies my girls and I had dealt with. This had been back when the mystery of traveling to another world at the behest of beautiful monster girls gripped me and firmly locked in the mindset that everything would be okay.

    I¡¯d gotten grievously injured, but managed to protect the girls at the time and nearly had a breakdown when I realized that I¡¯d killed intelligent creatures.

    I had no such hesitations now. These creatures I knew would consume anything they managed to kill, had threatened my girls.

    Even as spells flashed past me from both Kassandra and Rieka, I began to shift as the front line of kobolds with spears approached.

    My lower half melted and flowed in between steps, the canine lower-body returning to my human legs as my arms shifted as well. With a ripple, my left arm flattened and spread into a thick, chitinous claw that was a deep brown and ended in a massive claw. My shoulders thickened to support the extra weight even as my right arm elongated and I developed another four joints to the arm before heavy scales sheathed it. My hand, which was held into a fist, flowed into a bony club that sprouted spines just before it slammed into the first of the squealing monsters.

    The bone-club that my right hand had turned into launched the squealing kobold back into its fellows even as I shifted my oversized crusher-claw up to block a trio of thrown spears from more of the kobolds. The stone tips shattered against the heavily reinforced chitin before I snapped it forward and caught one of the little monsters about the waist with the claw.

    A crunch and squish, followed by a scream, were the result before I tossed the mostly squashed kobold off to one side.

    A rain of sharp ice perforated half a dozen of the kobolds on my left. On the right, a rippling chain of lightning snaked between four of the monsters, making them dance and shriek before they collapsed in smoking heaps.

    I noted that both groups being struck down by my girls had been attempting to flank around me while I was dealing with the one I¡¯d crushed.

    Darting forward, I swept my bone-club arm to the right and smashed three of the kobolds in the chest. The blow sent them sprawling backwards while I used my claw to fend off another two. Another twist brought the ankylosaurus tail/arm around to crush another flat to the ground.

    After spending the entire morning with my lower body shifted and pushing the limits of the amount of mass I could alter, I could feel that I was not utilizing the entire amount.

    I had left my tattered leather armor off this time, since I¡¯d resolved to rely more on my shifting to give me armor than anything that would prevent me from utilizing my abilities to their fullest. That decision was paying off now.

    With a mental shove, my shoulders thickened even further and another pair of flexible limbs sprouted from the middle of my back, arching up and over me on flexible tails not unlike the segmented tails of a scorpion and each ending in a dripping spike.

    The kobolds in front of me quailed at the sight and began to back away, but I wasn¡¯t about to let them escape after threatening my girls. And neither of my lovers were feeling merciful.

    The next minute was a maelstrom of flashing limbs and magic as we drove the squealing party of kobolds back into the trees. By the time the much-smaller monsters were gone, we¡¯d left almost three dozen of the creatures dead or dying behind and less than ten of them made it back to the bushes.

    Only three of those ten actually escaped.

    ¡°Fucking little monsters,¡± I spat, coming to a stop only feet from the road before shaking the blood off of my assorted limbs.

    ¡°Come back, Liam. No reason to pursue them into the trees. I doubt those three will survive in the wild by themselves. The local predators will probably wipe them out,¡± Rieka called after me.

    Tilting my head, I considered her words before nodding. The last time we¡¯d run into kobolds on the road, we¡¯d been on a mission to hunt down a nest of them. Thus, we¡¯d wanted to ensure we killed them all back then. Now though? This was more of a public service, and we¡¯d already done our part.

    ¡°As long as we report it to the Hunt and Trade Hall when we get back. They¡¯ll probably want to post a mission to have someone come track them down to confirm. Or even update a current posting if they have it out. There¡¯s no way three or four dozen of these little bastards have gotten together and not been causing trouble on the road,¡± I replied while wading out of the low bushes that girdled the coastal road.

    Using my armored limbs to push branches out of the way came naturally, as long as I didn¡¯t think consciously about it. The extra weight in my upper body was stretching out my spine again and making it pop with the release. I reminded myself that I was going to have to practice more like this, in order to move fluidly when I needed to. The scorpion-tails from my shoulders had already proved their worth in that brief scuffle.

    ¡°Liam, you okay?¡± Kassandra asked plaintively from her spot on the road. My dwarf lamia clutched her spell rod in both hands, nibbling on her bottom lip as she watched me emerge from the bushes.

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine. No injuries this time, thank you Kass,¡± I reassured her with a smile and she slumped slightly in relief.

    ¡°Thank the spirits. When you ran off half dressed like that, I was worried you¡¯d get seriously hurt!¡± Rieka cut in before Kassandra could speak, her eyes scanning over me to check for injuries.

    ¡°Naw, I armored myself. Their spears scraped up my left arm a bit, but didn¡¯t even penetrate. I bet part of that was a scare factor too. I think the worst I got was a scratch on my back from that first arrow. Surprised they didn¡¯t have more archers,¡± I chuckled, shaking my set of four limbs before I began to shift them back to normal.

    ¡°Not what I was worried about, Liam,¡± Kassandra said with a raised eyebrow and a smirk on her lips.

    I considered her words for a moment before sighing.

    ¡°Fuck, I ruined the shirt I was wearing, didn¡¯t I? I didn¡¯t even think about it when I sprouted the two extra arms,¡± I grumbled to myself. Kassandra sniggered, and Rieka blinked and coughed.

    ¡°Not that, Liam,¡± Rieka choked out a moment later.

    I was about to ask what she was talking about when I realized Rieka¡¯s gaze remained trained downward, rather than up at my face. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kassandra¡¯s eyes stayed locked on my lower half too.

    Following my girl¡¯s gazes, I groaned when I realized why they were staring.

    In the heat of the fight, I¡¯d forgotten that I had destroyed my pants earlier by accident, when I had shifted into the half-canine form. Rather than worry about it that morning, I¡¯d just kept the shift to practice in and trotted along.

    Over the course of the morning, I¡¯d gotten used to the feeling of the breeze and the general stirring sensation of the wind in my fur.

    But I no longer had fur.

    ¡°I can¡¯t tell if they were more intimidated by our magic, the man slaughtering them with monstrous limbs, or the fact he was doing it while his¡­ thing was flapping in the wind,¡± Rieka said a moment later before dissolving into giggles. Kassandra joined her a moment later, clutching her friend as the laughter made her slump over partially.

    ¡°Oh, come on, girls. It¡¯s not that funny!¡± I growled, propping my hands on my hips to glare down at them.

    This only caused the laughter to grow at just how ridiculous I looked wearing only a tattered shirt and my weapon belt with the long-forgotten mace hanging from it.

    I didn¡¯t mind. Laughter and lewd comments were far better than the freak out that had followed my last encounter with kobolds. The laughter continued for a breathless minute before the girls began to get hold of themselves once more.

    ¡°Are you going to give me a set of pants or not?¡± I demanded, which set off another bout of giggles.

 Chapter 73

    It took us a bit of time to clear the dead kobolds off the road. I offered to collect the tail tips for the bounty, just like I had the last time we dealt with them, but the girls insisted that it wasn¡¯t worth having to deal with the smell for the last part of the trip back to town. So instead, we just tossed the dead monsters into the bushes and hurried down the road.

    Arriving back in Kintos just as the sun was going down, the three of us got a few odd looks from the city guards. I attributed that mostly to my bloodstained appearance.

    While fighting with Shape-Shifting had a visceral satisfaction to it, it tended to make a mess of my clothing since it left me in the ¡®spray zone¡¯ for blood-spatter. I¡¯d gotten used to it. But given how hard I was on clothes and the fact that the girls had claimed two of my three spare shirts for their own use, I had to wear the same tattered and bloody shirt into town that I had during the kobold fight.

    The girls at least stopped laughing long enough to give me some pants after my shifting mishap, so I called it a win.

    While the guards didn¡¯t stop us at the gate, I did notice that one of them followed us at a distance. Well, based on his stare? He was actually following me, but let¡¯s not split hairs.

    Kassandra led the way into the evening crowds as the citizens of Kintos hurried about to ensure the last of their shopping was done. Rieka kept close behind her and I followed last in the group, as my height let me keep track of my serpentine lover the easiest. She wound through the crowds with a single-minded determination, nimbly avoiding putting her long tail in a position where someone might step on it.

    This continued until we were partway through the evening market before Kassandra turned off the main road and onto a side road that showed a great deal of traffic with how clean it was. Only a handful of other people were on the side road, and they were all heading in the same direction as we were, though not at the speed Kassandra was.

    ¡°Kass, do we really have to race like this?¡± Rieka complained, though she did not slow the rapid walk she moved at.

    ¡°Yes, we do. This place is popular and I want one of the private rooms!¡± Kassandra grumped over her shoulder with a faux scowl at her friend. ¡°Unless you want to be rubbing up against normal citizens, Princess?¡±

    Rieka did not respond to her friend¡¯s barb, but I caught the edge of her blush as I followed in her wake. A hint of color that highlighted her pale skin and reminded me of more salacious things.

    ¡°If you are too tired to keep up with our racing noodle, I could carry you?¡± I offered Rieka gently, smiling down when she turned to blow a raspberry at me.

    ¡°I¡¯m not that tired, Liam! Thank you for the offer, though.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a standing offer if you want to take me up on it later.¡±

    ¡°Enough you two! There it is, come on!¡± Kassandra called, and we turned back to chasing our energetic redhead to a large, low building set next to the city wall.

    The girls had decided that, rather than trekking all the way back to Juneau and having to share a communal bathing room with their dorm-mates, it would be better to visit a bathhouse in the city instead. The girls never asked for my opinion and apparently did not need it. Not like I would protest, anyway.

    Made of a simple, tan stucco with light wood accents along the doors and few windows on the front gave the building a rustic look. A wide door sat open in the middle of the building that took up most of an entire block with just its sheer size. Steam and smoke rose from a dozen different chimneys on the rounded roof of the extensive building.

    Kassandra did not slow her charge as she writhed through the front door. Rieka and I stayed in close pursuit, so we did not lose track of her as the crowd was growing thicker now.

    Walking through the front door of the building and off the cobblestone street, I felt an immediate increase in temperature as we crossed the threshold and stepped onto a mosaic floor made up of thousands of polished pebbles set into a stucco floor. The room had several benches set along the walls and scattered around where people sat and talked. Some were obviously laborers of the city, while others were off-duty guards, and still more were merchants at the end of their workday. The air itself was thick with moisture and over half the people loitering around the room had wet hair.

    ¡°Over there, Liam,¡± Rieka¡¯s words drew my attention from scanning the room. I followed after my wolf-eared princess when she pointed me towards a counter set against the side of the room where Kassandra was already talking to a clerk in a loose, linen tunic of light blue.

    The elven woman behind the counter smiled as she talked and nodded a few times thoughtfully before turning to check the hanging board behind her.

    ¡°We have one medium private bath and three small ones that aren¡¯t reserved right now. Which would you prefer, Lady Silverscale?¡±

    ¡°We will take the medium bath,¡± Rieka interjected before Kassandra could speak. ¡°I know that Kassandra would prefer to sprawl around, and I¡¯d rather not trip on her while trying to bathe.¡±

    The attendant turned to Rieka in surprise before smiling, her blonde hair shimmering in the torchlight.

    ¡°Of course, Princess. We are happy to accommodate you and your¡­¡± the attendant paused as she took me in with a glance before smoothly continuing, ¡°guard. Please, come this way.¡±

    I spotted the telltale puffing of Rieka¡¯s tail alongside the stiffening of her posture that told of her growing irritation and I had a guess as to why. She calmed when I rested a hand gently on the small of her back, glancing over her shoulder at me. I shook my head to tell her not to bother with it. Rieka huffed irritatedly through her nose, a cute gesture in my eyes. I gently rubbed the base of her tail with the hand there and Rieka huffed again, this time with a small smile on her face, before leading our group in following the elf attendant.

    ¡°Slick move, Liam,¡± Kassandra murmured, falling in beside me as we headed down a hallway decorated in pale woods and tile

    ¡°Figured that it wouldn¡¯t help if Rieka snapped at her, despite the attendant¡¯s summary being correct. I am a guard,¡± I replied, smiling down at my redheaded lover.

    ¡°You are far more than just a guard to us, Liam.¡± Kassandra¡¯s gaze took on a heated look, and she bit her bottom lip.

    I considered her words for only a moment before my mouth got away from me and I responded more honestly than I probably should have.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be whatever my girls need me to be, in more ways than one,¡± I said gently. Kassandra¡¯s eyes widened behind the glass of her spectacles, and I saw Rieka stiffen slightly before her tail began to whip faster.

    That¡¯s right, Rieka has sensitive hearing¡­ I reminded myself mentally with a roll of my eyes.

    Before I could say something else stupid, we arrived at the end of the hallway that our guide had been taking us to.

    ¡°Here we are, Princess Rieka. The door locks from the inside to ensure your privacy. Only the mistress has a key to it, and that is for emergencies. Would you like anything to drink before I go?¡±

    ¡°Chilled fruit juice would be good, something to wash away the road dust,¡± Rieka replied in a neutral tone and the elf woman bobbed her head.

    ¡°Understood. An attendant will deliver it shortly. If you need anything else, feel free to send your guard to retrieve an attendant, or ring for us using the blue rope inside.¡± With that, the elf woman departed, leaving the three of us behind.

    An awkward silence descended, but Kassandra was not about to let that linger for long. I felt a sharp impact on my ass and heard a giggle from Kassandra.

    ¡°Well get to it, Liam! Make sure the room is secure, would you?¡± She spoke in a teasing tone, and I knew the slap on my ass was just playful as well, so I just rolled my eyes and opened the door to the bathing room to poke my head inside to check on it.

    The floor was made up of mortared river stones in gray and tan colors in the middle of the room and surrounding the large pool at one end. Wooden flooring took over for the tiles and circled the outer edge of the room. A section of wall had a dozen or more cubbies built into it to store clothes and things. High, narrow windows of smoked glass caught the light of the evening and scattered it around to provide light, aided by four or five lanterns hanging secured to the wall.

    I studied the room carefully to make sure nothing looked out-of-place even as I heard the girls conversing in whispers behind me. Resisting the urge to pry, I gave the room another once over.

    On one side of the rectangular room was a trio of spigots made of copper and several low benches beside stacks of wooden buckets. Clearly a space to wash before settling into the steaming bath that sat on the other side of the room. A set of shelves sat behind those spigots, loaded with fluffy towels the color of an afternoon sky. Beside those towels were hand sized cakes of soap in a dozen different pastel colors.

    The whispering behind me stopped and then, a moment later, Rieka spoke.

    ¡°Everything good in there, Liam?¡±

    ¡°Yup. Come on in, girls,¡± I responded and turned to look just in time to catch Kassandra launching herself at me from the hallway with a big grin.

    Given the whispering, I¡¯d half expected my most mischievous lover to be up to something, so I braced and caught the flying dwarf lamia with a grunt.

    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    While I would have stumbled before, I only rocked slightly at her mass. My improved strength and dexterity was more than enough to catch a willing projectile like Kassandra. She cooed happily as I cradled her to my chest, her long tail wrapping around my waist.

    Rieka rolled her eyes as she followed her friend into the room and closed the door behind her. Despite Rieka¡¯s feigned indifference, I could see her tail whipping back and forth happily behind her as she turned to latch the door.

    When Rieka turned back to me, I could see a faint blush coloring her cheeks, but she was grinning now as Kassandra finished her quick cuddle and slithered down out of my arms once more. As soon as Kassandra was out of the way, Rieka launched herself at me in a mirror of Kassandra¡¯s affectionate tackle.

    Laughing out loud, I easily caught Rieka and spun in a circle with her, getting a happy giggle from the normally stoic woman before cradling her in a princess-carry against my chest.

    ¡°That was surprising,¡± I teased her gently.

    ¡°I¡¯ve always wanted to do that. Kass makes it look like so much fun, and it is.¡± Rieka sighed happily and nuzzled her face into my chest, her tail thumping solidly against my hip and leg.

    ¡°You are always welcome to do that, Rieka. I will never complain if one of you wants to be affectionate.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what I told her! But no, she has to maintain her ¡®noble image¡¯.¡± Kassandra¡¯s teasing was a bit distorted as she was currently in the middle of stripping her clothes off and had her shirt wrapped around her head. Her underbust corset lay discarded beside her already.

    The image she presented was both alluring and adorable as Kassandra struggled a bit to tug the travel-stained garment off and it had gotten caught on her mass of curls. This left the pale curves of her breasts dancing in the air while she flailed a bit.

    ¡°Oh, let me help you, Kass,¡± Rieka said in exasperation before she wiggled slightly and I set her down.

    Rieka was quick to help bundle Kassandra¡¯s hair together so the other woman could finish getting undressed, clearly excited to get washed up.

    ¡°I can wait outside if you¡­¡± The girls cut off my half-hearted offer before I could even finish the sentence.

    ¡°Nope! You stay, Liam. You are finally getting the hang of scrubbing my scales,¡± Kassandra ordered.

    ¡°Please stay, Liam? I really enjoyed it when you brushed out my tail¡­¡± Rieka demurred. The faint blush on her cheeks darkened before she stiffened her spine and locked eyes with me, toying with the buttons of her top with one hand.

    ¡°If that is what my girls want,¡± I caved without hesitation to their requests.

    What man wouldn¡¯t cave to those two? There is something innately sexy about being able to bathe and cuddle with a beautiful woman who actively wants you to dote on them. Let alone two women who wanted that attention.

    The wicked grin on Kassandra¡¯s face and the happy wagging of Rieka¡¯s tail only further reinforced the adorable image.

    It didn¡¯t take us long to strip down, tucking our dirty clothes into a cubby each while Rieka produced clean clothes for those of us that had them. Thankfully, I¡¯d had the chance to wash the shirt I¡¯d worn when I first got here at the beginning of the week, so I had something passably clean as the girls still refused to return my other shirts.

    Kassandra, in normal fashion for her, was entirely unabashed about her nudity. The only thing she bothered to do was bundle her mass of red hair up and secure it in a chunky bun with several hair-sticks. She finished stripping down first and threw herself into the bathing area, quickly selecting a bench and opening the tap on one pipe to begin filling buckets with steaming water.

    In contrast, Rieka was more demure as she stripped down and wrapped a towel around herself. This didn¡¯t suppress any of her sexiness, as the base of her tail was more than enough to ensure the towel didn¡¯t cover the toned curves of her bottom, as the fluffy appendage never stopped wagging. The curves of her breasts pushed at the towel up top as well, and the fading hickies and slight bruises from our intimate time still speckled her skin.

    Yup¡­ no doubt about that. Those are dead sexy, I thought, smiling at myself as I counted the slight bruises on her shoulders and neck, arranged just so she could conceal them if she had wanted to.

    Earlier, Rieka had kept her shirt buttoned high, no doubt to keep with her ¡®noble position¡¯ as Kassandra had teased. But I noted that several of them lay just under the faint imprint of where the cloth of her shirt would have buttoned. Just where the shirt collar would have pressed on them lightly and been a constant reminder.

    ¡°Come on, you two!¡± Kassandra snapped me out of my distraction and I finished pulling my tattered pants off, then tossed them in on top of my dirty shirt.

    I briefly considered throwing a towel around my hips, but dismissed it after a moment. I loved both of these women and had been intimate with them already. And, given how unreserved both of them had been, I didn¡¯t feel any need to be self-conscious.

    ¡°Woo! Strut it, Liam,¡± Kassandra cheered, shooting me a playful leer as I headed over to where the soaps sat piled.

    A quick sniff at three of the bars found me the one that had the least scent to it. I turned back to find Kassandra leering at me while scrubbing herself with a cake of yellow soap that left a glittering film all over her body. I had to struggle not to immediately have certain parts of my anatomy jump to attention at the sight.

    ¡°I thought the entire purpose of me joining you two was to dote on you, not act as eye candy. If you wanted that, I could have just stood guard in the buff,¡± I teased her.

    Kassandra¡¯s eyes got wide, and she bit her bottom lip lightly with a smirk.

    ¡°Is that still on the table?¡± she asked in a plaintive tone.

    ¡°Nope. I want my brushing when we finish washing,¡± Rieka interjected, plopping down on a bench and grabbing the bucket of steaming water that Kassandra had left out for her.

    Rieka looked down at the bucket of hot water and then over at Kassandra. Her eyes finally flicked to me before her smile turned devious. A look that made a thrill race up my spine and my body reacted before I could stop it.

    ¡°Liam? Could you get me some soap?¡± Rieka asked, batting her eyelashes at me in feigned innocence. I rolled my eyes and turned back to the selection of soaps.

    The temptation to just grab the first one I saw reared up briefly, but I reminded myself that Rieka was a princess ¡ª my princess, I thought possessively ¡ª and thus deserved to be treated well. Besides, her leaving this to me felt kind of hot. I¡¯d be choosing what she would smell like for the rest of the day.

    A bit of thought led me to one of the bars that was a milky green in color and had a faint citrus scent that reminded me of bergamot. I thought it would pair well with her natural ozone scent and turned to offer it to Rieka.

    My wolf-eared princess had taken the opportunity with my back turned to shed her towel and was sitting there with a smile on her face, all her charms exposed to the world. A faint blush still colored her cheeks, but she winked when I froze after turning to her.

    ¡°See something you like?¡±

    ¡°Many things¡­¡± I mumbled, taking her tight form in with a long look before physically shaking myself back to reality. ¡°Here you go, Rieka. I better scrub up so I can help Kass with her tail before she gets insistent. That way, she won¡¯t begrudge us time to work on your tail later.¡±

    ¡°Smart move, Liam!¡± Kassandra chirped, and I glanced over to check on her before bursting into laughter.

    My adorable, redheaded dwarf lamia had continued to lather herself until she had covered her entire torso in bubbles. The only parts of her exposed were her head and the wobbling peaks of her breasts. She looked like the strangest, and most delicious ice-cream sundae and knew it based on the wicked smile she was giving me.

    What little blood I had left in my head drained towards my waist at the sight of the two beauties in front of me, a state that was only further reinforced when Rieka began scrubbing at her delicate skin and building up a shimmering lather contrasted by the faint marks I had left during our lovemaking.

    ¡°I swear, you two are going to be the death of me,¡± I mumbled.

    ¡°We¡¯d never intentionally hurt you, Liam,¡± Rieka said huskily.

    ¡°But you would enjoy the entire process!¡± Kassandra cheered happily, her arms emerging from the cocoon of foam to make grabby hands at me.

    <><><>

    Washing up with the girls was delightful. I did my best to be respectful and not spend too much time caressing their curves, but they didn¡¯t help much either. Both of my girls stole opportunities to return a fondle or help me wash myself.

    Rieka took care of my back while I worked on Kassandra¡¯s scaled tail, and then Kassandra got my front later. Rieka had me help with washing and scrubbing her tail and hair. She claimed that, while she could do it herself, it was better with help.

    The tray of chilled fruit juice had arrived while I was in the middle of helping Kassandra remove her mountain of bubbles. I¡¯d wrapped a towel around my waist to go retrieve it.

    The serving girl who had knocked on the door looked briefly confused to see me inside the bathing room, but she didn¡¯t protest and handed over the tray.

    Both of my girls had enjoyed the cool, sweet drink. Each of us had cups remaining on the side of the pool now, if any of us needed to cool off some from the hot bath.

    Soaking in the tub of hot water was glorious. Kassandra turned out to be a pretty good swimmer, using her muscular tail to power herself through the water. Rieka, with a bit of encouragement from Kassandra, spent most of our soaking time sitting on my lap and letting me play with her ears.

    Rieka had her face buried in my neck and was nipping at my throat gently as I continued to stroke her ears and the back of her neck lightly. I needed something to distract myself from the happily humming and naked wolf-eared woman in my lap.

    ¡°How do they even heat this much water? The building is big enough, and the attendant made it sound like they had a lot of baths to work with,¡± I asked idly as Kassandra paddled past.

    ¡°Pipes,¡± Kassandra was quick to answer, deftly turning over and floating for a ways on her back with her breasts pressed to the ceiling. The heat of the bath had pinked her skin beautifully, leaving a rosy hue all over my serpentine lover. ¡°There¡¯s a furnace underneath the bathhouse that heats water as it passes through for the taps. When those are off, it cycles water into each of the baths in a steady flow and pulls from them to ensure the baths remain warm too. I don¡¯t know the specifics. It¡¯s more complicated than that, but I never studied the engineering courses. I don¡¯t need the distraction from my magical studies.¡±

    ¡°Interesting,¡± I mumbled, kissing the tip of one of Rieka¡¯s ears, getting a happy sigh and a slight wiggle on my lap from her. ¡°And how do they make sure the baths remain full?¡±

    ¡°That is something I don¡¯t know. I think it¡¯s something to do with the pressure of the system and some enchanted pipes, but not something I¡¯ve had the chance to look at closely,¡± Kassandra finished one more pass around the wide pool before sliding in on my left side, lifting up my arm on that side and tucking herself in against my hip while her long tail trailed out in the water behind her. ¡°The baths in Rue House use a similar setup, but are smaller. Everyone gets a set time-slot to make sure that everyone gets to bathe. If you miss your slot, that¡¯s on you. If you overflow your slot, you lose the next day¡¯s bathing privilege. Lady Maia is very strict about that. Those with funds can bathe in their rooms too, but Lady Maia insists that they pay the servants for the service of bringing them bath water and cleaning up after it.¡±

    ¡°Good to know. Don¡¯t make you two miss your bath times, then.¡± I turned and pressed a kiss to Kassandra¡¯s forehead.

    My serpentine lover cooed happily, her slitted brown eyes glimmering in the dim light that made it into the bathing room. I could see love and affection in equal measure in those orbs, for once not hidden behind her silver-rimmed glasses as the heat of the bath would have fogged them up.

    ¡°Smart man, Liam. One of many things we love about you,¡± Rieka murmured into my neck, wiggling slightly to get more comfortable.

    ¡°Another is that big co¡ª¡± Kassandra started to say, but Rieka cut her off with a splash of water to the face and made her sputter.

    ¡°Shush you!¡± Rieka grumbled. Kassandra wasn¡¯t about to let her friend off that easily, however.

    The splash of water that Kassandra sent back at Rieka was enough to get both of us in the face. Dripping water, I shared a look with Rieka and my wolf-eared princess nodded before counterattacking once more.

    ¡°Get her!¡± Rieka called as she splashed furiously, and Kassandra fled deeper into the pool with a squealing laugh.

 Chapter 74

    ¡°I didn¡¯t even realize they made chairs for lamia.¡± I blinked down at the odd wooden construction that looked more like a cradle on legs than anything else.

    ¡°It¡¯s not specifically for lamia, any race that either has a large tail or a serpentine body can use these. They are a bit easier to keep clean and maintain than the cushions I normally prefer,¡± Kassandra said with a shrug and a small smile.

    Deciding that I was probably acting like an idiot, I pulled the odd cradle-seat away from the table for her. Kassandra grinned and slithered up onto it, her long tail wrapping securely around the base and settling into place so it was out of the way as I scooted her in.

    ¡°Such a gentleman our Liam is,¡± Kassandra chirped happily, batting her eyelashes at me coquettishly.

    Her still-damp mane of hair was just beginning to fluff up into its normal curly state after our bath. I flicked one of those curls with my finger in admonishment. She stuck her tongue out at me, like any well-heeled noble lady would do.

    ¡°He does his best at least,¡± Rieka tittered from where she stood by her own chair, and I was quick to slide around and pull it out for her. Rieka settled into the wooden seat with a sigh, carefully fishing her tail out to drape beside her leg so it wouldn¡¯t get pinched when I helped her scoot in.

    ¡°I do try my best. Thank you for noticing. I just don¡¯t get many opportunities to really do much. Not like I can afford to take a girl out somewhere nice back home. Even here, I¡¯m kinda eating on you two¡¯s money,¡± I said with a shrug before taking the seat on the other side of the girls, which put me between them and most of the rest of the room.

    After we had finished our bath and the girls had taken the time to do all those random after-bathing tasks that women do and mystify men ¡ª lotion, conditioner, makeup and the like ¡ª all three of us had agreed that a meal made by someone else sounded just grand. Rieka had taken over directing the group this time and pointed us to one of the nicer eating houses. Along the way, the girls had stopped at a street vendor just before she finished packing her things away and bought me a nicer shirt in the local style, as my tattered T-shirt wouldn¡¯t have been appropriate.

    Now I was dressed in a dove-gray shirt with loose sleeves and a simple collar with a string-front. If the shirt¡¯s sleeves had more blousy material at the cuffs, I would have called it a poet shirt. Thankfully, the girls had not felt the need to decorate me with excessive lace. The shirt, combined with a close-fitting set of tan pants and my weapon belt with the old mace still on it, made me look more like a local than anything else I¡¯d worn before. The only thing I was still wearing from my old outfit was my work boots.

    ¡°Not necessarily, Liam,¡± Rieka¡¯s words brought me back out of my thoughts and I blinked at her curiously.

    My wolf-eared princess once more wore another set of riding pants, this time in black with silver buttons, and a white shirt with a high collar and long sleeves.

    ¡°She¡¯s right. We did tell you that we have been and are setting a share aside for you. I¡¯ve got it recorded here.¡± Kassandra fished out a small, leather-bound notebook from within her belt pouch. My Nugget had on her underbust corset again, this time a different style in a deep red with brass fittings and trim. Her blouse was a russet-orange and unbuttoned to leave an expanse of her pale, freckled cleavage on display. The whole outfit tied in with the dark-brown skirt wrapped around her hips and her red and brown scale pattern nicely.

    ¡°Wha?¡± I asked intelligently and got a giggle from both of my girls.

    ¡°You do remember that we told you this, right?¡± Rieka teased me, her ice-blue eyes dancing with amusement.

    ¡°Yes, I remember. I was just not expecting Kassandra to¡­¡±

    ¡°To what, Liam?¡± Kassandra¡¯s tone dropped into a range of icy that was abnormal for my perky, redheaded, part-snake.

    ¡°To¡­ uh¡­¡± I stammered for a moment, trying to kludge my brain into thinking of something that would bail me out of the hole I¡¯d just dug myself.

    ¡°Kassandra is actually the better of the two of us at managing money.¡± Rieka had seen the panic in my eyes and decided to have mercy on me, how I loved her for it. ¡°She manages the finances for her estate herself. I have a chamberlain that handles it for me. I just give them a budget and check their numbers a few times a year.¡±

    ¡°You should check it more often. It¡¯s not as if you spend a lot of time at the estate, so it is easy for them to cheat you if you aren¡¯t wary,¡± Kassandra¡¯s words were a bit acerbic, but she directed them at our platinum-blonde dinner companion rather than me.

    ¡°I should do a lot of things, Kass.¡± Rieka rolled her eyes at her friend. ¡°But my mother vetted the servants. If they were to steal from me, then I would be the least of their worries.¡±

    The server arrived then to save us from the conversation going back to money and my apparent faux pas. A feline kin woman with tortoiseshell patterns to the fur on her ears and tail and dressed in a simple but neat brown dress with green embroidery at the hem, bounced up to the table with a smile.

    ¡°Good evening to you all. It is an honor to have the Princess and a lady in our establishment. Is there anything that I can bring for the table and would you like to hear the specials?¡± the perky young woman said, her yellow eyes flashing as she glanced between the three of us. Her gaze lingered the longest on me, but it was something that I was getting more and more used to being around the girls.

    ¡°Wine for me and my companion, something sweet please? Liam?¡± Rieka was quick to answer the server before glancing in my direction questioningly.

    ¡°Water is fine, as long as it¡¯s cool. If not, then tea would be good for me. I¡¯m not particular to the flavor,¡± I answered after a moment of thought. I¡¯ve never been much of a drinker, except with Jameson around, and since I was still officially on duty, it would be best to not partake in alcohol.

    ¡°A berry tea then for him,¡± Kassandra interjected with a smile, and the feline woman nodded. ¡°Can we get some fruit, cheese tarts, and do you have some of those dark, salted breads too?¡±

    ¡°Of course. The chef has been working on some dipping sauces to go with them that are wonderful. Shall I bring those too?¡±

    ¡°Yes, please!¡± Kassandra chirped happily. ¡°And some of the small meat pies as well. We¡¯ve just gotten in from traveling and are quite hungry.¡± The server bobbed a curtsy before racing off to get the order put in.

    ¡°Okay, we have a bit before she gets back. Liam, is there anything that you want to take care of getting since we are back in town early? I know that we can talk back and forth with your ability now, but it¡¯s harder to pick out clothing for you when you aren¡¯t here to model it. Same goes with gear and equipment.¡± Rieka turned her attention back to me now that the server was gone.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, to be honest. I was thinking about it earlier, and I¡¯ve got enough power in Shape-Shifting that I don¡¯t need to really wear armor at this point. As long as I have at least a bit of notice, I can shift. At this point, the armor is actually getting in the way a bit. I wouldn¡¯t have been able to do what I did earlier with it on,¡± I answered after a moment of thought.

    Movement across the eatery caught my attention, and I glanced over to see a large party of wolf kin, people much like Rieka but without my princess¡¯s pale fur coloring, had taken over a trio of tables in the other corner and were talking amongst themselves loudly. From their elaborate clothing, I could tell that they were likely students at Juneau, and a few of them looked familiar.

    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°Liam?¡± The question from Kassandra pulled my attention back to her, and I looked away from the others.

    ¡°Sorry, what was that?¡±

    ¡°I was asking if you wanted us to get the armor repaired and hang on to it or not. While it may not be ideal for you in all situations, it can act as a deterrent. Same as the weapon you carry, though you have barely used it this week.¡± Kassandra glanced down at the battered iron mace on my hip.

    ¡°Haven¡¯t needed to. Shape-Shifting gives me a lot more flexibility to work with right now, and I can adapt and use the same techniques with the shifting.¡± I shrugged after I finished, glancing down at my hand.

    A thought sent a flicker of scales up my arm again, small ones that matched Kassandra¡¯s exactly. My index and middle finger merged together and grew into a hooked claw, before splitting once more and returning to normal.

    ¡°It is your specialty, but Kassandra is right that it might be good to have a set of obvious protection around in case you need it. Maybe we can see if there is an armorer that can design some quick-release straps into it?¡± Rieka muttered thoughtfully. ¡°Even if not, the damage is minor enough it won¡¯t take much to fix it. This set was designed to be repairable after all.¡±

    ¡°Then if it isn¡¯t troublesome to do so and store it for me, would you do that?¡± My question got a pleased smile from Rieka and a nod from Kassandra. ¡°As for other things, I could use some more clothing for over here, since you mentioned it. I¡¯m still missing a pair of shirts from the handful you bought me earlier.¡± Both girls affected innocence at my pointed statement, and I couldn¡¯t help the smile that danced across my lips.

    ¡°No idea what you could have done with them, Liam,¡± Kassandra said with a smirk.

    ¡°So clumsy of you to have lost track of them,¡± Rieka teased gently.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure they will enjoy their new homes more,¡± I chuckled. ¡°But it would be good to have some nicer stuff so that I don¡¯t stick out so much by comparison to you two beauties.¡±

    ¡°Liam, I hate to say this, but it¡¯s not your clothing that makes you stick out,¡± Kassandra said with such seriousness that I immediately focused on her. ¡°It¡¯s your rather enormous¡ª¡±

    ¡°Kass!¡± Rieka snapped, interrupting her friend with a blushing scowl.

    ¡°Height! He¡¯s tall, Rieka, and sticks out in a crowd,¡± Kassandra finished with a heavy measure of exasperation directed at her friend. ¡°What did you think I was going to say? Dirty mind you have there¡­¡±

    The look of startled horror on Rieka¡¯s face at Kassandra¡¯s dry accusation was absolutely priceless. Rieka¡¯s ears were sticking straight up and the fur on the tips bristled, despite still being a bit damp from our baths. Her slim mouth hung open in surprise and she blinked rapidly, but her mind seemed unable to actually fixate on what had just happened.

    Deciding to return the favor, as Rieka had served to divert attention from my faux pas earlier and I was fairly sure Kassandra was just teasing her, I spoke up to give Rieka an out.

    ¡°I¡¯m happy to be a distraction if you two want me to be. But, I¡¯m sure there are going to be times that you would prefer I don¡¯t stick out a ton and earn stares, right?¡± I suggested. Rieka¡¯s mouth clicked shut with a slight blush.

    I could feel some of those stares even now, despite my actually blending in well. Kassandra did have a bit of a point regarding my height. While back on Earth, my nearly six and a half foot frame wasn¡¯t as remarkable. Sure, I got some stares, but folks tended to just ignore their surroundings in favor of cell phones. Here, though, the weight of eyes was obvious and hard to miss.

    Casting a casual glance around the room, I spotted the source of those stares. A few of the wolf kin I¡¯d seen earlier were pointedly watching our table. Several of them stared at me, but the others were directing their stares at Rieka and Kassandra.

    Given the fact they look like students, they probably are wondering why Rieka is here with just Kass and me, I thought idly before pulling myself back into the conversation. The wolf kin weren¡¯t the only folks shooting odd looks in our direction. A trio of elven men sat to one side and talked while scanning the room. Two bear kin sat on the other side of the group of wolf kin but ignored us other than a perfunctory glance. Several others would glance our way on occasion, and our little group would inevitably draw a look as people entered and scanned around for a place to sit.

    ¡°Anyway, you want us to pick up more clothes for you, Liam? That¡¯s easy enough to do. You do have a habit of losing or damaging them, so I think sticking with simple and sturdy wear is best, with one or two nicer sets. I can clear out some space in my closet for you to store them in,¡± Kassandra suggested sweetly.

    I had to smile down at my serpentine lover. The idea of a woman having to make space for her boyfriend¡¯s clothes when he stays over felt odd but sweet to me. And just a bit possessive. I chanced a glance at Rieka to see if she had any problems with this arrangement and she was just smiling as well.

    Am I their boyfriend? We¡¯ve kind of avoided labels after all, maybe I should ask? I thought silently before shrugging it off and deciding it was something to deal with later.

    ¡°That is probably best, Kass. Since I have to keep my wardrobe stocked for official functions, the state dresses take up too much space. If we need to, I can find a place to put the arming stand for Liam¡¯s armor once we get it fixed?¡± The wolf eared princess made her offer and Kassandra nodded happily.

    ¡°Sounds like a plan to me. Say, do you think that we will get a chance to talk to Shayla?¡± Kassandra asked after a moment, apparently deciding the conversation on my wardrobe was closed now. I perked up slightly. I had not heard this name before.

    ¡°I think we can. It would be good for her to meet Liam and see if she is comfortable around him. That way, if she doesn¡¯t go for it, then we can see about one of the others. Valda might be interested, too,¡± Rieka replied with a thoughtful look.

    ¡°Shayla?¡± I asked while puzzling over where the name Valda came from, as it sounded familiar to me.

    Both of my girls shot me a smile before exchanging looks. Kassandra quirked an eyebrow at Rieka, who shrugged and made a pushing gesture to her friend. Kassandra nodded, apparently ending their nonverbal conversation and turning back to me.

    ¡°Shayla Valo. She¡¯s the one that we had mentioned before in wanting to see if she was interested in becoming one of your contracted summoners. Shayla is actually here on an academic scholarship, so no need to worry about tense political issues between nobles,¡± Kassandra explained with a grin.

    ¡°She¡¯s a sweet girl who is somewhat on the outside due to that scholarship. Juneau doesn¡¯t offer many of them and, while Shayla deserves to have one, some folks are not that kind about it.¡± Rieka sighed explosively, shaking her head. ¡°Some people are idiots.¡±

    ¡°What makes you two think she¡¯d be a good fit for our group?¡± I asked, curious to know more.

    ¡°For one thing, she¡¯s recently joined the summoning track and transferred to Rue House. So if she were to join our group it wouldn¡¯t require her to drop out of a current contract,¡± Kassandra began, ticking her points off on her fingers. ¡°She¡¯s not a noble, as I mentioned before, so no political conflicts. She¡¯s a sweet-natured girl that I have worked with in classes in the past. Lastly, I think we should help her out too.¡±

    ¡°The Valo family are also transplants to the Coldeye Queendom,¡± Rieka interjected, and I turned my attention to her. ¡°Her family emigrated from the far south to here when she was younger, so she is still finding her place. I feel like it would be a good choice to help her out. She¡¯s not short on funds either, so the cost of summoning you isn¡¯t an issue. While her parents came here as refugees, they and she have been having some success in the local trading circles and fine art markets.¡±

    ¡°Also, she¡¯s a giant like you, so you two will get right along!¡± Kassandra clapped with excitement, and I blinked down at my lover.

    ¡°Shared height doesn¡¯t mean folks will get along, Kass,¡± I prodded her verbally, but she just gave me one of her sweet smiles where her slitted eyes squinted slightly behind her glasses.

    ¡°Possibly the most important part, though,¡± Rieka interjected, glancing over her shoulder as she spotted the server approaching with a platter. ¡°She¡¯s the first in generations to be born with access to a primal aspect of magic. Shayla received her scholarship because of that. Just as Kass uses ice magic and I use lightning, Shayla has access to light magic.¡±

    She let that statement trail off as the server arrived and began laying out the first round of food and drinks the girls had ordered. My thoughts ran off at the moment, though, thinking over what Rieka had said.

    Light magic¡­ How much would that have helped if we had her with us in that complex? Would she have been able to just poof the skittering shadows? Would she have been able to deal with that beast at the end of that ruin? No, it was entropy aligned, not darkness¡­ My mind whirled as thoughts crowded through it, and I caught Kassandra smiling happily out of the corner of my eye.

    Seeing my redheaded lover bouncing in her seat reminded me of how excited she¡¯d been when we found the copper map mounted to the wall in the first station. A copper map that had other complexes marked on it.

    Preparing for the future. If those other ruins have been sealed up this long, they might also contain those dark creatures. Light magic will definitely be useful, but I know my girls. It wouldn¡¯t be the only reason they want to see if this Shayla will join us, I thought with a smile.

 Chapter 75

    Dinner was a pleasant bit of torture. While the girls and I had been on the road, we¡¯d managed to eat passably well, if not with much variety. The girls were insistent on making sure we got a chance to try as many dishes that the eatery had on offer as possible and familiarize ourselves once more with good food. And by the end, I had eaten so much that I felt like I was going to burst.

    I ended up trying a bit of everything from the tarts, cut fruits, breads, meats, and everything else that was brought out. The ¡®salted bread¡¯ that Kassandra had asked for turned out to be dense, narrow loaves shaped like batons and studded with salt. As soon as I saw them, I recognized the pretzel bread for what it was. All three of us enjoyed those, though the girls argued over the best sauce to dip them in.

    The girls went through a bottle of wine between the two of them, while I stuck with my tea to keep a clear head.

    While we ate, I made sure to do my job as a guard and eyed the room at irregular intervals. No one came over to make trouble, even as the restaurant got busier and busier. I caught the group of wolf kin students staring at our table several times. More than a few of them glared, but averted their eyes when I caught them looking.

    I finally recognized the group, as I spotted the familiar fur-pattern of the trio of wolf kin women that had tried to confront Kassandra and I previously on a date. Lady Josephine was with the group as well, but seemed to be pointedly ignoring us in favor of holding court over her group of subordinates.

    When we had eaten the last morsel and the wine bottle was empty for the girls, we agreed that it was time to head back to Juneau, as it was already late.

    I could see the tiredness creeping in on my girl¡¯s faces, so I ushered them outside. Rieka left a small pile of coins on the table for the server, who had been dutiful the entire meal.

    Emerging into the cool night air of Kintos, I took a deep breath and wrinkled my nose slightly. While the city did not stink as much as one might have expected for the apparent era of the setting, it did have a collection of unpleasant scents to it. The smell of animals, of a distant tannery, and just the general smell of so many people packed into tight confines. After spending the week in the mountains surrounded by only nature and the scent of my girls, it was a bit grating.

    It took little urging to get us on the road out of town. The city guards had already closed the main gates for the night, but a smaller wicket gate sat to one side that they were letting pedestrians through. A row of carriages sat just outside the gate in a small stableyard, many with the crest of Juneau Academy on them and a few with personal crests.

    The guards gave us odd looks as our trio started down the road towards Juneau without even glancing at the carriages, but did not stop us. I felt eyes boring into us until the road turned such that the city gate was no longer visible.

    ¡°I would bet that the city guard sends a few men out on horses to trail us until we get to Juneau,¡± Kassandra said with a meaningful look at Rieka.

    ¡°Which is silly. If I can leave town to camp in the wild, then I am perfectly safe walking between Kintos and Juneau,¡± Rieka grumbled back.

    Both of my girls¡¯ voices held the slight slurring of alcohol, but I noted that their hands remained close to their spell rods and they did not ignore their surroundings. Which was a good sign. If they had been truly drunk, then I would have had to insist that we take one of the carriages from the gate if they were for hire.

    To ensure that nothing snuck up on us, I quietly shifted my eyes to give myself an owl¡¯s night vision. The change cast the dim world in shades of gray and white now, but I could see clearly all around us.

    ¡°Liam? Do you need me to get out one of the light stones?¡± Rieka¡¯s question came unexpectedly, and I glanced over at her in surprise. My wolf-eared princess jumped in surprise when she saw the changes to my face before giggling. ¡°That was a silly question, wasn¡¯t it? Of course you don¡¯t need light, you¡¯ve got your powers.¡±

    ¡°If you two need it, feel free to use one. I don¡¯t need it though and it might be better to not telegraph our presence with one. I know you two feel like you should be safe, but I¡¯m still a bit jumpy after the kobold ambush earlier.¡±

    ¡°I knew we forgot something!¡± Kassandra snapped her fingers suddenly to go with her exclamation and made both of us jump. ¡°We never did stop by the Hunt and Trade Hall. It¡¯s too late now, but we can do it in the morning when we take Liam to get clothes and drop the armor off to be repaired.¡±

    I know that I probably should have felt chills at the idea of clothes shopping, but all I felt was warmth at the idea that my girls cared enough about my appearance to want to make sure I looked good. It was a comforting feeling that welled up in my chest like a bloom of warmth against a cold night.

    ¡°Yeah, that is a good idea. Better to discharge the missions we picked up and let them know about the kobolds as soon as we can,¡± Rieka agreed. She stumbled slightly on something in the road and grabbed hold of my right arm to steady herself. Once her footing was better, Rieka remained clinging to my right arm.

    Kassandra was not oblivious to her friend¡¯s antics and pouted slightly up at me. Due to her much smaller height, it was impossible for Kassandra to replicate the feat comfortably, but I blew her a kiss to reassure her and she winked up at me.

    ¡°But back to the subject of a light,¡± Kassandra said to return us to the topic. ¡°While Liam is right that we don¡¯t need it, if we approach the curtain wall of Juneau without something to make us stand out. The wall guards might get grumpy.¡±

    Her words made sense, and Rieka fished one of the light stones from her pouch. Its glow was dim, as the magic that Kassandra had enchanted them with was beginning to fade, but it was enough to ensure no one tripped and the guards called a challenge when we were about twenty feet from the wall. Once Rieka held the stone up enough to illuminate her and Kassandra¡¯s faces, the guards were quick to open the wicket gate for the academy and let us inside.

    The walk through the countryside had been refreshing. And, while Juneau was another walled compound, it wasn¡¯t nearly as densely populated as Kintos had been. This was because they could import most of their minor necessities from the town. So the air still smelled fresh and cool without the earlier ¡®city¡¯ smells to disturb it.

    We made it to the brick construction of Rue House where the girls slept and I glanced between them with a smile as my vision flashed and my System-assigned mission completed itself.

    Assist your contracted companions, Kassandra Silverscale and Rieka Coldeye, with their missions for the next nine days and return them safely home.

    Reward - 3100 SP

    COMPLETED

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s it then. I hope you two have a good night,¡± I said, expecting one of them to send me back home.

    Normally, I would be looking forward to a shower, but the bathhouse we had gone to earlier had taken care of that need wonderfully. My girls didn¡¯t move though, shooting me twin amused looks.

    ¡°Liam, did you forget that we had planned to have you stay with us till your summon expired?¡± Kassandra was the first to speak, and my mischievous lover was grinning as I sighed and shook my head.

    ¡°You are right. I had forgotten. I guess it¡¯s just a habit from when we finish our missions.¡±

    ¡°Not for long it isn¡¯t,¡± Kassandra purred, slithering about to wind herself around my legs so she could climb up me to drape her arms over my neck and give me a kiss. ¡°Rieka and I plan to have you with us as often as possible from now on. It¡¯s not like we don¡¯t have the resources, even allocating some for our estates.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s right, Liam. Kass and I talked earlier about it. She gets you tonight, and you¡¯ll stay in my room tomorrow night.¡± Rieka cuddled into my side before standing on her tip-toes and pressed a kiss against my cheek. She was blushing. I could tell from the heat radiating off her face and into my neck.

    ¡°Ah¡­ well then, let''s get you two up to your rooms?¡± I replied with a grin, turning to kiss the tip of Rieka¡¯s nose, making her squeak in surprise.

    ¡°Yes. Lets,¡± Kassandra purred directly into my ear, sending a thrill down my spine. She followed up the statement with a giggle that left absolutely no illusions in my mind of what she had planned. And, from the way Rieka¡¯s face heated up again when she buried it in my neck, I knew my princess was having the same thoughts.

    Swallowing hard, I stuffed my libido in chains for a moment as a thought came to me. I had been meaning to bring something up with them, and I needed to get this out before I either forgot or my girls distracted me again. It was a bit of a rehash, but I wanted Rieka to be on equal footing and I would rather over-communicate the points than not.

    ¡°Okay you two, before we do that I wanted to have a talk with you both.¡± Kassandra swayed back slightly at my statement, worry in her slitted brown eyes that I was quick to allay. ¡°No, not a bad talk. I just wanted to make sure to say something.¡±

    ¡°Okay, go ahead and say what you need, Liam.¡± Rieka was the one to speak up next, leaning back as well so she could look at me, but not releasing her grip on my side. A tendril of her blonde hair had worked free of her braid and was dancing across her face in the light breeze.

    ¡°Look, I don¡¯t know exactly what sort of relationship we have here, since we aren¡¯t trying to apply labels to it,¡± I said to begin, before pausing to take a deep breath and steel myself. ¡°I know that I love both of you deeply, and I do not want to lose either of you. On that front, I wanted to make sure that you both understood that fact, and what I believe we need to do to ensure all of us remain happy.¡±

    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°Oh?¡± Kassandra¡¯s worry had dissolved after I said that I loved both of them. Now, she was just smiling softly at me while she waited. ¡°Do tell us, Liam. What can we do to make you happy?¡± She teasingly traced the tip of one finger over my chest as she spoke.

    I rolled my eyes at her for a moment, never letting my smile drop, before I responded. ¡°It might sound cliche to you two, but in my world, they study relationships and how to maintain them. Again, not asking you two to define our relationship,¡± I cut them both off as they opened their mouths to speak, and the girls relented. ¡°But there are three pillars that are the foundations of a strong relationship. Trust, communication, and respect. We need to be able to trust each other not to hurt each other intentionally, communicate openly and honestly in all things so we know where we stand in situations and what we each need, and respect each other to ensure we remain equal in love. Make sense?¡±

    Both girls nodded, smiling once more. Rieka¡¯s sky-blue eyes twinkled in the dim light leaking through the windows of Rue House, while Kassandra¡¯s sparkled in the moonlight while the lamplight lit up her curls.

    ¡°Our Liam is very straightforward, I like that,¡± Kassandra cooed happily.

    ¡°Agreed. Our Liam is a good man, and I know that I am happy for that,¡± Rieka added with a smile. ¡°Do you want to define it, Kass?¡±

    The serpentine woman nodded, crossing her arms under her bust so she cupped her right elbow in her left hand while tapping her lips with her right hand thoughtfully. She hummed for several long seconds before nodding.

    ¡°Liam, are you worried about the fact we are noble-born? That we might have arranged marriages or the like? You mentioned it to me before, but I can see that same worry in your eyes now.¡± Kassandra asked, her eyes turning serious behind the glass of her spectacles.

    I grimaced, but nodded in agreement with her statement. The fear had haunted the back of my mind ever since I¡¯d been intimate with Kassandra. I was just a transient in their world. I couldn¡¯t actually marry either of these two. Since my home was back on Earth, that limited how much I could interact with them.

    ¡°Then don¡¯t worry about that anymore.¡± Kassandra¡¯s statement pulled my attention back to her, and she was smiling again. ¡°I can guarantee you that my parents would never dare try to engage me without my consent. They know that is a terrible choice, and I would fight it with all my heart. Besides, women can inherit in the Queendom. I have many years left of fertility to produce heirs, and I think I know who would volunteer to help me if I had a need for that.¡± Kassandra¡¯s smile turned wicked, and I felt a blush creep onto my cheeks as she leaned closer. ¡°You are our Liam, and we are your girls. I am your Kassandra, and she¡¯s your Rieka. It doesn¡¯t need to be any more complicated than that. Not unless we want it to be.¡±

    I glanced over at Rieka when Kassandra indicated her, and the platinum-blonde wolf-woman nodded while blushing furiously. ¡°She¡¯s right, Liam. My mother has three heirs ahead of me in the line of succession. She already told me that I will not be called on for a political marriage. That''s why I wasn¡¯t worried about¡­ coupling with you the other day.¡± Rieka¡¯s blush grew even worse.

    ¡°My Rieka?¡± I asked gently, and she gave me a soft smile.

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m your Rieka. My Liam,¡± she murmured before burying her face in my neck.

    ¡°Good girl!¡± Kassandra chirped, making Rieka¡¯s body shudder slightly and her tail stiffen. I filed that reaction away in my head with a small smile before pressing a kiss to the edge of one of Rieka¡¯s ears.

    ¡°You both promise to tell me if I do anything that bothers you?¡± Rieka nodded in agreement with my statement, but Kassandra, my wonderful little Nugget, smirked broadly.

    ¡°As long as you tell us if you find another woman attractive. You are quite a vigorous lover, my Liam. With Rieka here to share the load it will help some, but you are going to need a few other distractions for us to point you at when we are tired.¡±

    ¡°Kass!¡± Rieka¡¯s protest was loud enough to echo off the buildings, and she immediately winced at the noise.

    ¡°What? It¡¯s true, I¡¯m sure you are still a bit bow-legged from yesterday, even after recuperating and the stretch from hiking back to town,¡± Kassandra teased devilishly. ¡°Not that I¡¯m complaining. I love it when Liam puts a kink in my tail. So very satisfying¡­¡± Kassandra let the sentence trail off with a cheerful hum before shaking herself once, like she was shaking water off. ¡°Anyway! Do not fret on all that, Liam. Your pillars are true and we will abide by them as long as you do the same. Just make sure you bring any new girls that catch your eye to us so that we can vet them first. None but the best for our Liam.¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­ none but the best.¡± I almost missed Rieka¡¯s murmured statement in the wake of Kassandra¡¯s, but the feeling of her breath on my neck tuned my ear to listen for her words.

    The idea that my girls might be okay with another joining their number in the intimacy side startled me, and also brought up a thought that made my stomach roll. After my statement about open communication, I knew that I needed to say it aloud. Otherwise, I was going to be the greatest of hypocrites.

    ¡°On that note, and in the spirit of communication I mentioned earlier, I¡­ uh¡­ I am not comfortable sharing you two with another man.¡± The words fell in a rush from my lips and I braced for their response.

    My girls¡¯ reactions startled me though. They didn¡¯t shout, complain, or even grump. I expected them to at least tease me.

    They burst into laughter.

    ¡°Liam¡­¡± Kassandra worked out between giggles. Her amusement made her coils tense around me rhythmically, but my increased fortitude ensured that the pressure didn¡¯t bother me. ¡°Oh Liam, you never need to worry about that. You are more than enough for me.¡±

    ¡°Seconded,¡± Rieka choked out between giggles. ¡°You see me as a person, rather than a princess. I¡¯ve been turning away courtiers for years now, because none of them could see past my rank. Why would I want to go back to those complications?¡±

    ¡°Because it¡¯s not fair to monopolize you two when you just said you were okay with another girl for me?¡± I didn¡¯t want to voice the question, but I had to have an answer to it.

    ¡°Because we are. Besides, we might also be interested in them too,¡± Kassandra continued to giggle, but threw in an eyebrow waggle alongside an exaggerated wink. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that, Liam. I personally have no problem agreeing with that condition.¡±

    ¡°Aye. Same for me,¡± Rieka said, coughing out the last few giggles. ¡°I never questioned it to begin with, which is why I laughed.¡±

    I gathered both of my girls tight to my chest in a hug that held all my love for them. Both girls cooed happily and burrowed into the hug, enjoying the closeness in that moment under the starry sky.

    Surprisingly, it was Kassandra who stirred first and gently pushed back from me after a handful of moments.

    ¡°We should get inside. I don¡¯t know about you two, but I¡¯m in dire need of a bed.¡± She shot me a devilish look full of desire before continuing. ¡°Also, I want my time with Liam. I¡¯ve been wet thinking about it since we agreed during dinner. And it''s been hard not showing it since I don¡¯t wear underwear.¡±

    The thought that my dwarf lamia sat pressed tight against me, only her short skirt preventing her bare body from pressing into my abdomen, immediately sent an emergency alert to divert blood to another appendage for active duty.

    ¡°Oh, I think he¡¯s excited by that, Kass,¡± Rieka laughed and I felt a hand grip the front of my pants and squeeze gently. ¡°Why don¡¯t you head up to your room and prepare while Liam walks me to my door for a goodnight kiss?¡±

    Grinning madly, Kassandra nodded so fast her curls bounced emphatically before unwinding from around me to drop to the ground. She slithered straight for the door to Rue House, only pausing long enough to shoot me a sultry look over her shoulder and lick her lips before ducking inside.

    ¡°Such a randy little thing,¡± Rieka chuckled before turning her attention back to me. ¡°Shall we head inside?¡±

    ¡°Milady,¡± I shifted to offer my arm to Rieka.

    ¡°Milord, thank you,¡± she replied, accepting my arm with an elaborate curtsy using an imaginary skirt.

    We walked in Kassandra¡¯s wake. But, by the time we got to the door of the dorm building, there was no sign of our redheaded companion. Kassandra had already made it up the stairs and to her room, it seemed.

    ¡°Ah, good, she¡¯s already out of sight,¡± Rieka breathed in relief. ¡°You mentioned before that you wanted honesty, Liam? I wanted to fill you in on her moment of temper earlier this evening.¡±

    I reflected for a moment, trying to remember Kassandra losing her temper. Then it came flooding back to me, when I had expressed surprise at her being the one tracking my funds. Apparently, Rieka was watching my face as I guided her up the stairs and nodded when she saw the realization in my eyes.

    ¡°Yes, that one. Kass comes from a merchant family, but many of the nobles look down on her for it. They don¡¯t think about the fact that her family received elevation because of those merchant connections. They just hound her about it.¡± She rolled her eyes in response to my amused look at her using ¡®hound¡¯ to describe her people. ¡°Shush you. Seriously, though, she is very proud of her merchant connections and knowledge, as well as her money management skills. It¡¯s one of the few sore spots she has, and she¡¯ll react even more negatively to one of us poking at it.¡±

    ¡°Got it. I didn¡¯t really have any issues with her managing the money, you know?¡± I replied as we reached Rieka¡¯s door and she fumbled in her pouch for the key.

    ¡°Oh? What was it then? You said that it surprised you,¡± Rieka asked distractedly while she got the large brass key slotted into the door.

    ¡°What surprised me was that she had the book detailing it on her at the time. It doesn¡¯t seem like something she would need to carry about with her.¡± I pushed the door open for Rieka, quickly scanning the room before guiding her inside and letting the door close behind us.

    ¡°Oh? Why didn¡¯t you say that?¡± Rieka tilted her head to one side curiously, causing her ears to flop over in their adorable manner.

    ¡°I panicked when she looked so upset, and my brain disconnected from my mouth,¡± I sighed, getting a giggle from my princess.

    ¡°Well, go make it up to her now. Put that ¡®kink¡¯ in her tail so she¡¯s satisfied. We can go have some fun tomorrow, sell off what we are able, and set you up with a real account with the Kintos bank to secure your coins. Just remember, you are mine tomorrow night.¡± Rieka¡¯s words tickled my face, her breath lightly scented with the fruity wine she had drank with dinner as she went in for a kiss.

    I didn¡¯t fight it, instead turning to pin her to the closed door and soundly kiss my princess back. Rieka let out a low groan into my mouth, clinging to me as her hips ground against my leg in response to my affections. We kissed several more times before she bodily pushed me back.

    ¡°Go to Kass! I don¡¯t want to get in trouble for stealing her turn, and if you keep doing that, I¡¯m going to,¡± Rieka protested weakly, her full chest heaving in the close fitting shirt.

    ¡°Okay, but one more mark for my princess first,¡± I murmured into her ear, sending a shiver through her entire body that was repeated when my lips met her neck. Rieka whined feebly and pawed at my shirt while I suckled and nipped at her throat, leaving a fresh bruise over top of the others for her. ¡°Until tomorrow, my Rieka,¡± I whispered in her ear. She nodded furiously before shoving me out the door and locking it behind me.

    Way too much fun to tease her, I thought with a smile, sauntering down to where I knew Kassandra¡¯s room was. I¡¯d only had to find it a few times, but I wouldn¡¯t forget after that first time having to carry her freezing body there to warm her.

    Finding the right door, I knocked lightly and heard a faint voice tell me to enter.

    Opening the door a crack, I slipped into the room and shut it behind me, then locked it. A moment later I heard a murmur from Kassandra before a light flashed dully in the room.

    ¡°There we go. Soundproofing spell in place, so I can be as loud as I want,¡± Kassandra said huskily from behind me.

    I turned to see her stretching languorously to lay her spell rod on the bedside table. My delicious and sweet Nugget was already stripped bare for me, sprawled across the soft coverlet of her bed with every one of her curves on display. A fire rumbled in the grate, sending a billow of warmth through the room and a flickering light dancing amongst her curls and over her shimmering scales as she lounged there naked.

    ¡°Are you coming to bed, my Liam?¡± Kassandra purred alluringly, cupping one breast in her palm and squeezing it. The motion sent alluring shadows rippling over her pale, freckled skin.

    ¡°Like you need to ask, my Kassandra,¡± I shot back and began peeling out of my clothes rapidly. Meanwhile, Kassandra let her hands drift lower to tease her body and my eyes.

 Chapter 76

    Waking up with Kassandra wrapped around me was always a comfortable sensation. Not just because of her wonderful body, or the fact that she usually sleeps in the nude. No, it¡¯s because of how close she cuddles in for warmth and the way her cool body happily acts as a heat sink to make sure we are both at a comfortable temperature.

    Normally, waking up is a slow process for me, one that I can savor and enjoy the moment on the border between sleep and reality.

    Even while we were camping, neither of the girls had wanted to rush getting up. I¡¯d lay there halfway between dreams and reality, letting my mind play over the events of the previous day and just enjoying the sensation of the softness pressed against me.

    This time, something new forced me from the sweet embrace of slumber, though.

    My right arm hummed sharply, like someone had pressed a vibrating phone to the back of my forearm.

    Blinking my eyes open in surprise, I stared up at the dimly lit ceiling of Kassandra¡¯s room for a moment before the sensation repeated. Looking to my right was impossible, as Kassandra sprawled across my chest using it as a pillow. Her mane of red curls were blocking the view of anything in that half of the room. I felt her coils tighten slightly around my waist in a slow pulse that matched her breathing.

    A third vibration was enough to push me out of my half-asleep daze and into enough wakefulness that I recognized the sensation. One of my bond-tattoos was vibrating, which meant one of my girls was trying to reach me with that new communication power. Since Kassandra was asleep on top of me ¡ª and drooling in a rather cute way ¡ª I knew it had to be Rieka.

    Shifting enough to get my left hand free, I pressed my fingertips to the tattoo as I had learned to in the past day, then I heard Rieka¡¯s voice in my mind.

    ¡°Liam, are you and Kassandra awake yet? The morning is already half over and we have a lot to do. Your princess is getting bored and lonely.¡± The message finished with a slight whining and affected a pitiful tone in her mental ¡®voice¡¯. Smiling, I sent a response using the same technique.

    ¡°The sleepy noodle has me pinned down right now. I¡¯ll see about waking her up so we can get about the day. Might be a minute to get her up, though. Love you, my Rieka.¡±

    Finishing my message back to Rieka, I glanced down at Kassandra where she slept so peacefully on top of me. I could feel the soft weight of her breasts pillowing on my chest as well, and I didn¡¯t want to give that up, but we had things to do.

    Brushing her hair back, I ran a fingertip over the curve of her ear, eliciting a happy murmur from the dwarf lamia.

    ¡°Kass,¡± I whispered her name gently. She groaned quietly, shifting on my chest. This made her close her mouth, and I heard a quiet smack as she licked her lips, then a grunt.

    ¡°Liam? Why are you covered in drool?¡±

    <><><>

    Finding out she was the source of the drool left Kassandra mortified. But, after I ¡®reassured¡¯ her a few times that her drooling on me did not bother me or change my opinion of just how attractive she was, she relaxed.

    As soon as we got dressed, I sent another message to Rieka, who joined us in Kassandra¡¯s apartments for a bit of planning before we headed back out of the dorm. The girls had to be a bit creative to get me out of there without arousing suspicion, but I think that they just enjoyed the romance inherent in the idea of having to sneak a lover out of your room.

    The walk to Kintos was a pleasant way to wake up. Rieka spent the first part teasing the still-sleepy Kassandra about working me too hard, and how they would have to make sure that I was well fed so I didn¡¯t lose weight. Kassandra finally riposted when she was awake enough with a comment about ensuring I was ¡®well restored¡¯ for my ¡®later duty¡¯ with Rieka.

    That made the platinum blonde blush furiously enough that the wolf-eared princess stopped teasing her friend. So I distracted them both with conversation and plans for what we needed to get done today.

    Our first stop was the Hunt and Trade Hall to close out the contracts that the girls had taken. Rieka added the handful of coins those jobs gave them to her pouch and it didn¡¯t feel like more than a drop in the well of what the girls had dragged out of the underground complex. I kept silent and made sure to pull the ¡®bored guard¡¯ routine so that no one questioned me.

    Once the girls finished turning in their quests, they immediately went over to the material trade counter and sold off a chunk of the crystals.

    They¡¯d explained on the walk in that if they dumped out the jars entirely, it would actually end up with a lower overall price as they would flood the market here in town.

    Rieka had portioned out about a tenth of each of the jars into pouches and they sold that for now, planning to trickle them in over the next few weeks. In addition, Rieka was due to travel to the capital to talk to her mother, the queen, and would sell any left over then. Again, the coins went into her pouch without a question to be divided later.

    After the Hunt and Trade hall, the girls immediately took me to the city center. From there, we went into a more affluent section of town where the houses had been constructed of carefully carved wood and whitewashed walls to ensure they were neat and tidy. The streets were clean, not heavily trafficked, and well maintained.

    My girls brought us to a stop in front of a solid-looking building constructed of granite with the symbol of a set of merchant¡¯s scales embossed on a massive brass disc over the door.

    ¡°The bank is a suitable spot to secure some of this for Liam. That way he doesn¡¯t have to come to one of us for money out of his account,¡± Kassandra was saying as we came to a stop in front of the building.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s necessary¡­¡± I started to say, but Rieka huffed cutely from her spot on my right and interrupted.

    During the time in town, she¡¯d stuck close to me with an arm through mine, letting me escort her like a lady should. Kassandra hadn¡¯t even bothered pouting this time, having gotten her share of affection from me that morning already.

    ¡°It is necessary, Liam. You are an equal part of our team, so you will get an equal share.¡± Rieka¡¯s tone was a bit acerbic now, and I knew I had to explain better.

    ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant, Rieka. I was just thinking that the bank is unnecessary. It isn¡¯t as if I can get here without one of you two summoning me. So keeping my coins separate from yours doesn¡¯t make sense. Besides, it¡¯s not like I need most of it.¡± I turned to look down at Kassandra, who had a thoughtful glint in her eyes. ¡°Also, if I leave it in your hands, then Kassandra can invest it for me. If you are willing, Nugget?¡±

    Kassandra¡¯s face split into a huge smile, and she threw herself at my waist. Thankfully, since she didn¡¯t have far to go to build momentum, she wasn¡¯t able to upset my balance. Instead, she just buried her face in my stomach and rubbed it back and forth rapidly while giggling.

    ¡°I¡¯d be happy to, Liam! Thank you for trusting me with this! I¡¯ll make sure that your funds grow!¡± Kassandra spoke in a rapid patter that was even more adorable because of her excitement.

    I breathed a silent sigh of relief while stroking her hair.

    After Rieka explained the reason for Kassandra¡¯s irritation the previous night, I¡¯d been trying to think of a way to make it up to her. A way that wasn¡¯t just applied in bed.

    I¡¯d hit on the idea of entrusting to her my spare funds ¡ª funds that I had no way of actually taking home with me ¡ª during our walk to town and I was glad it had worked.

    ¡°So then, do we need to stop here?¡± I asked when Kassandra had her fill of hugging my middle and had transitioned to instead teasing me by rubbing her supple chest against the front of my pants with a mischievous smile.

    ¡°Yes, actually. I wanted to exchange some of the larger coins we found. This is one of the routes I planned to sprinkle the ancient coins into the market,¡± Rieka said with an indulgent smile. ¡°Even if you plan on leaving your share of the proceeds in Kassandra¡¯s clutches, we need to actually get that share.¡±

    ¡°Lead on then, my princess,¡± I gestured towards the bank and she nodded with a smirk.

    The bank was surprisingly small. Only a trio of small stone desks set one to a wall and manned by dwarves. Guards stood two to a desk in full armor to ensure no funny business happened.

    It only took Rieka a few minutes to exchange several of the old coins, though it did end up with the bank manager coming out to speak to the princess.

    It was obvious that Rieka was uncomfortable dealing with the sweating, overweight bear-man, but she put on a professional mask of calm detachment while doing it. Only my close contact with her over the last months gave me the tells that showed she didn¡¯t like him.

    After the simpering manager made several attempts to entice Rieka into setting up investments with the bank, each politely rebuffed, we finally were able to get out of there. Apparently the only one that hadn¡¯t realized he was annoying her had been the manager. Even the desk worker was shooting their boss irritated looks by the time we left.

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯m glad I decided to not leave the money with him,¡± I said once we were out the door and in the bright light of the afternoon sun once more. ¡°I can¡¯t help but get the feeling that he¡¯s the sort to tack on extra costs and fees in contracts that are designed to line his own pockets.¡±

    ¡°Not all bankers are that bad, but he did feel like one of them. Probably used to the more ignorant young nobles that come to study at Juneau,¡± grumbled Rieka.

    The princess¡¯s grumpy mood faded rapidly when I slipped one hand up her back to lightly stroke the base of her ears, out of sight of the traffic on the road in front of us. She leaned into me slightly instead, a contented look on her face now.

    ¡°Anyway, let¡¯s get going. We need to get Liam new clothes and¡­¡± Kassandra chirped happily from her spot on the steps, but her sentence drifted off as she spotted something interesting.

    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    Following Kassandra¡¯s gaze, I found what she was looking at almost immediately. In fact, it was nearly impossible to miss the person in the crowd given their height and the vividly colorful wings that were folded carefully at her back.

    The woman stood nearly as tall as I did, if the way she towered over the other folks in the crowd was an indicator. She had a waterfall of rich, straight, brown hair that fell to her mid-back, shot through with hints of red and white to match the patterns on her delicate wings. A thick ruff of fluffy, white fur encircled her neck and wrists, accented with a dusting of red and brown in spots. Fuzzy, white antennae sprouted from her head and waved back and forth as she edged her way through the crowd, clutching a bundle to her full chest.

    While I watched her, the butterfly wings folded neatly at her back fluttered, displaying prominent ¡®eye¡¯ patterns on them along with stripes of the red, white, and brown color that her hair followed. She wore a simple brown dress that hung from strong shoulders I expected were necessary for her wings and ran down to cling to her full hips before stopping just below her knees.

    ¡°That¡¯s Shayla! We should go say hello since she¡¯s not in her studio at the moment. Come on!¡± Kassandra crowed and hurried forward at a rapid slither.

    Rieka let out a small laugh and moved in pursuit of her friend, her tail bouncing happily. I fell in behind them without a question, keeping my eyes on the crowd.

    Kassandra, for all her smaller height, blazed a path through the thin crowd that wasn¡¯t hard to follow. I arrived just as my redheaded noodle was greeting the much larger woman.

    ¡°Shayla! It¡¯s good to see you. How are you doing today?¡± Kassandra came to a stop a few feet from the larger woman, who blinked down at Kassandra with a hesitant expression that slowly grew into a soft smile on her full lips.

    ¡°Good morning to you, Lady Silverscale, Princess Coldeye,¡± the big woman¡¯s voice was velvety and soft, just as her ruff of fur looked. ¡°I hope your day is going well? I was just picking up some fresh supplies. I¡¯d been running low on a few of my paints and needed to pick up some different paper for a project I was working on.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s wonderful! I can¡¯t wait to see your next finished piece, Shayla. I know that mother has been wanting to purchase some more landscapes, I was hoping to give her one of your pieces for her birthday this year,¡± Rieka added, pointedly avoiding the stiff and stilted persona she¡¯d used when dealing with the bank manager.

    The winged woman blushed sharply, her large eyes blinking rapidly as she bit her bottom lip. I tried not to stare when I realized that, unlike the girls, Shayla had no iris or pupils. Her eyes were entirely black orbs, though I thought I saw a shifting sclera inside those orbs as she glanced between them and then up at me hesitantly. Her shoulders hunched slightly in concern before she responded.

    ¡°I¡¯d be happy to sell you one of my pieces, Princess Coldeye. I don¡¯t think I have one on hand that deserves to hang in the Queen¡¯s halls though¡­¡±

    ¡°Nonsense. Any of your paintings would hang beautifully in the palace,¡± Rieka dismissed with a gentle and reassuring smile. ¡°We have a few months, though, so there is time. Especially if you have one in mind that you want to work on. Don¡¯t feel pressured. I want your art to shine through on it.¡±

    I listened to the conversation silently, keeping watch as the three girls talked. Shayla was exceedingly shy, her wings occasionally flaring slightly like they were going to wrap around her shoulders as she hunched them, but she responded easily to the questions that my girls asked her. The bundle of supplies she held to her chest pressed on her full breasts and made the large orbs swell out to either side alluringly.

    Is it weird that I find this butterfly¡­ no moth? Yes, those cuffs look like a fuzzy moth¡¯s fur. So moth-woman. Is it weird I find her so attractive? I thought while they talked. A quick glance at the serpentine coils and furred ears of my other two lovers made me roll my eyes. No more weird than my other attractions.

    Kassandra had apparently noticed the occasional darting glances that Shayla spared me while they talked and turned towards me with a broad smile.

    ¡°Excuse my manners, Shayla. And please, stop calling me ¡®Miss Silverscale¡¯. I¡¯ve told you a dozen times to just call me Kass.¡±

    ¡°It would be inappropriate of me to do so, given your standing,¡± Shayla protested quietly, but Kassandra did not respond to that. Instead, my serpentine lover held a hand out to me.

    ¡°This is Rieka''s and my guardian, Liam the Traveler. You might have heard about the disaster that befell at the beginning of the semester, about the summoning that nearly went awry? Liam was the one who responded to it and thankfully was not nearly as bloodthirsty as some of the creatures that might have come. He¡¯s since acquitted himself wonderfully as a protector. Liam, this is Shayla Valo, artist and our fellow student.¡± Following Kassandra¡¯s glowing introduction, I stepped up and gave the tall moth-woman a bow.

    Hesitantly, Shayla offered me her hand, but had it oriented like she would for a handshake.

    Remembering how I had bonded with the girls initially, I gently took her hand and turned it to brush a kiss across her knuckles. Shayla immediately burst into a crimson flush that would have put the worst of Rieka¡¯s blushes to shame, but she did not yank her hand back.

    ¡°Pleasure to meet you, Miss Shayla,¡± I said gently, stepping back to not crowd her.

    I could easily tell the woman was shy and reserved, so I made sure to meet her strange eyes rather than stare at her body. I didn¡¯t find their black depths disturbing, they actually felt comforting, like the dim shadows of a comfortable bedroom as you drift off to sleep.

    ¡°Ah¡­ yes¡­ pleasure,¡± stuttered the woman, her wings fluttering briefly behind her.

    ¡°So, Shayla?¡± Kassandra¡¯s words brought the moth-woman¡¯s attention back to her. ¡°If you were free, we were going to go to the tailors to see about getting Liam some better clothes. The poor man is hard on his things, given his earnest work as our guardian, so we needed to get some more for him after spending the last week in the hills for an extended training trip. Would you like to come with us? We would appreciate your eye for color, and it would be good to get to know a classmate better.¡±

    Shayla gave Kassandra a wide-eyed look of concern before her eyes darted to Rieka, who gave her a reassuring smile. Those black orbs settled on me once more and softened slightly, the blush that had faded from her cheeks returning just slightly to pink the pale flesh. She bit her bottom lip once more for a moment before nodding, making her antennae bounce just slightly as they waved back and forth slowly over her head.

    ¡°I¡­ I do not know how much help I might be. But, if you do not mind, then I would be happy to accompany two of my classmates. As long as the Lord Traveler does not mind?¡± she directed the last part to me, worry etching her features suddenly.

    ¡°Not at all, and it¡¯s just Liam. Please?¡± I gave her my best smile, which drew a return one to her lips a moment later. That smile was like the sun rising. It washed away her concern and fear, leaving only happiness on her rounded face.

    ¡°Well then! Let¡¯s make our way to the tailors then. Liam, would you be so kind as to escort Shayla while I have a word with Kass?¡± Rieka¡¯s words were reassuring and her smile just as genuine as before, though I could see the amusement in the way her tail danced behind her.

    She¡¯s got no chance of hiding her mood around me at this point, I thought with a smirk. Her tells are way too easy.

    To Shayla, I offered my left arm with a part bow.

    ¡°Miss Shayla? Shall we? I would offer to carry your package for you as well, if you wish?¡±

    ¡°Oh no, I have it. Please do not worry about it. I wouldn¡¯t want it in your way if you had to do something¡­ Liam,¡± she said in a rush, only hesitating before saying my name, but still staring at my elbow in surprise.

    Bowing my head slightly in agreement, I offered her my left elbow again. Shayla bit her lip again for a moment before sidling up next to me and slipping her right arm into the crook of my left elbow, a faint blush pinking her cheeks.

    Rieka and Kassandra were smiling now and turned to lead the way to the tailors with me right behind them, towing a blushing moth woman along at my side.

    <><><>

    Shayla was quiet for the entire walk and during most of the time at the tailors. She only spoke up when we directed a question at her and spent most of her time silently observing our group.

    It wasn¡¯t until we¡¯d gone through the loose, heavy-duty clothing that was the bulk of my wardrobe that she spoke up finally and helped the girls pick out matching colors and embroidery accents that she thought would go well with my natural colors.

    Apparently, she believed I favored yellows and brick reds due to my ruddy skin tone. This amused Kassandra, as the colors almost perfectly matched the red in her scales.

    Thankfully, the bulk of my new clothes were pre-made as the tailor kept a large supply on hand for the city¡¯s working class, so I only had to deal with being fitted for four sets of shirts and pants.

    While my girls settled the payment with the clerk, Shayla turned her attention to me and asked her first direct question of the day.

    ¡°Liam? I know it is rude to ask, but what are you? I¡¯ve been puzzling over it for some time now. Lady Silverscale introduced you as a Traveler, but I¡¯ve never heard of that race.¡±

    ¡°Kass did introduce me that way,¡± I replied with a slight smile, reminding her of Kassandra¡¯s request to not use her title. Shayla blushed slightly and nodded.

    ¡°Yes, Kassandra did say that. I was just¡­ well, curious about it. Moth kin like myself are rare this far north, so I¡¯m more aware of others that do not fit in. I¡¯ve never seen someone like you. I thought you were an elf at first, but your ears do not come to a point at all. I am sorry if it is rude to ask.¡± Shayla immediately began to retreat into herself when the thought occurred to her and I didn¡¯t immediately answer the question.

    ¡°No, no. It¡¯s not rude. I was just trying to figure out how to respond,¡± I reassured her, and she nodded.

    The moth woman had stuck close to me the entire time we were in the tailor¡¯s shop, only separating long enough for me to slip inside the changing room to try on something, or when I had to stand up on the podium to be fitted. Even now she stood only a few inches away from me, the only thing between us being our clothes, her package of art supplies, and about four inches of empty air.

    ¡°If you do not want to answer¡­¡± Shayla¡¯s antennae drooped slightly as she let the sentence trail off.

    I¡¯d noticed that her antennae were as good of a barometer for her mood as Rieka¡¯s tail was, so I responded quickly to try to bring her mood up.

    ¡°What I am has a bit of a poor reputation. But understand, I¡¯m not dangerous to you. Rieka and Kass have bonded with me and we have worked together for months now, and nothing has harmed them, either. Okay?¡± Shayla nodded in understanding, her deep black eyes shifting slightly as curiosity flowed from her posture.

    ¡°I¡¯m a human.¡±

    Given the reaction that the girls had exhibited when I told them, as well as their classmates had shown, I expected a rather emphatic reaction from the reserved woman in front of me. Shayla did not disappoint, though it wasn¡¯t quite the way I had expected it to be.

    Shayla¡¯s eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. With a rustling snap, her wings flared wide to either side, displaying the eye-pattern on their surface for just a moment before she swallowed and, with an obvious effort of will, forced them down to her back once more. Her antenna, which normally swayed slightly and wiggled just a bit, went stiff before drooping down in front of her face like they were reaching towards me.

    But she didn¡¯t scream, step back, or even show genuine fear beyond the brief moment. So that was a bonus in my book.

    ¡°A human?¡± Shayla¡¯s voice was low and full of wonder.

    ¡°I¡¯m not a local, though,¡± I explained gently. ¡°So the legends of humans in this world don¡¯t really apply to me. I have my own set of powers, and I act as a guardian and protector for Kassandra and Rieka. As well as a class project for their summoning course,¡± I said the last bit with a brief laugh, which got a smile from Shayla.

    ¡°That is¡­ fascinating,¡± Shayla breathed, stepping a bit closer to me.

    I didn¡¯t retreat, letting her study me carefully. Her antennae swept low and one actually bopped me lightly on the forehead, but I didn¡¯t flinch. Shayla stiffened instead and stepped back twice to put some space between us.

    ¡°I am so sorry. That was very rude of me.¡±

    ¡°What? Booping me with your antennae?¡± I said with a chuckle, which reassured the large woman some. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I don¡¯t mind. I know moths use their antennae to sense their surroundings, so I figure it was just you getting a feel for me. Seriously, don¡¯t worry about it, Shayla. I haven¡¯t known you for long, but I already think of you as a friend.¡±

    ¡°A friend?¡± The plaintive tone in her voice at that suggestion tugged at my heart, and I knew that I was already in trouble. This girl was just too sweet and kind.

    Glancing over my shoulder, I saw smiles on both Kassandra and Rieka¡¯s faces as they packed up the purchases we¡¯d made into Rieka¡¯s dimensional pouch.

    I gave them a brief nod in agreement and got wide grins back. From the sparkle in Kassandra¡¯s eyes, I knew my dwarf lamia already had plans to fold Shayla into our group if she could.

    Didn¡¯t Kass say that Shayla has light magic, too? I thought, turning back to smile at the moth woman, who had been studying me intently once more and blushed when she realized I¡¯d caught her staring. That¡¯ll be interesting to see.

 Chapter 77

    Once the girls finished dealing with my clothing purchases, we took the time to just have some fun. Walking in town, eating from the food stalls in the market, and just enjoying the day.

    Shayla tried to beg off as soon as we were done with my clothes, but Kassandra, being her pushy self, refused to let the much larger woman escape just yet. Instead, she insisted that Shayla join us for food at the very least.

    Rieka helped her friend by drawing Shayla into a discussion about what art pieces she was working on currently, which drew the quiet woman further out of her shell and distracted her while Kassandra got us moving.

    The entire time, Shayla stayed close to me, usually on my right side. Rieka walked on her right, while Kassandra led us to the food stalls.

    Out of habit from spending time around Rieka, I had offered Shayla my arm, which she took shyly while we walked the streets.

    For all her size, the winged woman did not have an assertive personality. I had a feeling that she would be the kind of person to detour onto different streets to avoid crowds entirely. But with Rieka and me bracketing her, and Kassandra often doing her impression of a tiny icebreaker ship for the crowd, she relaxed a fair bit.

    When it came to food, it turned out that Shayla¡¯s people preferred fruit over anything else. So Kassandra guided us to another of her little stalls that she knew of who sold fruit that was diced and grilled, before being returned to the halved rind as a disposable bowl.

    The sweet-smelling fruit looked somewhat like a halved pineapple in shape, but the flesh of the fruit was an electric green. While grilling, the vendor had tossed it with some coarse salt, and the addition actually increased the sweetness of the fruit. The mixture tasted somewhat like a cross between mango and pineapple, and all four of us fell on it with gusto.

    While we ate, I caught Shayla watching me out of the corner of her eye. She was subtle about it with her gazes and the lack of pupils in her dark eyes made it hard to tell where she was looking.

    However, her antennae gave her away.

    The fuzzy appendages would shift slightly in the direction she was looking, and that cue was easy to pick up. Her studying looks didn¡¯t bother me, so I didn¡¯t call her on it.

    I¡¯m sure she¡¯s probably still nervous about being around a human. Or at the very least, curious. I know the girls were, and still are, I thought, remembering all the information we¡¯d gathered in the ruins over the last week.

    After we finished the food, we made a stop at the fountain to wash sticky hands.

    While she washed her hands, Kassandra made a point of extracting a promise to meet with Shayla to help her study during the next week. The shy moth woman readily agreed, a gentle smile lighting up her features when Rieka said she¡¯d tag along as well to get caught up on a report she had to write for one of her classes.

    When we bid Shayla goodbye, the girls immediately fell to a whispered conversation with each other before shooting me bright grins.

    ¡°Proud of you, Liam!¡± Kassandra chirped, slithering around to cuddle up against my left side. Rieka stepped up to my right to stand on tiptoes and pressed a chaste kiss to my cheek.

    ¡°Agreed. You did a great job putting Shayla at ease. Kass and I will talk to her about possibly forging a bond with you in the next few days. We will get in touch with you once we know more,¡± Rieka said as she rocked back onto her heels, one hand coming to rest on my right forearm.

    ¡°Project Expand the Team is a go!¡± Kassandra cheered, bouncing in place cutely before tugging on my hand. ¡°Shayla¡¯s family may not be nobility or excessively wealthy, but she¡¯s not poor either. Her art is growing in popularity as well, and I¡¯m sure that with a third person to work with, you will get summoned more often, earn more, and get stronger! Plus, if we keep you here often enough, you wouldn¡¯t need to worry about your living situation back home.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s going to work the way you think it will, Kass. But I appreciate the thought,¡± I murmured to her.

    Shifting, I brought Rieka¡¯s hand on my arm up so I could press a kiss to her knuckles, getting a blush from my platinum-blonde princess. I then turned and squatted down so I was on Kassandra¡¯s level. She didn¡¯t hesitate, throwing her arms around my neck and yanking me into an enthusiastic kiss right there on the side of the street.

    ¡°Kass! Stop making a scene.¡± Rieka protested, her voice a bit high as she swatted at my back for some reason, rather than Kassandra.

    After a minute, Kassandra released me from the kiss and shot a grin over my shoulder at Rieka.

    ¡°I¡¯m just warming him up for you, Rieka. It¡¯s only noon, and, while you have dibs on him for tonight, that doesn¡¯t mean I can¡¯t¡­ encourage our Liam to perform his best.¡± The wiggling of her slim eyebrows made sure there was no doubt in the innuendo Kassandra was liberally applying.

    I felt a chill run down my spine at the implication that Kassandra was going to wind me up for the rest of the afternoon now.

    I expected my sweet, shy, and loving Rieka to come to my rescue. To protest the lewd implications or insist that Kassandra be nice. But when the silence dragged on, I twisted my head to look over my shoulder at her.

    My princess was biting her lip hard, eyes wide and a blush gracing her cheeks, but her tail was whipping up a storm behind her.

    Oh, no¡­ I thought as my eyes locked with Rieka¡¯s ice-blue ones and the blush darkened on her cheeks. I swore I could see her nipples harden through the material of her top. I¡¯m toast¡­

    <><><>

    The girls made good on their threat. We spent the next four hours wandering through town and they would take it in turns to tease me in various ways.

    Kassandra would sneak a caress in when no one was looking, bend over to ensure I got a view down her shirt, and twice while we were out of sight of others, she¡¯d flipped her skirt at me to show off her precious place.

    Rieka was just as bad as Kassandra, though not as bold. She would back into me, bend over in front of me, and if the opportunity presented itself, press her breasts into me from all angles. I learned very quickly that I wasn¡¯t seeing things earlier. Her nipples dug hard points into me every time she pressed her breasts into my back or hugged my arm to her chest.

    Given that the teasing was harmless to everything besides my libido, I did my best to put up with it and resist the urge to just drag one of them into an out of the way spot for some relief.

    I did fight back against Rieka, at least. A caress of Rieka¡¯s backside or tail, a kiss to her ear, or an innuendo whispered while she was facing away. They all worked to stoke her arousal even higher and occasionally distracted her from tormenting me.

    I didn¡¯t dare fire back at Kassandra, though.

    The last thing I needed was my mischievous Nugget getting aroused enough to lose her inhibitions. I think she knew my hesitations, and capitalized on them to walk the line of what was appropriate.

    When we finally headed back to Juneau from Kintos, it took four times as long as our trip that morning. The girls kept dragging me off the road for a quick make-out session in the nearby trees.

    While Rieka kissed me and ran her hands over my chest, Kassandra would rub me through my pants, but neither took it far enough to actually get me off.

    By the time we got back to the campus and up to their rooms, I was just about limping from blue-balls and Rieka was very aware that she was going to have to work quickly to ward her room for silence when we got up there. I had no intention of giving her very long after what she and Kassandra had put me through.

    ¡°Have fun you two! And if you wear her out, Liam? Just give me a call and I¡¯ll be happy to take over,¡± Kassandra teased quietly as she peeled off to head to her room.

    I grimaced and rolled my eyes at Kassandra, but she just made a shushing motion with one hand while her eyes danced wickedly. We had to be quiet and do our best to be appropriate, as there were other students in the common space on the first floor of the dorm.

    Rieka growled after her friend before towing me towards her room, her tail waving furiously and the scent of her arousal hanging thick in the air. Her natural scent of ozone and herbal soap covered most of it, but I could detect the faint hint of feminine musk in the air as I followed in her wake.

    Opening her door, Rieka dodged to one side as I followed her in and slammed it behind her.

    A flick of her wrist brought up her spell rod, and Rieka was already casting as I threw my clothes off. She finished the silencing spell on the walls as I finished stripping, and barely got the contraceptive charm on herself before I had her pressed to the door.

    ¡°Do you care about these clothes?¡± I growled as I planted sucking kisses on my princess¡¯s neck. Rieka moaned a denial, her spell rod clattering to the ground as I hiked her up, her legs going around my waist. ¡°Good, you are going to pay for winding me up earlier.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to it, my Liam,¡± Rieka panted, her eyes wide with desire as claws sprouted from my fingertips to shred her clothes. Leaving her beautiful body bare to my ravenous attention.

    <><><>

    Returning home the next day was hard. The idea of having to go back to my normal, boring life sucked after the whirlwind of adventure and affection that I¡¯d enjoyed with my girls over the previous week. But I knew that I needed to get a start on a few of my ideas.

    While I¡¯d been laying there with Rieka the night before, resting between bouts of lovemaking, we¡¯d talked over a few suggestions she had for ways I could employ my powers in more subtle fashion to earn a living.

    Rieka had hit on the idea of using earth magic spells to shape the landscape like I had during the camping trip, and how I might use that as a craft.

    I¡¯d also had the idea of using my stone-shaping ability to clean or mend cracked foundations or streets. I just needed to do the research to see what establishing a business doing that would require for either idea.

    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    The other reason I needed to head home was that I realized my girls were just too distracting for me. I happily spent every moment I could with them, either just cuddling, talking, or just being near them. It was the thought that, in the last two days since I¡¯d brought the girls home, I hadn¡¯t even looked at my abilities or considered how I would spend the windfall of points I¡¯d earned during this mission that triggered it.

    So, after spending the morning nursing Rieka¡¯s poor hips back into a functional state to support her walking, I parted ways with my girls.

    Rieka and Kassandra bid me farewell with several long kisses and sent me home a few hours early so I could get a start on my search for work, and so they could actually focus on catching up on what classes they had missed.

    The sensation of racing through time and space, like I sat strapped into a roller-coaster traveling through a wormhole, was familiar and actually reassuring now. I didn¡¯t try to focus on the images and colors racing past me, just allowing them to wash over me and flow away.

    I caught sight of a high mountain scarred from the impact of something large, another vast city of soaring towers, and then a rippling ocean where something large swam beneath the surface. All before whatever force it was the System used to guide my transfer gently deposited me on the stained carpet of my apartment.

    Taking in a deep breath, I couldn¡¯t help the disappointed sigh.

    Even inside, I could smell the faint stink of exhaust and weed smoke from my neighbors despite not leaving windows open.

    Faintly, I could hear Alex Trebek¡¯s voice through the walls, letting me know that Mrs. Kowalski was up across the hall and watching her show like always. I could hear my neighbors on the right arguing through the wall again, but it was just a quiet rumble of conversation punctuated by the occasional yell. Again, business as usual.

    ¡°Home sweet home,¡± I grunted before walking over to pick up my phone.

    I had a handful of messages from different people, but the majority of them were from Jameson, just checking on me and seeing how things were going.

    I fired off a general response to him, to let him know that I was back from camping and hanging around the house so we could catch up.

    Checking my voice mails, I found three waiting for me, two of them from Jameson complaining about me being able to go camping for a week while he was stuck at work. Apparently, he¡¯d called when I hadn¡¯t responded to the texts and gotten my message about being out of town.

    The last message was from Geoff, a co-worker at my, now former, job.

    I listened to the message three times, my smile getting wider and wider as I listened to it repeat.

    Hey Liam, wanted to drop you a line and wish you well on searching for a new gig. If you need a recommendation, I got a brother who works as a general handyman, if you have any skills like that. Most importantly, though, I thought you should know that Karma decided to give Dutcher a kick in the balls. After you left, Dutcher tried to shift the shit onto the other loaders and they told him to sit and spin. I guess you standing up to the fat idiot reminded everyone that we don¡¯t have to put up with him. HR just ¡®happened¡¯ to hear about the entire event and what caused it, and that got bucked up the chain. Word is that he¡¯s getting busted down to a desk at the very least, if not getting the boot for violating HR policies about leave. Anyway, let me know if you want me to put you in connection with my brother. Have a good one!

    ¡°Couldn¡¯t have happened to a better asshole,¡± I mumbled, crossing the room to settle onto my battered couch with a sigh. ¡°Wonder about that suggestion, though. If Geoff¡¯s brother has something I could do on contract¡­¡±

    I toyed with the idea for a bit. With the ability to mold earth and stone like clay, doing things like mending a driveway, fixing a cracked foundation, or patching a leaky pool would be relatively easy. The issue would be doing it without being seen.

    While I thought, I fell back into the idle habit I¡¯d built up in the days before my camping trip. Shape-Shifting stretched my limbs out, and I began rearranging things on the shelves, dusting, and making sure everything was where I¡¯d wanted it without leaving the couch.

    It was while I was watching some of the disturbed dust motes float through a beam of early afternoon sunlight that I had an idea.

    Retracting my shifted arms and returning them to normal, I focused intently on the dust motes floating through the air.

    I knew from high-school science that dust wasn¡¯t just made up of dirt, but also things like dead skin cells and hair. But that wasn¡¯t what mattered at the moment.

    Focusing intently on the drifting motes of dust, I reached into my chest and tapped into the mana and the very basic Manipulate Element power I had that focused on earth.

    Spreading the power out, I did exactly what I would do when shaping the ground under a campsite. But, rather than flatten it, I tugged at the earth like I was going to form it into an attack.

    A cloud of gray and brown dust erupted from the carpet and furniture all around me like it was metal filings and someone had just powered on a massive electromagnet.

    Half a second later, a sphere the size of a golf-ball made of compacted earth landed in my palm and I studied it. The smooth ball of dirt held together without a problem, my power having compacted it to a near rock-like density.

    Glancing around, I studied the room. The majority of the dust was gone, and my carpet was several shades lighter now too, looking like I had recently shampooed it even.

    ¡°There¡¯s an idea,¡± I mumbled, tossing the sphere of compacted dust from hand to hand while leaning back onto the couch. ¡°Multidimensional Janitor wouldn¡¯t be a poor job, right?¡±

    Suppressing a snigger, I closed my eyes to look over my interface to see what that had cost me in terms of mana.

    The pool of ten mana that I had was only down by a single point, sitting at nine out of ten currently.

    Efficient, I thought idly. I filed the idea away for further study when the large number in my ¡®available SP¡¯ slot drew my attention once more.

    ¡°Better get those done now, since it¡¯s what I told the girls I was doing,¡± I mumbled and looked over the sheet that detailed my stats.

    Name - Liam Cosgrave

    Strength - 30

    Agility - 22

    Fortitude - 32

    Willpower - 30

    Mental Acuity - 28

    Wisdom - 27

    Powers Acquired -

    Shape-Shifting (Minor) [Mastery 1000/1000]

    Shape-Shifting (Lesser) [Mastery 1000/1000]

    Shape-Shifting (Moderate) [Mastery 740/1000]

    Shape-Shifting (Mass Control)

    Enhance Self (Minor) [Mastered]

    Enhance Self (Lesser) [+10 Willpower, Mental Acuity, Wisdom, Strength, Fortitude, +5 Agility]

    Manipulate Element (Minor) - (Earth) [Mastery 1000/1000]

    Mana Reservoir (Minor) [Mastery 1000/1000]

    Contact Contracted Companion [Mastery 15/1000]

    ¡°Not bad,¡± I muttered, studying the list again. Shape-Shifting (Moderate) was climbing slowly but steadily towards mastery.

    After my spending spree before with the personal quests and the award for completing the long mission, I had three-thousand, one-hundred and twenty SP to spend now.

    I eyeballed the new powers that had come up again. Mana Reservoir (Lesser), Drain Reservoir, and Empower Reservoir all had a lot of potential, but even one would take most of my reserve of points.

    ¡°The idea of being able to just¡­ pump mana into the girls¡¯ spent coins to regenerate them is very tempting. But without expanding the reservoir it¡¯s not a lot of effect I can make. And it all depends on how long it takes since Empower Reservoir states the mana will regenerate slower¡­¡±

    The ten mana that I had wasn¡¯t enough to do much, but depending on how fast it regenerated, I could at least help defray my summoning costs while I was over there. Especially since the Manipulate Element thing was just a supplement for me.

    Amusing how it¡¯s likely that the supplemental power is the one that is likely to be the most useful for me to earn money with right now. I could use the Shape-Shifting to do a lot of stuff, like be a bail-bondsman or something if I needed to hunt folks down. It¡¯s not like I can just produce resources¡­

    The thought petered out after a moment as I considered it. There were a number of different animals that produced items of value. A thought made the hair on the back of my arm ripple and turn white before growing wooly.

    ¡°All natural, ethically sourced human-llama wool,¡± I muttered with a smirk before reverting the change. ¡°Naw, that wouldn¡¯t work. I still have to have something to shift, and I doubt wool would be valuable enough to solve the problem.¡± Sighing, I leaned back on the couch and idly flicked through my options again.

    I knew I could likely get some money using the earth magic to clean, and I had options for general labor that would work. My mind kept coming back to finding some way to use Shape-Shifting to acquire a resource of some kind.

    Flipping through the abilities again, my eyes landed on the Enhance Self (Moderate) ability that had popped up quite a while ago. I hadn¡¯t really looked at it since then, so I read over it once more.

    Enhance Self (Moderate) - Cost: 250 SP - Increase personal stats by 20 points, can be spread out. Up to a maximum of Fifty points per stat beyond (Lesser) effects.

    May be selected multiple times. If the previous tier was not fully exploited, that opportunity is not lost. Previous tier will become unavailable once max points are allotted from it.

    My mind flitted back to my initial issues with getting creative regarding Shape-Shifting. The first thing I¡¯d enhanced was my mental stats, and they¡¯d helped me come up with creative ways to use the powers.

    Flipping back to the other abilities, I made a mental note to save some of the points for testing other ideas before selecting Enhance Self (Moderate) six times.

    With the one-hundred and twenty points now available to spend buffing my stats, I considered my sheet.

    Before, the most I¡¯d been able to add to a single stat was ten points. I was about to massively boost some of my stats. My already higher than normal mental acuity was telling me that it would be better to spread the points around than dump them into one stat. I vaguely remembered Cariad warning me not to boost stats too quickly either, but I shrugged it off for now.

    With a sigh, I flipped back to the powers and spent the last fifty SP to finish out Enhance Self (Lesser) and slotted that five points into my agility.

    There, I finished that power off. Now I can focus on the others. I thought with a sigh, holding off on hitting the ¡®apply¡¯ that would actually put the change into effect just yet. I debated again for a long moment, considering if this was a good idea.

    Realizing I was stalling, I just gritted my teeth and dumped forty points into each of my mental stats. This doubled to tripled their scores in the course of a second and I hammered the ¡®accept changes¡¯ option.

    My vision flickered and the block of stats updated.

    Name - Liam Cosgrave

    Strength - 30

    Agility - 27

    Fortitude - 32

    Willpower - 70

    Mental Acuity - 68

    Wisdom - 67

    ¡°Probably going to regret this¡­¡± I mumbled as I felt a pressure beginning to build in my skull.

    As if it had been waiting for me to say something, the edges of my vision flashed red and a message blazed into view.

    Processing changes¡­ ¡­ ¡­

    Maximum effect of Enhance Self (Lesser) has been applied.

    This ability is now considered mastered. If the Traveler wishes to further enhance themselves, refer to the next rank in skill.

    Changes applied to Traveler¡¯s body. New neural pathways are being forged.

    It is recommended that the Traveler rests to allow System time to make changes.

    WARNING

    Traveler has drastically enhanced several of their base stats at once, System adjusting to compensate.

    Compensating¡­

    Traveler will be placed into unconsciousness to prevent injury while System handles major adjustments.

    Standby, Traveler.

    ¡°Shit, knew it,¡± was all I managed to get out before my vision went black.

 Chapter 78

    In the darkness of my own mind, I spun in a slow circle without having to move. It was like being trapped in a pitch-black whirlpool, but never being sucked down into the dark water.

    Images played out in strange colors that were both dark and glowing at the same time.

    Fights that I¡¯d gone through, challenges that I and the girls had overcome.

    How close I¡¯d been to dying several times already.

    The kobold ambush, the flame serpents, the kidnappers who had been after Rieka, the crag hunter, everything to do with the underground complex.

    I heard something skittering in the darkness behind me and felt my heart lurch. The sound was familiar, talons on stone, and I lashed out with my right arm on instinct before I even turned.

    My right arm shifted to the same bony club held folded tight to my forearm as I turned, but my upper arm elongated, gaining the segmented look of a scorpion¡¯s tail and adding six feet to its length. A spike like the stinger at the end of that tail sprouted from the front of the bony club as the limb lashed out, venom already flowing.

    A crash and squeal of pain, then skittering again sounded, this time retreating.

    The whirlpool that had been calmly spinning me faded, and I was standing alone in the dark now. I needed light, something to shatter this absolute black.

    Animals that hunt in the absolute dark¡­

    The thought flowed past me like oozing honey. A moment later, my forehead began to glow a dull green. I didn¡¯t look up at it, not wanting to blind myself, but I knew what it was.

    A glowing orb sat at the end of a short antenna, like an abbreviated version of an anglerfish lure. It didn¡¯t shed a ton of light, but enough that I could tell I was in a familiar stone room. The floor had broken stone scattered over it, with faint lines drawn on the ground.

    The scampering noise came again, this time to my right, and I lashed out again with my hammer-tail arm.

    No yelp of pain came this time, but the blow threw my balance off enough that I stumbled. The glowing light hanging from my head sent shimmering illumination over a pool of blood nearby.

    I felt a chill race up my spine as I saw that red fluid, and I took another step. I knew what I was about to see. I didn¡¯t want to give it space in my mind, but I couldn¡¯t look away. So I tried to steel my heart, to resist the horror of what I prayed was just a nightmare.

    My resolve lasted for about two seconds when I saw the mess of red hair intermingled with a blood-stained, fluffy white tail.

    And nothing else but blood.

    Screaming echoed in the darkness, and my form flowed and changed. At first I thought it was the girls, or the monster, screaming. Then I recognized my voice in the echoes and realized it was only me screaming, but with a dozen mouths.

    Claws raked through stone while stinging tails sprouted from various parts of my body as I thrashed through the darkness, looking for the threat that had taken from me the only things I cared about anymore.

    I found it hiding along the ceiling on the far side of the room, venom oozing from a weeping injury in the sack-like monster¡¯s side as it tried desperately to stay out of my reach.

    A dozen arms ending in snapping mouths tore the creature down from the wall and pinned it before a hundred porcupine quills as thick as spears pierced it.

    The monster screamed in pain as it bled.

    I screamed in pain as its corrosive blood ate away at my body.

    But I continued to pummel, shred, and destroy this threat until I could barely heft the smoking stumps of my two arms, the others having melted away in the bloody carcass.

    Pain buzzed in both of them, but in my right arm the most. A buzzing, vibrating sensation that went beyond the searing of my corroded body, so strange that it overrode my pain response because¡­ it felt like the vibration of a cell phone.

    Like my bond tattoos would do if the girls were messaging me.

    The darkness fled at that realization, flowing away like spilled ink before a river. The world blurred around me before settling once more into my apartment, lit by the dim rays of the morning sun.

    Blinking owlishly, I stared at the faded stucco wall across from my couch.

    A brief flexing of my arms revealed that I was whole once more.

    Thankfully, my flailing in what I was now understanding was a dream had not transferred into the waking world.

    Last thing I need is to trash this shithole apartment and get the cops called for a domestic disturbance, I thought with a sigh, wincing as the act of thinking sent ice-picks through my head.

    A shooting pain that was further reinforced by the sudden silver flash of light as the System decided it was time to bombard me with messages.

    Congratulations, Traveler.

    Enhance Self boosts have been applied to your mental statistics and the coma state has been lifted. Fully realizing these gains will still take time, but this action now will help insulate the Traveler from future problems if the act is repeated.

    It is recommended the Traveler consumes sugar-rich foods to help restore expended glucose in the brain, as well as fat, nuts, and eggs, to help restore lost nutrients from expanding your mental capabilities.

    Congratulations, Traveler.

    You have passed a major threshold in the System store.

    By expending more than five-thousand points total, you have shown commitment to your role as a Traveler.

    In appreciation, the System has opened a new power to you and will be granting you one power, selected at random, from the following available to you:

    Enhance Self (Moderate)

    Mana Reservoir (Lesser)

    Drain Reservoir

    Empower Reservoir

    Manipulate Element (Lesser)

    Stand by for selection.

    Blinking my eyes open, I flinched as a particularly evil ray of sunlight that had crept past by blinds stabbed me in the eyes before I could close them again.

    A spinning circle of light, reminding me of a loading circle from a video game, rotated in front of my interface. It changed through five different colors rapidly before fading away. A block of text in the normal font of the System messages came next, followed by a skill description.

    Congratulations Traveler.

    The System has awarded you: Mana Reservoir (Lesser).

    May it serve you well going forward.

    Mana Reservoir (Lesser) - Cost: 0 SP (Threshold Reward) - Grants the Traveler a lesser mana reservoir equivalent to 50 mana. This mana will regenerate at a fixed rate, depending on ambient mana of the environment. Spells cast by the Traveler will pull from this reserve first, then any other mana reservoirs in the Traveler¡¯s possession.

    ¡°Okay, that¡¯s¡­ moderately useful,¡± I mumbled to myself.

    As I watched, the mana counter that had read ten of ten before rapidly spiraled upwards as the pressure point in my chest where I could feel my mana nestling flared for a moment. It settled on ten of fifty a moment later, before ticking up from ten mana available to eleven as I watched it. About ten seconds later, it ticked from eleven to twelve.

    What the hell? That¡¯s really fast, I thought while watching the number slowly but steadily click upwards.

    The number continued its rapid growth, gaining a point every ten to twelve seconds, until it hit forty-one. The wait to hit forty-two was almost a minute long, but it still vastly beat out the thirty-plus minutes it took to regenerate a point of mana back on Cortha with the girls.

    Well, that is interesting. But, I guess it makes sense? Their world has a lot of people who use magic, and it crystallizes in things. Earth doesn¡¯t have that. So I can count on my mana regenerating quickly then, right? At least here?

    Ideas immediately flooded my mind of what I could do with my power to move and shape stone and earth, now that I had that extra mana.

    A brief throb of pain shot through my skull as the vastly improved mental scores went to work, while my mind-meat wasn¡¯t quite ready for duty yet.

    I could easily burrow down into the earth and excavate a tunnel system to live in, if it came down to it. The idea of just wandering into the national forestland and excavating myself a home to hang about until the girls summoned me was amusing. However, I still needed money for things like groceries, gas, and my phone.

    One thing at a time, I reminded myself, slowing the whirring of my brain. System mentioned that it had opened up a new power for me. Check that first.

    I delved into my interface once more, intent on checking the Powers tab to see what it was. It didn¡¯t take long to find the new entry under the Mind sub-tab of the Powers menu, just below my very basic Manipulate Element option.

    Grant Power (Minor) - Cost: 100 SP - Able to grant specific abilities to contracted partner for a short window of time. Power is reduced two tiers from what the Traveler has mastered. Parameters are preset at time of grant.

    ¡°Huh,¡± I mumbled intelligently. ¡°That¡­ could be useful. Says it reduces by two tiers though, so only things that I have at moderate rank or above?¡±

    I flipped to my character sheet to check it. Currently, the only Moderate level skill I had was Shape-Shifting, but the idea of being able to grant basic effects to the girls was intriguing, so I made a mental note to talk to them about it.

    I could tell that the Grant Power skill evolved as it grew, since I could see it linking to several others in a chain that were blurred out, as was normal for a skill that I had not mastered yet.

    Spending a moment, I considered what the later ranks might turn into. Either not lowering the ability as much, or expanding what I could grant a partner.

    With the addition of my new rank of Mana Reservoir, the idea of giving my girls something similar to draw from in emergencies was quite appealing. And I remembered the elf who had taught me the initial parts of earth magic, Rachel Cedarfall, saying something about wanting to talk to me when I could help her expand her magic.

    With that thought, I flipped back to the main screen to check my mana levels, finding the readout was sitting at fifty of fifty now. I had another rush of giddiness thinking about what I could do with that much mana on tap, but I noticed the dull glimmer around the Message tab that indicated I had a message waiting. Not something I normally missed as the edges of my vision would flash, but it must have come in while I was unconscious.

    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    This realization reminded me of the vibrating on my forearm from the girls, and I immediately opened my eyes once more. That same beam of light stabbed me in the eyes again, but I didn¡¯t wince as badly this time. The headache was already receding, so it only hurt for a second.

    Tapping my bond tattoos, the first message came from Kassandra, and then was followed quickly by one from Rieka, both in their familiar voices echoing in my mind.

    ¡°Love you, my Liam. We both miss you lots already. Going back to classes sucks, but that is life. A series of sucky experiences interspersed with actual fun.¡±

    ¡°Liam, miss you already. Never thought I¡¯d enjoy just sleeping next to someone, but I miss having you here. Kass is being an extra pest because I know she¡¯s missing you, too.¡±

    Several more messages came through that felt roughly like everyday texts from a girlfriend might, with the girls commenting on how their day was going. The messages began to get more worried in tone after the first four, when I wasn¡¯t responding.

    The last message made my heart ache. It was from Kassandra, but she was speaking for Rieka, too.

    ¡°Liam, are you okay? You haven¡¯t responded to any of our messages and both of us are concerned. I hope we aren¡¯t being too clingy about this and haven¡¯t offended you. Please let us know if you are okay?¡± The worry and fear was thick in her voice, though held mostly in check by her iron will.

    Growling in irritation at myself, I snatched my phone from the couch next to me and checked the time, which made my stomach do another set of flip-flops. I had left the girls shortly after noon on Sunday.

    It was now almost seven in the morning on Tuesday.

    Shit, no wonder they were worried, I chastised myself mentally before pressing my fingers to my first bond-mark and sending a message to Kassandra.

    ¡°Hey Nugget, sorry I worried you two. I passed out in the wake of spending some of my SP and boosting myself a bit more at once than I probably should have. The System had to put me out so that I didn¡¯t burn out my mind. Everything''s fine though. I miss both you and Rieka tons. I think I started missing you as soon as I got back. Don¡¯t worry, I don¡¯t mind you messaging me with this, I love hearing from you both. Just don¡¯t let it distract you from your classes. Be a good noodle and I¡¯ll make sure to reward you when I see you next.¡±

    Sending that message off, I swapped over to the bond-mark for Rieka and took a moment to compose myself before sending her a message as well.

    ¡°Miss you too, my gorgeous princess. Sorry that it took so long to respond. Did something a bit dumb that I should have known better and ended up unconscious for a bit. Telling you the same as I told Kass, feel free to message me on this. It helps train the power and never, ever, worry that it will annoy me. The only reason I didn¡¯t respond immediately was because I was literally unconscious. Keep that chin up and I¡¯ll make sure you get lots of ear-rubs when I see you next.¡±

    With that done, I relaxed into the couch with a sigh once more.

    ¡°So much shit going wrong at once,¡± I grumbled under my breath.

    Speaking aloud reminded me of just how dry my mouth was, so I carefully got to my feet and shambled to the kitchen to get a drink. While I was filling the glass, I looked down at myself.

    I¡¯d worn my tattered and dirty clothes back to Earth, and they stuck to me with old sweat from having basically slept in them for almost two days straight. Grimacing, I finished draining the water, set the empty glass in the sink, then stumbled my way to the shower.

    Hot water on my face helped restore me. I was in the middle of scrubbing myself all over with the rough loofah cloth when I remembered that I hadn¡¯t checked the Messages tab yet.

    ¡°It¡¯s like ignoring your email or instant messenger back in high-school, just makes it worse,¡± I mumbled.

    Leaning against the shower wall to steady myself, I reviewed the tab to see what was waiting for me. Several messages from Cariad flickered into view, starting Sunday afternoon and going through Monday as well.

    Cariad

    Liam, we finished up clearing that ruin you found. The DSR has completed its investigation there, and we have removed all the dangerous information that we could locate. We have cleared your girls to return, but we would prefer if you went with them and made sure to scour it one last time before allowing other natives in. Second set of eyes and all that. Let me know when you are free, as there is some other information that I want to go over with you in person.

    Cariad

    Liam! What the hell is this alert I found sitting on my desk? Are you trying to give yourself a stroke?! Boosting all your mental stats to over double their current values in one sitting is a way to do that! I¡¯m just glad the System caught it. You have got to do this slower, a few points here and there, no more than half the current value in a week if you have to rush, a month if you can wait. The body needs time to adjust, and you have been racing up the power level of the Travelers because of your girls summoning you all the time. I¡¯m proud of you, but also furious at you for taking this risk!

    Cariad

    Okay, I calmed down since my last message. Sorry for yelling at you while you were already unconscious.

    I know that the System doesn¡¯t have warnings on the powers, and that you don¡¯t have the familiar support network of a lot of the established Travelers, as their slots are hereditary. I should have been the one to warn you about this more stringently.

    Message me back when you are awake so I can come check on you. Also, congratulations on the System milestone. Since I¡¯m your caseworker, I have access to the message log from the System directly. Mana Reservoir (Lesser) is a heck of an award. Most folks end up with getting a single use of Enhance Self, and usually of a low tier since they aren¡¯t boosting all their stats like you are.

    Stepping back into the spray of water, I rinsed the soap off my body with a sigh while working the shampoo into my hair.

    Finishing with a mound of bubbles on my head, I rubbed at the stubble clinging to my chin. I knew I could shift it away, but it would occupy the ¡®slot¡¯ of one of the three types of animal changes I could make to myself. So I slathered some shampoo on my face and grabbed my razor to give myself a shave in the shower while composing a response to Cariad¡¯s messages.

    Liam

    Hey, sorry about that. I had a feeling it was a bad idea before I did it, but just pushed through like an idiot. I know better now, or at least I would hope so, since I¡¯m supposed to be so much smarter now. Really, I don¡¯t feel like I¡¯m that much smarter. I mean, I don¡¯t just suddenly have a genius level IQ. But, I¡¯m making a lot of logical connections that I wasn¡¯t before. Like how if the System is adjusting my body in response to the stat increases, I need to give it time to work. It¡¯s not just doing magic, it¡¯s also feeding into my genetic code for information. Anyway, I¡¯m up and about, so come on by whenever.

    I sent the message off and ducked into the spray to rinse the shampoo out of my hair while scraping away at my neck. A shower shave like this wouldn¡¯t get everything, but it would get most of it and I could tidy it up in the mirror.

    ¡°Liam?¡± Cariad¡¯s familiar voice sounded muffled as it came from the other side of the bathroom door when I pulled my head out of the water.

    Blinking, I slapped the shower off and listened. I could hear the quiet sound of footsteps in the hall, so I called out.

    ¡°Cari? Crud, I didn¡¯t think you¡¯d come racing over so fast. Hang on, I¡¯m in the shower right now. Be right out.¡±

    ¡°Oh! Sorry, Liam. I was just¡­ worried, I guess.¡±

    From the experience of spending the last week with the girls, I was fairly certain I could hear the embarrassment in Cariad¡¯s voice now, and that brought a smile to my lips.

    It only took a minute to finish rinsing off and completing my shave in the mirror. Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t bring clean clothes with me, having been so used to living alone at this point.

    Shrugging, I opened the door and stepped out, nearly running into Cariad in the process.

    Cariad was many things: A friend, my caseworker, and my go-to person for when I needed help to figure out something complicated. She was also a Daemon. An extra-dimensional creature that lives in the membranes between realities, a place that was physically corrosive to creatures from the worlds they separated.

    Creatures like me.

    Just touching Cariad¡¯s bare skin would have caused portions of my body to dissolve. Not quickly, but it wouldn¡¯t have been pleasant to experience. Something I¡¯d learned after dealing with that creature I¡¯d just had a nightmare about earlier, as it was apparently also a native of the barrier between realities.

    For all the danger that Cariad posed to my physical health and survival, she was irrefutably cute and endearing.

    Cariad stood shorter than me by several inches, coming up to somewhere around five foot six or eight.

    Her long, strawberry-red hair fell behind her back in a solid wave, its weight holding it down until just the tips bounced upwards in a slight curl. Wide hips tucked into a narrow waist that was clad in a tight black pencil-skirt. A neat, white blouse covered her upper half, tented by the swell of her modest breasts but still leaving the top few buttons undone to reveal a hint of their curves. Sea-green eyes glimmered in her cute face, with a little nose that was just slightly upturned and a ready smile.

    She also wore long, black opera-style gloves over her hands and matching stockings. She had explained to me in the past that they were to limit the idle danger she posed to natives. Cariad¡¯s clothing was made of a type of material that prevented the corrosive energy of her touch from harming me, or anything else she touched with her blue-gray skin.

    ¡°Liam!¡± Cariad yelped, stepping back suddenly as I surged through the door. One hand going up to her heaving chest as she stared at my bare body.

    Since I didn¡¯t have any clothing with me in the bathroom, I¡¯d just slung a towel around my hips. I would have been self-conscious about this before, but between my girls¡¯ easy affection, open appreciation of my more fit body, and the fact that I was about as covered up as when I trained with Cerebaton left me more relaxed than one might expect in the situation.

    ¡°Hey Cari, scuse me while I get some clothes. Didn¡¯t expect you this quickly.¡± I shot her a quick smile and squeezed past her to head through the door to my room. ¡°Sorry again for worrying you. Apparently, I freaked the girls out since I wasn¡¯t responding to their messages, either.¡±

    ¡°Messages? Oh, that¡¯s right, the System also awarded you access to the Guardian skill track. Glad that it was also recognizing the dangers you were facing. Though, I wish it would have told us ahead of time. Would have been far better if we could have gotten access to the ruins before you and your girls even went in,¡± Cariad huffed irritatedly from behind me.

    I could just imagine her puffing her cheeks out cutely while I dropped my towel and changed. A quiet yelp of surprise from the hall brought a grin to my face as I heard the patter of her footsteps as she made her escape.

    It¡¯s amazing how much good a little confidence can do, I thought while dressing. I don¡¯t think I would have survived the embarrassment of nearly running into an attractive woman while I was in a towel, let alone flashing my ass at her. I smirked while thinking about how Kassandra was going to react when I told her about this. My mischievous Nugget is clearly rubbing off on me, in more ways than one...

    Dressed in a pair of shorts and a tank-top, I hurried back out into the living-room to find Cariad sitting at my chipped kitchen table, her blue-gray skin going even darker as she spotted me emerging from my room.

    Rather than tease her about trying to sneak a peek at me, I just waved and pointed towards my battered French-press.

    ¡°Coffee? How are you doing, by the way, Cari? Hopefully Cerebaton isn¡¯t working you too hard?¡±

    Cariad blinked at me a few times, first her sea-green eyes, then the electric-blue set that opened just above her temples. Those bright eyes with their slitted pupils gazed at me before flicking closed once more.

    ¡°Yes, please, on the coffee. And Mr. Cerebaton is working me as hard as I can handle. He¡¯s good like that,¡± Cariad replied primly, flipping open a dark-blue folder on the table in front of her and making a note. ¡°And it looks like you are fine as well. No aberrations or problems, as far as I can tell. Though I am sure that Mr. Cerebaton will be giving you quite a harsh training session later today.¡±

    I just laughed while heating water to make the coffee, focusing on the steps needed to make the most of the middle of the road ground coffee I had. Cerebaton had started teaching me to fight as a favor back when this all started, but I think the big daemon was enjoying himself now.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t he always harsh on me? Every time I finish a training session with Cerebaton, I feel like I¡¯ve been used as a punching bag by a heavyweight boxer.¡±

    ¡°He just wants to ensure you can defend yourself as best as possible. Especially now that you are expanding your knowledge of the Shape-Shifting power.¡± A small smile worked its way through her stern guise, and Cariad¡¯s regular eyes twinkled as she looked over at me. ¡°It¡¯s been fascinating watching you adapt to it over the last few weeks. I can only imagine how that is going to change with your newest additions of power.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, Cerebaton is going to be in for a surprise tonight. There¡¯s only so much I can do out in public though, so nothing egregious,¡± I replied before glancing at her notes. ¡°So what¡¯s up? You said you wanted to talk to me some more about the events from the ruins?¡±

    Cariad coughed into one hand and nodded, shuffling through the papers in front of her before finding what she was looking for. She studied the sheet for a moment before nodding and looking back up.

    ¡°So, the DSR cannot fully disclose all that we discovered in those ruins, but the experiments going on were very dangerous. Thankfully, there weren¡¯t any other living samples of entropic creatures. As I mentioned in the message earlier, the DSR is requesting that you and your contracted check the complex over once more before allowing uninformed locals in there. Any reference to summoning, binding, or studying entropic beings needs to be contained, and either destroyed or turned over to the DSR for security reasons.¡±

    ¡°Makes sense, I guess?¡± I muttered thoughtfully, sorting through my cupboard for a mug I didn¡¯t like.

    I had been meaning to buy paper cups for when Cariad came by, since drinking from the container meant her lips would touch it and that would cause it to dissolve, but I hadn¡¯t gotten around to it.

    ¡°It is to do with the safety of the world. Specifically, summoning entropic creatures is extremely dangerous and could damage the fabric of that reality. Also, Daemon like myself qualify as entropic creatures, and none of us want to end up on an operating table¡­¡± Cariad grimaced before squaring her shoulders. ¡°So yes. The higher ups have restricted most of the information, but I can tell you that the complex is, while not safe, cleared of entropic threats as far as we can tell. And before you ask, yes, it is different when one of us comes to a reality like I do to visit you. We follow the proper paths and ¡®don¡¯t walk on the grass¡¯ as you said before.¡± Cariad topped her statement off with a smirk I shared.

    ¡°That¡¯s good. Thanks for letting me know. I know the girls wanted to go back and keep sifting through the place from an academic standpoint.¡± I poured the coffee into two mugs and carried them over to the table, setting one in front of Cariad. ¡°Sugar right?¡± At her nod, I retrieved the jam-jar I kept the sugar in and set it on the table with a spoon.

    Cariad took a moment to prepare her coffee the way she liked it. She then took a sip to test it, the lip of the mug dissolving away a moment after her mouth left it, and nodded before continuing. I¡¯d seen it before, but it was still so odd to witness.

    ¡°So, whenever you return, please check the ruins over. Keep in mind to not mention it to other locals just yet, outside your contracted companions, that is.¡± Cariad¡¯s brows knitted, and she sighed. ¡°Sorry about all the mystery going on. There is just certain information that I¡¯m not allowed to share.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± I said, taking a sip of my black coffee. ¡°I¡¯ll let the girls know to keep it a secret, too. I know Rieka wanted to share it with her mother, but she¡¯ll understand the security thing.¡± Cariad sighed in relief and nodded, glancing down at her paperwork before back up at me, a smile on her lips now.

    ¡°That¡¯s good. We would also appreciate you keeping an eye out for any other complexes that were experimenting similarly and alerting us of their existence. To that note, though, the DSR has approved a bounty payment to you for handling the situation. We can¡¯t pay you in SP, as only the System can award those and it did not deign to weigh in on this.¡± A thoughtful look crossed Cariad¡¯s face for a moment before she continued. ¡°Maybe that¡¯s why it unlocked the Guardian track for you? Anyway, here you go.¡±

    Cariad fished out another sheet of paper, this one a long, squat rectangle like a cashier¡¯s check. Which is exactly what it turned out to be when I took it and looked it over as Cariad spoke.

    ¡°I know that Traveler¡¯s would prefer to be paid in SP as they already have their fortunes made, but since you are not a normal Traveler? We figure this will help you get your feet under you¡­¡±

    Cariad continued to talk, but my head was buzzing in confusion. The check she¡¯d handed me had a lot more zeros than I was used to seeing on a check, and I had to read the number several times to get my brain to compute.

    ¡°Is this accurate?¡± I heard my voice ask, echoing oddly in counterpoint to my ringing ears, looking up from the check to meet Cariad¡¯s smiling gaze.

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s accurate, Liam. The DSR appreciates you bringing the whole situation to our attention, and then vacating quickly so the teams could handle the problem. Trust me, most established Travelers would consider this a pittance.¡±

    ¡°Cari, you just said before I¡¯m not a normal Traveler,¡± I coughed and took another sip of coffee to try to clear the lump in my throat. ¡°This check is for fifty thousand dollars¡­¡±

    Cariad just continued to smirk at me.

 Chapter 79

    After Cariad gave me a bit of time to get my brain to reboot and let me do the math, I was able to calm down again.

    Fifty grand wasn¡¯t going to change my life, or even let me move out of the apartment I was in, but it definitely gave me a lot more breathing room to work with.

    ¡°I appreciate this, quite a bit, Cari,¡± I thanked my case worker for a fourth time while I stared down at the check.

    I¡¯d never had this kind of money before, however I knew that it was going to be more like about thirty grand once the government got their bite out of it, and that took some of the wind out of my sails. It reminded me of what happened to my parents¡¯ estate when they passed.

    ¡°Everything okay there, Liam? You looked suddenly sad.¡± Cariad set her mug down and leaned over the table to peer up at me through her lashes.

    ¡°Oh, just thinking about taxes. Even with money earned as a dimension-hopping bodyguard-slash-investigator, the local government is going to want their cut.¡± I explained, setting the check gently onto my chipped kitchen table.

    Cariad¡¯s face twisted into a frown, and she nodded with a sigh.

    ¡°Unfortunately, it¡¯s one of the constants of the universe. They even have taxes where I¡¯m from,¡± she replied.

    ¡°Yeah. Still haven¡¯t gotten the Dimensional Pocket ability either. It¡¯d be so much easier if I could just bring gold back from the other world. Even then, I¡¯d need to find someone to sell it to. Pulling money out of thin air tends to make the government quite suspicious.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Resources such as precious metals always need to be accounted for. You remember why Earth and humanity were on the ¡®no-contact¡¯ list before your accident, right?¡± Cariad carefully swirled the literal half-cup of coffee she had left, using a bit of the handle still attached.

    ¡°The witch-trials and all that, wasn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Amongst other things. In many of the cultures that have Travelers as part of their ecosystem, their governments tax and control a lot of what the Travelers produce. A few hundred pounds of a precious metal can cause a fluctuation in the market, either up or down depending on where it comes from and where it goes.¡± Cariad shrugged before continuing. ¡°The fact that a Traveler with the right powers can demand payment in just about anything can damage a world. If an unscrupulous one over-leverages resources from one world, it can cause a serious depletion in said resources. Sure, there are some worlds that have vast amounts of gold in the place of, say, iron. But it can topple a government or lead to destruction of a culture unless it¡¯s controlled on both sides.¡±

    ¡°What about other resources?¡± I took a sip from my own mug, still staring down at the check in front of me.

    My mind was still chasing itself in a small loop over it. Fifty grand wasn¡¯t a ton. After taxes, it would cover my costs for about a year, then it¡¯d be gone. But it still represented an opportunity, but what to use it on?

    ¡°Like what?¡± Cariad leaned back in her chair, her arms crossing over her middle and compressing her generous chest while she rested her chin in the fingers of one hand.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I was thinking about things I could create via Shape-Shifting and sell. Natural resources like wool or silk. Industrial farming in this world makes it impractical, though. Sure, I could shift my body hair into wool and sell that, but I couldn¡¯t produce more than a sheep or two worth, and that¡¯s not enough to live on. Also, I have no idea what happens to the body part after it¡¯s removed. It might turn back into human hair after an hour or two.¡±

    Cariad stared at me thoughtfully for a long moment before she started to giggle suddenly. Hiking an eyebrow at her, I did my best to give her an unimpressed look. Apparently, that was even more amusing to her because the laughter got worse.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± she gasped after nearly a solid minute of laughing. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, Liam. I didn¡¯t mean to laugh at you, but I had this mental image of you turning into a sheep, getting sheared, then turning back to find out you lost your eyebrows again!¡±

    ¡°At least they wouldn¡¯t have been burned off,¡± I countered, smiling along with her now that I knew what the laughter was for.

    ¡°True, very true on that,¡± Cariad had to choke off one last giggle before she could be serious again. ¡°But Liam, why not go for something a bit more exotic?¡±

    ¡°What, like venom?¡± My brain immediately leaped on to the idea and I mulled it over for a moment. ¡°I have no idea how I¡¯d go about selling it, and I¡¯m sure that it would require all sorts of licenses and examinations to ensure the animals are healthy. I doubt they¡¯d accept me as the healthy animal subject.¡±

    Cariad snorted another giggle, to which I rolled my eyes, but made a ¡®get on with it¡¯ gesture as she schooled herself.

    ¡°Liam, you can change your body and assume the form of many other creatures,¡± Cariad said slowly, the smile from her giggling bout not leaving her face yet. ¡°And I remember you mentioning a while back during training that your girls finally got you thinking about shifting into creatures from their world.¡±

    The idea struck me immediately, and my back stiffened while I stared at her, mind whirling.

    I thought back to talking with the girls about various exports and valuable items they had in their world, from textiles to precious metals. Like on Earth, many of the most valuable materials gathered from animals required the animal¡¯s death to harvest them. But not all of them.

    I knew that things like blaze-ox fur weren¡¯t going to be worth anything on Earth, as no one believed in magic and the last thing I needed was a governmental scientist to dissect me if they found out where I got it. But there had to be a few things that were produced by animals in that world that were also valuable here. Things that I could potentially sell.

    Cariad waited patiently while my fingers flew to the bond-mark for my clever little snake, a clever little snake that had recently reminded me she was a skilled merchant.

    I got a reply only minutes later. The first part of it was in response to my apology for not answering the girls, but the second had what I needed.

    It only took four messages and less than ten minutes of back and forth before I thought I had an answer finally.

    ¡°Pearls,¡± I said with a small smile, still staring at the table in front of me.

    Cariad¡¯s eyebrow went up, and she made a questioning noise.

    I just grinned at her.

    <><><>

    Cariad wasn¡¯t able to hang around to see the results of my experiments, but had to get back to what she was doing once she had finished the paperwork she¡¯d brought concerning the ruins.

    She made me promise to tell her about the results of the experiments later on when I met up with Cerebaton for my regular training session that night, as she normally came to sit in on it. Cariad had initially made the excuse that it was to ensure her boss wasn¡¯t bullying me, but I think she enjoyed watching us both work out.

    Doing some research on my phone while my ice-cold coffee sat forgotten, I discovered several things that would weigh in on the entire thing.

    Pearls were made up primarily of calcium carbonate, specifically the aragonite final version, but it was the same chemical composition. The rest of it was a mixture of other natural compounds, like protein. Calcium carbonate was also the primary ingredient in many antacids and could be bought by the pound online for cheap.

    Another important thing I discovered was that the licensing for selling pearls was basically non-existent.

    I would likely have to set up an LLC and maybe get a dealer¡¯s license, but that was something that a CPA could do for me.

    If I got this going, it might be worth getting the training needed to grade and certify the pearls myself as well, as that would also dictate the price.

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    I also had a feeling that knowing this would allow me to ensure the pearls were only top-quality. For now, though, I needed to find a CPA that wouldn¡¯t ask too many questions and just help me with the paperwork.

    The last, and initially largest, issue was the time that it took for pearls to form. The websites I found said that pearls took between six months and several years to form depending on the type of shellfish used. Since I wasn¡¯t using something like an oyster, or even anything from Earth, that was the real question. Thankfully, my sweet Kassandra had an answer to it.

    ¡°There is a type of shellfish normally farmed along the coastline of the southern seas that might work. They are called shimmer-nest conches. My parents traded in their products quite a bit when getting started, as the pearls created by the shimmer-nest conches have a great deal of variety in color and shape. Apparently, they are predatory by nature and form the pearls to both attract prey to where they lie on the seabed, then fire them at fish that swim too close to stun them and let the conch capture them. They make dozens of them at a time and don¡¯t take very long to do so.

    The excitement was obvious in Kassandra¡¯s mental voice. She went on to promise she¡¯d get in touch with her parents to get as much information on the pearls as possible while I continued my research locally.

    I wanted to make sure I had as much information ready ahead of time. That way, if and when I got a chance to implement it, I could just get started.

    I had a bit of a nausea moment when I realized that I was considering implanting something in my body to then form into a pearl before extracting it. I was able to chase the issue away by reminding myself that it wasn¡¯t as if I was going to be cutting my arm open and sticking sand in there. The shimmer-nest conches that Kassandra described had specific organs that they used to create the pearls quickly.

    I just needed to confirm I could do it too.

    Beginning with my left hand, I was able to shift it into a pinctada maxima shell, considered a ¡®standard¡¯ for pearl oysters.

    The sensation was bizarre, to say the least, as the general sensation of touch from my hand was now gone. I could open the shell up easily enough with the same sort of gesture that would open my hand. I was able to open the shell nearly to ninety degrees before my ¡®hand¡¯ began to ache and protest. The interior of my new ¡®hand¡¯ was soft to the touch and was about as sensitive as my palm normally was.

    Nodding, I shifted my hand back to normal and studied it. There was no damage that I could find and not even stiffness from opening up the shell as far as I had. I was ready to try the next thing.

    Focusing on what Kassandra had been able to tell me of the shimmer-nest conch, I tried to shift left hand into one based on her description alone.

    I¡¯d been able to shift parts of my body into things I¡¯d never seen before without an issue. After all, I¡¯d never seen a scorpion up close before, or a mantis shrimp for that matter. I just knew the general idea of how it worked, and the magic did the rest.

    What happened next was wickedly cool. My left arm swelled a bit in size and my hand turned into a large, cone-shaped shell that was about the size of one of those personal watermelons you could buy at the store. It felt like I was wearing a hard-shelled glove that was severely restricting the movement of my hand. I started to experiment to figure out how the whole thing worked.

    After about an hour of futzing about, I discovered several things about the shimmer-nest conch.

    With the right muscular gesture, I could extend a tube that I learned was the method that the shimmer-nest conch used to launch its weaponized pearls. This came from the narrow end of the shell, which sat at where my fingertips would be.

    Another gesture would extend feelers that ended in hooked prongs from the curved opening in the side of the shell. These, I figured, were for picking up the sand or other detritus I might need to make pearls, or for capturing prey if this was a real shimmer-nest conch.

    Figuring out how to actually fire a pearl out took up most of the rest of the hour. I knew that the rigid tube was how I did it. Every time I tried, though, it just made a quiet squeaking noise, like a little fart.

    It wasn¡¯t until I got the idea of dunking my hand into a pitcher of water that I figured it out. Apparently, the shimmer-nest conch used water pressure to launch its pearl missiles at its prey.

    I had a bit of fun squirting a high-pressure stream of water into the sink before I finally committed to testing how long it would take to actually make a pearl with my shifted hand.

    Using my earth magic, I carefully scooped out a tiny bit of my ball of accumulated dust from the earlier experiments, as tiny as about half the size of a BB, perfectly round and tightly compacted. I then used the little feelers to scoop the dirt BB up into the conch shell.

    The same kind of innate knowledge that tells you how to roll your tongue guided me to push the little sphere into a spot that would have been my wrist, then told me to wait.

    It felt strange and vaguely annoying, kind of like having a bit of food stuck between your teeth, but I was able to ignore it. However, in the process I got a clue as to what the pearls would look like while I studied the shape my hand took.

    According to my research, the best ¡®clue¡¯ as to what sort of pearl a shellfish might create is the color of the nacre on the lip of the shell, as that was the same material that makes up the pearl itself.

    A bit of research told me that conch¡¯s did make pearls on Earth, but they normally made pink pearls and were very rare. The shimmer-nest conch, though, had a glittering, oil-spill color to its nacre that reminded me of Tahitian pearls, which were one of the more valuable ones I¡¯d found while digging for information.

    While I waited, I went back to cleaning the apartment, doing things I could do one handed.

    I discovered that with the Manipulate Element ability, I could just pull dirt and grime out of a lot of things. Soap scum just broke up and rinsed down the drain while stains in the grout were harder to remove, but still doable. Hard water accumulations were even easier, as it was made up of minerals outright and I could simply tug them free like I had the dust earlier.

    It was doing that bit of cleaning that got me on another idea.

    While looking at the shiny, clean head of the shower nozzle, it got me wondering if I could just remove tarnish and the like from other metals.

    The idea wouldn¡¯t go away, so I¡¯d gone through the box of old things that I¡¯d inherited from my parent¡¯s estate when they passed away until I found their wedding rings.

    The little wooden box that held all my mother¡¯s jewelry sat tucked away in a plastic tote in the back of my cramped closet. It didn¡¯t have a lot in it, since my parents didn¡¯t really have a lot of money for things like jewelry, but their wedding bands were something I¡¯d hung onto along with a few sets of earrings and her favorite rosette necklace..

    Both were simple, golden bands with my mother¡¯s bearing a trio of small diamonds. Time had left the bright gold of the rings dull and tarnished. I carried them with me back into the living room.

    Settling down at the table once more, I focused on the rings and reached out with Manipulate Element.

    At first, I struggled a bit in finding them amongst the other bits of metal and earth around me. The ball of compacted dust stood out on the table and proved distracting as it readily responded to my mana, but I was able to push that to one side after a bit of focus.

    I found the rings after that: a calm, glimmering sensation in my mind, clouded over with a faint fog that I knew to be the tarnish that had formed on the surface of the rings.

    While the tarnish itself wasn¡¯t something I could get hold of with my Manipulate Elements ability, as it was mostly oxygen, I was able to encourage the alloyed material in the rings to release their grip on the oxygen molecules.

    This wasn¡¯t an easy process and actually devoured a good half of my available mana pool for the two rings. It left them shimmering brightly in my hand a moment later. Underneath the two circles was a faint grit of black from the other compounds that had made up the tarnish.

    ¡°Neat,¡± I muttered, still feeling the shimmering sensation of the rings in my palm while I studied them.

    The rings were old, still the originals that my parents had used in their wedding almost thirty years ago. I could see the faint scratches in my dad¡¯s ring from where it¡¯d gotten a bit beaten up over the years while he was wearing it.

    On a whim, I pulled at the metal that made up my father¡¯s ring and watched as the scratch slowly smoothed out, the ridges flowing down flat once more to fill in the damage until it was pristine once more.

    ¡°Huh,¡± I muttered, staring down at the rings. Shaping the gold had taken another three points of mana from my reserve. While it was recovering slowly, it was still a fair bit of mana. ¡°If I can shape gold¡­ Can I find it?¡±

    The thought occupied my daydreams for a short while, imagining going out and ¡®panning¡¯ for gold while calling the flakes nearby to my pan instead. I put the idea on my mental list of ¡®things to try¡¯.

    During my research on pearls earlier, I¡¯d delved a bit into gold to fill out my knowledge. I had confirmed that while you could pan for gold, the government limited it to very specific areas and didn¡¯t allow you to keep nuggets in most of them.

    But if I can take the gold sand and flakes and compact them into nuggets? I thought with a grin, no one would know where the nuggets come from, and I can just say that I found them while panning in one of the areas that does let you keep nuggets. Too bad this isn¡¯t the wild west anymore. Prospectors could just claim whole areas and keep their mine¡¯s products. Heck, traveling back in time or to an alternate universe would let anyone with a passing knowledge of geology claim vast riches, since they¡¯d know about where a lot of major mines would be located. Anyone lucky enough to have that happen had better have that knowledge.

    The sensation of something caught between my teeth had slowly been shifting as I worked, pondered, and wandered my apartment. When that sensation changed suddenly, it immediately got my attention. The feeling was much like that thing between your teeth suddenly coming loose and feeling the relief of it being free.

    I could still ¡®feel¡¯ it in my mouth though and acted before thinking, and ¡®spat¡¯ out the item.

    A sharp ping of something hard striking the table made me jump. The rattling of something rolling across the table followed the ping, and I saw a flash of color before it fell off the table to clack on the floor.

    Diving under the table, I cast around for a minute to find the culprit that I knew to be my first pearl. I found it after about a minute and crawled out to inspect my prize in the brighter light of the kitchen.

    In my hand was a pearl, perfectly round as far as I could tell, and a glittering, iridescent shade of blue-black that shimmered with a half-dozen other colors as the light played over it. No cracks marred its surface, only a bit of dirt from rolling over the floor earlier.

    I couldn¡¯t help the smile that formed on my face now, knowing that this might just be the beginning of my answer to how to cover the costs of my life back home.

 Chapter 80

    ¡°Fascinating. Tell me that you haven¡¯t experimented to see what would happen if you shifted back while still having one of the pearls in your body?¡± Cariad¡¯s question came from her spot perched on the railing as I was getting my ass handed to me by her boss later that night.

    ¡°Nope,¡± I grunted, swaying back from the sword-strike and firing off a counter with my shifted right arm.

    The swaying, bladed tail gave me the reach of a longsword and the flexibility of a whip, but the extra articulations also made it vulnerable to a bladed weapon.

    This was something that Cerebaton capitalized on immediately when he noticed it, catching the tail just one articulation down from the head with a counter-strike that would have sheared it off if we had been using real weapons.

    ¡°Smart,¡± Cerebaton grunted as we stepped back to reset. ¡°Unless you consciously thought of ejecting it, then it likely would have just remained in your body and caused discomfort, if not injury, depending on where it ended up.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d figured it was something like that. The idea came up before, I¡¯d been thinking about was in relation to removing an arrow injury or something. I could probably shift my body to make removing the arrow easier, but worried that it might cut me worse while the body changed around it.¡± I shifted my stance slightly while shaking away the shift in my right arm, returning it to normal and grabbing the dull wooden practice sword from where it leaned on a rail.

    For all my Shape-Shifting gave me a bunch of utility, it was hard to beat a weapon when fighting another weapon. I¡¯d started to transition away from using one since I got creative with the shifting. Cerebaton was hammering on me now, reminding me that I¡¯d only been practicing for the last two months or so and while I was making great strides, I couldn¡¯t just walk away from it.

    Also, my greatly increased Wisdom score was telling me that by learning to fight with the weapons, I¡¯d know how to fight against them when the time came.

    I¡¯d thought to surprise Cerebaton by sprouting the additional spike-tails I¡¯d used on the kobolds, but he¡¯d easily disabled them when I showed them off earlier during our sparring matches. It hadn¡¯t even caught Cerebaton off guard. He¡¯d dealt with them using the same stunning level of skill that he¡¯d exhibited in the past. After that, the blond-haired daemon had proceeded to whip me seven ways to Sunday.

    Cerebaton, unlike his subordinate Cariad, had access to Shape-Shifting as a power. He¡¯d gained access to it during his time as a field agent for the DSR early on in his career, but hadn¡¯t developed it beyond the basics, as he was more focused on other skill sets. What he could do was use the power to disguise himself as a human. Which was fortunate, as his natural form looked like a cross between the Jolly Green Giant, and some kind of harvest god from a pagan religion.

    The antlers were a cool addition, but I¡¯d seen firsthand how he struggled to get through doorways.

    So instead of sparring with Cernunnos in the middle of a city park after dark, I was instead facing off against someone who looked an awful lot like Dolph Lundgren during his time as a villain in Rocky. Not as eye-catching, but sticking out in a crowd.

    Thankfully, Cariad could ward the gazebo we used to practice so as to keep folks away, despite her not being able to hide herself. It wasn¡¯t perfect, as someone from far enough away could see her anyway, but combining it with the darkness of the night helped quite a bit.

    ¡°I still want to see how you managed to destroy the entropic predator,¡± Cerebaton assumed his ready position and I matched him, presenting a narrowed profile with my sword hand held before me, at just a slight angle to be ready to parry.

    ¡°Mr. Cerebaton!¡± Cariad protested, exasperation thick in her voice.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, he¡¯s got a point, Cari,¡± I interrupted, waving my empty hand behind me but not taking my eyes off Cerebaton. ¡°How I beat it was by cribbing an idea off of one of the fastest critters native to this world.¡±

    Cerebaton¡¯s eyes narrowed slightly. His sharp jaw tightening was the only other clue I got before he lunged forward.

    Our practice swords met and deflected several times, clunking dully as the wood absorbed the blows and sent the impact reverberating down my arm before we separated again. I¡¯d managed to avoid the encounter without getting hit and Cerebaton nodded.

    ¡°Good to see you aren¡¯t letting yourself get rusty with the sword.¡±

    ¡°A lot transfers over between weapons. It culminates in ¡®hit the bad guy with a specific part of the weapon¡¯,¡± I said with a shrug before resuming my ready position.

    ¡°And this¡­ ¡®fastest critter¡¯ you talked about?¡± Cerebaton also resumed his ready position, more of a fencer''s pose with the weapon held out in front of him, point aimed at my gut.

    ¡°Mantis shrimp. Can punch fast enough under water that it can boil water in passing with the friction. Little buggers are super colorful and super dangerous, if you are about the size of a quarter.¡±

    ¡°But you are much bigger than they are?¡± Cerebaton asked while quirking one eyebrow, not approaching me yet.

    ¡°Yup. That sack monster was too fast for me otherwise, and it was the first thing I thought of that was fast enough to fight back.¡±

    ¡°Show me.¡±

    Cerebaton¡¯s flat statement preceded his lunge, but I was ready.

    I shifted the blade of my sword to catch his incoming thrust and push it away while I turned. My left arm was already flowing as I stepped forward, the elbow reversing and my hand fusing into the same hardened lump of bone I had used to beat the monster into submission.

    No sooner had the shift completed than I fired off a strike with it, the intricate dance of effects working together to power the attack.

    A mantis shrimp could snap off a punch at around fifty miles per hour, which was faster than the world¡¯s fastest boxer. But a mantis shrimp¡¯s punch only had to travel an inch at most.

    My punch cleared the two feet of distance between me and Cerebaton a bit slower than the shrimp¡¯s might have. It was still fast enough that, if I hadn¡¯t been aiming for the hilt of his practice sword, I wasn¡¯t sure if my trainer would have been able to react to defend himself. Which is why I aimed into his block.

    The crunch of breaking wood met my ears half a second before Cerebaton¡¯s boot slammed into my chest and launched me backwards through the air to land on the splintery ground of the gazebo with an ¡®oof¡¯.

    My head was ringing and spinning, but I retained enough intelligence to roll with the blow and slide to my feet. I rose in time to parry the flying, broken hilt of the sword thrown at my head while the big man stomped towards me.

    ¡°Stop!¡±

    Cariad¡¯s sharp tone froze both of us in our tracks, me with my practice sword out and shifted left arm folded to strike again, Cerebaton with his skin flowing and turning green and horns sprouting from his head. Fury made his eyes glitter as they flowed into the sunflower-yellow that was their normal color.

    ¡°What the hell was that, Mr. Cerebaton? You asked him to show you, and you react like that?!¡± Cariad was already on her feet and ¡ª don¡¯t ask me how she did it in heels, but she managed it ¡ª stomped towards us.

    ¡°That wasn¡¯t a demonstration! That was an attack with deadly force during a training bout!¡± Cerebaton protested, but the anger that had been twisting his features was draining away, his skin shifting back to the human-pink of his disguise while his subordinate¡¯s words melted the anger.

    ¡°Be that as it may, you have been hammering on him all night. Every other time he¡¯s demonstrated a shift to you, you¡¯ve been able to handle it. You are the instructor, Mr. Cerebaton! You should have said something if you had any question of being able to handle the attack,¡± Cariad insisted, coming to a stop between us.

    The daemon¡¯s red hair bounced still from the emphatic hammering of her stride, and damn me if she didn¡¯t look adorable with how intensely she was glaring up at her boss.

    ¡°Cari¡ª¡± I started to say, not wanting to let her continue to rip into her boss, when she whirled at me.

    ¡°And you! Liam, that was extremely reckless. If you had hit Mr. Cerebaton, the blow might have hurt or killed him. I sit here watching you two beat on each other without even helmets to protect yourselves. Then you go and do something like this? I swear by the System, I¡¯ll find a way to thump some sense into the both of you if you do not find some way to avoid giving me a heart attack!¡±

    Stolen story; please report.

    ¡°Sorry Cari,¡± I mumbled, feeling for all the world like a chastised grade-schooler right now. From the embarrassed look on Cerebaton¡¯s face, he wasn¡¯t doing much better.

    ¡°My apologies, Ms. Davies. I got carried away there. You have made your point to both of us,¡± Cerebaton said evenly after a moment of silence.

    Cariad whirled to stare questioningly up at him. Apparently, she found what she was looking for before she nodded once sharply.

    ¡°Are you okay, Mr. Cerebaton?¡± she asked a moment later, the fire in her tone dimming, but not going away.

    ¡°I am, Ms. Davies.¡±

    ¡°And you, Liam?¡±

    ¡°Bruised, but that¡¯s normal training with the big guy,¡± I said with a smile, getting a roll of the eyes from Cariad and a snicker from Cerebaton.

    ¡°Can I trust you two to act maturely now? With just a bit more common sense?¡±

    Cariad¡¯s last question had just the right tone to it that I had to bite back the ¡®yes mom¡¯ that was begging to come out. Kassandra was really rubbing off on me it seemed.

    Instead, Cerebaton and I just nodded.

    Satisfied with that, Cariad returned to her spot on the railing. Though she continued to watch us like a hawk as Cerebaton gathered up the broken halves of his wooden sword.

    ¡°I can see how that would have worked. I didn¡¯t even see the blow coming, just felt it hit and then the crunch. After that, I reacted instinctively,¡± the big man explained while studying the deep dent in the hard wood that deformed it before the weapon broke.

    ¡°Apparently, the shrimp I stole the idea from swings as fast as a small-caliber bullet flies. Hard to spot those coming, unless you have truly ridiculous reflexes.¡± I winced while rubbing at the bruise forming on my chest.

    The injury from the kick would have been worse, but I¡¯d taken to reinforcing my skin and bones while drilling with Cerebaton to practice the Shape-Shifting ability with armor. It¡¯d saved me from a few bruises until Cerebaton figured out what I was doing and started using more force. The git.

    ¡°Yes, that is true. An interesting option to use on one arm. Fight with the sword to force an opening, then strike into it as fast as a snake.¡± Cerebaton walked over to set the broken shards of his practice sword by Cariad, who huffed through her nose at him, still clearly irritated at her boss.

    ¡°Faster. Two or three times faster depending on the breed. Problem is the shorter range,¡± I said with a shrug.

    I¡¯d gotten curious when I got back and researched it. A striking snake could strike at anywhere from seven to eighteen miles per hour, depending on breed.

    When Cerebaton did not walk back out into the open space of the gazebo, I walked over to join him by Cariad.

    ¡°Work on extending the range if you can, then. Just be aware that the longer the lever, the more stress you will put on its length.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve got the girls for range. And my earth magic when I start expanding it. Should work on that, actually. It¡¯s still just in the minor class.¡±

    Cerebaton gestured as I spoke, clearly wanting to look at my still-shifted left arm. He was wearing long gloves like Cariad did to keep his touch from harming me, so I turned to hold the limb out for him to study.

    ¡°That is an option, especially with the System gifting you with the larger Mana Reservoir.¡± Cariad¡¯s voice was a bit more subdued now as she watched Cerebaton shift and move the bizarre bone-club arm I had. ¡°How is your Shape-Shifting developing?¡±

    ¡°Locked in the mid seven-hundreds of the mastery,¡± I said with a sigh. ¡°I figured that coming up with the pearl thing would count for being creative, but hasn¡¯t budged at all.¡±

    ¡°It might gain some ground as you repeat the feat. Clever idea, by the way, especially by using a creature not native to your world. Make sure you don¡¯t end up burning out your body¡¯s nutrients creating them though,¡± Cerebaton said distractedly while extending the limb to check the range.

    ¡°I won¡¯t. I¡¯ve made sure to research it to ensure I know what I need to eat. Part of why pearls work so well. Mostly made up of calcium carbonate, which is basically antacids. As long as I don¡¯t try to pour out hundreds of pearls, I¡¯ll be fine. The only real challenge is going to be finding a way to sell them. Hoping that a CPA will help me figure out if I need to set up a business, or if I can just sell them independently.¡±

    ¡°Go for the business. It means you¡¯ll make a bit less, but you have better protection. Provenance is going to be an issue though, isn¡¯t it?¡± Cerebaton released my arm to study his own. The limb flowed and changed to match mine, just on a larger scale, while he talked.

    ¡°As far as I can tell? They don¡¯t care so much about that. The pearl will go through testing and the like to see how valuable it is and what type it falls under. The only worry I have is that, since the shimmer nest conch is not native to this world, the pearl won¡¯t be considered ¡®real¡¯.¡± I held my arm up again so that Cerebaton could study it to make sure his matched, before shifting it back to my regular left arm.

    ¡°Sounds like you should make a few and send them off for appraisal. Say you found them and want to know if they are real or not. Ms. Davies gave you the bounty payment, right?¡±

    ¡°Yup, deposited the check earlier today. Had to actually go into the location since they wouldn¡¯t let me deposit something like that through the ATM. I guess I don¡¯t look like the type to have that kind of cashier¡¯s check on hand, because the manager had to come out and sign off on it. Had to tell them it was from a private collection sale.¡±

    ¡°Well, if you make it a habit to get bounty payouts from the DSR, then we can set up direct funding to your account. That will avoid the pesky questions. The higher-ups wouldn¡¯t approve it for a single transaction like this, but three or more should be no issue.¡± Cerebaton shook his arm and his shift flowed away as well before he turned his full attention back to me.

    ¡°As for your abilities, it is up to you. You might want to hold off on spending the SP you have left after your big boost the other day.¡±

    ¡°I wanted to experiment with the Empower Reservoir ability that showed up,¡± I interjected. ¡°The girl¡¯s biggest limitation is the cost of summoning me. If I can defray that cost by charging their mana imbued coins, then that¡¯ll mean more summons for me. And more SP in the long run.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but you know the flaw of that ability, right?¡± Cerebaton leaned back against the railing before crossing his arms over his thick chest, making the shirt he was wearing tighten even further.

    ¡°The slower regeneration rate, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes. It doesn¡¯t directly spell it out, but the native regeneration rate drops precipitously. Usually, to about ten or twenty percent of what it was.¡±

    I winced at that thought. If it had taken around thirty minutes to regenerate a single point of mana, it would now take two and a half hours to do so. Not horrible if I wasn¡¯t using it, but not a universal answer.

    ¡°But what about areas of higher mana concentration? I noticed that I was regenerating a lot faster here on Earth...¡± I did my best to keep the whine out of my tone and was only partially successful.

    ¡°It¡¯ll still regenerate at that slower rate, just won¡¯t be as catastrophically slow. Remember that the ambient mana will eventually run out and take time to come back. So staying in one position is not the best option for letting your mana recover.¡± Cariad spoke up before Cerebaton could. ¡°It might be better to boost your stats some more, as they aren¡¯t something that will run out on you. Just make sure to do it slowly.¡± The last word she growled, and I made sure to nod quickly in agreement with her demand.

    ¡°I know. I¡¯ll make sure to take it easy, okay?¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± she snorted cutely through her nose before smirking up at me. ¡°You do learn without having to get beaten up.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d have to be able to learn that way if the girls were going to teach me anything. Both of them are as small if not smaller than you, Cari.¡± I gave her one of my best, winning smiles, which earned me a small laugh from her.

    ¡°All right, that¡¯s enough flirting between you two,¡± Cerebaton grumbled, making a blush race across Cariad¡¯s cheeks. ¡°She¡¯s right though, Liam. Your stats are going to be the most solid thing to focus on. The Empower Reservoir power is useful, but the utility is relatively small at the moment. If I remember right, the delay on regeneration is smaller when the mastery rises. Just have to find proper receptacles here. Mana doesn¡¯t normally crystalize on this world, so it might be hard. Once you get your Dimensional Pocket ability¨C don¡¯t give me that look! You¡¯ll get it, eventually.¡±

    I was scowling at him when he mentioned the elusive power, but I had to admit that hearing someone of Cerebaton¡¯s knowledge stating that I would get it eventually helped.

    ¡°Anyway, when you get the power, you¡¯ll be able to bring over discharged metals to refill in your spare time. That will be a useful way to utilize the power.¡±

    Silence fell between us for several long moments. Distantly, I could hear cars moving on the highway, and the hollow thunk of a basketball on the cracked asphalt of the courts on the other side of the park.

    ¡°The girls were talking about having another classmate bond with me for a contracted companion too.¡± I broke the silence after a few minutes of thinking.

    ¡°Good, you should open yourself to more contracts. You¡¯ve been lucky so far that your two contracted have been summoning you so often. Most of the time, young Travelers have to build up their reputation with smaller, interspersed contracts, or by using their family contacts. Several more would be even better, since it will let you grow multiple power sets at once,¡± Cerebaton added, a small smile splitting the handsome mask he was wearing.

    ¡°Yeah. I will have to see how it goes. I don¡¯t want to ever end up busy with something if one of the girls needs me, though. Part of why I¡¯m so against getting a regular job now that I¡¯m free of the old one.¡±

    ¡°Good point. The restriction of working hours is a heavy chain,¡± Cerebaton sighed, glancing over at Cariad, who nodded while tapping her left wrist.

    ¡°Time to head out?¡± I asked, recognizing the gesture.

    ¡°Yes. We are at time for our lesson. I¡¯ll see you in two days for the second one of the week. Keep practicing with your abilities and working on expanding them. Make the most of the fast growth period.¡±

    ¡°Can do.¡± A shout from the basketball court drew my attention for a moment, and a muffled cheer followed it, as someone must have scored a point. ¡°Hey, sorry about breaking that practice sword earli¡ª¡± I turned back to check on my companions to find they had vanished.

    The spot where both had leaned against the railing was as empty as if they¡¯d never been there. The broken practice sword was gone as well, leaving behind just mine.

    Rolling my eyes, I collected the bit of shaped wood from where it had been lying on the ground and set it on my shoulder for the walk back to my apartment.

    ¡°At least Cerebaton is more caped crusader than the terror that flaps in the night,¡± I mumbled while I walked, snickering a bit at that thought while clattering down the rickety gazebo stairs.

 Chapter 81

    I ended up doing as much research as I could on mineral rights, selling, and more over most of the next day.

    What I found was that the US government had a pretty good stranglehold on anything considered precious, unless you had land in the family. I¡¯d found a bit of a way around the legality of the gem market by producing my own ¡®stones¡¯ via Shape-Shifting, but the market for pearls might actually be somewhat difficult to get into as well.

    The check from the DSR cleared my account without setting off any alarms, which surprised me. I¡¯d half expected to get a visit from the IRS or federal agents of some kind just from the size of the check. The week was still young, and everyone knew that governmental agencies ran behind most of the time.

    With the funds from the check, as long as the government didn¡¯t try to seize my account that is, I was safe for a year or more. I could stretch the funds even further depending on the girls and their summoning, but that was more about the cost of groceries and daily expenses rather than rent.

    ¡°Wonder what it would cost to get an RV and just live out of that?¡± I mumbled while laying sprawled on my couch looking up at the ceiling.

    Ever since I¡¯d figured out the trick with earth magic to dust and clean the apartment, I¡¯d had to find a new way to practice my Shape-Shifting power, which was my bread and butter trick. Honestly, it was probably a good thing, since I doubted using the power to dust would actually give me much in the way of mastery.

    I¡¯d already accumulated around a hundred of the pearls, finding that the shimmer-nest conch shift could do as many as twenty at a time. Experimentation taught me that I could alter the shape of the pearl by altering the shape of the ¡®seed¡¯ before it went in. At the moment, I was processing a bunch of round ones, as those were the most valuable based on my research.

    Doing my ¡®crazy starfish¡¯ impression there on the couch, a gentle swirl of motion near my door caught my attention. I turned in time to see the light in that area dim for a brief moment as a dark stain formed slightly in front of my door with ribbons of shadow extending out from it.

    Before I could react, the darkness froze in its motion and then a slender, stockinged calf extended out of the shadows to bring a sensible-heeled black shoe down on my linoleum. A thigh that showed just a slit of blue-gray skin above the stocking followed that calf before a black pencil-skirt took over. A moment later, the white blouse I was familiar with emerged from the puddle of shadow, but I was already relaxing as I recognized who it was.

    ¡°So that¡¯s how you and Cerebaton keep popping in and out of places,¡± I said with a broad grin as Cariad¡¯s head emerged last from the shadow portal, her strawberry-red hair bouncing energetically.

    ¡°Oh shoot! I was hoping we could keep it a secret longer,¡± Cariad smiled while snapping her fingers. ¡°Portal travel is a small benefit of working with the DSR, and no one really expects it.¡±

    She had her familiar document case tucked under her other arm, and paused for a moment to glance over her shoulder at the door. I followed her gaze and listened closely. I¡¯d missed it before, but I could hear the quiet thump of rap music through the wall and a few voices talking.

    ¡°Sorry about just coming in, Liam. You have neighbors in your breezeway and I didn¡¯t have a lot of time to divert the corridor once I was already on my way here. I had a break at work and figured I¡¯d come check on you after yesterday¡¯s sparring match.¡± Cariad gave me a winning smile, and I couldn¡¯t help but grin back at her.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine. They do that sometimes when they want to smoke, but don¡¯t want the landlord to get angry,¡± I said with a shrug and rolled to my feet, having to adjust my balance because of the large shell that was replacing my left hand currently.

    ¡°Working on your ¡®get-rich-quick¡¯ scheme, I see,¡± Cariad nodded to the brilliantly shining shell, and I shrugged.

    ¡°Not much else to do at the moment. I feel like I have part of the idea right now, but I have to figure out the rest next,¡± I said while waving the shell-hand about.

    Cariad covered a giggle, her sea-green eyes glittering in amusement. It was good to hear her laugh. It helped make the distance between me and my girls a bit easier having someone to talk to.

    You should get in touch with Jameson. Hang out with your friend on this side, I reminded myself. The girls send you messages all day after all. I swear if it wasn¡¯t for research and amusing videos, I could probably get rid of my phone at this point and just use the interdimensional super-computer that is somehow interfacing with my mind.

    That particular thought made me a bit queasy. My overactive imagination in the wake of the increased cognition happily supplied images of cyborg implants that were partially out of phase with reality, so I couldn¡¯t actually see them.

    ¡°Well, you are basically selling the ingredients for jewelry, Liam. You should look into whether there is a better market for selling directly to manufacturers, or open your own storefront to sell directly to consumers,¡± Cariad suggested with a wiggle of her eyebrows. ¡°Mind if I sit down?¡±

    ¡°No, go ahead,¡± I mumbled while staring thoughtfully into the distance.

    The previously mentioned increased mental facilities were now working in overdrive as they considered different options for markets as far as I knew.

    Since I didn¡¯t have to prove the source, I just needed to get the pearls officially graded and then the grading should be enough to satisfy a buyer. I may not even need that if I opened a storefront on something like Bitsy or zBay. Then it would be just a matter of making sure orders got shipped out in time and other small business stuff.

    The slight bounce that came from my shitty old couch shifting next to me broke me out of the trance. I glanced over to find Cariad had settled down onto the cushion on my right while peering down at the glimmering shell in my lap.

    ¡°It really is beautiful. It¡¯s too bad that touching it would corrode the material though, otherwise I¡¯d commission a bunch of them from you to give as gifts.¡±

    Cariad¡¯s eyes flicked up to meet mine through her lashes, and I was reminded of Kassandra doing similar, though her glasses always distorted the effect, the silver-rims of her glasses always accentuated her pale skin so well. Additionally, the silver was more sturdy than soft gold would be.

    ¡°Glass,¡± I said suddenly, sitting bolt upright as my mind made the mental leap necessary.

    Cariad just blinked at me in surprise, her second set of eyes opening to add to the surprised staring from her first set.

    ¡°What?¡± she asked quietly, tilting her head to one side.

    ¡°Hang on, let me think for a second,¡± I muttered while my brain whirled down a number of different roads at once.

    I glanced down at Cariad¡¯s outfit and the black leather of her document case, then snapped my fingers with a grin as everything locked into place. I needed to test a few things first, but that would be easy enough to do.

    Hopping to my feet, I hurried to the kitchen and flipped open the trash bin. A bit of rummaging produced the melted remains of Cariad¡¯s coffee mug from when she¡¯d stopped by to yell at me for being an idiot before.

    ¡°Liam?¡± The concern in Cariad¡¯s voice was obvious, but she was waiting while I rushed through my idea.

    ¡°Just a second, I think I figured out something,¡± I called back and set the heavily corroded bit of porcelain on the countertop.

    Porcelain is just fired clay, clay is a naturally occurring mineral. I was able to mend Mom and Dad¡¯s rings the other day with Manipulate Element. Hmm, I need to make sure it wasn¡¯t just metal I could do. I was able to shape stone in the caves, but porcelain might be different. Baby steps.

    Focusing on the porcelain cup, I reached into my core and performed the familiar mental gestures to tug out the mana there. Then I sent it out to the porcelain cup.

    The cup reacted immediately, the sides thinning and growing to fill in the empty spots. The fragment of the handle melted away as well, the material being reclaimed until there sat a small porcelain bowl. Even the natural glaze had obeyed my directions and stretched to fill in spots.

    ¡°Okay, that worked! Next is,¡± I muttered, whirling to rifle through the cupboards to find a spare water glass.

    Snatching one off the shelf, I pushed with the mana that still remained close to the surface of my skin.

    The glass fought me more, but still not as much as the stone had in the cave under the mountains. It deformed and the lip of the glass came free like I was pulling a piece of warm taffy. I nodded as I let the glass pool in my right hand before lifting my left to gently produce one of the finished pearls that I still had inside the conch.

    The pearl dropped into the puddle of glass with a quiet tink and I quickly folded the glass over top of it. A bit of rolling in my hand, encouraged by the magic, had the sphere of glass encase the pearl before a quick tap on the countertop formed a small flat spot to let it balance there.

    Removing my hand, I looked down at the glittering pearl encased in very durable glass. I had felt the irregularities in the glass while forming the sphere. It had only taken a bit of a tug from Manipulate Elements to pull them out and leave only a regular structure behind to make it stronger.

    The iridescent pearl shone inside its glass sheathing, the opalescent rainbow of its colors safely protected behind the glass.

    ¡°Okay. One more, this time smaller,¡± I muttered, tugging another piece of glass off that was barely the size of a dime.

    A quick bit of work had another pearl captured inside of it. Then another mental effort gave the glass a bit of an egg shape and a small loop that would work to hold a closure.

    ¡°That¡¯s really pretty, Liam. But won¡¯t it melt when I touch it, anyway?¡±

    Cariad had crept over to watch while I worked, standing just across from me now while chewing on her bottom lip daintily. Her sea-green eyes were wide with wonder, while her electric-blue ones were watching me with a bit of worry to their slitted pupils from their spot by her temples.

    ¡°If I use glass that is native here. But you¡¯ve told me your clothes are made of non-reactive materials in the past. That¡¯s why you don¡¯t just melt through the ground or my couch when you sit down. Glass is one of the least-reactive materials that our science knows of, surpassed by things like gold. But gold isn¡¯t transparent.¡± I smiled down at Cariad, but she just looked up at me in confusion.

    ¡°I don¡¯t get it, Liam.¡±

    ¡°Look, I can make you some jewelry from these pearls. I just need you to get me some of the non-reactive materials they use to make your clothes. Specifically, whatever metal you want it made with, and a bit of glass. I can see you have something similar to glass that is being used on the buttons of your blouse.¡±

    Cariad¡¯s eyes dropped to said blouse, which was sitting with the top three buttons undone and exposing a good deal of the upper curve of her blue-gray skin. A faint blush colored her cheeks, but she was smiling when she looked back up at me.

    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

    ¡°You¡¯d use the neutral glass to cover the pearl, and then the metal would attach to the glass. At that point, you wouldn¡¯t need to use neutral metals, and it wouldn¡¯t vanish when I touch it with my skin!¡± Her voice rose in excitement as she spoke, and her grin blossomed into a full faced one.

    ¡°Exactly. I can do something similar here. Selling raw pearls by the pound might be harder than building the jewelry myself. I just need to get the pearls certified before I do it, so no one questions if I used authentic pearls. I did the research, and it just takes a few licenses and opening a small business. My overhead would be next to nothing, as I¡¯d be paying myself for the pearls. Heck, I don¡¯t have to do just jewelry. It wasn¡¯t hard to shape the glass, so I could do all sorts of stuff with sculpting glass ornaments and the like. I could even make quite a bit by buying and restoring old pottery too.¡± I tapped my finger on the porcelain bowl in front of me.

    ¡°That is unbelievable!¡± Cariad crowed happily, bouncing from foot to foot now in an adorable little jig that sent small ripples through her lush figure. ¡°You just have to confirm that your magic works on the same neutral-charge materials we have. I know a gal in Procurement that should be able to get me samples.¡± She glanced down at the watch on one slim wrist and nodded. ¡°I¡¯ve got time. I¡¯ll run over there and see if I can get a few small pieces for you to experiment with. I want to be your first customer!¡±

    Cariad stepped back from the counter and flicked her wrist in a downward motion with her hand flat like she was doing a tiny karate-chop. The air where her hand passed darkened and swirled over the course of a second. she dove through that shadow a moment later, leaving me behind with a mess on the counter and a mind full of ideas.

    Of course, that was the exact moment that someone began pounding on my front door too.

    <><><>

    I panicked at first, flailing about with my Shape-Shifted hand and accidentally firing several of the pearls out of the shell with quiet phut noises that ended in sharp clack¡¯s as the pearls hit the drywall over my shitty little kitchen table.

    Getting my panic under control, I hurried over and stared through the peephole. A brown leather flat-cap sat squarely in my field of view, supported by a cranky-looking Irishman that I recognized, dressed in a blue button-down and khaki pants.

    ¡°Shit,¡± I muttered when I recognized Jameson standing on my porch.

    As I watched him through the peephole, he raised his fist and pounded on the door again.

    ¡°Come on, Liam! Pull your pants up and come open the door. I¡¯m choking to death on weed smoke and bad music out here!¡± he called through the door. Someone outside must have said something because I saw him turn to his right and flip the bird at someone I couldn¡¯t see.

    ¡°One second!¡± I called through the door and ducked away.

    I couldn¡¯t just let him in while my hand was shifted into a giant conch shell. I needed to get rid of it.

    So far, I hadn¡¯t clued Jameson in on the whole ¡®dimension hopping mercenary¡¯ angle of my life, and this was not the way to go about doing that.

    Yeah, surprising him with a rather disturbing image like this is totally the wrong way to go about it. He¡¯d need to be a lot more drunk to not freak out seeing this, I thought frantically. Can¡¯t just shift back, it¡¯s got a full load of pearls in it and Cerebaton warned me not to do that.

    My eyes landed on the new porcelain bowl on the counter next to the damaged water glass, and I hurried over.

    It took me a second to get the right gestures to carefully remove the pearls from my shifted hand, filling the bowl with a clattering noise not unlike dropping hard candy into it.

    As soon as the last pearl fell into the bowl, I focused and my hand flowed back into its normal shape. I gave the room a quick once over, spotted Cariad¡¯s document folder sitting on the couch and brushed it off since it wasn¡¯t sitting open. Jameson was nosy, but the man had a good heart and he wouldn¡¯t pry into that.

    I quickly scrambled to collect the small number of pearls scattered over the floor, jamming them into my jeans pocket as the noise in the hall increased.

    ¡°Liam! Get your lazy ass out here before the natives carry me off to make stew!¡± Jameson yelled through the door, pounding again on it. I heard more snarling insults from the hall and raced over to yank the door open.

    Jameson was half-turned away from the door and giving the finger at a trio of dark-skinned teenagers, one of which still had a joint hanging from his lips.

    All three were dressed in what I¡¯d mentally labeled the ¡®Thug Lyfe¡¯ style, with sagging jeans falling to mid thighs and oversized shirts with crooked ball-caps on their heads.

    ¡°Jameson, seriously? You have to cause trouble with everyone when you come by to visit?¡± I growled, reaching out to grab him by the collar of his shirt and yank him into the apartment.

    ¡°Yo dawg, what the hell? You can¡¯t say shit like that to us and get away with it,¡± barked one of the teens.

    I turned back and gave him a once over while stepping up to lean against the door jamb, completely blocking Jameson from view.

    ¡°You¡¯ll have to forgive him, guys. He¡¯s got a potato crammed so far up his ass it¡¯s affecting his brain,¡± I said quickly, giving each of them a once over.

    All three teens who had been happy to gang up on the shorter carrot-topped white guy in his nice clothes hesitated when I confronted them in my tattered work jeans and faded pocket shirt. I knew that I struck an intimidating figure just because of my size, something Jameson had taken advantage of in the past when his shit-stirring got him in trouble, so I wasn¡¯t afraid to use it to deescalate the situation.

    ¡°Aight, we can let it slide this one time,¡± said the teen in the front after a handful of tense seconds. ¡°But just because we finally got a good buzz going, and I don¡¯t wanna lose that. Come on, fellas.¡±

    The three wannabe thugs waddled back down the breezeway, leaving a cloud of marijuana smoke hanging in the air in front of my apartment. I let out a gusty sigh, closed the door, and turned to glare at Jameson.

    My pesky friend was already headfirst in my refrigerator, fishing around inside it while the door mostly blocked his body.

    ¡°You have got to stop causing problems all over the place, Jameson. Or else you are actually going to get your ass beat one of these days. If they break your fingers, your architecture career is over.¡±

    ¡°Meh, I can run faster than they can with their asses hanging out like that. And I get my fill of having to be polite at work. Why don¡¯t you have any beer here?¡± Jameson leaned back to give me a toothy smile, his eyes twinkling with mischief.

    ¡°Because you didn¡¯t tell me you were coming, shit-stain.¡± The twinkle in his eyes got more mischievous as I fired the first shot in our customary insult-war.

    ¡°You keep Coke Zero on hand, but not beer? Liam, you are turning into a teetotaler on me? I can understand cutting some costs since you are between work right now, but liquor is life. You are gonna end up like one of those health-food nuts that never stops talking about their quinoa salads if you keep this up.¡±

    ¡°Of course you¡¯d say liquor is life. You play any harder into those stereotypes, you really are going to end up with a potato crammed up your ass.¡±

    Jameson laughed and slammed the refrigerator closed while cracking his soda open and walking over to peer at the bowl full of pearls on the counter.

    I winced. I should have hid them, but I was more worried about getting my hand back to normal and keeping Jameson¡¯s mouth from getting him a beating.

    ¡°What¡¯s this? You turn into a rock collector in your free time? Gonna start the woo-woo stuff and become a desperate housewife?¡± Jameson shot me a wry grin, and I rolled my eyes at him.

    My mind jumped tracks though, and I made a mental note to look into the market for things like statues for new-age stores. I might be able to make a bit more cash like that. If I could shape tunnels in rock, I could probably knock out some statues that would look good on the shelves of one of those Wicca supply stores.

    Wonder if it would do anything to them that I used actual magic to make the statue? I thought wryly before answering Jameson¡¯s question.

    ¡°Maybe. If it pays the bills, I¡¯m not going to knock it. I mean, that¡¯s what you always said about your work in college on that street corner.¡±

    ¡°Ouch, harsh but true. Leather pants never were my thing. But they did make my ass look good. You couldn¡¯t rock those fishnets for long though, legs are too hairy,¡± Jameson replied with a grin, poking the pearls once more and fishing one out. ¡°Legit, though, these are nice looking. Are you gonna take up jewelry making?¡±

    ¡°Maybe. Haven¡¯t really decided yet. Gotta look into the licenses and the like.¡± I shrugged and beckoned him to come and join me on the couch.

    I used that opportunity to shift Cariad¡¯s document folder over to the table before flopping down once more. Jameson joined me with a grunt of pain as he sat down wrong and smacked his back on the exposed support in the cushions of the mostly dead couch.

    ¡°You really need to get a better couch, and a better apartment,¡± grumbled my short friend.

    ¡°Soon as I can rake in the big bucks, like a certain someone who plays with Lego¡¯s for a living.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t play with Lego. I create masterpieces with my Mega Blox, thank you very much. Boss is too cheap to spring for something as premium as Lego¡¯s.¡± Jameson sighed and took another slurp of his soda. ¡°Good to see you are doing okay, Liam. I half expected to either find you passed out in a puddle of gin or panicking when I decided to drop by.¡±

    What is with folks I know just showing up at random today? First it was Cariad, then it was Jameson. Is Cerebaton going to burst out of the bathroom all of a sudden? The thought crossed my mind before slamming to a stop with all the abruptness of a bird hitting a window. That would be my kind of luck, and then I¡¯d have to explain all this to Jameson.

    I glanced around warily, half expecting to see the pitch-black swirl of a portal forming to summon the horned man I¡¯d just been thinking of. But there was no sign of him, thankfully.

    ¡°You¡¯ll find a new gig eventually, Liam. Working for yourself might be nice, though. You got the start-up funds for something like that? I can float you a loan if you need,¡± Jameson took a moment from our normal insulting sparring to ask me earnestly and I shook my head at my friend.

    ¡°No, I¡¯m doing fine. I¡¯ll let you know if that changes though, okay?¡±

    ¡°Sure thing. You let me know if you need anything at all. You might be too much of an idiot to know when to stop growing, but some of us know that ducking ceiling fans is bad for our health. We gotta look out for those of a lesser intellect.¡± Jameson immediately resumed fire, grinning that his concern had been properly expressed.

    ¡°Actually, I do. Considering how much of a squirrelly bastard you are, I figure you might know a CPA who could help me handle the paperwork to start a business?¡± I suggested, and Jameson paused to think for a moment.

    ¡°I don¡¯t actually know one of those, but some guys at the office might have one they can recommend. Also, I¡¯ll have you know that I am quite the accomplished squirrelly fellow and don¡¯t need help to get out of trouble. I won¡¯t even deign to respond to your crass insult about my lineage.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fair, but I would appreciate the information when you get a chance. I¡¯d hate to mess up the paperwork and be stuck behind a desk earning my keep all day, like someone else I know.¡±

    ¡°Better behind than under the desk. You¡¯d know that, wouldn¡¯t you?¡± Jameson took another long sip of his soda as if to accent his point with eyes closed in satisfaction.

    Which was fortunate, as he missed what happened next. Apparently, I¡¯d let myself relax too quickly and Fate decided to mess with me.

    The swirl of darkness by my kitchen counter gave me the only warning I would get of an incoming visitor as that familiar black shoe emerged from the smoky shadows.

    ¡°Anyway, what brings you out here to visit me? Something on your mind? I promise that no matter what the doctors say, the other one will drop eventually,¡± I said quickly, hoping to keep Jameson¡¯s attention on me as Cariad phased into view by the kitchen counter.

    The daemon¡¯s red hair bounced as she glanced around. Then her eyes widened when she spotted me on the couch with Jameson and she froze.

    ¡°Ha ha, that¡¯s good, Liam. I can smell smoke. Were you thinking too hard on that one?¡± Jameson said with a faux laugh and an elbow to my side. ¡°I was on lunch break and decided to drop by and check on my jobless-bum of a friend, that¡¯s all.¡±

    Out of sight of Jameson, Cariad held up a small cube of clear material in one hand and then a much smaller one of silvery metal in the other. The first was about the size of a large piece of fudge, while the second was about the size of a cube of sugar. Delicately, she set them on the counter with a pair of quiet clicks.

    ¡°While I might be jobless, the bum title goes to you. You¡¯re just jealous that I get to relax all day is all. You know that being bitter won¡¯t make you any prettier, right?¡± I was scrambling to keep the banter up. Thankfully, my increased mental scores were helping some in between providing me with all the ways it might go wrong if Jameson spotted Cariad.

    ¡°That¡¯s harsh. You know I¡¯m already pretty enough that it¡¯s considered unfair to the rest of folks. Meanwhile, you look like someone tried and failed to chlorinate your gene pool,¡± Jameson shot back. ¡°You know what? We should go out and have a nice dinner to celebrate you finally getting away from that shit job. Texas de Brazil or something, my treat.¡±

    Cariad bit her lip and glanced around, clearly looking for something. Her sea-green eyes lit up when she spotted her document case and she carefully paced over to grab it.

    Her shoes clicked sharply on the linoleum and Jameson began to turn, so I acted quickly and slugged him in the arm, barely remembering my increased strength in time to tone it down so I didn¡¯t break it.

    ¡°Of course you¡¯d want to go there. An all-you-can-eat steakhouse is a great place to choke on some meat, since they won¡¯t let a pervert like you into the strip joints anymore,¡± I said in a scramble as Jameson winced from the punch.

    ¡°Ouch. Clearly you are keeping in shape. I¡¯d say you are dumb as a rock, but at least rocks are useful. Man, that¡¯s gonna leave a bruise,¡± Jameson whined, tugging at his shirt-sleeve to try to check his injured arm.

    Cariad waved and pointed to her head, mouthing the words ¡®message me later¡¯ before stepping backwards into another swirl of shadow. I let out a relieved breath while Jameson continued to whine about his ¡®broken¡¯ arm.

 Chapter 82

    Jameson hung around for about an hour before he had to run off to get back to work. I spent the rest of Wednesday experimenting with the glass and metal samples that Cariad had brought me.

    While the neutral metal cube she¡¯d provided was simple enough to work with, the glass fought me a lot more than the local stuff had. I ended up pouring most of my fifty points of mana into the glass to get it to respond. The cubes were enough to make a set of earrings that would look good against her slate-blue skin and a necklace with another dozen of the pearls.

    The necklace gave me a bit of trouble in figuring out how to make it work. I didn¡¯t have the equipment to drill into the pearls, and they didn¡¯t react when I tried to shape them. I could loop the glass like I was with the earrings, but then they¡¯d all slide down to bunch up.

    I ended up getting distracted and going down a rabbit hole of research for a bit then. The answer to why I could make the pearls with Shape-Shifting, but not mold them, ended up being found at the end of an Internet search.

    Turns out that nacre, the material that makes up pearls, is actually known as a bio-mineral rather than a regular mineral. I figured that the proteins present in the matrix were what prevented me from molding them with Manipulate Element.

    But since I couldn¡¯t actively mold the material of the pearl, I had to find other ways to get the necklace to lay right. The loops in the glass worked fine to hold it to the thin, flexible wire I¡¯d made. I hit on the idea while looking at other examples online. A couple of spacers in the form of small glass beads kept the design where it was supposed to be.

    When they were all finished, I sent a message off to Cariad using the System messaging. She didn¡¯t reply, instead just popping out of one of her portals in my kitchen about ten minutes later with a happy squeal and a bounce.

    Cariad pounced on the jewelry and immediately put it on. When she started muttering about how to pay me for the work, I pushed it off, saying that it was a gift as my thanks for her work supporting me thus far.

    ¡°Liam, if I could do it without hurting you, you¡¯d be getting a big kiss as thanks for these. They are absolutely beautiful!¡±

    Cariad had commandeered my little bathroom to look at herself in the mirror. I stood outside, leaning against a wall and watching as the excited woman inspected herself from every angle.

    Her statement made a lump of regret form in my chest.

    What? Where did that come from? I thought in surprise, watching as Cariad gently removed one of the earrings and held it up to the light to study it closer. Am I? No, that¡¯s dumb. Of course I¡¯m attracted to Cariad. Next to Kass and Rieka, she¡¯s been the nicest to me out of anyone. And she¡¯s dead sexy, in an erotic secretary sort of way. No way though. Like she said, touching her would melt my face off. Keep the danger in mind.

    Despite my self-directed warnings, I couldn¡¯t help the slight upwelling of regret that settled there in my chest and refused to move.

    Cariad wasn¡¯t able to hang around for long, as she¡¯d stepped away from her desk on a break to come pick these up. So she thanked me again, moving like she was about to hug me, but stopped herself a moment later, then ducked through a portal with a blush.

    ¡°Damn,¡± I mumbled, staring into the mirror at my tired reflection in my once more silent apartment.

    <><><>

    Thursday rolled around to find me sprawled in my bed.

    I was just enjoying the small pleasure of not having to get up at a set time for work and exchanging mental messages with my girls when a rap-tap-tapping came at the front door. The noise was far too polite to be any of my neighbors or Jameson coming back to harass me, and Cariad would have messaged me in advance after nearly getting caught by Jameson.

    Rolling out of bed, I quickly yanked on the first set of jeans that I spotted and hurried out to check who it was. I glanced at the clock as I went by the kitchen and was surprised to find it was only a bit after nine.

    Pausing by the door, I considered again who this might be. After Jameson acted like a jackass yesterday, it was entirely possible those thug kids had decided to come back and cause some problems.

    Naw, if they did, it wouldn¡¯t be these polite taps, I thought. Rather than risk it, I shifted my left hand into the lizard-like war claws that I¡¯d learned so long ago from Lady Valda in passing, then pressed my eye to the peephole.

    A wall clad in faun business attire stood inches from my front door. I couldn¡¯t see a face, but from how wide said wall was, I had a feeling who was standing outside my front door. I let my hand shift back to normal while fiddling with the locks.

    ¡°Good morning Cerebaton, what brings you here so early?¡± I asked after I¡¯d unlocked and opened the door, looking up just slightly to catch eyes with my weapons instructor and Cariad¡¯s boss.

    Cerebaton was again in his ¡®human guise¡¯, appearing a lot like a more bulky version of Dolph Lundgren. His outfit looked like someone had tried to design a business suit but took heavy influence from a frock coat in the style and cut. He stood with his hands crossed over his waist, waiting patiently while I took him in.

    ¡°Good morning, Liam. I wanted to have a word with you about recent events. It looks like I caught you dressing. Have you eaten yet?¡± Cerebaton¡¯s deep voice rumbled, but not threateningly. He just sounded like that most all the time.

    ¡°Was being a bit lazy. And no, I haven¡¯t eaten yet. I can whip up some food.¡±

    ¡°How about we have something local instead? I believe the phrase is ¡®you fly, I¡¯ll buy¡¯?¡± Cerebaton offered with a tight-lipped smile.

    Ookay, that is a bit odd. Whatever brought him here can¡¯t be that serious though if he¡¯s risking being overheard by folks, I thought.

    ¡°What about¡ª¡± I started to ask, but Cerebaton waved a hand.

    ¡°Do not worry yourself about the normal reaction. I can employ sufficient caution to not draw attention to us.¡±

    ¡°Fair enough. Let me get a shirt and my boots then. Come on inside.¡±

    I made sure to send my girls a final set of messages to let them know I was heading into a meeting, and got loving replies by the time I finished dressing.

    The drive to a nearby diner that served breakfast was a bit stilted, but that was also somewhat normal for Cerebaton. The gruff man asked a few questions about my plans for getting by without a regular job, to see if I had come up with any other ideas besides making pearls. That petered out when we got to the diner.

    It was one of those old ¡®hole-in-the-wall¡¯ type places that really tried to tap into the retro vibe, but everything felt a bit shy of the mark. While the decor looked like it came straight from the nineteen-sixties, it also had the wear and tear to make it feel like it really was that old. But it was clean, the food was good, and they kept the good kind of oldies playing, so I liked it.

    We placed our orders with a smiling older woman with gray hair whose name tag read Dolores.

    I got coffee with a mess of hash browns and eggs with a side of bacon. Cerebaton ordered orange juice, and a ham steak with four eggs over-easy for his food.

    I just got a slight smile from the older waitress, but Cerebaton got a sunny grin and a wink from the older woman. Apparently, Dolores liked his suit better than my jeans. Cerebaton returned her wink with a genial smile that fell away as soon as her back was turned.

    Once Dolores had moved on with a promise to be right back with our drinks, Cerebaton leaned back in his seat and carefully folded his gloved hands in front of him, watching me.

    ¡°So, what¡¯s up?¡± I tried to act nonchalant, but the big man was staring at me with those piercing eyes like he was America drilling for oil and my face was a middle-eastern country. Thankfully, he didn¡¯t keep me waiting long.

    ¡°I originally wanted to check in with you about the facility that you and your summoners found. But I have something a bit more pressing to speak to you about,¡± Cerebaton said slowly, his fingers steepled in front of him.

    Before my stat boost, I might have not caught on so quickly. As my brain finally finished settling and healing from the massive stat boost, though, I was noticing and making connections a lot faster now. At least when I had something to work off. And Cerebaton hadn¡¯t been this stern with me except for a few times in the past, so it was easy to sort through them and figure out what was bothering the big man.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    ¡°Are you worried about Cariad¡¯s new jewelry?¡± I asked when he paused for effect.

    Cerebaton blinked at me, his head tilting to one side and that sharp jawline of his cast odd shadows over his neck for a moment before he nodded.

    ¡°Indeed. She claimed it was a gift. But, even with the materials being created by you, I know that there was more than a little bit of value to those pieces¡­¡± Cerebaton let the statement trail off and I knew where this was going. He¡¯d warned me in the past about hurting Cariad, after all.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, Cerebaton. I meant what I said. It was just a gift to Cari, as thanks for her help and support. She also got some of the materials as I needed something that wouldn¡¯t dissolve when she touched it, and the cost for the pearls was negligible to me. I just wanted to thank her, promise.¡± The big man continued to stare at me intently for several long moments. ¡°Seriously, I am quite aware of the fact that touching her would kill me. That''s why she had to get the special materials.¡±

    ¡°All right. I just worry about her,¡± Cerebaton said at last, the tension slowly leaving his body and the sharpness of his jaw relaxing as he stopped clenching his teeth.

    ¡°Like a good boss would for their underlings. But you know me, I¡¯m not the kind of person who¡¯d hurt people like that. My girls wouldn¡¯t ever put up with it, anyway. Kass would give me a knock around the head for even thinking of toying with a woman, and it would disappoint Rieka. They both want to meet Cari and you, though. To say their thanks for all the help you¡¯ve given me.¡±

    My statement drew a smile to Cerebaton, and he chuckled slightly, low in his throat.

    ¡°That may never happen, as the DSR is very hands off with locals. But I will keep it in mind if the opportunity arises. I view Ms. Davies as something akin to a little sister, since she is so new to my department. You will have to forgive me for being a bit protective.¡±

    ¡°Nothing to forgive, Cerebaton. Anyway, you said you had originally wanted to talk about the ruins? Did Cari miss something when filling me in?¡±

    Dolores returning with the drinks interrupted us a moment later, but once she had poured and left, Cerebaton began fiddling with something inside his jacket while talking.

    ¡°Ms. Davies handled everything quite well, actually. But I wanted to thank you myself for your quick action in contacting us, for one. And also to add my personal request to return and check the facility over again when you have time. But especially before you reveal the location of the ruined facility to any locals. We are confident that we got everything that might refer to entropic entities. But, as the facility itself eluded detection by the System for so long until you discovered it?¡±

    ¡°I might stumble onto something you guys missed? Makes sense, different point of view might give different information. I know the girls wanted to go back, and I think they are working on recruiting a new addition to the team as well.¡± I couldn¡¯t help the slight smile as I remembered how cute the moth-winged woman, Shayla, had been as she clung to my arm in spite of her size.

    ¡°Oh? Having additional help might be good, but including additional targets you have to protect might not be the best choice.¡±

    Cerebaton pulled a short metal straw out of his jacket and dropped it into his juice, then raised the whole thing to sip lightly from the glass.

    The sight of the shiny metal straw made me blink, but when Cerebaton set the glass down and it hadn¡¯t corroded from the touch of his bare skin, I understood better.

    ¡°Handy to have, that.¡± I nodded to the straw, and he smirked.

    ¡°Yes, but only on cold drinks. Using it in hot ones will lead to burning your mouth with it. Even with our unique reactions¡±

    ¡°Got it. Have iced tea ready when you guys come by again, to save on my mug collection,¡± I said with a laugh.

    ¡°This new contract, that is the one that you mentioned the other day, yes?¡±

    Cerebaton was relaxing more as the seconds passed by. We discussed plans for us to return to the ruins sometime in the next few weeks to finish our inspection before turning it over Rieka¡¯s mom.

    Cerebaton understood the significance of it and the wisdom of having the military be the ones to secure and clear the site rather than some students and their hired bodyguard, but still pressed the request. I got why as well. If the Queen found anything regarding entropic creatures, it would be immeasurably more difficult to erase the information without getting the attention of others.

    Dolores brought our food, and the conversation fell off a bit as we ate. Cerebaton worked deftly with a knife and fork to consume his breakfast without melting either of them, while I just enjoyed another meal that I hadn¡¯t been responsible for making. Our waitress was a gem, always making sure to keep my coffee mug above half without hovering.

    ¡°What gets me about the whole thing?¡± I said while gesturing with a bit of bacon like it was a wand. ¡°Is how the dang thing remained in that cave? It was obvious that whatever that sack monster was, it had been responsible for killing a lot of people. The damage to the halls, walls, and facility as a whole told me that. But it didn¡¯t try to get out. It was down there for centuries, if the girls¡¯ timelines are right.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that is simple,¡± Cerebaton said around a bite of ham. He chewed furiously for a long second before swallowing and taking a sip of his juice to clear his throat. ¡°The doors that lead out were heavily reinforced with magic. While it could have cut through them eventually, it is akin to you trying to saw through an iron bar with a pocket knife. Sure, it is doable, but the time it takes would make it infeasible. So instead, it went into hibernation in the area it viewed as the most secure, waiting for something that could breach the seal, or more prey to come by. If it had tried more actively to escape, it would have starved before succeeding.¡±

    ¡°I guess that makes sense. It couldn¡¯t just slather some of its blood on the door?¡± I suggested, buttering my last piece of toast while Cerebaton shook his head slowly.

    ¡°No. Well, yes it could. But the amount of blood needed to cut through those doors with the magic reinforcing them would be immense. While it was an entropic being, like a daemon, its touch was not nearly as corrosive as ours is. The older a daemon is, and the more matter they have consumed, the more efficient the exchange is. Have you ever wondered why it is that we don¡¯t set off a massive explosion when Cariad or I dissolve one of your cups? Or even just breathe in the molecules of oxygen in the atmosphere?¡±

    I paused at that statement, the triangle of toast halfway to my mouth.

    Cerebaton had a point. It wasn¡¯t something I¡¯d considered before. I had just taken Cariad¡¯s statement about how the negatively charged energy of a daemon¡¯s body simply consumed the positively charged particles and left it at that.

    Probably because you were too busy freaking out about antimatter people at the time, I thought wryly.

    ¡°You got me there. I¡¯d thought about it. But when things didn¡¯t blow up, I assumed there was a good reason and dropped it.¡±

    Cerebaton nodded, daintily dipping another cube of ham into the pooling yolk from his eggs and eating that before continuing.

    ¡°The answer is complicated. Given how you continue to end up entwined with the DSR, beyond just receiving the occasional advice and support of the System, I will elaborate. The reason that you don¡¯t see a massive explosion, flash of light, or other reaction when we consume matter native to your universe is because the reaction is really very inefficient. We don¡¯t actually consume most of what we touch. The entropic reaction of our physical bodies touching matter in this universe just disperses the atomic bonds. It doesn¡¯t actually split atoms, just scatters them. A good portion of the energy is released back into nature as harmless radiation, mana, or other forms of energy. A small amount is taken to fuel our bodies, with most of that actually being taken by the System itself.¡±

    ¡°And the stuff you swallow?¡± I couldn¡¯t help but ask about that, given he had just finished taking another bite. Cerebaton chewed for a moment before explaining.

    ¡°It remains in our systems and is slowly broken down. That reaction is also inefficient, but the same general rules apply.¡±

    ¡°So the System is what keeps you from blowing up?¡± I asked, taking the long-delayed bite of my toast.

    ¡°Somewhat. It is one of those delicate balances that were put in place by the distant ancestors who forged the System and tied our people to its administration to help maintain the barriers between reality. Our scientists examine it even now. But there is enough, I believe your people call it ¡®black box technology¡¯, in place that it is difficult to learn anything appreciable. There is also a large portion of our people that simply view it as something that should not be understood, as the ancestors did not leave records of it behind for a reason.¡±

    ¡°Fair enough. There¡¯s enough mysterious mystery out there that I can get behind that,¡± I mumbled around the last of my toast.

    A buzz on my arm warned me that one of the girls had sent me a message. I quickly wiped my fingers on a napkin before pressing my index finger to first Kassandra¡¯s tattoo, then Rieka¡¯s.

    It was my princess¡¯s voice that echoed in my mind a moment later.

    ¡°Liam, I hate to do this on short notice to you, but Kass and I need to summon you for class. They sprung an inspection on us. Good news is that Shayla is interested, but won¡¯t be able to actually commit till this weekend. If you can¡¯t come today, just let me know. I can make up an excuse for the instructor. Love you!¡±

    ¡°Good news?¡± Cerebaton¡¯s amused voice broke me out of my distraction, and I glanced up to find him smirking at me.

    ¡°The girls need me. Apparently, their class is requiring an inspection of their ¡®summoned partners¡¯ and I need to show up.¡±

    ¡°Ah, that is better than the last emergency summons you got. As long as no one is hurt that is. How long do you have?¡±

    ¡°Not long, I think. She said that it was short notice for class, so I figure that it will be here in a minute or two.¡± I pressed a finger to Rieka¡¯s tattoo and sent her a quick reply.

    ¡°Just having breakfast with Cerebaton. I¡¯m available to my princess whenever she needs me. See you soon, my Rieka.¡±

    I smirked as I imagined her blushing reaction to the message when it arrived. Hopefully, she wasn¡¯t in the middle of something or having to put on a stern face when it arrived.

    Cerebaton glanced around before nodding towards the bathrooms. ¡°When you receive the summon, just duck in there and go. I already said breakfast is on me. I¡¯ll make excuses for you if Delores asks.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, Cerebaton. I¡¯ll send you a message via the System if I can¡¯t make it for training tonight. The way the girls described it, this should just be a short run for the class,¡± I said, even as the edges of my vision flashed and the message scrolled into view in glowing letters.

    Rieka Coldeye and Kassandra Silverscale have sent a non-urgent request for your presence regarding your guardian contract.

    Transit? View summoning?

    ¡°And there it is,¡± laughed Cerebaton, gesturing with his fork when he saw my eyes go unfocused. ¡°Go on, Liam. Race to your ladies. I can see in your eyes that you¡¯d rather spend time with them than me.¡±

    ¡°Not meant as an insult, but they are a bit more cuddly than you,¡± I replied with a wink, getting a snort and a nod of agreement from the big man.

    After our earlier talk, he had relaxed a great deal more, like he did when we trained in the evenings. It felt more like having breakfast with a friend, rather than some business official.

    Snatching the last of my bacon off my plate, I crammed it in my mouth as I got up and hurried to the bathroom. I wasn¡¯t about to leave the best part of my meal behind.

    Ducking into a stall, I pressed myself against the wall before tapping the ¡®Transit¡¯ option with my mind.

    A moment later I was tugged through time and space to, as Cerebaton had put it a moment ago, race off to my ladies.

 Chapter 83

    Seeing visions as I was dragged through the dimensional membranes by the power of the summoning was normal. I¡¯d gotten used to seeing bare snippets of impossible scenes. Everything from impossible cityscapes, to massive rolling forests, to soaring mountains.

    This was the first time I¡¯d seen space, though.

    Swirling nebulae in pinks, purples, and oranges raced past. A twinkle of light off of metal made me think I¡¯d seen some vast ship as it cruised through the depths of space. But before I could even fully conceptualize what I was seeing, I felt the impact in my ankles of landing on the other side.

    My vision swirled slightly as the flashing lights and colors cleared, but I could clearly remember what I¡¯d seen. My improved mental scores had gone to work and recorded it all for me. A massive ship, shaped somewhat like a scale, weaving amongst the twisting nebulae and dragging streamers of light behind it in its wake.

    The happy squeal of my shortest lover shook me out of the contemplation of the vision only a second before Kassandra crashed into me.

    ¡°Liam! Missed you so much!¡± the lithe dwarf-lamia cheered as she threw herself into my arms.

    I¡¯d been expecting the assault, as this was fairly normal for Kassandra, so I braced as soon as my feet touched down. Thankfully, she was coming at me from the front. I was able to catch the several hundred pounds of flying dwarf-lamia and turn with the motion to bleed off her momentum.

    Kassandra used this opportunity to wrap the fourteen plus feet of scaled tail around my hips a few times, clinging to me while her arms went around my neck and hauled me into a kiss. I didn¡¯t exactly fight it, happy to have her in my arms again.

    ¡°Hello, Nugget. Missed you too,¡± I murmured once our kiss ended, shifting my grip to support her against my hip while her tail squeezed me rhythmically in a continuing hug.

    Using her pet name, one I¡¯d given her because she was both ¡®small and precious to me¡¯, made her grin widen even more. Kassandra¡¯s slitted brown eyes sparkled behind her silver-rimmed glasses, which she straightened now that she had greeted me. The mass of her red-brown hair in its bombshell curls bounced happily while she continued to cling to me.

    ¡°Kass, that was very rude you know.¡± Rieka¡¯s voice came from just behind me and I turned to find my platinum-blonde princess pretending to glower at the two of us. Before I could say anything, Rieka continued. ¡°You know that I was the one to summon him this time. So I should get to greet him first.¡±

    ¡°You snooze, you lose. He¡¯s our Liam after all,¡± Kassandra replied primly, though she couldn¡¯t hide the devilish grin that was creasing her cheeks as she snuggled in closer to me.

    To prevent a fight, even a playful one, from breaking out between the two of them, I shifted to open my right side and held my arm out to her.

    Rieka took the invitation, tucking herself into my side and laying her head on my shoulder.

    ¡°Missed you, my princess,¡± I murmured quietly into one of the black-dusted peaks of her pale wolf¡¯s ears. The ear flicked delicately as my breath tickled the soft interior, and Rieka blushed.

    ¡°Missed you too, my Liam. While I appreciate being able to talk to you with the power, I still missed you a lot,¡± she said quietly, and I felt a soft pressure on my throat when she kissed me there.

    I didn¡¯t expect even that from my princess, given that she was more shy than Kassandra and also more aware of her station. Rieka tended to express herself more fully when we were not being observed. Given that they had summoned me to the same arena as before for a class, I knew that this was not anywhere near private enough for her.

    Glancing around while hugging my girls, I surveyed the arena and the different clumps of students. The majority of them were standing alone with a summon of some kind, either standing near or perched on them. A few groups stood together with a singular larger summon nearby.

    People had brilliantly colored birds, lizards, and other flying creatures flitting about near them. Some had wolves, cats, and other terrestrial animals either sitting or prancing about their group. All of those present had some kind of obvious elemental alignment, from feathers or fur made of fire to stony plates of armor to mist or water clinging to them.

    There were a few that had the more advanced elements. I saw two girls standing with a black panther that had six legs and electricity coursing through its fur, and a trio with a turtle that appeared to have magma flowing over the surface of its shell but not actually dripping off.

    ¡°So, how long do we have?¡± I asked, refusing to give up my grip on the girls. ¡°Also, where is Shayla? I figured she¡¯d be here.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s currently excused from this portion of the class, as she joined it late. The official reason is so that she can take the time to prepare a ritual to summon a partner, but she¡¯s actually painting, I think.¡± Rieka was the one to answer me, her words tickling my neck slightly. ¡°She¡¯ll perform the ritual to summon you this weekend. We already have the room reserved in the basement of Rue House to do it. With your full name, it should be no problem. If you are okay with us telling her?¡±

    Rieka bit her lip hesitantly and her ears wilted slightly, clearly worried I would say no as they had laid these plans without me.

    I fought the urge to immediately tell her that it was okay and I didn¡¯t mind, instead considering her request. The girls had told me before that names had power. As a Traveler, if a summoner had my full name, then they could compel me to appear. This was much like the legends around demons and the like.

    I¡¯d accidentally given them my full name during our first summoning. And because they¡¯d had it, it was cheaper for my girls to summon me again, but they had not really ever compelled me. It didn¡¯t hurt that my girls were trustworthy either.

    ¡°Are there other ways to target the summon?¡± I asked after a moment of thought.

    ¡°If you are okay leaving a bit of blood or some hairs behind, we can use that instead. I just want to make sure that Shayla ends up summoning you. We can¡¯t do it for her and have her bond with you. For it to take properly, she has to summon something herself.¡± Kassandra was the one to answer this time.

    My mischievous noodle leaned back while keeping her coils wrapped around me, adjusting her glasses with one hand while she tugged her underbust corset back into place after her vigorous greeting had caused the garment to shift. This had the effect of making her full bust bounce distractingly, because of course she¡¯d worn a loose shirt with an open bodice.

    I swear that she does things like that intentionally just to see if she can get me to blow a mental fuse and start drooling.

    ¡°How do others join groups?¡± I asked, glancing around the room in search of the instructors to see how long we had.

    The last thing I wanted to do was reduce my girls¡¯ reputation by being too familiar with them in front of people of authority. Though I doubted Kassandra cared much, or that I¡¯d be able to persuade her to ¡®dismount¡¯ until the last possible moment. Already we were getting a few odd looks from the other classmates.

    ¡°Usually that same way. The summon is called and they leave behind a token, which is then used as the focus. It¡¯s not as efficient as using the summon¡¯s full name, but it works just fine,¡± Rieka answered.

    Her ears still sat wilted on top of her head. So, once I confirmed if I was in the clear, I used the hand that I had wrapped around her shoulders to reach up and rub the base of those ears.

    Rieka reacted immediately, slumping into me with a happy noise. Her tail began to swish back and forth behind her, a fluffy mass of blonde hair with its dark tip glimmering like it had been dipped in ink.

    ¡°Do you two trust Shayla?¡± I asked, not stopping the gentle stimulation I was giving Rieka¡¯s ears.

    ¡°Yeah, she¡¯s a good sort. I doubt she¡¯d ever use the information to harm you. The mere fact that you trust her with the information would make her blush as much as Rieka is right now,¡± Kassandra teased lightly, getting a one-eyed glare from Rieka, though Kassandra was right and a flush was riding high on her cheeks.

    ¡°Princess?¡± I asked, prompting her to add her two cents.

    ¡°I trust her. I¡¯ve met plenty of folks who hide their intentions in my mother¡¯s court, and she gives none of those signs,¡± Rieka mumbled, turning to bury her face in my shoulder while her tail continued to stir the air behind her.

    ¡°Then just give her my full name and use that,¡± I decided with a sigh. ¡°I trust you two more than anything else. And if you trust her, then that is good enough for me.¡±

    We continued to make small talk for a few more minutes until the instructors got back around to us. It was the same two instructors that I remembered from last time.

    Instructor Meadowsong, an elf woman with brown hair kept in a severe bun and dressed from neck to ankles in a gray wool dress, this time with blue embroidery, scowled when she saw me. Beside her was Instructor Rainfist, a cat kin man with short black hair on his head and tail with the tip splotched in white and dressed in a simple tunic and pants combo in a forest green.

    ¡°Good morning to you three,¡± Rainfist stepped forward ahead of his scowling companion. ¡°Princess Coldeye, Lady Silverscale, Traveler Liam. It is good to see you are ready for the general testing. At the moment, we are just making the rounds to ensure everyone is ready before we start running folks through the stations.¡±You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    Kassandra and Rieka both nodded to both of the instructors, with Rieka untangling herself from me to stand neatly next to me. Kassandra refused to give up her post pretending to be my belt though, as I had figured.

    ¡°I expect proper decorum during the testing,¡± the grouchy Meadowsong interjected, subtly glaring at Kassandra while my loving noodle ignored the instructor.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that will be a problem,¡± Rainfist said calmly, doing his best to take the conversation back over. The slender cat kin gave me a once over and nodded. ¡°It¡¯s obvious at a glance that you have been training, Traveler Liam. I apologize in advance that some tests might be a bit¡­ demeaning for someone of your obvious intelligence. The school had set them with the traditional summon in mind and we are required to perform them in order to check it off as complete.¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t be worse than some of the stuff I had to deal with at my last job,¡± I said with a slight shrug. ¡°I just hope that Instructor Meadowsong will remember our words from last time.¡± I turned my gaze from the polite cat man to the slightly seething elf woman.

    Instructor Meadowsong glared back at me for a long second before something changed and she blanched slightly, her face going a bit pale.

    ¡°Yes,¡± the elf woman stammered. ¡°Of course I remember. Ladies, make sure that your human is kept under control. Your scores will suffer if he goes wild.¡±

    ¡°He won¡¯t as long as he¡¯s treated with respect, like most summoned beings of power,¡± Kassandra replied primly, looking down her nose at the instructor from the greater height of being wrapped around me. It was clearly novel for her, being this tall, and she was enjoying it.

    Remain calm while you are being examined for your bonded companion¡¯s class.

    Reward - 300 SP

    The flare of the words flashing into my vision distracted me for a moment as the System decided that this was when it would offer me the next mission for the girls.

    That¡¯s¡­ interesting. I remember the last time I was here for a class it was only one hundred SP. Does that mean that it is going to be harder to maintain my calm? Or is the System just upping my rewards because of power scaling? I thought while Kassandra and Rieka received their instructions regarding the next steps for their class.

    <><><>

    It was actually quite a bit harder to maintain my patience in the following hour. The least demeaning thing that the instructors asked me to do was to allow them to scan me with the same type of divination magic to ascertain my relative stat scores and power levels.

    The appreciative whistle from Rainfist and another dismayed look from Meadowsong was all that I needed to know that I was improving nicely in their eyes. I knew exactly what my numbers were after all.

    From there, I was expected to navigate through a short obstacle course at the direction of my summoners.

    This was something that made sense for the lower intelligence animals that some summoners had. The obstacle course actually tripped up a few of them too. The trio of wolf kin with their armored, burrowing monster actually failed this section, as the massive creature just plowed through the obstacles.

    Then I went through a series of basic attacks and commands at the direction of each of the girls. I noticed that they both did not ask me for the more dangerous or esoteric combinations of Shape-Shifting that I had used recently in the underground complex, which made sense as we wanted to keep back some things for the actual competition.

    When my turn was done, the instructors released us to observe with the rest of the class. Several of the other summoners had dismissed their companions, while most had kept theirs with them to observe the competition.

    Kassandra had been forced to leave her position pretending to be part of my pants earlier. As soon as I settled onto the bench up in the stands, she snuggled up against my side. Her tail twined around my left leg while she tucked herself under my arm. Rieka hesitated at first, but at Kassandra¡¯s urging, she took my right and settled in happily against me.

    ¡°Thank you, Liam,¡± Rieka murmured as we watched Jane direct her wind sprite through the obstacle course down below. ¡°I honestly wasn¡¯t sure what they were going to be testing, but that had to be really demeaning. I will make it up to you.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t sweat it.¡± I brushed her concerns aside while using the arm over her shoulders to squeeze her in a gentle hug, making the wolf woman eep in surprise and smother a giggle. ¡°I¡¯d do far more to help you two. If it bothered me, I would have declined. You know that.¡±

    ¡°Communication is one of the pillars,¡± Kassandra opined, rubbing her cheek against my chest. ¡°I like this shirt, Liam. You smell a lot nicer now that you aren¡¯t working in that nasty warehouse all the time.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I attribute that to the conditions. My apartment may not be sprawling, but it is comfortable and clean. Also, my stress levels have been a lot lower since I got free of that cesspit.¡± I bent to press a kiss to the top of Kassandra¡¯s head, making the dwarf lamia giggle and squeeze me with her tail lightly.

    ¡°Have you had any breakthroughs with that? I got more information on the shimmer-nest conch if you need it?¡± Kassandra peeked up at me through her bangs, a cute smile on her face while her little button nose wrinkled.

    ¡°Yeah, I was able to successfully use Shape-Shifting to replicate it and produce some pearls. I also discovered that I can mold metal, slowly, with Manipulate Element as it qualifies as something from the earth. Between those two, I can start making jewelry and selling that. I just have to get some licensing stuff taken care of.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s amazing, Liam. Could you make us something if we got you the materials?¡± Rieka asked, her ears perking up while her ice-blue eyes sparkled intently up at me.

    ¡°Sure. I just can¡¯t¡­¡± I paused as a thought crossed my mind. ¡°I wonder¡­ if I have the shift going when I transfer back, will it also transfer the pearls? And if that works, is it possible to encase some of the local metal in the same way and use that to get it through the whole ¡®only transports you and your clothes¡¯ limitation?¡±

    Kassandra hummed thoughtfully, her head tilting back and forth like a rocking horse as she considered it. Rieka was quicker to answer, concern on her aristocratic features.

    ¡°That is an idea, but would you get in trouble doing it? You are trying to circumvent the guidelines of this System you keep talking about.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but I don¡¯t plan on using it to bring a ton of stuff back and forth. I just want to use it to bring some small stuff along with me. I still can¡¯t bring a boatload of treasure with me back to sell, as I¡¯d still run into the same problem of liquidating it. But if I could get one of those unmarked bars we got? I could pinch pieces off of it to make the jewelry, that¡¯d save me time and mana too.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m with Rieka on this. I worry that you would get in trouble for trying to work around the rules. But a benign test would be either going back with some pearls you made while here, or bringing some with you while you are on the other side. That still wouldn¡¯t entirely confirm it works, since they¡¯d be ¡®part¡¯ of you for a bit, but the core of the pearl would be whatever you collected. Hrm¡­¡± Kassandra went back to thinking intently, picking at her lower lip with two fingers while she thought.

    ¡°I¡¯m still surprised that you can mold metal. I guess it makes sense since you could do it with stone before,¡± Rieka took up the conversation as we watched Jane finish her examination and retreat into the crowd, her summon vanishing in a swirl of smoke as soon as she was declared done. The mouse kin woman flopped onto a seat in a lower tier, looking exhausted and worried.

    ¡°I am too, but since the System awarded me that free tier of Mana Reservoir, it is a little easier to work with. Costs a lot of energy to do even small things, but it¡¯s not like I¡¯m using it for much of anything else.¡± I shrugged again, careful to not dislodge my cuddling lovers.

    ¡°Are you still at the minor tier for Manipulate Element?¡± Rieka asked, her ears perking up slightly.

    ¡°Yeah, I didn''t see a reason to use the points. I¡¯m at a low enough tide that I was thinking of getting the Empower Reservoir power instead, that way I can discharge the mana into something here to defray the costs for you two.¡±

    ¡°No, don¡¯t do that,¡± Kassandra interjected into the conversation. ¡°You should get your next tier of Manipulate Element, since it¡¯s going to be used for your livelihood. It¡¯ll be easy to slowly train it up doing that after all, and we are still flush with mana after our little adventure. You should be thinking more about ensuring you are stable first. You¡¯ve done enough to help us along. Remember to focus on yourself, Liam.¡±

    Kassandra¡¯s intense gaze digging into the side of my head made me nod quickly in understanding and acceptance, not wanting to argue with her. She spoke up again a moment later, interrupting my thinking that I could just hold off.

    ¡°And don¡¯t hesitate. You should get it now so that any practice you do while here will count. I have this sneaking suspicion that you planned to just not tell us and keep the lower rank.¡±

    Kassandra¡¯s eyes narrowed behind her glasses as she stared at me. I couldn¡¯t help the wry grin before leaning down to boop her nose lightly with mine before dropping a kiss there too.

    ¡°You know me too well, Nugget. Okay, I¡¯ll do it your way,¡± I whispered.

    Kassandra let out a low whine when I started to back up without kissing her on the lips. So I returned to do that, getting an enthusiastic response from my dwarf lamia, before straightening.

    I mentally accessed my interface and navigated to the power she suggested. Kassandra did have a point that it would be foolish to avoid the chance to train the new rank and it might help with the efficiency of the spell work. Also, with the extra chunk of SP I was earning today, it would balance out quickly.

    Manipulate Element (Lesser) - Cost: 400 SP - User has expanded control of one of their chosen elements. This can be selected multiple times to improve companion elements.

    Selecting the ability, it glittered for a moment and my count of current SP reduced from fifteen hundred and seventy to eleven hundred and seventy remaining.

    With the ability filling in, I could see that it had two distinct branches coming off of it. One that followed the normal structure that would be the next rank, the tier of moderate like my Shape-Shifting was currently. There was also another that branched off to one side like the powers that enhanced the base structure did, like Shape-Shifting (Mass-Control) and Shape-Shifting (Elemental Alignment).

    ¡°There we go. Picked it up and I¡¯ll start training it when I work on getting stable back home. Happy?¡± I smiled down at Kassandra and got her open, loving grin in return.

    ¡°Good boy, Liam,¡± she said sweetly. ¡°We will get you thinking about yourself more often soon.¡± Any further conversation was interrupted by a loud voice from down on the floor of the arena.

    ¡°All right, class. That is everyone. You are dismissed for the rest of the period.¡± Instructor Rainfist stood towards the center of the pit down below us, calling up to those seated in the stands. ¡°Remember, you have four weeks of time until the actual competition. Don¡¯t get lazy, as the scores from that will make up a large portion of this quarter¡¯s grades!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s head back to my room,¡± Rieka suggested, her tail picking up in speed. ¡°We still have another few hours on the summon yet, and we can spend that relaxing somewhere comfortable.¡±

    ¡°Sounds good to me,¡± Kassandra chirped, unwinding herself from my leg.

    Both my girls turned expectant gazes to me and I just smiled, nodding in agreement as words of light flared across my vision.

    Remain calm while you are being examined for your bonded companion¡¯s class.

    Reward - 300 SP

    COMPLETED

 Chapter 84

    Returning to Earth with the shifted conch shell replacing my left hand proved that the pearls came with me. And the girls used my Contact Contracted Companion power to let me know that the test had been successful.

    We¡¯d decided the best way to make sure this part worked was to have me leave my hand over a clean porcelain plate, so if the ¡®seeds¡¯ I¡¯d taken to make the pearls got left behind, they¡¯d fall to the table like the armor I usually wore. Since there was no sign of it, we assumed the test was successful.

    Our next test would require me to come up with some way to stash a bit of the gold somewhere in my body. This was so that it integrated properly and was considered ¡®part of me.¡¯ And that was something I spent most of the next several days considering without much luck.

    I got a disappointed message from Rieka on Friday night that they would have to push back the actual ritual to have Shayla join the group. Rieka had received a summons to report back to her mother. She¡¯d offered to miss the ritual, but Shayla had insisted on her being present for it. There was good news though, because several other girls had apparently approached Kassandra to see if they could join in on the group project.

    Apparently, the statement from the instructor, and the last set of tests, had some of them shaken up. So instead, Saturday was going to be a small meeting for me to talk to the new potentials and figure out if we would be adding more than Shayla in the near future.

    Unsure of who all would be there, and Kassandra outright refusing to tell me, I decided to make an effort to put forth a good impression.

    That resolution ended up with me dipping into some of the extra cash from my bounty payment, something I¡¯d been loath to do until now.

    I was still not really trusting that the money was real. I¡¯d half expected to check my bank balance and see that the funds had been seized by the government or my account had been frozen, because that was just the kind of rotten luck that I had. But the withdrawal went through without an issue and I breathed a sigh of relief.

    Using the money on something other than bare necessities also felt strange. I just kept reminding myself that new clothes were a necessity, given how often I ended up either damaging, burning, or bleeding on my outfits while helping the girls with their missions. That was unless I wanted to show up to a summon looking like a hobo in bloody rags.

    When Kassandra¡¯s summons finally came mid-morning on Saturday, I was already dressed in my nice new jeans and a dark-green button-down shirt. My boots were still the same battered and stained work-boots I always wore, I couldn¡¯t bring myself to replace them as they weren¡¯t damaged. I had at least given them a scrub up as best as I could to remove as much dirt as possible.

    Kassandra Silverscale has sent a non-urgent request for your presence regarding expanding your pool of contracted partners.

    Transit? View summoning?

    ¡°Well, here¡¯s to a good impression,¡± I muttered before tapping the Transit option.

    The tugging sensation settled around my shoulders and I was yanked spinning off into the place between worlds like I was riding the bastard child of a Tilt-a-Whirl and a claw machine arcade game.

    I saw sound and smelled colors. For a brief moment I was greeted by a great walled city, sectioned off in distinct districts by massive walls and machines, while outside of the city a massive red lizard circled in the air, frustrated by the city¡¯s defenses. The scent of mauve filled my lungs while the ripples of the dragons roar distorted the image like a stone dropped into a pond.

    Then it was all gone. I felt myself slam down into a soft carpet in a room illuminated by the light streaming through windows right behind me. The familiar scent of musk and cinnamon surrounded me, and I recognized the room as Kassandra¡¯s when I spotted the large, round couch in front of the fire that she liked to sprawl on.

    A flash of movement from my left gave me enough warning that I could turn and brace as Kassandra launched herself at me like a well-endowed arrow streaming red hair behind it.

    ¡°Got you!¡± I laughed, snatching her out of the air and turning with the motion, pulling my scaled lover into my hip while continuing to turn to allow her to drape her scaled length around me.

    ¡°Yes you did, Liam!¡± Kassandra¡¯s laugh was high and joyous as she snuggled into me, her arms wrapping around my chest in a tight hug while her scaled length squeezed me tight, both in affection and to ensure she stayed perched right where she wanted. ¡°I told you girls that my Liam was a clever one. He¡¯s not the kind to be caught by surprise usually.¡±

    Kassandra¡¯s words startled me slightly, and I turned to look behind me to see that there were several people in the room already waiting. All three were smiling, though one more than the others.

    ¡°Oh, hello there you three. Sorry for being distracted but,¡± I gave a one-armed shrug and nodded to where Kassandra was clinging to me like the world¡¯s cutest barnacle.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, Liam,¡± Rachel Cedarfall said, waving one hand as she approached. The tawny-haired elven woman was wearing a familiar outfit to what I¡¯d seen her in the last time we¡¯d met. A pair of loose canvas pants reinforced in the thighs with leather and a long-sleeved suit of sturdy tan cloth. She had gathered her hair in a more organized braid behind her head this time, but the tawny mane still looked messy. ¡°Kassandra wanted us to hide initially to see how you act naturally without prompting. I think she was hoping to allay someone¡¯s nerves.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not nervous!¡± protested Jane Carsan.

    The smaller woman with the large mouse ears and her prodigious tail tipped with a bit of fluff bounced from one foot to the other with nerves. From the occasional look she darted at Kassandra, I could tell it wasn¡¯t me making her anxious, though. Jane has always been a bit on the high-strung side and wary of Kassandra, though why that was I could not tell.

    ¡°She probably means me,¡± murmured Shayla Valo, the pale-skinned moth woman pressing in on herself slightly despite her height being a rival to my own.

    The folded wings on her back flared out slightly, displaying the patterns of red and brown across them before folding neatly behind her while she tried to hide her face in the fluffy ruff at her neck. The twin antennae on her head danced slightly, curling at the tips like they were wringing hands.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know why you¡¯d be nervous, Shayla,¡± I said as kindly as I could with Kassandra now sneaking kisses into my neck while giggling quietly. ¡°Or any of you. From the impression that Kassandra had given me, I didn¡¯t realize I¡¯d be meeting with people I¡¯d talked to before.¡±

    ¡°Most of the class is still wary of the idea of getting too close to a fabled human,¡± Jane said with a flick of her tail over her head, the tufty tip dancing back and forth on the end of that long appendage. ¡°Apparently, the fact that you haven¡¯t yet savaged the princess or Lady Silverscale isn¡¯t enough for most of them. I¡¯ve heard a few muttering that you are just waiting to have enough innocent young things alone in a room with you before you devour them.¡±

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound like too bad of a fate,¡± Kassandra snickered, leaning back finally from her spot at my side, but not releasing me. ¡°Any time you want to devour me, Liam, you just say the word.¡±

    That statement got a blush from all three of the girls and torpedoed the attempt at casual conversation.

    So in revenge, I pinched Kassandra¡¯s rump under her skirt, just above where her body turned from soft flesh into her smooth scales. The mischievous dwarf lamia jumped with a squeak and a small blush, slapping my chest in retribution, but still not unwinding from around me.

    ¡°Come on, ladies. Let¡¯s have a seat and get comfortable,¡± I said, gesturing towards the assortment of furniture near the fireplace. ¡°While Kassandra didn¡¯t tell me exactly what you wanted to discuss, I do know that you all were interested in possibly joining their group for the summoning class?¡±

    ¡°Somewhat.¡± It was Rachel who spoke up, being the first to shrug off the awkwardness that Kassandra had caused with her lewd comments. ¡°I wanted to check in with you to see how your powers are developing. You remember that I expressed interest in apprenticing with you.¡± The regal featured elven woman led the way to the furniture, settling into a comfortable wing-back chair that I remember Rieka favoring.

    Shayla trailed after her, shooting me a few tentative smiles before sitting on the loveseat closest to the round couch that I knew was where I would end up. Her wings flicked a few times as she crossed the room and I did my best to not stare at the full figure of the winged woman. The simple dress she wore was a light cream color this time and clung just as determinedly to her hips as the last one I¡¯d seen her in.

    ¡°Well, I have expanded my magic some, but I still only practice earth magic at this time,¡± I answered Rachel¡¯s question while waiting for Jane to choose her seat.

    The energetic mouse kin woman eyed the options for a moment before taking the seat next to Shayla, putting the much larger woman between her and me.

    Or maybe it is her and Kass? I thought, watching Jane¡¯s gaze bounce around the room, always returning to the form of my serpentine lover for a moment before darting away.

    With the guests seated, I carefully settled onto the rounded couch, doing my best to not jostle my passenger while Kassandra clung to me obstinately.

    My lovely little Nugget had forgone her underbust corset today, instead opting for a close fitting blouse in a pale rose that made the delicate spots of the freckles decorating both her cheeks and the tops of her breasts pop against her soft skin. The skirt that she wore was a matching shade, but had darker red and yellow patterns of flowers embroidered on the hems of it. In all, it gave the vibes of a sundress and I was definitely enjoying how it clung to Kassandra.

    ¡°That is good to hear. I know you have said in the past that your primary power set revolved around changing your body. So I understand that you haven¡¯t had much time to work with your earth magic.¡± Rachel spoke in an understanding tone, but I was sure there was a hint of disappointment in the way her shoulders slumped slightly. Apparently, Kassandra saw it too.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°Oh, he hasn¡¯t been slacking on designing new magic though,¡± Kassandra chirped, quite happy to brag about me for a bit. ¡°Liam has been doing some interesting things with jewelry as it is, shaping metal and the like to make¡ª¡±

    ¡°You can shape metal?!¡±

    Rachel¡¯s outburst interrupted Kassandra and startled Jane enough that the mouse woman jerked so hard on her cushion that she bounced several inches into the air. The sudden movement next to her made Shayla yelp in surprise as well and her wings flared out instinctively in a defensive display, which nearly smacked Jane right off the loveseat.

    Silence descended after Rachel¡¯s near-scream of a question. Kassandra blinked at the elf woman, who was blushing furiously but alternating between staring at Kassandra and me, her entire body vibrating with excitement.

    ¡°Yes?¡± I answered after the silence dragged on into awkwardness for a bit too long. ¡°It¡¯s not exactly mana efficient at the moment, but it is something that I can do.¡±

    ¡°Do you think you could teach me how to do it? This is tremendous, it was theorized that earth magic could be used to alter and shape metal, but the particular process has never been codified. If I could learn how to do that and write a paper on how, then it would guarantee me a place in the history books!¡±

    Rachel spoke in a cascade of words that ran into each other in a storm of excitement. The normally regal looking woman was vibrating in excitement, her pointed ears perking up through her tawny hair while she stared at me now.

    ¡°Probably?¡± The answer took a bit of wind out of her sails and she slumped, so I was quick to continue. ¡°I just learned that I could do it recently, so I¡¯m still refining the ability. The more that I use it, the faster I can figure out the specifics of what needs to be done. Remember, I don¡¯t cast spells in the same way that you all do.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but if it is possible for you to do it, then it is possible to design a spell to do the same. At that point, it¡¯s just research and development.¡± Some of Rachel¡¯s energy recovered now, and she was bouncing slightly in her chair.

    The sight of the normally dignified elven woman bouncing like an excited kid on a sugar rush was just too cute. I tried my best to not think about the fact that she was likely two or three times my age, if the legends about elves were real, and just enjoyed her excitement.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t known him long,¡± Shayla spoke up for the first time since sitting down, her fingers nervously smoothing the fluffy ruffs around her wrists as she talked. ¡°But Liam strikes me as the kind of person who would do what he could to help you, if it was possible.¡±

    Shayla shot me a hesitant smile, clearly a little worried at speaking for me, but I returned her smile with one of my own.

    ¡°Shayla is right, I¡¯ll do what I can to figure out the specifics on that spell. It¡¯ll depend more on when I can get the materials to start tinkering with it, but I¡¯ll do my best to pay attention.¡±

    I felt Kassandra move in her spot under my arm and let her free of the half-hug I¡¯d been using to support her. She shifted around so she sprawled over my lap instead of being tucked under my arm, laying so her head was tucked against my right biceps.

    ¡°You know, Rachel. That¡¯s not the most interesting thing that my Liam has done with his earth magic lately.¡± Kassandra¡¯s tone was teasing as she spoke, wiggling to get herself comfortable. This had the added effect of grinding her bum into my crotch, something I was sure she was doing intentionally.

    ¡°Oh?¡± The elven woman looked disbelieving as she asked that question, wondering what Kassandra might have up her sleeve.

    ¡°Nothing much, just that he¡¯s been able to manipulate glass as well.¡±

    Rachel went still as stone at that statement. She just stopped moving and stared blankly at Kassandra for several seconds.

    ¡°Why is that so impressive?¡± Jane finally spoke up, her head tilting to one side in curiosity while she toyed with her long tail in her hands, wringing it slightly in a clearly nervous habit. ¡°I¡¯d think being able to spell metal into new shapes would be more impressive. Have you experimented with the mana infused metals yet?¡±

    ¡°No, I only just tried it a day or so ago and haven¡¯t had much time to experiment. I¡¯ve only really toyed with using precious metals like gold as it is naturally soft, and the infused gold coins are a bit too valuable to just mess with. I¡¯d hate to mess up and ruin the ability of the metal to retain mana,¡± I answered, getting understanding nods from Jane and Shayla.

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t answer why glass is such a big deal, though,¡± murmured Shayla, who was studying Rachel with a bit of concern on her face. ¡°Is she okay?¡±

    ¡°Rachel is a glassblower as a hobby,¡± Kassandra said, still grinning at the elven woman. ¡°As well as an alchemist. So, such things have a direct bearing on her work.¡±

    ¡°Direct bearing!?¡± Rachel screeched, coming out of her catatonia to yell at Kassandra. ¡°If I could shape glass with my magic, it would allow my alchemic research to progress at an even greater rate! But every time I try it, the glass shatters! I can mold stone like clay, but glass either refuses to respond or just turns to dust when I put pressure on it with magic. It¡¯s another of the questions that earth mages have been searching for an answer to!¡±

    ¡°I might have an idea on that?¡± My suggestion earned me an intense glare from the elven woman, but she gestured for me to continue. ¡°Okay, so this is just a theory that jumped to mind on why it hasn¡¯t worked for you yet. It might not be the actual solution, but hear me out fully first.¡± I started to explain, glancing around the room for something to use as an example.

    Kassandra deduced the reason for my searching quickly and pointed to a small glass vase that sat by the door with a questioning look. I nodded, so she unwound herself quickly from around me, making sure to grind her bottom into my crotch as much as she could while doing that, and slithered over to collect it.

    While she did that, I took a moment to order my thoughts.

    My vastly increased mental scores were going into overdrive, digging up half-remembered facts from old Discovery Channel specials and a few episodes of How It¡¯s Made. When I had the information clear in my head, I began to speak as Kassandra returned with the empty vase.

    ¡°So my world has studied some things pretty intensely, and one of those things is how items are formed. If you think of it like construction, this building is made up of hundreds of individual bricks and boards that together form Rue House.¡± Rachel nodded slowly once while gazing at me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jane and Shayla nodding as well. ¡°Metals are the same way. It¡¯s why pure gold is so valuable, as the individual bits of gold are rare. Some items are more stable when alone, like diamonds, and others are stronger in an alloyed form, like steel.¡±

    ¡°Following you so far, but what about glass?¡± Rachel demanded.

    ¡°Glass is something entirely different. It¡¯s what¡¯s known as an amorphous solid, meaning that it doesn¡¯t function along the same lines as a solid with a steady form. Basically, glass is inherently unstable from how it is formed, with a collection of complex ¡®blocks¡¯ that don¡¯t fit quite well together. You can temper glass to strengthen it, and so it doesn¡¯t shatter into sharp fragments, but there¡¯s only so far you can go with science,¡± I explained slowly. I had to focus at times to not drop words like ¡®molecule¡¯ as I was sure that it would only confuse the more.

    ¡°Amorphous solid? It sounds like it should be partially made of liquid then.¡± This was Shayla asking now, clearly getting into the discussion more. Her antennae bounced and stretched, like little grasping hands trying to pluck my answer out of the air.

    ¡°Not quite. It¡¯s one of those things that breaks the rules and gets to be both at once. Honestly, the amorphous part has more to do with how the different bits lock together. This is what gives glass its properties, but also some of its weaknesses.¡±

    I accepted the vase from Kassandra and studied it for a moment before digging into my mana and spreading it through my fingers into the glass. I could tell immediately that it was a fine piece of hand-blown glass, but that it suffered from the same kind of flaws that came with handmade items, meaning that it was mixed with skill rather than exacting measurements during creation. There were flaws in the glass that I could feel, tiny bubbles or stone fragments that were so small that the eye would likely miss them but would form stress points if stressed.

    ¡°What I do is remind the glass of the liquid state it once held, when it was first born. Then pull the structure into something stable. If you imagine the individual strands of a rope, or the way cloth is weaved, that¡¯s a step in the right direction,¡± I explained.

    Using my magic, I pulled the tiny contaminants out of the glass with a gesture while helping adjust its structure to that more rigid crystalline form that gave diamonds their strength. It wasn¡¯t perfect, or nearly as hard as a diamond, but magic let me break some rules myself.

    ¡°You just have to be careful and study it to recognize if something got into the melt, or didn¡¯t combine properly. If you try to do this while there is a bit of iron from your blow-pipe in the mix, or a fragment of rust or something, then it can cause it to shatter. It¡¯s not quite fire magic, as we aren¡¯t actually heating it, just shifting the tiny pieces that make up the glass enough to let the problems out and to smooth out the stresses that exist inside it. It¡¯s those tiny contaminates and the latent stress that comes with the formation of glass that makes it unable to respond to the mana.¡±

    The glass of the vase flowed a moment later, stretching and shifting as I pulled on it with my fingers like taffy. A moment later, the simple glass vase had transformed to look like the upper portion was a daffodil. Rachel¡¯s eyes widened in surprise as she watched me. When I finished the work, I leaned forward to offer her the vase, and she took it with shaking hands.

    ¡°That was impressive,¡± Jane spoke up again, her eyes darting between my hands and the vase before locking back on me. ¡°I¡¯m here for a different reason though, I need help with the summoning class. Things with me and my sylph are¡­ not going well. I did what you suggested, but I think I offended them initially and they aren¡¯t willing to forgive me.¡±

    ¡°And I need to actually have a summon for the class,¡± murmured Shayla, darting her gaze towards me and then blushing slightly. ¡°I wasn¡¯t interested in it at first, but when Lady Silverscale and Princess Coldeye approached me about working with you, I did some research. Summoning fascinates me, and I can only imagine what sort of sights you¡¯ve seen in your travels. I¡¯d love to be able to paint some of them as well. Views of worlds that I¡¯ve never been to, things that don¡¯t exist anywhere in this kingdom¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fair,¡± I replied, glancing between the two of them. ¡°At the moment, I operate as a third party member for Kass and Rieka while they do the combat type missions that are required for their classes. Do you two have similar requirements?¡± Jane nodded while Shayla shook her head.

    ¡°I¡¯m on an art scholarship, so I don¡¯t have to do any combat work. That might change though, now that I signed up for the Summoning class.¡± The moth woman winced, her antennae curling in distress as she thought it over.

    I had to fight down the urge to immediately offer to help her like I did initially for Kassandra and Rieka when I met them. Looking back on it, I knew that volunteering with no information like that was incredibly dumb, my enhanced mental scores castigating me for that mistake. It had worked out in the end, but I needed to be more intelligent about it from now on.

    ¡°That would be something to look into, for sure. But to that point, though, it would work best if you joined us in our missions and practice. For the summoning class, right now they are working on ¡®raising a summoned creature.¡¯¡± I shot Kassandra a smile, and she winked at me with an alluring smirk, slithering up onto the couch to loosely wrap around my seated form. ¡°And how I grow in power is being summoned here and completing tasks for my summoners.¡±

    ¡°Speaking of. Liam, please make sure you make a good impression on these three,¡± Kassandra butted in.

    A flash at the edges of my vision preceded the appearance of a set of text, then a second flash occurred and another block of text appeared.

    Assist your contracted companion, Kassandra Silverscale, by making a good impression on Rachel Cedarfall, Jane Carsan, and Shayla Valo.

    Reward - 200 SP

    Assist your contracted companion, Kassandra Silverscale, by making a good impression on Rachel Cedarfall, Jane Carsan, and Shayla Valo.

    Reward - 200 SP

    COMPLETED

    ¡°Well, that was easy,¡± I laughed, shaking my head to dismiss the messages. ¡°Apparently, the System judged all three of you as impressed already.¡±

    Jane opened her mouth to ask another question, the tip of her tail flicking quickly and her eyes wide in curiosity, when a bright, angry red color flashed at the edges of my vision.

    Rieka Coldeye has sent an urgent request for your presence regarding her physical safety.

    Transit? View summoning?

 Chapter 85

    All the color drained from the faces of the four women when I rattled off a quick explanation. Kassandra did not hesitate to act, though, unwrapping her coils from around me.

    ¡°Go! Take care of her, and let me know what happened when you can!¡± The redheaded snake-woman barked, slapping me on the back.

    I didn¡¯t hesitate, mentally hammering the Transit option as I jumped to my feet. The world slid sideways, but did not spin nearly as much as I was used to for a regular cross-dimension summon.

    A moment later, I landed on hard-packed dirt as someone screamed nearby moments before a crack of lightning tore through the midday sky. The bolt sent a body flying backwards to sprawl in the grass by the road. All around me, the clash of weapons echoed.

    A whirl of blonde hair to my right drew my attention, and I turned to spot Rieka ducking the swing of a sword from a man dressed in tattered clothes. My princess slammed her metallic spell-rod into the side of the man¡¯s knee like it was a club.

    Yelping, the man brought his sword around so he could bring it down in an overhand chop at my girl while struggling to stay upright.

    Shape-Shifting reacted to the threat without conscious thought. My body lunged to interpose itself between the danger and my princess.

    My right arm flowed, elongating and taking on a dark sheen as carapace oozed out from my skin and hardened. The entire limb bulged in size enough that the sleeve of my new shirt exploded into shreds even as the fingers on my right hand merged together into a wicked spike.

    The blade at the end of the eight-foot-long, lashing tail drove itself into the grubby man¡¯s shoulder with a wet, shunk noise before I commanded it to expand into a sharp-edged plate. While it had been a blade half as wide as my palm before, the sharp chitin abruptly fanned out to the size of a dinner plate.

    The bandit¡¯s arm was separated from his shoulder with a wet tearing noise. He had just long enough to scream in pain and begin to turn towards the injured limb before the sharp plate caught him in the side of the head and removed that, too.

    ¡°Liam!¡± Rieka¡¯s breathless cry of relief brought me back to myself and I scooped my princess up with my left arm, my boosted strength score more than enough to support the slight woman without a struggle.

    ¡°What¡¯s happening? Fill me in,¡± I demanded, lashing out with the bladed limb to fend off another of the bandits that was approaching far more carefully now that his fellow was down.

    ¡°Traveling by carriage with mother. We were stopped by bandits while traveling. She went to confront them. Need to help her,¡± Rieka panted in response.

    Light flashed and words scrolled over my vision as the System alerted me to the mission and purpose she had assigned to me for this summon.

    Assist your contracted companion, Rieka Coldeye, with the defense of her queen and mother.

    Reward - 900 SP

    Bonus: See that your summoner remains unharmed - 200 SP

    I¡¯d never seen the System offer a bonus like this before, but I didn¡¯t have time to think about it.

    I could feel Rieka shaking slightly against my chest. The hand that wasn¡¯t clutching her spell rod was trembling as it knotted into my shirt. Rieka wasn¡¯t fighting my manhandling her like this. Instead, she was burrowing into me for reassurance.

    ¡°Where is she?¡± I asked as I reversed my retreat and lunged towards the lone bandit that remained to threaten us.

    The wide blade at the end of my right arm converted once more into the armored spike, and I lashed out at the bandit with it several times.

    The first three strikes he managed to parry, but the fourth was a feint for his left shoulder. When he fell for it, I slammed the spike into his thigh instead before using the pierced limb to yank him forward into the ground. Another stroke ensured he wouldn¡¯t be getting up before I resumed my movement to put my back to the carriage.

    ¡°Ahead, she went to confront the bandit leader when they stopped the carriage train. A minute later, these ones attacked and killed the guards left in the rear,¡± Rieka said, pulling her face from my chest long enough to point with her spell rod at the three still forms in armor towards the back of the carriage.

    The lives of the fallen guards had cost a high price, as more than a half-dozen still bandits lay crumpled around them and four more showed testament to Rieka¡¯s spell-work from the smoking burns on their still bodies before I¡¯d arrived. All told a dozen bandits had tried to hit the rearmost carriage and paid for it with their lives.

    I could still hear fighting from further ahead, around the far side of the damaged carriage, so I moved to circle it in that direction.

    Rieka wriggled slightly in my arms, not trying to get free, but I realized that she was likely uncomfortable. I paused long enough to settle her on my left hip and wrap my arm around her waist and bottom to keep her there.

    ¡°This is so undignified, Liam,¡± Rieka chuckled, an edge of mania in her voice as she rode like a child on my hip.

    ¡°Would you rather ride on my back?¡± I asked, breaking into a trot.

    ¡°Is that an option?¡±

    ¡°No, if I let you ride me into battle before I let Kass, neither of us would hear the end of it anytime soon.¡±

    My dry humor had the desired effect and Rieka giggled, clinging tighter to me for a moment before relaxing as the mania dropped away from her features. I¡¯d been watching out of the corner of my eye, trying to get a feel for her mood and totally not staring at her beautiful face marred with smoke and a bit of blood as it settled into a look of intense concentration.

    We rounded the carriage to see the battle in full swing.

    A half-dozen guards fought five times their number of scruffily dressed men and women. Bodies lay everywhere from both sides, as well as the horses for two of the four carriages. One carriage showed signs of fire damage, but was no longer burning.

    The remaining guards fought clumped close around a regal-looking woman who had a look of intense concentration on her face while wielding a scepter in her left hand and a sword in her right. With a gesture, a lance of deep blue ice formed over her head and arched into the enemy lines.

    At the back of the group, a bone thin man with crazily rolling eyes hopped back and forth. He wielded a staff topped with a pair of curling ram¡¯s horns made of iron and made a thrusting gesture with the staff. A rolling ball of fire slammed into the ice before it reached his people and the ice pillar detonated under the heat, scattering fist-sized ice chunks everywhere.

    ¡°Protect the queen!¡± shouted a swarthy-skinned feline kin even as he shield-checked one of the bandits and knocked the smaller man off his feet. His open-faced helm had a blue-green plume on it, and I guessed this had to be the captain of their guards.

    ¡°Stop hesitating!¡± yelped the staff-wielder. ¡°The longer you take, the less we earn. I¡¯m burning money here!¡±

    ¡°We have to help them, Liam,¡± Rieka murmured in my ear, shifting to take aim at the bandit spellcaster with her rod.

    ¡°No, wait. Not yet,¡± I hissed as the queen and the shaman traded another volley of spells. This time a gout of flames sought to consume the guards, but the queen warded it away with a glittering barrier of ice-crystals that devoured the fire. ¡°Hit him right as he¡¯s about to cast or after he¡¯s parried one of the queen¡¯s. Don¡¯t try to kill him yourself. Give your mum an opening, or wait for her to give you one.¡±

    A quick glance around confirmed that the bandits had encircled the queen¡¯s forces and had them backed up against the two intact carriages. Even as I watched, one bandit lunged forward and slammed an axe into the wheel of one of them, splintering the wood with a loud crack.

    They are trying to prevent them from escaping. The thought wandered through my head idly. They must be trying to capture the queen, but why? Ransom?

    ¡°Liam¡­¡± Rieka¡¯s voice was thick with worry, pointing towards the outnumbered guards.

    Even with their better armor, several had been wounded and likely wouldn¡¯t survive long, and others already lay at the queen¡¯s feet, protected by their fellows.. The queen had the bandit shaman in a stalemate, but if her guards went down, that would end rapidly.

    ¡°Focus on the shaman, disrupt him so your mum can counter. I¡¯ll get the rest of the bandits. Up you go!¡± I reminded her quickly before lifting her up to the roof of the carriage we¡¯d been hiding behind.

    Rieka didn¡¯t have time to protest, barely managing to suppress her shriek of surprise when I hefted her upwards and tossed her onto the roof of the damaged carriage. It gave her a high-ground advantage and would prevent any bandits who got past me from reaching her as easily.

    I only waited long enough to confirm she was safely up there, getting a glare for my trouble from my annoyed princess, before I turned back to the fight.

    Time to put some of this mental boost to use, I thought and pushed changes to all four of my limbs.

    My left arm flowed, fans of brick-colored carapace oozing out to form a rudimentary shield while my fingers merged and thumb thickened until a heavily armored crab-claw replaced that limb. On my right, the arm folded in on itself, tucking in close to my body while the spike that had replaced my hand balled up and turned into a knob of bone before settling in next to my chest, ready to fire off in a punch that would make any heavyweight jealous. My legs shifted as well, though I didn¡¯t change my feet as my boots would still get in the way. Knee joints reversed. Muscles rearranged, then bulged as I shifted my legs to take advantage of the fast-twitch reflexes and acceleration of a cheetah to ensure I was able to dodge and maneuver as needed.

    Before I¡¯d taken the chance to boost my mental abilities, this would have consumed several seconds and I¡¯d have had to focus on each shift individually while pointedly not thinking about the specific how.

    Now, though, all four shifts flowed in unison. I was already in motion by the time Rieka had settled onto the roof of the carriage on her stomach, lining up her spell-rod like it was a pistol while she made the required gestures with her other hand.

    Springing forward, I barreled into the backline of the enemy troops with a purpose.

    Using the broad fin of armored shell partially as a shield and partially as a plow, I bodily shoved one man out of the way while firing off with the bone mace that was my right hand into the backs of several of the bandits. Three blows fell and three different bandits crumpled with caved in skulls as the thunderous blows landed.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    A sword swung out at me from my left. The reflexes I¡¯d borrowed from the cheetah came into play, allowing me to sway backwards out of the way of the blow, then lash out with the bone club I¡¯d used so well in the ruins, courtesy of the mantis shrimp, to shatter the hand holding the weapon.

    Yelps of surprise, fear, and anger surrounded me as I skipped backwards, working my way around a bit closer to where the queen¡¯s forces fought. Finding an opening, I drove into the bandit group once more, doing what I could to disrupt their cohesion and give the men and women in armor a fighting chance.

    Lightning crackled and thunder boomed in protest as a bolt of energy arced over our heads aimed at the shaman.

    The bandit shaman used his staff to deflect the bolt of lightning into another of the bandits, killing the man in the process but leaving the shaman only barely singed with his staff smoking. However, Rieka had jumped the gun. Her mother wasn¡¯t ready to capitalize on the opening at that moment.

    ¡°Fools! I told you to kill the princess. Must I do everything myself?!¡± squealed the shaman even as he conjured another ball of fire to shatter a boulder of ice that the queen was still forming.

    ¡°Rally! Rally, my warriors! Your princess needs you!¡± barked the queen, her refined voice still showing her noble nature even as she shouted above the din of battle. The guards let out a roar of determination and pushed forward into the bandits with renewed vigor.

    I had to duck away from the swiping sword of one guard when they killed the bandit between us and immediately struck out at me.

    ¡°Monster! There¡¯s a monster with them!¡± screamed the guard, eyes going wide inside her helmet.

    I don¡¯t have time for this, I thought with a growl and turned bodily slam my claw-shield into another bandit, knocking the husky bear kin off her feet. I followed it up with a bone-shattering punch from my club-hand before leaping backwards to separate myself from the fray.

    Two bandits turned to pursue me. A tug of thought brought spikes of hardened clay rising up from the packed earth of the road to stop them. One was able to slow down in time. The other wasn¡¯t so fortunate, being shoved by an ally trying to get away from me, and tumbled forward onto the spiked ground.

    I used the distraction to put further distance between myself and the queen¡¯s forces. I couldn¡¯t risk trying to join up with them. If they thought I was a monster and attacked me, I wasn¡¯t sure I could bring myself to attack them. Also, I didn¡¯t want to be on the receiving end of the queen¡¯s magic either. The last thing she needed was a distraction from the shaman.

    A chain of lightning arced through the air, striking a bandit to my left that had been raising their weapon to attack me. I wasn¡¯t sure if Rieka targeted them intentionally or if the bandit¡¯s sword had just risen into the way at the right time, but an echoing zot noise emanated from the contact point before the man began to tremble and thrash when his muscles locked up.

    A moment later, I saw the other end of the chain go flitting overhead, its links glimmering in the sun as it drifted lazily to the shaman, who was in the middle of conjuring a roiling bead of flames. He didn¡¯t see the floating strand of energy as it reached out for him, having disregarded the threat when Rieka¡¯s spell hit the other bandit.

    The chain of lightning drifted to the iron horns on his staff, attracted by the metal. The second they made contact, the remaining power in the circuit raced up and out that point of contact.

    Wood doesn¡¯t make a very good conductor of electricity, especially old and dried wood like staves are made of. So the power ended up collecting in that metallic headpiece, causing the iron to glow bright orange for a single moment before the wood detonated with a snap and sent the searing hot iron head of the staff spiraling through the air.

    Shrieking in surprise, the shaman fell backwards and vanished from sight.

    ¡°Forward!¡± the queen screamed, hope finally breaking through her stoic facade as she saw the opportunity for what it was.

    The lance the queen had been conjuring fragmented into a hundred shards and she urged them forward like a storm of arrows to pepper the bandits.

    This had the unfortunate effect of also hitting me with several, but only one actually drew blood. A hit to my thigh sent a racing icy chill through that limb, even as my reflexes dulled in response to the creeping cold from the injury.

    Swearing under my breath, I scrambled back from the bandits that I¡¯d been fighting, they were no longer a threat as they had wounds of their own. I pried the blade of ice out of my thigh using the claw on my left arm as it was the closest thing to a hand I had left.

    ¡°Liam!? Are you okay?¡± Rieka¡¯s voice echoed from behind me moments before another bolt of lightning slammed into the area that the shaman had vanished. Clearly, my princess didn¡¯t trust that he was down.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine! Focus!¡± Even as I shouted it, the shaman bobbed into view and hurtled a ball of fire forward, something shining in his left hand.

    The queen was able to ensnare and snuff out the fire before it got to her people, and the guards set about making the most of the disorganized bandit lines.

    It was clear to me that the bandit¡¯s spirits were breaking and the battle was turning. But even as I watched, a lucky blow brought one guard down to a knee in spite of their armor. Their fellows slowed their charge to protect their fallen comrade, and the queen¡¯s line faltered as well for a moment.

    ¡°Lay down your weapons!¡± ordered the queen, imperious command echoing over the battlefield as she obviously saw the waning fighting spirit and tried to capitalize on it. She gestured with both her sword and her scepter and a wide blade of ice formed in the air above her.

    The bandits hesitated, and I saw the shaman turning towards Rieka, his tiny eyes glittering with malice as another spell began to grow in his hands.

    I saw the stack of coins in the shaman¡¯s left hand, the source of the glittering, and reacted with my earth magic this time.

    ¡°She said DROP THEM!¡± I roared, my magic lashing out and snatching at anything and everything made of metal in the group and yanking hard on it.

    Bandits lurched as weapons tugged free of their hands or nearly so, guards stumbled as their armor tried to wrench free of their bodies, the queen jumped as her scepter and sword tried to spring free of her hand. Most importantly the bandit¡¯s coins zipped out of his fingers to scatter into the grass.

    Directing the magnetic tug I had started, I directed a storm of flying weapons towards the shaman to give him something more to worry about as he flailed to find more of the mana-infused coins. I could feel the mana spiraling out of my body before it hit rock bottom after having pulled on so much metal. I hadn¡¯t tried to shape it, just pull it to one location, thankfully.

    The next bolt of lightning from Rieka claimed his life.

    It struck two grubby short swords along its way and the flowing electricity found flaws in the metal, causing the swords to explode and send metal fragments in a storm like a hand grenade. The bolt caught the shaman in the chest and sent him into a juddering dance before he collapsed in a heap.

    Silence fell as the bandits turned towards me and Rieka where she perched on top of the wagon. Blood flowed from the injury on my thigh and dripped off of both the crab-claw of my left arm and the bone club on my right. It was spattered all over my tattered shirt and ragged pants, speckling my face as well. I¡¯m sure I made quite the terrifying sight to the onlookers.

    ¡°Down! Now!¡± I barked at the bandits in the echoing silence.

    Weapons clattered to the ground from nerveless fingers, and the queen broke free of her surprise as well.

    ¡°Bind them! I want answers as to what happened here!¡± The regal wolf woman snapped, her smoke and battle stained dress flowing around her as she moved to circumvent her remaining guards and hurry towards us.

    ¡°My lady! That creature is dangerous, we¡ª¡± protested one of her guards, the swarthy feline man from earlier trying to stop her.

    ¡°That is my daughter¡¯s guardian. Do as I ordered, Captain!¡± the queen barked, not slowing in her hurried march over the packed earth of the road.

    Assist your contracted companion, Rieka Coldeye, with the defense of her queen and mother.

    Reward - 900 SP

    Bonus: See that your summoner remains unharmed - 200 SP

    COMPLETED - Bonus awarded

    Seeing that the fight had come to a rather abrupt ending with the death of the shaman, who was obviously the bandit leader, I let my combat shifts drop away and shook the blood from my hands, wiping what I couldn¡¯t shake off on my already stained shirt before turning to hold my hands up to Rieka.

    My princess smiled down at me, a flyaway bit of her platinum blonde hair having escaped her braid to whip in front of her face. She shifted to sit on the edge of the carriage before dropping down into my arms. I caught her gently and set her on the ground, gently tucking the hair behind her ear just as the queen arrived.

    ¡°Rieka, are you okay, my child? I am sorry I left you in that carriage. I didn¡¯t realize how many there were to deal with until they already had us encircled.¡± The queen¡¯s voice still had that regal tint to it, but I could hear the undercurrent of worry that threatened to shatter her composed facade as she sheathed her sword.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, mother,¡± Rieka stepped around me to give her mother a curt bow. Her usual outfit of riding pants and a blouse was tattered and stained from the fight, but her mother was in much the same condition with her more elaborate dress so neither looked out of place.

    Queen Coldeye studied her daughter for a long moment, her gaze snapping up to me when I shifted to stand behind Rieka.

    I ignored her, instead watching the bandits as the handful of guards still on their feet set about binding their hands. One was rifling through the carriage for something and returned with several glass vials that contained shimmering liquid, which they began administering to the injured amongst the guards.

    When I didn¡¯t react to the queen¡¯s intense gaze, instead focusing on assessing any threats, she turned her attention back to Rieka with a satisfied smile.

    ¡°You were wonderful there, my daughter. Your power has grown by leaps and bounds these last months, as well as your decisive actions. We owe our victory to you in this.¡±

    ¡°No, you owe it to Liam,¡± Rieka replied bluntly, shaking her head and making her thick braid bounce behind her. ¡°Without his assistance, their attack on the rear would have overwhelmed me. His attack split their attention. And it was his earth magic that disarmed and intimidated them, giving me the opportunity to end their leader.¡±

    I was about to protest her giving me credit, but the queen was already speaking before I could.

    ¡°But he is your guardian summon. His actions, therefore, are yours. Without you calling him, he would not have come to aid us. While he did contribute mightily to this, ultimately, that credit lies with you.¡±

    Rieka looked like she was going to protest, so I gently rested my hand on her back, just above where her tail protruded from her riding pants. The light contact made her start and she looked up at me.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, Rieka. She has a point. I¡¯m yours after all,¡± I murmured to her, giving my princess a wink.

    Rieka blushed sharply at my statement, stuttering while she tried to find words to protest.

    The queen looked on with an amused smile and a raised eyebrow for a long moment before taking mercy on her daughter.

    ¡°We need to check the bandits for any evidence and interrogate them. I will send a rider for more guards and replacement carriages for those that were damaged. I also need to check on the others who were traveling with us to make sure they are okay. For now, I need you by my side, daughter. But take a moment to collect yourself.¡±

    With that, the queen swept away, her regal bearing returned in spite of her singed clothes as she snapped orders to her guards.

    One bandit reached for a weapon as she neared. The queen flicked her scepter almost negligently at the man, sending a spear of ice through him with all the interest one gave a fly. That cowed the rest of the bandits to sit and accept their fates.

    ¡°Liam, you deserve most of the credit for this!¡± Rieka protested, turning to look up at me with her sky-blue eyes full of a mixture of emotions that I recognized as affectionate irritation.

    ¡°Nope, my princess called, and I answered. Everything else is her credit. Isn¡¯t it lucky that I could help and didn¡¯t make things worse?¡± I booped her on the nose lightly, making her blink rapidly and cross her eyes to look at the tip of her pert nose for a moment before she turned her gaze back to me, her cheeks coloring faintly.

    ¡°Fine¡­ then I will have to find a way to thank you later. Think of this as a deposit on that for now.¡± Rieka¡¯s blush grew deeper, but she didn¡¯t hesitate as she gripped the front of my shirt and tugged my face down.

    I could have resisted, but I didn¡¯t see a reason to do so.

    Bending down, I accepted the soft kiss from my wolf kin princess. I could hear the quiet shush of her tail whipping back and forth as she did it and a faint moan of desire trapped between our lips.

    To any observer, the kiss was a chase peck on the lips as Rieka had her back to any observers.

    Just out of sight of those observers, though, her hand had dipped below my belt line and stroked over my crotch, teasing my manhood into full hardness with her lithe fingertips.

    Our lips parted and Rieka panted slightly, her eyes glazed with desire before she took a breath and mastered herself.

    ¡°Looking forward to the rest of that repayment,¡± I muttered, kissing the tip of her nose lightly.

    ¡°So am I, my Liam. You¡¯d better go before I jump you right here. My mother is understanding, but she would take exception to that,¡± Rieka said in a husky tone while working to pull herself back under control.

    ¡°Are you sure? There could be more bandits in the area,¡± I started to protest but Rieka shook her head.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. They won¡¯t catch us by surprise this time. If any do show up, I will summon you back. I¡¯m sure my mother will compensate me for the material cost.¡± Rieka gave me a wink and started to pull away, but I stopped her.

    Instead, I pulled Rieka into a tight hug, crushing her to my chest. My princess stiffened for a moment before softening and snuggling into the hug, the tips of her black-dusted ears tickling my chin for a long moment as we held onto each other.

    ¡°Let me know when you are on the move again, okay? And check in to let me know when you arrive safely,¡± I ordered when we separated.

    Rieka nodded, before making the gestures to send me home.

 Chapter 86

    When I arrived back at Kassandra¡¯s room from the emergency summon, all of the other girls had left already, not expecting me to return that quickly.

    Kassandra, who had remained, was quick to seize on the opportunity presented to spend time alone though. She rapidly stole all of my clothes before ordering me into the bath to clean up from the fight while she worked her magic to heal the wound in my leg.

    As I was hitting the adrenaline crash from the fight at that point, I didn¡¯t argue with my loving noodle. I let her look after me for a bit before returning the favor.

    Several times.

    Only when she was properly exhausted did I relax and drift off to sleep myself.

    Waking up in my apartment when her summon ran out wasn¡¯t fun, but it was part of this life I was living.

    Staring up at the ceiling of my shitty apartment, I heaved a heavy sigh.

    Wish there was some way to bring the girls over to this side so they could visit Earth. Cortha is cool and all, but I think Kass would lose it over something like the Internet. I know Rieka would have fun poking around shops for clothing styles. Both of them would be interested in books here too¡­

    I sighed again, looking around the room once more at the dingy walls and cramped expanse of the room. This was not the kind of place I¡¯d want to bring either of my girls over to, and the neighborhood sure as hell made it less than welcoming.

    So change it.

    The thought floated up out of my subconscious like a bubble through water. I continued to stare blankly at the ceiling for a long moment before my resolve hardened and I sat upright.

    A glimmer drew my eyes to the small bowl of pearls glimmering on the kitchen counter, and I smiled.

    I¡¯d done the research, I just needed to apply it. Now I had a means to earn a living, and more if I applied myself. I just needed to source metal to get started. This wasn¡¯t going to be a quick process, but I had a way out.

    A way out of being poor, a way out of this apartment, and a way out of this cycle of self loathing I could feel myself slipping back into.

    First, though, I needed pants. Because of course, I had left my other pair behind in Kassandra¡¯s room after wearing her out.

    <><><>

    Dipping my hands into the freezing stream water, I grimaced and shifted in my rubber boots. The South Platte river near Denver is never a warm one, and it was getting on towards fall and winter now.

    I¡¯d had to drive around a bit before I found a spot that would work for my idea. I needed something that wasn¡¯t on land managed by either the Parks and Recreation or privately owned.

    So it took a bit of research online to find parcels along the river that were managed by the county and then somewhere that I could park and leave my old truck for a while.

    For appearance¡¯s sake, I¡¯d brought along one of those plastic gold pans you can buy from the sporting goods stores in town, a little shovel, as well as a small jam jar to hold anything I found. Then I¡¯d parked my truck, donned the battered pair of rubber boots, and waded down into the river.

    I¡¯d slipped immediately.

    After soaking myself from ankle to mid-chest in the freezing river, my irritation was already riding high. Thankfully, no one had been around to witness my mistake, so I just shook the water and just shifted my skin underneath my clothes to be more dense and include insulation to make the most of it. I was already soaked now, so I had better find something to make it worthwhile.

    The bit of research that I¡¯d done online before coming out here told me that bends in the river were some of the best locations to pan for gold, as sand built up there and would ¡®catch¡¯ the gold as it came downstream. Since I wasn¡¯t looking for nuggets, and even just gold sand would work for this idea, this was going to be my best spot.

    I sloshed around until I found a spot that looked good, where the river bottom wasn¡¯t too deep and there was a dense accumulation of the banded black and brown sand I was used to seeing in rivers, then dipped my hands into the water.

    I¡¯d had practice working with my magic while cold, from the times I¡¯d assisted Kassandra while she was practicing her magic. Being a portable heater for a cold-blooded lamia while she practiced ice magic was definitely an odd experience, and it had somewhat prepared me for the distraction of freezing hands to go with my freezing everything now.

    Digging deep into myself, I found the mana where it sat waiting inside my Mana Reservoir power. The energy stirred sluggishly at first until I got it moving and gave it direction. I let it settle through the water and into the sand beneath me.

    I had my parent¡¯s old wedding rings on a chain around my neck, having brought them for just this purpose. Using the two gold rings, I gave the mana the ¡®scent¡¯ of gold and then turned it loose to search.

    Like before, when I¡¯d fixed up the soccer field at the park near my apartment, my mana sank into the ground and spread out. It oozed between the grains of soil and sand, permeating everything like water soaking through a beach.

    Ironic, given I was standing in a river, I know.

    Beneath my feet, I could feel a number of different metals react to the energy, but none were what I was looking for at first.

    Pipe. Nails. Jeez, that¡¯s a lot of nails. Glad I have boots on. That feels like wire¡­ I thought, sorting through the sensations with my mind.

    Since I was looking for gold specifically, it was easy to sort everything else out into ¡®not gold¡¯ and go from there. The general shapes of what I found formed in my mind, and I was dismayed by how much garbage was actually in the river.

    Maybe if I have time and mana later, I can call all this metal together and get it out of here. Wouldn¡¯t be worth a ton, but the scrapyard might buy it and actually put it to use.

    A glint of bright metal, like the taste of an unexpected sugar crystal, caught my attention and pulled it away from thoughts of cleaning out the creek.

    The tiny glimmer tried to fade back into the background of the creek, but I gently wrapped my Manipulate Element around it and gave it a tug. It was stuck beneath several inches of sand and mud, but I had a plan.

    Carefully, never losing hold of the mote, I began to urge it back and forth like rocking a vehicle stuck in the mud or snow. It worked to agitate the area around the mote without disturbing the bed of the river too much.

    I almost lost it when the speck finally popped free and the current of the river tugged at it. I was able to draw it over and settle the shimmering grain into the plastic bowl in my hands. Only then did I open my eyes to survey what I¡¯d found.

    A tiny mote of shimmering metal, smaller than a grain of rice but glittering yellow against the dark green plastic of my pan, sat there under the water, stirring ever so gently as the current rippled over the pan.

    ¡°Bingo.¡±

    <><><>

    Gold panning is hard work. At least it would have been if I could not literally call gold to me.

    It took another hour before I¡¯d exhausted my mana. A fair bit longer than I had expected, but the ambient mana did a solid job of refilling my reserves while I worked. Another bit of evidence pointing towards the idea that there was rather dense mana on Earth, as I had suspected.

    By the time I¡¯d drained myself down to dregs, I was pulling bits of gold from more than a foot down in the river bed.

    The bottom of my jam-jar was now coated in a thin layer of shimmering gold flecks, flakes, and tiny nuggets. The largest piece I¡¯d found sat off to one side in the jar like a little hill poking out of a glittering desert: a nugget about half the size of a raisin. I felt rather good about the time I¡¯d spent.

    Again, my improved mental scores had gone to work, allowing me to spread my focus out. Once I¡¯d gotten the hang of finding and dragging out the bits of gold, I¡¯d been able to build up speed until I was liberating almost a dozen small fragments at once.

    When they were all free of the earth and in my pan, I¡¯d just dipped the jam jar into the water and ordered the gold into it. The swirling scarf of glitter diving into the glass jar had been mesmerizing for the handful of seconds it¡¯d spent moving.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    I came back to the stream several times in the next three days, exhausting my mana as often as possible while I sorted through the metals there.

    I¡¯d have felt bad if I saw signs of anyone else using the stream to pan for gold as a hobby, but my boot prints were the only ones I¡¯d seen in that time and the grass grew high on either side of it with no evidence of passage.

    In three days¡¯ time, I gathered nearly two ounces of gold sand from the river and I was rather proud of it. There was more in the sediment both there and further up or down the river, but I¡¯d scraped a good portion of the easily found metal up.

    I was still waiting to hear back from the CPA that Jameson had put me in contact with. She was apparently preparing paperwork to get me set up as an amateur jeweler and waiting for licenses to clear. While I could start selling pieces online without the licenses, she¡¯d advised me to wait. So instead I concentrated on building up materials for now.

    Every night before I went to bed, I consolidated the sand I¡¯d found into small nuggets that I thought of as my ¡®ingots¡¯ for now, each about the size of a grain of rice. There was no reason to make them larger yet, as I could pinch bits off for whatever setting or the like as I went. I kept them in the same jam-jar as the sand, which I hid in my sock drawer for now.

    The Tuesday after the abortive meeting attempt with the other summoners, I was just getting ready to head out the door for one last scrounging session in the river before training with Cerebaton, when I felt a gentle buzzing sensation on my right arm.

    I quickly checked my bond tattoos, muttering another thank you to the System for the gift that had been my Contact Contracted Companion power. The tattoo that linked me to Rieka reacted when I tapped it, and my princess¡¯s noble voice entered my ears a moment later.

    ¡°Liam, I know that you normally train tonight, but I just got back from my time with my mother. I would really like to see you. Do you think I could tempt you into skipping off for once? Kass said to just tell you I was naked and then summon you, but you know how our little lamia is.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, get my ass kicked by Cerebaton for a few hours or go snuggle with my girls?¡±

    I snickered at the thought and dashed off a message to Cerebaton that I was going to be unavailable tonight for training, as my girls needed me. It wasn¡¯t a lie or even a bit of deceit. I just wasn¡¯t telling him what they wanted me for.

    ¡°I¡¯m good with that. You know I¡¯d always come when you call me regardless of the situation, Rieka. What time did you want to make this happen?¡± I sent as a reply, drawing on the power while focusing to send the message over to my princess.

    My hand was already reaching for the door-knob to continue my trip down to the truck when a flare of light around the edges of my vision preceded a message from the System.

    Power Contact Contracted Companion has achieved Mastery 1000/1000.

    New Powers available in the System interface.

    Congratulations, Traveler.

    ¡°Huh, wicked cool,¡± I muttered with a smile.

    I had been using the ability quite often and as a result, it had grown in mastery rather rapidly.

    Closing my eyes, I rapidly flipped over to the Powers tab to see what new abilities it had unlocked. The Guardian track was separate from the others and it had two options illuminated next.

    Ward Companion (Minor) - Cost: 400 SP - Erect a ward around one of your companions that will alert you to potential threats to their person. Ward lasts until it detects a threat and discharges. This spends the mana used in its construction to warn the creator.

    Requires physical contact to cast.

    Intervene (Minor) - Cost: 200 SP - What true guardian is unwilling to put themselves between their charges and danger? Activating Intervene (Minor) will immediately interpose the caster with a friendly unit and danger. This ability does not require mana to activate.

    Cannot target unfriendly units. Cooldown of 10 seconds between uses.

    Both abilities expanded further down their line with new options. I couldn¡¯t argue with the fact they both looked useful. There was still plenty of SP left over after the emergency summon from Rieka, and the idea of the System being able to warn me if something went wrong with them made it a no-contest choice. I selected both abilities and activated them, a shimmer of color filling them in as I felt the energy flow into my body.

    Another message flashed across my vision in response to selecting the powers.

    Congratulations Traveler on selecting your new powers and advancing down the Guardian path.

    I opened my eyes and took another step towards the door. I was already mulling over how I would practice these abilities to get them mastered as quick as possible. This Guardian track that the System had opened for me was showing potential already.

    The flash at the edges of my vision was the cool, black-light purple I was used to as my hand touched the doorknob and I snorted as the message scrolled over my vision.

    Rieka Coldeye has sent a non-urgent request for your presence regarding repaying her debt.

    Transit? View summoning?

    I didn¡¯t hesitate in hammering the Transit option.

    Just as it had been no question that I¡¯d rather spend time with my girls than getting beaten up by Cerebaton, it was no question that I would rather go immediately than put it off and slosh around in an icy river again.

    When I was yanked through the dimensional barriers this time, I caught glimpses of a massive city surrounding a soaring tower built with impossible architecture. Flashes of magical fire or lightning popped and snapped from the very bricks of the construction before being absorbed back into the tower. Far in the distance from the great city, I saw the rolling edge of a great forest that seemed to stretch on forever. And then I was gone again.

    Landing on hardwood, the taste of chartreuse on my tongue, I had time to recognize my surroundings as Rieka¡¯s room.

    Half a second later, I was struck from the right by a platinum blonde missile moments before a red-haired one hit me from the left.

    ¡°Liam!¡± both of my girls chorused in time, with Kassandra bursting into giggles as she burrowed her face into my neck. Rieka just hummed happily, burying her face in my shoulder and squeezing me close.

    ¡°Hello my ladies, how are you two doing?¡± I asked, wrapping an arm around each of them.

    The dual impacts had nearly combined to knock me on my ass, but I¡¯d been practicing being tackled by Kassandra for quite a while now. Rieka didn¡¯t weigh enough to throw me off by much, so their double teaming attempt had failed.

    ¡°Good,¡± chirped Kassandra, her eyes twinkling behind her slightly askew spectacles when she pulled back. ¡°I spent the weekend talking with the other three. Jane and Shayla are on board with joining our team for the project and will be ready to summon you tomorrow for the bonding. Rachel isn¡¯t part of the summoning class, though, so she¡¯s not in as much of a rush. She did want me to remind you that.¡± Kassandra paused to clear her throat before continuing in a more refined tone, clearly mocking Rachel. ¡°That ¡®you did promise me you would train me on earth magic when you figured out more.¡¯¡±

    ¡°Goof,¡± I pulled my dwarf lamia in for a kiss, using the arm wrapped around her waist. Kassandra made another joyful noise and dove in wholeheartedly.

    The redheaded troublemaker was doing her usual attempt at becoming my belt, but due to the dual-tackle from Rieka, she was also wrapped around my wolf-eared princess.

    Rieka didn¡¯t seem to mind, shifting so that her head was just leaning on my shoulder so she could look up at me from one eye. I felt the gentle stirring of her tail against the arm I had around her, the fluffy appendage clearly as excited to see me as she was.

    ¡°I¡¯m doing well too, Liam,¡± Rieka said once Kassandra was willing to release me from the kiss. ¡°She rewarded me with even more infused metals for the ¡®gallantry in the face of overwhelming odds¡¯ during the bandit attack. She was going to give me a lot more, but I asked for these instead for you.¡±

    Rieka¡¯s hand dove into the open top of her shirt and my mind immediately followed it into the gutter before she produced a clear glass vial filled with a dozen shimmering crystals that looked familiar.

    ¡°A bit of a leg up before the competition, as we only have four more weeks to train,¡± Kassandra giggled, reaching across my chest to tap one fingertip against the glass. ¡°Honestly, the queen just having unaspected mana crystals on hand to just give away¡­ You would think she might be spying on us to know you needed them.¡±

    ¡°My mother is observant, and remember I did contact her for advice on this as Liam¡¯s mana remains obstinately unaspected despite his use of earth magic.¡± Rieka held the vial out to me, her eyes dancing with amusement.

    I glanced down at the glass vial, then to my two armfuls of smiling women, and then back up to Rieka.

    ¡°Can you hang on to that for me? I¡¯ve got something a bit more important in hand right now.¡±

    My words caused both girls to blush, though with Kassandra it was just a bit of pink on her fair cheeks that made her mess of freckles even more apparent. Rieka¡¯s pale skin turned a deep rose, though. Which deepened when Kassandra let out a rather sexy little growl and squeezed the two of us together tighter.

    ¡°I think he¡¯s got the right of it, Rieka,¡± Kassandra husked as she leaned in to press a kiss to the side of my jaw. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you made a down payment to him while you were on the side of the road? So naughty to do that in public and then just leave him hanging.¡±

    ¡°Kass!¡± Rieka hissed, her blush now extending down her neck. ¡°I told you that in confidence!¡±

    ¡°And I haven¡¯t broken confidence. Liam knows quite well that you copped a feel while your mother stood less than a dozen feet away,¡± Kassandra shot back at her friend, mischief sharing space with arousal in her sparkling eyes.

    Rieka bit her bottom lip, her ears lying flat as she shot me a guilty look. Her tail didn¡¯t even slow down behind her, and I could feel her nipples hardening through her shirt.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay, Rieka. I don¡¯t hold it against you,¡± I started to say.

    ¡°You should hold it against her. That¡¯s the first step to getting it in her after all,¡± Kassandra butted in. ¡°Come on, Rieka. You know that Liam is up for it. You can feel it as much as I can.¡±

    I wanted to protest Kassandra¡¯s lewd innuendo, but she was right. Having both my girls cuddled up to me like this and the content of their conversation, it had me to the point I didn¡¯t think I could get harder. Kassandra decided to prove that thought wrong a moment later, though.

    ¡°And if you think I¡¯m skipping off and missing it this time, you are dead wrong. I¡¯ve been a good friend and shared him, but now I think it¡¯s time for all three of us to bond.¡±

    The innuendo in the air was thick enough that it almost dripped off of her words. In fact, if the heat I felt against my hip was anything to go by¡­

    I forced the thought out of my head and focused my attention on Rieka. My wolf-eared princess was chewing on her bottom lip, but the desire in her eyes clearly warred with her noble upbringing.

    I saw the moment that the noble upbringing failed. I also felt it as Rieka began to grind against me. Kassandra did as well, because she let out a happy squeal while bouncing on my hip.

    ¡°I¡¯ll get the sound-sealing spells!¡±

 Chapter 87 <3

    Diving into a kiss, Rieka pressed herself against me with a happy yip. A faint blush colored her pale cheeks. From the enthusiastic dance of her tongue against mine, I could tell it was excitement driving that reaction. So I decided to just enjoy the moment and give my princess time to sort herself out.

    Kassandra carefully pried the vial of neutral mana crystals out of my hand and set it somewhere safe. I wasn¡¯t sure where, but I heard a click of glass on wood and trusted her enough to assume that was what she did. I did see her cast the required spells though, the glimmering light hitting both herself and the distracted Rieka, before she cast the silencing spells on the walls that the princess had apparently forgotten about before returning to us.

    While Rieka tried her best to burrow into my mouth, Kassandra set to work on my belt with nimble fingers. She hummed to herself as she worked, a happy little tune that completely belied the lewd activities about to take place in this room. While Kassandra was not unfamiliar with the process, she hadn¡¯t done it more than a half-dozen times at this point, so it took her a minute to get my belt loose and zipper down.

    Pulling back from the kiss, intent on saying something to Rieka, I wasn¡¯t allowed to disengage. Apparently, my princess was extremely horny, as she continued to pursue my lips, crawling up my chest slightly as she did so. I wrapped an arm around under her bottom to support her, getting a contented coo from my wolfish princess amongst all those needy moans.

    ¡°She¡¯s really been missing you,¡± Kassandra giggled from out of sight.

    I felt my pants and underwear get yanked down, and I shifted to kick them to one side.

    I¡¯d settled back into a standing position for less than a second before the sensation of warm wetness engulfed the head of my shaft. Kassandra moaned happily as she bobbed a few times to slick my member with her spit before pulling back and laying kisses alongside the shaft while her hands stroked over my thighs and cupped my balls. Unconsciously, my left hand settled into her mane of curls, not trying to take control, just resting there for now.

    While my attempts had failed to get Rieka to disengage, Kassandra¡¯s verbal teasing was enough to get her to come up for air. Or maybe that was the air itself, I wasn¡¯t entirely sure.

    Rieka pulled back with a gasp to lean over and glare down at Kassandra in a playful pout.

    ¡°You have nowhere to talk about things like that, Kass! I seem to remember you bragging about ¡®making the most¡¯ of the time after he came back from saving me. Said you¡¯d already thanked him for me, too,¡± Rieka whined.

    Kassandra pulled back off my member with a quiet pop that sent a shiver of pleasure up my spine and spoke. ¡°I did. I¡¯d just spent the mana to summon him for that meeting and then your bandits rudely interrupted. By the time he got back, the others had left already. So I made the most of it. As I¡¯ve already told you once.¡± While I couldn¡¯t see her face over Rieka¡¯s chest pressed into mine, I knew Kassandra was grinning from the tone of her voice.

    ¡°He¡¯s my hero, and thus it is my job to thank him for interceding,¡± Rieka pouted down at her friend. I could feel her tail stirring over top of my arm, so I knew the irritation I heard in the princess¡¯s tone wasn¡¯t genuine.

    ¡°Well then, get down here and help me.¡±

    Unable to refute her friend¡¯s statement, Rieka just shrugged and turned a rather lascivious smile on me.

    ¡°Would you like that, Liam? A princess and the daughter of a viscount on their knees, worshiping your hard cock?¡± the princess asked, leaning in to lay kisses along my neck.

    My body reacted in predictable ways to her words. The arm I had wrapped around her to support her tightened, my hands squeezing her bottom firmly through those tight pants of hers while my cock throbbed.

    ¡°Oh, he definitely liked that idea!¡± chirped Kassandra a moment later. ¡°Liam, you aren¡¯t allowed to shift your cock right now. You are already big enough I worry you might split me in two, and you twitched so hard at Rieka¡¯s idea that you nearly thumped me in the face. So no getting ideas¡­ yet.¡±

    Rieka burst into giggles at that mental image, but she did not hesitate to make good on her suggestion when I did not object.

    A wiggle of her hips and I set her back down again. Rieka immediately stripped her shirt off quickly. Kassandra, ever the industrious and practical snake that she was, had already pulled the laces and undone the catches to her underbust corset and stripped it away, along with her shirt. It just took a flick of her skirt to leave my lovely dwarf lamia completely bare to me.

    Kassandra¡¯s pale skin shone in the mixture of natural light from Rieka¡¯s window and the handful of candles scattered around the room. The delicate spots of her freckles cresting her nose and then dipping down to speckle across the tops of her full breasts. Seeing those faint dots over her chest immediately sent my mind into overdrive, imagining other things I¡¯d like to see spread over those luscious tits.

    One of Kassandra¡¯s hands stroked along my thigh, alternating between running her fingers along it and then coming up to cup my balls, while the other gently stroked over the leaking petals of her womanhood. It was obvious that the situation had Kassandra quite aroused.

    Kassandra kept me occupied while Rieka finished peeling herself out of the tight riding pants. Falling to her knees next to the dwarf lamia, Rieka gave me a sultry look through her platinum-blonde bangs while her tail continued to slowly whip back and forth as she did so.

    Sharing a glance with her friend, Rieka and Kassandra communicated silently for a bare handful of seconds before nodding and leaning forward together.

    They didn¡¯t kiss, which was not that surprising. I knew Kassandra and Rieka were good friends, but they¡¯d never given me the impression that they were attracted to each other. I was already living in a lewd faerie tale enough that I didn¡¯t expect my two lovers to suddenly become lesbians, as hot as that might have been.

    So while their lips didn¡¯t meet in front of me, that was because my cock was in the way.

    Rieka came in from my right, kissing slowly along my shaft from the head to the base. Kassandra was on my left, kissing from the base towards the head.

    The dual sensation of two pairs of soft lips against my cock, two sets of hot breaths washing over my aching flesh, and two hands taking turns caressing my flesh, was beyond pleasurable.

    Kassandra made it to the top and, using her tongue to pull my cock towards her, sucked my head into her mouth and gave it three suckling bobs, running her tongue all over the head of my shaft with the familiarity of practice. I loved blowjobs and my mischievous Nugget had picked up on that early on.

    Not to be left behind, Rieka ran her tongue along the side of my shaft before dipping down to lightly kiss my sack.

    ¡°Oh god, you two¡­¡± I groaned.

    The simple statement got immediate reactions out of both my lovers.

    Rieka¡¯s tail began to wag more furiously behind her, while a pretty blush decorated her cheeks. Kassandra grinned up at me with her full lips still wrapped around my cock, the hand teasing her own sex shifting and two fingers diving in with a lewd schlick noise as she began to finger-fuck herself.

    I couldn¡¯t help the temptation that came with Kassandra grinning around my cock. I used the hand in her hair to pull her into another bobbing rhythm, which she complied to happily.

    Rieka¡¯s moaning as she continued to kiss the underside of my shaft and my balls drew my attention back to her. I threaded the fingers of my right hand through her hair, carefully working into the loose braid she normally wore, to gently stroke the base of her ears.

    My princess went limp against my leg, moaning wholeheartedly into my balls which was a sensation I had not expected to enjoy as much as I did in the moment.

    Foggily, I turned my attention back to Kassandra to check on her. Both of Kassandra¡¯s hands were now busily at work, pumping her sex with one and the other stroking over her full breasts and tugging on her nipples lightly.

    The muffled giggle from Kassandra at the face I was making brought Rieka back onto track as she continued to bob back and forth, taking nearly half my shaft into her mouth before quickly pulling back only to repeat the motion. She offered only a token resistance so that I could ¡®force¡¯ her down my shaft again, but the lust glimmering in her slitted brown eyes told me she was enjoying it as much as I was.

    ¡°I want a turn,¡± Rieka whined, shifting to push against Kassandra.

    The dwarf lamia allowed her friend to push her out of the way, gasping for breath when she finally came off my shaft and giving a few exaggerated pants that I knew were pretend. But apparently Rieka fell for her game.

    My princess immediately dove forward, engulfing my shaft and driving herself forward until the head of it pressed against her throat and she gagged loudly.

    ¡°Easy there, Rieka,¡± I murmured, scratching lightly behind one of her pointed ears. The sensation was enough to get her to relax, but she refused to give up her prize now that she had it between her lips.

    Rieka began to bob quickly, not caring if she battered the back of her throat with the head of my shaft while her tongue danced over my shaft. One hand pumped the part of my shaft she couldn¡¯t get into her mouth, while the other ran over her slightly smaller breasts, cupping and stroking them in mirror of Kassandra¡¯s earlier actions.

    Not to be left out, my dwarf lamia pressed herself against me and used the length of her tail to slither up my side, peeling my shirt off in the process. This had the bonus effect of both pressing her tits against me, which resulted in her dragging nipples as hard as rocks up my side, and grinding her leaking sex into me, too.

    Reaching up with both arms, Kassandra looped them around my neck and nuzzled into my throat, kissing me lightly right beneath my ear before she began to whisper sweet nothings into it.

    ¡°No need to hold back, Liam. You¡¯ll get to sample both of us today and into the night. I guarantee it. I know you have the stamina, and between Rieka and I we might be able to actually wear you out for once. So don¡¯t hold back. You can hear her gagging for you. Give it to her. Fuck her mouth and remind her that, while she is a princess outside this room, she¡¯s yours inside it.¡±

    Rieka moaned sharply into my crotch, the sensation vibrating along my member and into my spine, making me moan as well. Clearly, she approved of the message.

    Kassandra giggled and nipped at my ear again, moaning hotly while I wrapped my right arm around her to hold her in place so she could relax her tail. My hand ended up just right to cup her bottom and pull her into my hip.

    I wished for the first time that Kassandra was a normal girl, because then I could get my fingers between her legs from behind to fuck her pussy with them. But my dwarf lamia¡¯s body was different. There was no split between her legs and her womanhood rode more to the front of her serpentine body, with the angle different from a normal woman to accommodate her tail.

    Following Kassandra¡¯s suggestion and Rieka¡¯s whimpering, the hand on top of Rieka¡¯s head shifted to cup the back of it and I pulled her down my shaft as I thrust into her mouth. Rieka¡¯s happy whimpering continued as she gagged again on my shaft, not fighting my thrusts as I began to pump my hips and fuck her pretty mouth.

    This continued for several minutes, with Kassandra pouring sweet filth in my ear as she suggested all sorts of carnal acts that the three of us could do while Rieka moaned and drooled on my shaft, gagging in turns but never giving up.

    Once, Rieka managed to open her throat as I thrust into her mouth and I sank into that gripping heat as Rieka swallowed against me. My princess didn¡¯t panic at suddenly taking me to the base. Instead, she moaned sharply and came on the spot. I knew this because of the enthusiastic gagging, her thrusting her head forward to keep herself there, and the way her tail stopped suddenly, as stiff as a flagpole.

    ¡°Getting close,¡± I groaned finally, slowing my thrusts into Rieka¡¯s mouth. My princess pulled herself fully off my cock with a gasp and spoke for the first time in a while.

    ¡°Get down here, Kass. I want to treat my hero to a true reward for his help, and I think marking both of us with his cum will be a good start on that.¡±

    ¡°Ooh, I like how you are thinking, Rieka,¡± Kassandra purred. ¡°Who knew our princess had such a lewd side?¡±

    ¡°I did. After the first time we fucked and she wanted to be ¡®displayed before the world,¡¯ I believe it was?¡± I said while smiling down at the flushed wolf-woman on her knees in front of me.

    Rieka looked like a lusty goddess: blushing heavily from a mixture of exertion and lewd embarrassment, her lips puffy from the abuse and saliva dripping down her chin to decorate her full chest, and her nipples were red and swollen from the tugging abuse of her fingers, while her sex dripped onto the hardwood.

    Kassandra wiggled free of my hand and slithered down to settle beside her friend. She struck just as lewd a pose as her friend, though not quite so much in the ¡®freshly fucked¡¯ appearance as Rieka did. Kassandra¡¯s full breasts pressed out and sweat dewed her skin lightly, her lips swollen from our activities, and lust glimmered in her eyes even as she drove one hand between her legs to resume pumping her fingers in and out of her wet pussy.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

    ¡°Mark us, Liam,¡± Rieka begged breathlessly. ¡°Mark us and then fuck us. You don¡¯t have to choose. We will take turns and be good. I just want to feel you inside me so bad¡­¡±

    Rieka leaned back and displayed her toned body to me, a canvas waiting for the paint. Seeing what her friend was doing, Kassandra was quick to mirror it beside her as they both blew kisses towards my shaft.

    The begging tone my princess used, combined with their poses, nearly set me off right there. The contrast between Kassandra¡¯s red-brown curls and Rieka¡¯s pale blonde hair, Kassandra¡¯s thicker figure and Rieka¡¯s more lithe one. It was too tempting to resist, but I wanted one last thing before I climaxed from this.

    ¡°Give it a kiss, both of you,¡± I said firmly, gesturing to the angrily throbbing head of my shaft.

    Neither girl hesitated, with Kassandra being the first to react and leaning forward. She went beyond the assignment too, taking the opportunity to sandwich my cock between her breasts and give it a few pumps while she lathered kisses on the head of my shaft. Rieka was next, taking the cue from Kassandra and using her smaller breasts to do the same, but also finishing by taking me to the base in one slow motion and gagging on it before leaving a peck on the head of my shaft in passing.

    ¡°Cheater,¡± Kassandra laughed at her friend.

    Rieka, being the mature woman she was, stuck her tongue out at Kassandra even as I took hold of my shaft and began to pump it. That moment of innocent affection between friends, in such an erotic setting, pushed me right to the precipice, and it didn¡¯t take much to send me over the edge.

    I fought to keep my eyes open and focused on my two lovely ladies as I came hard.

    Streamers of cum erupted from the head of my shaft, the first one catching Rieka across the left cheek and making her squeal in surprise before moaning. I aimed the next one at Kassandra, who smirked and lewdly opened her mouth to give me a target. That streamer coated her tongue and chin, to the dwarf lamia¡¯s approval.

    Alternating back and forth between my two lovers, I painted faces, chests, throats, and breasts with my seed. When I finally came down from the climax, it looked like I¡¯d been trying to glaze the two of them like pastries.

    Rieka¡¯s left eye was pasted shut while more covered her face and dripped onto her cleavage. Kassandra¡¯s chest got the worst of it, my pearly seed giving even sharper counterpoint to her freckles there, though several crossed over her nose and chin too. I¡¯d aimed lower to spare her glasses and been successful, which resulted in strands dripping off her chin and hanging like lewd garlands to her full breasts.

    ¡°That was hot,¡± Kassandra moaned, using one finger to scoop a dollop of seed off her chest and shoved it into her mouth.

    ¡°Agreed,¡± Rieka panted with a smile, wiping at her eye carefully. Giving up on that after a moment, she decided to copy Kassandra¡¯s actions and begin licking up my spend from her skin in a lewd display that guaranteed I wasn¡¯t going to be going soft any time soon.

    ¡°Whenever you two want that again, you just say the word.¡± My statement got amused laughter from both of my girls. Amused laughter that sent both of their anatomy¡¯s swaying and bouncing in distracting ways that drew my attention.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be right back,¡± Rieka said, still looking out of only one eye. ¡°Kass, would you warm him up for me? I am claiming his dick first since this was to thank him, then you can have a turn before we switch back.¡±

    ¡°I guess that is fair,¡± Kassandra sighed before grinning up at me again. She leaned in to begin bathing my cock with her tongue, making sure to get it all clean while Rieka rose to go and get a wet cloth from the basin by her bath.

    Watching my princess¡¯s ass jiggle slightly as she walked away was enticing, and I stared distractedly as she took the time to wipe her face off so she could see again.

    Kassandra followed my gaze even as she suckled on my tip, her lips turning up in a wicked grin. She pulled off of my shaft and held a finger to her lips before pointing at Rieka¡¯s bottom with her happily waving tail as she continued to wipe herself off with the cloth. There was a convenient couch right next to her that was the perfect height to bend my princess over, and I immediately cottoned on to Kassandra¡¯s idea.

    Stepping back from my dwarf lamia, I hurried across the floor as quietly as I could to where Rieka stood humming.

    She had just set the cloth back in the basin and was about to turn when I caught her hips from behind and pulled her against me, sandwiching my hard shaft between the muscled cheeks of her bottom.

    Rieka yipped in surprise before turning to look up at me with a smile, nuzzling into my chest. She completely missed Kassandra slithering along at my side though. Something I was sure that my dwarf lamia would be able to capitalize on to play our sexy trick on Rieka.

    ¡°Hello, my Liam, couldn¡¯t wait to touch me again?¡± she teased gently.

    ¡°Nope,¡± I replied plainly with a broad smile, using the grip on her hips to lift her up. This got another yip of surprise that turned into a moan as I lowered Rieka and penetrated her, Kassandra¡¯s hand holding my cock steady to assist as my dear Nugget guessed my intent.

    ¡°Oh, yes¡­ I¡¯ve missed this so much. I really should have just thrown you down on the side of the road and fucked you in the grass there,¡± Rieka sighed, her hands coming up to loop around my neck while her back arched so she could kiss my cheek, fully trusting in me to support her weight as she dangled in my grip. ¡°It might have horrified my mother and startled the guards, but it would have been worth it.¡±

    ¡°I think our princess might be a bit of an exhibitionist,¡± Kassandra giggled as she slid around to watch while biting on her lower lip.

    ¡°Would have to agree,¡± I grunted, shifting so that I could thrust up in time with dropping Rieka on my shaft.

    ¡°I just like the idea of everyone knowing that I belong to you, Liam,¡± Rieka husked. ¡°Having you mount me like a wild beast in the open means that there is no doubt about that.¡±

    ¡°Well, if she wants to be mounted like a beast,¡± Kassandra said, gesturing to the couch that I¡¯d forgotten about as soon as my cock sunk into Rieka¡¯s wet heat.

    The princess¡¯s eyes lit up when she got Kassandra¡¯s implication and she let go of her grip behind my neck. It took only a moment to get her draped over the couch with her bottom in the air and I was once again plowing into my princess from behind, her feet barely touching the ground as our flesh made lewd clapping noises.

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right. Lay claim to what¡¯s yours, Liam. Just think, since Rieka forgot to put the contraceptive spells on herself earlier, you might be siring the next queen of this kingdom,¡± Kassandra said, giving me a wink and holding a finger to her lips.

    Rieka¡¯s head came up while her tail stiffened and she let out a sharp moan, the wet head of her sex clamping tight on my shaft as I continued to fuck her. The only reason we weren¡¯t scooting the couch across the floor was the sheer weight of the sturdy bit of furniture, I was sure.

    ¡°Oh gods and mana,¡± Rieka panted, her entire body seizing again, and I realized she was climaxing already. The idea of being bred by me was that arousing to her that it set her right off. That realization took my own excitement and cranked it up to eleven.

    My hand on her left hip shifted to grip the base of her tail, the sensation setting off another sharp set of contractions in Rieka as her climax chained into another while I continued to pummel her insides with my cock.

    Her pale bottom was already a delicate pink from the impact of our hips and I could tell she was leaning more heavily onto the couch back now, her legs refusing to support her as her climax raged.

    ¡°That¡¯s right, Rieka. Our Liam is going to seed your womb and claim your body as his own in a way everyone is going to know in a few months.¡± Kassandra¡¯s teasing tone had shifted into a throaty growl as she added further fuel to the fire.

    I could see my mischievous noodle off to one side, lounging in a chair while she plundered her own sweet cavern with one hand while the other caressed her belly over her womb, clearly imagining the sensation of me being inside her, too. She¡¯d clearly taken a moment to wipe herself clean as her skin glimmered faintly in the light.

    Rieka¡¯s response to Kassandra¡¯s statement was for her climax to intensify even further. Her tail stiffened in my hand and she slammed backwards with her whole body, burying me to the root as her sex milked and pulled at me, demanding my cum like a woman dying of thirst would demand water.

    The combination of sights, sounds, sensations, and the idea of impregnating my princess right then and there blew past any restraint I had. I was climaxing in seconds.

    Wanting to be as deep as possible, I released Rieka¡¯s hips and tail and set both hands on her shoulders, using leverage there to yank her back as firmly as I could with a few more wet slaps before planting myself as deeply as I could and blasting the inside of her sweet pussy with my seed.

    Rope after rope of cum quickly filled Rieka¡¯s spasming womanhood, each hot deposit threatening her psyche with the idea of being impregnated and setting off another miniature spasm of climax in her body. I knew that it wouldn¡¯t happen, given that Kassandra had cast the contraceptive spells, but Rieka didn¡¯t. And that made it all the more real for my princess. The fact she hadn¡¯t protested, had even encouraged it in the moment, made my orgasm so intense that I could have sworn I was being carried between dimensions with the swirl of color and light flashing in my eyes.

    Coming back down from the climax, I groaned and leaned over to plant a kiss in the middle of Rieka¡¯s sweaty back. My princess just whimpered, her whole body twitching as another miniature climax raced through her.

    Pulling out of her body slowly, I let out a long breath. The puffy and swollen lips of her labia fell mostly closed after I pulled free, but a strand of my seed began to drain out and run down one pale thigh. The sight was lewd, and oddly satisfying to see.

    ¡°My turn, Liam,¡± Kassandra¡¯s purred statement drew my attention back to my noodle, and I was greeted by the sight of her by a large chair that sat on the other side of the couch. It was nearly big enough to be a loveseat on its own. ¡°Come on over here and sit, my Liam. I want to take care of you this time.¡± Kassandra patted the cushion with a smile, nibbling at her kiss-swollen lips gently.

    Slowly, with careful steps to ensure I didn¡¯t lose my balance, I stepped around the couch where Rieka lay draped, still twitching from her chain of orgasms, and slumped onto the padded chair. Kassandra wasted no time and slithered up and into my lap. Her cool scales felt good on my inflamed skin. She pressed into my chest, draping her soft breasts there for a minute before rising to press them into my face.

    I didn¡¯t hesitate and opened my mouth to lay kisses and licks over those soft mounds, enjoying the gentle battering she gave me by swaying back and forth to smack her breasts against my face.

    ¡°That¡¯s it, Liam. Just relax and catch your breath,¡± Kassandra purred lovingly. I could feel her tail coiling around first one leg and then the other as she settled into my lap. The wet heat of her sex ground into my abdomen, the throbbing head of my cock just a few inches too low to penetrate her because of her smaller size. ¡°You have a lot of work ahead to satisfy both of us, so just relax.¡±

    I was about to respond, to reassure her that I had plenty of energy, when Kassandra slithered backwards slowly. The cool feeling of her scales against my thighs and the underside of my cock sent tingles of pleasure through me as that moist treasure that was her sex slid into place over the head of my shaft and then down it.

    Both of us moaned explosively as Kassandra rooted me in her hot sex. A rhythmic clenching sensation rippled over me for a moment before she began to slowly bounce in my lap. The bouncing caused her breasts to jostle and sway, tantalizingly out of reach, while she smirked down at me. A sweaty goddess of sex and desire haloed in curls of red hair. She¡¯d shed her glasses at some point, leaving her brown slitted eyes without adornment.

    I settled in to enjoy this ride as my sweet Nugget rode me in cowgirl style, counting the freckles on her face and chest while those luscious breasts heaved and danced.

    ¡°You are horrible,¡± Rieka panted from her spot draped over the couch. ¡°That was unfair, and you know it.¡±

    ¡°But you came like an avalanche, didn¡¯t you?¡± Kassandra panted, not bothering to turn to look at her friend.

    ¡°¡­I did,¡± Rieka grudgingly admitted. ¡°Nevertheless, even if I cast the contraceptive charm now, there is a chance that it will catch. Not that I would complain at carrying Liam¡¯s child but not in school! I wish you¡¯d¡ª¡±

    ¡°She cast them earlier, while you were busy,¡± I interjected, wanting to head off an argument.

    Silence followed and I could imagine Rieka glaring at Kassandra while my mischievous noodle grinned back at her over a shoulder.

    The clapping of flesh overrode my other concerns as Kassandra continued to ride me. I danced my hands up her sides, softly stroking her delicate skin until I could cup those bouncing mounds that were her breasts. Kassandra cooed happily as she continued to writhe and rock on me, turning back to smile down at me.

    I heard a quiet pad of footsteps and a muffled curse as Rieka stood and walked around the couch. I half expected my princess to head back to the bowl and cloth to clean herself up, but a moment later I saw her looming over Kassandra¡¯s back with a playful frown on her face.

    ¡°This is your punishment for tricking me,¡± Rieka said, one hand raising into the air before descending on Kassandra¡¯s exposed ass with a loud smack.

    Kassandra squealed loudly, her body stiffening and tail tightening around my legs. If I hadn¡¯t boosted my strength and durability previously, I might have worried about Kassandra hurting me as her whole body tensed in a sudden climax at being spanked by her friend.

    Rieka stared in surprise as the trembles raced through Kassandra¡¯s body. Our eyes met over the dwarf lamia¡¯s shoulder and a wicked smile crossed Rieka¡¯s lips.

    At that moment, my princess had never been sexier. She was flushed with exertion, her lips swollen from the mouth-fucking I¡¯d given her, and sweat speckled her skin. Flyaway bits of her blonde hair stuck to her face and I could already see the faint marks of the hickies I¡¯d left on her neck beginning to show.

    ¡°Liam, you are my hand in this. See that she receives proper punishment,¡± Rieka said with as much sternness as she could. The statement made Kassandra¡¯s eyes fly open in surprise and lips formed a protest, but the hand on her right hip was already moving.

    I laid an open palm slap on my Nugget¡¯s ass cheek that sent a ripple through her entire body, making her squeal and tense up again. This time, I felt the spray of her sexual fluids against my balls as she came hard. The muscles inside her contracted and pulled like she was suckling at me.

    Rieka smirked and leaned against the arm of the chair we were using to watch as I laid another open-handed spank on Kassandra¡¯s other cheek.

    ¡°Gods!¡± Kassandra squealed, her eyes crossing as she came even harder this time.

    I continued to bounce spanks off her luscious bottom while thrusting up into her for another minute or two. I¡¯d been enjoying the slow bouncing that Kassandra had been doing in my lap earlier, but this was just as fun. She was now draped insensate over my chest, only her insides squeezing at me in response to each thrust or spank.

    ¡°Too bad you cast those spells, Kass,¡± I murmured in one ear as I took the time to gently massage the glowing red flesh of her ass, soothing the abuse I¡¯d heaped on her bottom lovingly.

    Kassandra murmured incoherently into my chest, rolling so one brown eye was looking towards me out of a fog of lust.

    ¡°I¡¯d love to impregnate you as much as I would Rieka,¡± I continued.

    My statement drew a quiet gasp from Rieka and Kassandra tensed up, then relaxed into my arms again, shifting to hide inside the mass of her curls. She didn¡¯t retreat quick enough for me to miss the flush of color on her cheeks though.

    ¡°In the future, I will take you up on that,¡± Kassandra whispered from her hiding place, her sex squeezing at me. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and looked up to see Rieka nodding while biting her bottom lip, eyes wide in desire.

    Shit¡­ I¡¯d meant it as pillow talk to arouse her more¡­ didn¡¯t I? The thought chased itself through my mind for a moment and found no protest or worry there. Maybe not¡­ it would definitely be hot as hell. But I wouldn¡¯t want to just leave the girls on their own after that. Something to talk about. You have a partner to finish off.

    Setting aside the worry for now, I nuzzled into the mass of curls in front of my face and kissed the top of Kassandra¡¯s head lovingly. She cooed happily and gave my shaft another squeeze with her sex.

    ¡°Hold on, Kass. Time to race to the finish,¡± I muttered into her hair, getting a happy murmur from her as she weakly clung to me.

    I settled my hands over her bottom which was still-warm from her spanking, one hand to each cheek, and began to bounce my hips underneath her.

    The motion was rough, but I used my grip on her bottom and the fact her small body was cradled to my broad chest to balance her as I pumped into my dwarf lamia from below.

    It took only another half minute to reach my climax and Kassandra was keening into my shoulder as she came along with me while I filled her tight pussy with my next load of seed. The flood came and came, not slowing or showing any sign of diminishing despite the fact it was my third load of the day already.

    When we finally came down and Kassandra was stuffed full of my seed, the two of us settled in to catch our breath while I stroked Kassandra¡¯s back gently, my hard cock still lodged within her.

    ¡°You two about done? I want another turn.¡±

    Rieka¡¯s statement drew both of our attention and I peeked over the arm of the chair to see that my princess sat in the middle of the couch she had been bent over previously. Her legs spread, and she toyed with her still swollen pussy with one hand, the other cupping her breast while she watched us, lust and love in her eyes.

 Chapter 88

    Shayla Valo and Jane Carsan have requested your presence regarding the creation of a Guardian contract.

    Transit? View Summoning?

    ¡°Right on schedule.¡± I muttered, checking my phone before plugging it in on the kitchen table, then standing.

    I¡¯d been experimenting with the gold I¡¯d collected from the river, testing and refining it to see what I could do while I waited, since it was something I could do without creating a mess.

    My research had revealed that most jewelry grade gold was actually under the traditional twenty-four karat designation. Instead, it varied as far down as to fourteen karat in America. Apparently this was to boost the strength of the metal and proof it against daily wear and tear.

    I¡¯d learned that, while I could mold and call gold to me, I couldn¡¯t actually alloy it with other metals yet, not without a crucible. I¡¯d been trying to make rose gold by alloying in copper, but it required more mana than I actually had at this time.

    Taking a moment to check myself over, I sighed. Since my nice new clothes had been destroyed by first the fight with the bandits after helping Rieka, and then the subsequent impact of Hurricane Kassandra when I¡¯d returned to my lover, I was wearing my second-best set of duds.

    I had on a blue button-down and my sole pair of khaki pants, a set that hadn¡¯t fit me before all the extra training the girls had put me through, along with my work boots.

    I¡¯d debated trying to run to a store nearby to get new clothes, but my girls had worn me out after the marathon they had put me through the previous day. Though, despite the fact I¡¯d missed it when the System awarded the quest, I¡¯d earned another four hundred SP from pleasing my ladies.

    Toggling the Transit option before I could hesitate, I felt the jerk of the System catching me up and whirling me through space and time.

    As light, color, scent, and sound raced past me in a maelstrom, I relaxed and let it blow along by without trying to perceive it. The universe flowed, oozed, jumped, and twitched while I considered my situation.

    I remember Cariad mentioning that this, I mentally waved a hand at the surrounding chaos, is the System taking me along established routes between worlds. It feels longer than it actually is because of perception. And all of it done to preserve the membranes between realities. The whole System is built around the idea of following these pathways when traveling between universes. A dimensional level of ¡®keep off the grass¡¯ I think she said?

    That last thought had me snickering as I touched down and my feet felt hard stone under me. I was greeted by a sight that I had only seen once before, and several that I had seen quite often.

    The first was the great summoning room underneath Rue House, the common living house for those who had decided to specialize in summoning. It was a stone room lit by torches, with a massive, elaborate formation carved into the floor and filled in with glittering metal.

    I glanced over to the section that had been damaged when I came here the first time. The damage had actually been the reason the ritual had caught me up and transported me here in the first place, but the bent section was smooth once more.

    So I turned my eyes to the second familiar¡ªand far more welcoming¡ªsight besides the echoing stone room.

    My girls.

    Kassandra and Rieka were at the back of the room. Kassandra bouncing happily in place with her hands cupped in front of her mouth to hide a smile and clearly resisting the urge to try to throw herself at me over the runic figures on the ground. My princess, on the other hand, was the picture of demure patience while she stood next to Kassandra with one hand on the holstered spell rod at her hip.

    As my eyes locked with Rieka¡¯s, she blushed slightly and tilted her head to one side, exposing the edge of a hickey on her pale throat that had hidden under her shirt before while a proud smile snuck across her full lips.

    Not wanting to be rude to my new summoners, I nodded to my girls before turning my attention back to Shayla and Jane. The two stood at the front of the little group, next to a small bowl worked into the floor that held a stack of silver and gold coins whose rainbow luster was fading while their mana drained into the summoning circle.

    Shayla was wearing a loose dress in a light peach color, belted in at her waist with a red sash that draped over her full hips. The fluffy white ruffs at her wrists and neck, as well as her antennae wiggling above her head, made the unadorned dress look regal, regardless. The whole look tied together with her lush form to remind me of a juicy peach waiting for a bite, but the innocent and joyful smile on her face tamped down that image to tame it some.

    Behind the woman, her large and delicate moth wings flared slightly, the red and tan patterns on white looking like large eyes looming over her shoulders before she folded them back once more.

    Just to her right and slightly back was Jane. The woman was much smaller, almost five feet tall, I guessed, but she looked far more tiny with Shayla looming over her like she was.

    Jane wore a long-sleeved blouse in a light green and a flowing knee-length black skirt decorated with a rippling wave embroidery in blue on the hem. Her short black hair floated upright in a fluffy mohawk that looked like it might grow up to be a pompadour if she put more product in it.

    The large, rounded mouse ears on top of Jane¡¯s head flicked and rotated as she stared at me. A slender appendage flicked behind her, a mouse tail that ended in a tuft of fur. The tail itself was even longer than she was tall, looming up to the same height as Shayla¡¯s head at over six feet in height, even with the curve to it.

    ¡°Ladies, it is a pleasure to see you again,¡± I said gently after several long seconds had passed in silence.

    Both girls started, with Jane blinking her large, dark-brown eyes rapidly while Shayla tilted her head inquisitively. Then Kassandra giggled from behind them and both girls flushed.

    ¡°Good day to you, Traveler Liam.¡± It was Shayla who spoke up first, gripping the edges of her skirt with two fingers on each hand and dipping into a curtsy. Jane scrambled to do the same, nearly tripping on her own feet in the process. Both of their secondary animal appendages flared when they bowed, Shayla¡¯s wings flicking out while Jane¡¯s tail did a rapid little dance behind her.

    ¡°Yes, thank you for accepting our call for assistance,¡± Jane rapped out in a hurry.

    ¡°It did help that I was expecting to hear from you. Now please, relax. I should be the one to apologize to you two for having to skip out so quickly the other day.¡±

    ¡°That was because duty called and you had to answer,¡± Shayla said gently, straightening once more. The moth kin woman was smiling gently as she studied me, her eyes intent as if she was cataloging my appearance for something. A faint blush still colored her cheeks. I noticed her hands sat folded over her stomach as well, but the tips of her wings were vibrating.

    Is she trembling? That won¡¯t do. I don¡¯t want any of my contracted partners afraid of me, I thought.

    ¡°And I would be happy to take up such a duty for either of you, if that is what you wanted? I am here at your summons today, Lady Valo and Lady Carsan. What did you want to talk about?¡± My more formal speech and respectful address seemed to relax the two, as the trembling faded from Shayla¡¯s wings and the nervous twitch of Jane¡¯s long tail slowed.

    ¡°I want in.¡± Jane¡¯s statement was concise and delivered with confidence. A confidence that was abruptly challenged when all eyes turned to her and she blushed furiously at the sudden attention, though she did elaborate. ¡°I want to join your group for the summoning class and the extracurricular training. I tried to go it on my own and that blew up in my face. I think I offended my previous partner, the sylph. They never really responded like I saw the others doing or you did for the princess and Lady Silverscale.¡±

    A dart of movement from the aforementioned ¡®lady¡¯ drew my gaze over Jane¡¯s shoulder to Kassandra, who was grinning broadly and bobbing her eyebrows while making a lewd gesture until Rieka slapped her in the shoulder.

    Fighting my desire to roll my eyes at the girls and their antics, I returned my attention to Jane. The small mouse kin woman was staring at me with hope glimmering in her large brown eyes while wringing her hands in front of her.

    It¡¯s like she expects me to refuse her? I thought in surprise, doing my best to keep that emotion off my face. I didn¡¯t want her to misunderstand it after all. She really doesn¡¯t think as well of herself, does she?

    To give myself time to consider the implications of Jane¡¯s desperation, I turned my attention back to the softly-smiling Shayla.

    ¡°And you, Lady Valo?¡±

    ¡°Please, I¡¯m not a lady,¡± Shayla said demurely, gesturing with one hand dismissively. ¡°I¡¯m just a common-born girl with talent. If others heard you calling me a lady¡ª¡±

    ¡°Liam would show up to slap them around if you needed him to,¡± Kassandra interjected, unable to resist the temptation to speak. ¡°He¡¯s good at slapping dow¡ªow! What was that for?!¡±

    Rieka had smacked Kassandra on the back of the head and was ignoring the pointed glare from her smaller companion as she directed a kind smile to the two new girls.

    ¡°Please, continue you two,¡± Rieka said and gestured towards me and Shayla.

    ¡°Miss Valo then?¡± I asked, offering a compromise that was still respectful to Shayla. The moth kin woman¡¯s smile broadened, and she nodded once, her antennae bouncing slightly before going back to carefully wafting back and forth over her head like two fluffy fans. ¡°Miss Valo, what is it that you need? Though my powers may be limited at the moment,¡± Kassandra snorted derisively at that statement, ¡°I will do whatever I can to fulfill your request.¡±

    Shayla considered it for several long moments. Jane did her best to be patient standing beside the larger woman, but it was obvious that she was anxious to get the contract in place from the nervous twitches of her long tail.

    Another partner I¡¯ll be able to read with the motions of their tail. I wonder if they are intentional non-verbal cues that I¡¯m just interpreting, or entirely unconscious? I thought while waiting, my improved mental scores seizing on an idea that I would have totally disregarded in the past.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    ¡°You know that I¡¯m an artist,¡± Shayla said after a long moment, her pitch-black eyes rising to meet mine once more. It was hard to tell where she was looking without a pupil, but I had a pretty good idea that she was staring directly at me. ¡°What I want more than anything is to see sights that have gone unseen by others for a long time. Hear about or experience things that are new and different. All of this to feed my art and give me new material for my creations. To do that, I need to travel. To travel, I need to be safe. While I have magic, I¡¯m not as confident as your other companions while wielding it in combat. So joining your group for extracurricular training would be good, and having the ability to call on you for protection would be even better.¡±

    I considered her words for a long moment before nodding.

    ¡°I think I can do that. Something I could do is tell you all sorts of stories from both my world, as well as describe the sights that I see and experience every time I cross the dimensional membranes. I¡¯ve never seen the same view more than once.¡± My simple statement had Shayla¡¯s eyes widening and the curled tips of her antennae straightening out, trembling slightly in excitement. ¡°Well then, how do we proceed?¡±

    My question brought both of the new girls back to earth with surprising rapidity as they both blinked in unison and then shrugged.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure. When I summoned the sylph before, it was just a verbal contract¡­¡± Jane said after a moment, bouncing from foot to foot with nervous energy.

    ¡°And I¡¯ve never completed one of these summoning pacts before¡­¡± Shayla said a moment later.

    I glanced at my two current contracted companions with a questioning look and got a shrug from both of them as well.

    Well crud, I thought while rubbing at my right wrist idly with my left hand. Even through the shirt, I could feel the faint texture of my bond tattoos linking me to the girls. That contact sent my mind sliding back through time to remember when I agreed to assist Kassandra and Rieka.

    ¡°I, Kassandra Silverscale, accept the guardian pact with Liam the human.¡±

    ¡°I, Rieka Coldeye, accept the guardian pact with Liam the human.¡±

    The scene played out behind my eyes with me scaring the other people at the summoning by crossing the summoning circle and being able to just walk over and touch the girls. They¡¯d made those statements and reached out to touch me, but I¡¯d caught their hands and kissed the back of them. After my lips had touched their hands, the tattoos had appeared.

    Tattoos that are linked to my Guardian abilities, I thought and smiled slightly.

    I stepped forward without a thought, my foot passing directly over top of the summoning matrix set into the ground. I didn¡¯t realize I was crossing over parts of the diagram that I shouldn¡¯t have been able to until Jane gasped in surprise and backed up several steps instinctively.

    ¡°What? How? You shouldn¡¯t be able to¡ªwhat about the protective arrays?¡± the mouse kin woman stuttered in surprise.

    Shayla looked back at the smaller woman, blinking in curiosity, while Kassandra felt the need to answer Jane¡¯s question.

    ¡°That¡¯s not the strangest thing you are going to see Liam do if you go through with this, Jane! You should get used to it.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s probably something related to the fact that those arrays are designed to contain summoned monsters. And, while Liam is a monster to those that threaten us, he¡¯s not an actual monster, he¡¯s a Traveler,¡± Rieka explained more intelligently while elbowing Kassandra again.

    Not wanting to crowd Jane, I angled over to stand in front of Shayla, who had not moved. The tall moth kin woman turned her attention back to me, a soft smile playing over her lips as she waited. Her antennae dipped low, stretching like they were reaching towards me for a moment before she reached up and smoothed them back again.

    ¡°The process is simple. May I have your hand?¡± I held my hand out to her and Shayla did not hesitate to lay her delicate hand in mine. ¡°Just repeat after me and push like you were pushing mana into a spell. You don¡¯t need to actually project it at me, though, just your intent.¡±

    Shayla nodded shyly, her cheeks pinking again and her wings fluttering briefly.

    ¡° ¡®I, Shayla Valo, accept the guardian pact with Liam the human,¡¯ ¡± I started out and Shayla repeated it back to me, her voice slightly tremulous but the excitement clear in her eyes.

    When she finished her statement, I bent over the hand I held in mine and pressed my lips lightly to her knuckles, then waited.

    The familiar burning sensation on my right arm told me that my hunch had been correct.

    Not wanting to make Shayla uncomfortable, I released her hand and stepped back to bow to her slightly once more.

    ¡°I am at your service, Miss Valo.¡±

    ¡°I look forward to working with you, Sir Liam,¡± was her response.

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m no ¡®sir¡¯, that is for certain,¡± I laughed, letting the seriousness of the moment drop away and held up a hand.

    ¡°Not if my mother has her way,¡± Rieka interjected, drawing all eyes to her. She shrugged, a small smile on her lips. ¡°What? You rescued two members of the royal family and a half-dozen nobles from bandits. My mother may have been obstinate about giving me credit for you doing it, but she recognizes that you are not some mindless beast. That bottle of crystals I gave you the other day was just the first part of her repayment.¡±

    ¡°Speaking of!¡± Kassandra interjected, one hand diving into her bodice and returning with the glass bottle. ¡°You forgot these, Liam!¡±

    ¡°No, I didn¡¯t forget them,¡± I countered, fighting the urge to laugh at the reactions of Jane and Shayla at seeing Kassandra rooting around in her shirt. ¡°More important matters distracted me.¡±

    ¡°You hear that, Rieka? We are ¡®more important matters,¡¯ ¡± Kassandra said with a grin, nudging her friend with an elbow. ¡°Finish up bonding with Jane and then you can put these to use!¡±

    At Kassandra¡¯s blunt statement, Jane turned back to look at me curiously, her tail flicking once in anxiety.

    I stepped slightly to one side, standing intentionally on the inside of the last ring of the diagram on the floor. I hadn¡¯t felt anything crossing it, but I also remembered Cariad¡¯s statement previously that they had tracked me so easily when I ¡®went missing¡¯ the first time because I didn¡¯t leave the circle. Also, it seemed to reassure Jane with the illusion that the barrier restrained me, despite the fact I had just reached past it for Shayla.

    The mouse woman took a deep breath and let it out slowly before nodding and stepping forward. Without me needing to ask, she held out her hand towards me and repeated the same oath that the other three had used.

    ¡°I, Jane Carsan, accept the guardian pact with Liam the human.¡±

    My lips brushed the back of her hand and an electric tingle ran up my hand before sinking into my forearm as a burning tingle. I released Jane¡¯s hand and stepped back. Carefully unbuttoning my shirt-sleeve first, I held up my arm for the four girls to see.

    ¡°These are my bond-marks,¡± I said simply, pointing to the first, a sinuous rune that wound around itself. ¡°This one is for Kassandra Silverscale, my first.¡± I gave her a wink.

    Kassandra stuck her tongue out while she slithered forward, clearly sensing that the ritualistic part was done and everyone could relax. Rieka came along with her friend as I turned my attention back to the other two.

    ¡°This one is for Rieka Coldeye, my second bond. And she was only second because Kass threw herself at me before she could react.¡± I shot Rieka a smile, and she shrugged with her hands spread in a ¡®what can you do?¡¯ motion. The second tattoo was more jagged, and I realized now that I was looking at it. The shape reminded me of a stylized lightning bolt over a mountain.

    ¡°And the other two? Are those us?¡± Shayla asked, her voice trembling with excitement and I nodded while smiling at her.

    ¡°Yes, this one is yours, my third.¡± I pointed to the next one in the line and studied it carefully. While Kassandra¡¯s had been sinuous and circular, and Rieka¡¯s had been jagged and stylized, the one for Shayla was both simple and elegant. It was a profile of a butterfly wing, but with the inner patterns that made it up shaped in the sharp style of stained glass with a four pointed sun surrounding it.

    ¡°I don¡¯t get it. What do they mean?¡± Jane had edged even closer, her toes right on the line of the diagram now as she peered at my arm, the tip of her nose wiggling while she gnawed at her thumbnail thoughtfully and studied the four marks. ¡°I get the symbolism of the others, but mine doesn¡¯t make sense? Why is it a book?¡±

    I studied the fourth mark, then glanced at the short woman in front of me. I didn¡¯t know how to explain to Jane that she reminded me of a young, somewhat nerdy but still sexy, librarian in her modest outfit. The way her ears twitched and rotated and her tail flicked back and forth only added on to the cuteness factor of the entire image for me too. Her symbol was a book, but its design had swirling lines coming off of it, as if the wind was blowing dust off of the stylized book.

    ¡°It¡¯s because of your desire for knowledge, Jane,¡± Rieka answered the smaller woman as she came around her side. ¡°I may not know you as well as others, but your craving of knowledge is well known amongst everyone at the academy.¡±

    Jane blushed but nodded, her eyes darting between me, Rieka, and then over at Kassandra. Her tail flicked around her waist in an almost comforting gesture and she caught the tip of it, slowly kneading the fluff on the end in her hands.

    ¡°Well, that was a lot simpler than I expected,¡± Shayla declared a moment later, stretching her arms over her head and letting her wings flare out as well. This had the effect of pulling her simple dress tight to her luscious body, which was a rather distracting sight considering how close the moth kin woman was to me. I got a magnificent view of how shapely her figure was, but I did my best not to stare so I wouldn¡¯t get caught.

    ¡°Liam,¡± Kassandra said. The amusement in her voice made it clear that she had, in fact, caught me staring. Turning to my mischievous noodle, though, I saw only smiles and the glass vial she was offering me. ¡°Absorb these before you forget again. I¡¯m not comfortable hanging on to them.¡±

    I took the bottle and popped the cork, spilling the glittering crystals into my palm.

    ¡°Are those¡­¡± I heard Jane ask as prompts began to pop up in my vision, and I distantly heard Rieka begin to explain.

    The Traveler has encountered a source of pure, unrefined mana.

    This pure mana can either be exchanged directly for SP, or used to boost the mastery of powers that have not reached one-hundred percent mastery.

    Do you wish to absorb this source?

    Yes/No

    There was a secondary shimmering at the edges of my vision, but it refused to resolve as the prompt regarding the crystals waited to be resolved. I selected the ¡®Yes¡¯ option and the prompt cleared. Remembering what I had to do, I shook the crystals in my hand and set the first one on my tongue. It dissolved a moment later and produced the same message as the first time.

    Crystals absorbed 1 of 3

    As soon as I finished the three crystals mentioned, the prompt changed again to a familiar sight.

    Does the Traveler wish to redeem for System points, or allocate power directly to improving Mastery rating?

    SP / Mastery?

    Curious about what it would do, I selected ¡®SP¡¯ this time, wanting to know how much SP each of the crystals was worth.

    Traveler has been awarded 1500 SP.

    Neat, so each one is worth 500 SP? That is handy to know. Which means there is about six thousand SP in that bottle¡­ do I want to use it all as SP or should I use it to boost mastery of some powers? I thought idly, weighing my options.

    Another flare of light around my vision interrupted my thoughts, and a new message in gold scrolled into view.

    Congratulations, Traveler.

    You have reached several milestones recently!

    Milestones:

    Bonded with three or more companions in a Guardian contract while having the Guardian track open to you.

    Earned over 10,000 SP total.

    Defeated a dimensional parasite.

    In recognition of your continued work, the System will unlock additional powers for you to select.

    I could hear the girls talking now, more animatedly as they exchanged ideas for how to get Shayla and Jane up to speed with me in time for the exam that was coming up, but I was focused on my Powers listing, searching for this new power.

    It was on the last page, titled ¡®Spirit¡¯, and it was something I¡¯d been waiting to get for some time. I stared at the interface for several long seconds, reading it over. Trying to figure out if I was seeing things or not.

    Dimensional Pocket (Minor) - Cost: 1,000 SP - Grants the user a personal storage space of up to 10 pounds of material or one cubic foot of space.

    Living creatures cannot be placed inside the pocket.

    While stored there, objects have no weight and do not age or degrade.

 Chapter 89

    Naturally, I bought the Dimensional Pocket ability on the spot.

    I didn¡¯t know for sure what I was going to do with the ability yet, but having it meant that I could finally bring items back and forth, as well as store things. Now that the idea of just selling gold from this world to make ends meet back home was not critical, I could think more practically.

    Based on my experience with the other abilities the system had granted me, I knew that it would grow with time. This was further confirmed by the fact Dimensional Pocket had follow-on skills attached to it that were blurred so I couldn¡¯t see specifics yet, as well as a mastery bar.

    I was excited about the potential that this would unlock, but I also realized that it was going to be a bit before I could use it to full effect, too. Ten pounds or a cubic foot of space wasn¡¯t a whole lot, but since I was the only one who could access it, it was very secure.

    I immediately planned to load my valuables into the pocket when I got home, as the bottle of tiny gold ¡®ingots¡¯ I¡¯d been preparing for the jewelry making made me nervous just sitting in my sock drawer.

    Once the ability finished unlocking, I activated it to see what it did.

    My mind was flooded with a sudden awareness of what the Dimensional Pocket contained, which was nothing at all. I knew that I just had to think about it and push something slightly forward to add it to the pocket.

    To experiment, I stored the bottle holding the other nine pure mana crystals, wanting to save them since I had the security now.

    The bottle took up about a third of a pound with its load of crystals, and it vanished from my hand less than half a second after making the gesture, just fading out of sight like it was falling away into darkness. Another gesture, this time pulling towards me, and the bottle reappeared in my hand.

    I knew I could consume the mana crystals while they were inside my Dimensional Pocket instinctively, but decided not to. It would be better to save those other nine for later, maybe to help push my Shape-Shifting up a rank when it got even harder to develop by use. The mastery boost seemed a great way to circumvent the painful part of training a skill, the only issue was the inherent randomness that the System used. Also, I wasn¡¯t hurting for SP at the moment.

    Checking my interface again while the girls talked, I confirmed that I still had a bit over three and a half thousand SP sitting there and waiting to be used. I was in the middle of debating what to use them on when my line of thinking came to a halt, interrupted by my lover¡¯s voice.

    ¡°Liam, what do you think of doing a short overnight trip this weekend up to the ruins? Shayla really wants to see the statue and Jane wants to see the initial station area. I know a weekend trip wouldn¡¯t be long enough to really explore the complex more, but we could at least have a look.¡± Kassandra¡¯s question came in a chattering burst of excitement that threatened to bowl me right over. A state that was further exacerbated by my dwarf lamia when she slammed into my hips, going full speed, wrapping her arms around my waist to snuggle into my side.

    Blinking down at her in surprise, my brain taking several long seconds to engage and process what she¡¯d said.

    ¡°I mean, if you think that it¡¯s wise sharing the information of that location around right now?¡± I asked after a moment, my mind whirling. Both Cariad and Cerebaton had asked me to double check the ruins for them before the locals started to excavate them. I didn¡¯t know either of these new girls enough to trust them with sensitive information, so I had to hope my girls knew what they were doing.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. I think we can trust Jane and Shayla, which is why I told them about the statue and the ruined station with the blocked tunnel.¡± Rieka joined the conversation at a more leisurely pace, stepping around the much larger Shayla to smile up at me. Rieka winked meaningfully while she spoke, which helped me to make the connection about what she said.

    She only mentioned the station, not the ruined research facility. Okay, so they are still playing it safe, I thought before turning my attention back to Kassandra. I smiled down at her while stroking her curly red mess of hair.

    ¡°Sure, I¡¯d be happy to go camping again with you four.¡± My statement brought smiles to the lips of all four women, though Shayla¡¯s was a bit more tentative as her wings fluttered behind her. My next statement got a roll of the eyes and a stuck out tongue from my noble-born dwarf lamia, though. ¡°Though you need to make sure to bring more than just the one tent this time, Kass.¡±

    <><><>

    ¡°I know that you said to bring a second tent¡­¡± Kassandra¡¯s tone was full of affected innocence as we tromped along the road that led to the coast, her scales rasping quietly over the hard-packed dirt.

    ¡°Kass!¡± I growled warningly. The smaller woman winced, but before she could continue, Shayla intervened.

    ¡°It¡¯s partially my fault, Liam.¡± Shayla¡¯s voice was small, and I immediately felt bad for raising mine¡ªlike kicked-puppy bad. ¡°I¡¯m nervous about being out in the wilderness like this, and I asked Kassandra and Rieka if they didn¡¯t mind if I shared their tent with them and you.¡±

    ¡°And I don¡¯t want to be alone in my own tent,¡± Jane piped in from her spot on the other side of Rieka.

    The mouse kin woman still watched Kassandra with wariness, but had no problems talking with Rieka. I had to wonder if it was the whole mouse and snake connotation that was making Jane nervous. While I knew my noodle had a robust appetite because of her body mass and length, despite her short height. She didn¡¯t actually eat other people, as far as I knew.

    Taking a breath in to protest, I paused because I couldn¡¯t actually find anything to really protest about. So instead I just let the air out in a long wheeze that made both Shayla and Kassandra giggle at the flapping noise my lips made.

    ¡°Fine, as long as you two consented to it. Kass has a bit of a trickster habit¡­¡± I said after I finished the long exhale.

    ¡°That was just because I was working to get Rieka to relax more,¡± Kassandra protested again, pouting cutely up at me. ¡°If I hadn¡¯t intervened, it would have taken her months longer to get her to open up and admit she liked you.¡±

    ¡°Kass!¡± This time it was Rieka who was protesting. Kassandra just giggled while Shayla blinked in confusion. Jane seemed to get the underlying message though, and blushed.

    ¡°So you are¡­¡± Jane stammered out slowly, with Rieka steadily growing more and more crimson in response to the question.

    ¡°He¡¯s with both of us,¡± chirped Kassandra helpfully, a wicked grin twisting her normally angelic face.

    Rieka growled at her friend, and the fierce noise had Kassandra quickly squiggling away, giggling furiously the whole time. Rieka gave chase, her playful growling at her friend rising in volume as the two raced up the road away from us.

    ¡°Liam?¡±

    Shayla, who had been walking close on my left-hand side while Kassandra was on my right, tugged on my sleeve gently. I turned to meet her depthless black eyes, the only discernible points in them being the reflected light from the sun overhead.

    I cleared my throat and took a moment to organize my thoughts as the large moth-winged woman paced at my side, her head tilting curiously while those fluffy antennae of hers stroked the air only inches from my face.

    Deciding that honesty would be best¡ªsince I sure as hell wasn¡¯t embarrassed by my relationship with my two lovely ladies¡ªI chose to deliver that honesty as gently as possible.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°Kassandra wasn¡¯t just teasing. She and Rieka are both in a relationship with me.¡± I paused to let her absorb that, and Shayla just blinked a few times, her antennae stilling for a moment before I felt one brush my forehead lightly. Behind me, I heard Jane squeak in surprise. ¡°We haven¡¯t really defined anything yet, but we are together. I¡¯d appreciate it if you two kept that to yourselves though. Rieka has things hard enough with being a princess before we add in the issues of a relationship and the pressures of that.¡±

    ¡°I understand. We won¡¯t spread it around, Liam.¡± It was Jane who spoke up this time, and I glanced over to find her smiling up at me, the fluffy tip of her tail dancing in the air over her head while her rounded mouse ears twitched. ¡°Right, Shayla?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡± Shayla was quick to agree, nodding rapidly enough that her antennae swished through the air.

    We lapsed into silence as Rieka finally caught up to Kassandra, who made the mistake of slowing down to look behind her. The two of them tumbled off the road into the soft grass in a giggling and squealing pile.

    I glanced over to check on Jane and Shayla, to see how they were taking Rieka¡¯s more relaxed and playful side. Both of them were smiling while watching the two friends wrestle.

    Shayla had been slowly drifting closer and closer to me during the walk, occasionally glancing up to see if she was crowding me. I always made sure to meet her shy glances with a smile and she had ended up where she was now, one hand lightly clinging to the back of my left sleeve while she walked nearly on top of me. If I was Kassandra or Jane¡¯s size, it might have felt a bit oppressive to have someone so large looming over me. Since we were roughly the same height, it just felt nice though.

    Jane, for her part, drifted over to walk beside me, taking Kassandra¡¯s spot. While we¡¯d traveled, the mouse kin woman had started out slow. Jane, much like Kassandra, was not much of a morning person. But once we¡¯d gotten on the road and been moving for a bit, she¡¯d warmed up and finally woken fully.

    Now Jane was asking questions about many things. It had actually been her questions about the conditions of the camp, and what I could do with my earth magic to help set it up, that had spawned Kassandra¡¯s admittance that she had, again, not packed a second tent into their dimensional bag.

    Thinking about the dimensional bag reminded me of my own Dimensional Pocket ability. I¡¯d carefully stocked it with valuables and tools in the days leading up to the trip. I had the bag holding my pearls and the gold¡ªsince that was far safer than leaving them in my shitty apartment¡ªthe bottle that had my other nine pure mana crystals, and my spare hunting knife.

    Something I¡¯d wanted to store in it was my dad¡¯s old rifle. But when I tried to insert the rifle, the System alerted that it was too large for the storage space. I still had his old .357 revolver, which I¡¯d cleaned and tucked into the pocket without a problem, along with a box of ammo.

    I intended the pistol to be a tool of last resort, as I didn¡¯t want to use it if I didn¡¯t have to. I¡¯d questioned my girls about it in the past, and they had nothing like firearms here. And considering the kind of danger that firearms presented if the unscrupulous got their hands on them, I didn¡¯t want to risk it. Magic and my Shape-Shifting had served me well, but if things went wrong¡­ well, I¡¯d put my trust in Samuel Colt as my father had, and sort things out afterwards.

    I¡¯d also made sure to spend a chunk of my remaining SP to slowly boost my stats over the course of a few days.

    I¡¯d bonded with Shayla and Jane on Wednesday afternoon, and they¡¯d told me of the plans to head out early Saturday, overnight, and then come back Sunday.

    So I¡¯d used Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday night to start bringing my physical stats up in stages so that I didn¡¯t overstrain myself like I had before with the mental ones.

    The System hadn¡¯t yelled at me, and neither had Cariad, so the slower rate had apparently worked to keep from hurting myself. I still woke up sore and ate far more than I normally did, but the results of the power boosts were obvious beyond my stat sheet, though I did peek at it again and smile.

    Name - Liam Cosgrave

    Strength - 70

    Agility - 67

    Fortitude - 72

    Willpower - 70

    Mental Acuity - 68

    Wisdom - 67

    I¡¯d boosted all of my physical stats by forty points over the three days, which meant that all of my personal stats were now far and beyond what I had started with so many months ago. When the girls had first summoned me, my strength had been a thirteen, and now it was a seventy. I¡¯d had to resist the urge to crawl under my truck and try to bench press it. I had ripped a quarter in half when I tried, though; snapping it with as much difficulty as if the disc of metal was a cracker.

    I would need to buy the Enhance Self (Moderate) ability three more times to max out the boosts it would give to all my stats, but that was only another seven-hundred and fifty points, which I easily had available. I still had a bit over fifteen hundred SP available, and debated buying the Empower Reservoir ability to experiment with recharging the girls¡¯ expended mana coins, but held off for now. I had a mission that would allow me a lot more flexibility without entirely depleting my reserve.

    Assist your contracted companions, Kassandra Silverscale, Rieka Coldeye, Shayla Valo, and Jane Carsan, with initial training and introduction to the Ruined Human Research Complex and return them home safely.

    Reward - 1200 SP

    Kassandra shrieked in surprise and I glanced up to check on them. Rieka was grinning wickedly while tickling the thrashing dwarf lamia, having gotten astride her in a mount position, grass sticking out of her thick blonde braid while Kassandra¡¯s scaled length thrashed in the road as she protested.

    This¡­ I thought with a happy sigh as Shayla edged a bit closer to me and I felt her soft chest rub against my arm lightly. This happy moment¡­ this is why I never hesitate to come here. It¡¯s so pure and uplifting to see their joy. And that¡¯s not even including how much I love my girls in general.

    <><><>

    We made it up to the campsite in good time, around mid-afternoon. Despite the fact that our two newest additions weren¡¯t in the best of traveling condition, they continued on gamely and didn¡¯t complain about the pace we set. Though Shayla slumped into the grass with a tired sigh once we made it to the high meadow that we normally camped in.

    Jane was still as lively as ever though, bouncing around the long grass and inspecting everything with an inquisitive air despite the tiredness that took a bit of spring out of her movements. She watched in awe as I once again smoothed the spot where the tent would go with earth magic; the process working much quicker this time because of my higher level of skill with the power. When I opened the fire pit and hardened the earth under it, she asked for a better explanation on how I did so, and I learned that while wind was the primary element that Jane wielded, she also had some small skill with earth magic too.

    I took the opportunity to talk Jane through a few ideas that I¡¯d had with earth magic, and she could supply the runes that would work best with what I told her so she could understand it all a bit better while Rieka and Kassandra laid out the round, canvas tent that we used.

    All five of us pitched in to get the tent actually up quickly. While she was tired still, the idea of getting to inspect the statue before we bedded down for the night motivated Shayla.

    The plan was to check out the spring and the statue tonight and get to bed early. Then in the morning, we would break down camp and head down to look at the entryway for the ruins for Jane. Kassandra also wanted to get the copper map off the wall so we could take that back and start cleaning it up in hopes she could find more locations for us to look into.

    So the five of us trooped around the lake, with Kassandra, Rieka, and I glancing up the slope to the higher meadow where the entrance to the ruins lay. I shared a glance with my girls and Rieka gave me a nod and tilted her head in that direction as we came upon the spring.

    ¡°Rieka, can you show them where the statue is? I need to take a minute in the woods,¡± I said to make a quick excuse. My princess nodded with a smile and gestured for me to go ahead. Shayla focused intently on the spring, a sketchbook already in one hand while a stick of charcoal raced over top of it while laying in details of what she was seeing. Jane peered into the water too, her tail flicking curiously.

    I jogged quickly into the trees and tuned my senses much higher while I moved. I borrowed the eyes from an eagle to give myself the best vision I could think of, ears from an owl, and then the nose of a hunting hound. It took a long moment to adjust to the sudden rush of information that came as a result, but I could master it after a few seconds. My improved mental scores helped me sort through everything, and what I would have considered to be overwhelming only weeks ago was manageable with a bit of focus.

    This whole stat thing is so broken, I love it, I thought while jogging through the trees and up into the meadow. While I moved, I searched my surroundings for any signs of something out of place. I caught the scent of several new animals that had gone through the area, a few deer-type creatures and a pack of large canines within a few days, but their scent had faded. Arriving in the meadow, I quickly cast around with my magic to find the hollow space of the ancient parking area.

    I breathed a sigh of relief when I located it and confirmed that the open space remained sealed off. The plug I¡¯d put into place with hardened earth was still there, and it showed no signs that anything had tried to burrow out of it. The shadow creatures that dwelt in the underground tunnel had worried me, but it seemed that they were not trying to burrow out going this direction at least.

    I need to ask Kassandra if she found any information on those things, I thought while turning to trot back to the girls while sweeping my senses over the surroundings again. They didn¡¯t feel like that dimensional parasite thing, the one that was from Cariad¡¯s neck of the woods. They just acted like living bits of shadow¡­ which will come in handy if Shayla¡¯s light magic is as effective against it as I expect. Need to have her and Jane show me what they can do before we go down tomorrow, so we can plan.

 Chapter 90

    I was heading back to where I¡¯d left the girls when movement in the sky caught my attention. It was just a flicker between the leaves of the trees, but whatever it was, it looked large, so I redoubled my pace.

    Bursting from the trees at a trot on the edge of the clearing around the spring, a thick shadow blocked the sun when I looked up. But I recognized the deep basso rumble that split the air a moment later and relaxed as the ruumo cruised slowly overhead.

    The massive flying creature¡¯s tail pumped once lazily, swimming through the air while streamers of mist curled off of its aqua skin. This was the third ruumo I¡¯d ever seen, and every time I spotted one of the creatures, this time included, the words ¡®sky whale¡¯ ran through my mind. The concept that something so large could fly boggled the mind, but magic was weird like that.

    ¡°Liam, there you are!¡± Shayla called, her voice clear and full of excitement as the large moth-woman bounced in place from where she stood on the shore. ¡°Do you see that?!¡± she pointed above her head with one long, pale arm, jabbing the stick of charcoal in her hand towards the majestic creature floating above us.

    ¡°I think he sees it, Shayla,¡± I heard Kassandra say dryly. ¡°The creature is half the size of Rue House. It would be harder to miss it than spot it.¡±

    ¡°Especially at this distance,¡± Jane murmured as I approached, watching the enormous creature wend through the sky on its way up the mountain.

    Covering the distance to where the girls waited only took a handful of seconds. Shayla was still bouncing excitedly on her heels, sending ripples of motion through her full body that I had to fight hard not to stare. The moth woman¡¯s wings were also flexing intermittently, flaring out and then tucking back once more. The other three girls made it a point to stay well clear of the delicate appendages while Shayla rapidly glanced between her sketch and the ruumo above us, charcoal pencil moving quickly.

    ¡°I wish I¡¯d brought my paints,¡± Shayla moaned in disappointment, quickly flipping to a new sheet of paper and beginning another sketch. ¡°I¡¯m so jealous of you two having a dimensional sack to carry your things in. If I had one, I¡¯d never be without my supplies ever again.¡±

    ¡°You know that you could have just asked us to pack them, right?¡± Kassandra asked with furrowed brows, pushing her silver-rimmed spectacles a bit higher on her nose. ¡°We have space in it, and we wouldn¡¯t mind¡­¡±

    Shayla blushed sharply, her head ducking down to hide behind her sketchbook.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t want to impose on you, or the princess¡­¡± she mumbled, the tips of her antennae curling in on themselves.

    ¡°It¡¯s not an imposition. Don¡¯t worry about it. You now know for the future, right? Also, please just call me Rieka. We aren¡¯t near anyone who would care, and I really would like to think of both you and Jane as friends since we are going to be working together with Liam.¡± My wolf princess gave both of the newer girls a happy smile each, her tail dancing happily behind her when both of them nodded in understanding.

    ¡°Liam?¡± Kassandra¡¯s one word question drew my attention to her. ¡°Could you extract what we found before with the statue? I believe Jane wanted to study it, so she has the same level of context that we did for the ruins tomorrow. Also, I¡¯m sure that Shayla will want to draw it when she¡¯s done capturing the ruumo properly.

    ¡°The chance to draw a ruumo in flight is so rare. Their migratory patterns are unpredictable at the best of times,¡± mumbled the moth woman in question, her antennae stretching out full length now as she was focusing on her work, fingers flying over the charcoal drawing.

    ¡°Well, this is the second or third time we¡¯ve seen one in this area, so maybe they prefer this as a feeding ground?¡± Kassandra replied with a smirk and a bounce of her own. A bounce that I could properly enjoy without feeling guilty for staring, given how Kassandra shot me a wink when she caught me staring at the lightly swaying, freckled mounds of her chest.

    <><><>

    We stayed by the spring for another hour. I fished out the marble head and several other pieces, laying them in the grass for Jane to study while Shayla captured elaborate sketches of the pieces, which she handed over copies of to Kassandra for her own research.

    As the sun began to dip down towards the horizon, we tramped back to the camp while chatting over what had happened that day. Shayla was clutching her sketchbook to her chest with her left hand while her right had hold of the back of my shirt. She¡¯d said it was because her eyesight wasn¡¯t very good in the twilight and she didn¡¯t want to get separated, but I caught the broad wink from Kassandra and a smirk from Rieka, so I just shrugged and accepted it.

    Jane, though, had apparently finally overcome the last of her shyness and nervousness around Kassandra.

    The bouncy mouse woman was scampering back and forth, rattling off theories about the location, questions, and tests she wanted to run. She alternated between being excited with the chance to document the ruins, and bemoaning the fact that they couldn¡¯t brag about it right away, since we hadn¡¯t finished our own check of the ruins yet.

    The only time Jane calmed down was when we circled the small lake with its waterfall and Rieka suggested that Jane and Shayla show us some of their powers so we would have an idea of what sort of spells they used.

    ¡°Mine are a mixture of utility and attack,¡± Jane admitted, bouncing from foot to foot while the pennant that was her long tail flicked overhead, the fluffy tip bobbing like a cheerleader¡¯s pompom. ¡°I can increase someone¡¯s speed, but if you don¡¯t have the necessary reflexes, it can actually hurt you. One of the few bits of useful magic the sylph taught me.¡± She scowled down at the ground, clearly remembering the tiny, winged creature that she had previously been partnered with.

    ¡°What happened to it, anyway?¡± I asked, my head tilting in curiosity.

    ¡°When Kassandra and the pri¡ªRieka,¡± Jane winced when she started to say ¡®princess¡¯ and quickly switched it to her name, ¡°agreed to let us join their group for the project and that we could try to bond with you, I summoned it and broke the contract. The sylph was upset, but I made sure that it understood that there were issues on both sides. I¡¯d not explained what I wanted properly to it, and it didn¡¯t explain its problems with me so I could fix them. I think we parted on decent terms at least, but I wouldn¡¯t try to summon it again to remake the pact.¡±

    ¡°Probably a good call,¡± Kassandra laughed.

    My dwarf lamia had claimed my left side, her hand tucked into mine, while Shayla had her hold on the back of my left sleeve. The positioning was a bit odd, but the two of them made it work because of their differences in size.

    ¡°Anyway, I¡¯d recommend you experiencing the agility enhancement spells in a controlled environment before we use them in a fight, if possible. But besides that, most of my spells are combat ones that focus on a wide area of effect.¡±

    Jane proceeded to demonstrate over the surface of the lake, sending a gust of wind that whipped froth on the top of the lake, scattering a cutting cloud of dust, and then whipping up a disc of whirling air that was about three feet across and sending it into a stand of cattail reeds on the shore of the lake. The blade cut a swath through the reeds, leaving behind cleanly cut stalks at the water level.

    ¡°That¡¯s good. We haven¡¯t really had much wide-area magic to work with. The few spells I have in that vein are more about slowing or stunning groups, and Kassandra¡¯s can be a hazard for her because of the chill they spread in the air,¡± Rieka explained.

    Kassandra pouted petulantly at the princess¡¯s summary, but didn¡¯t deny it either. My dwarf lamia had come a great distance since I¡¯d first met her regarding being weak to her own magic, but it was impossible to entirely overcome her cold-blooded nature and thus was weak to fluctuating temperatures.

    Shayla was next up, and it took me by surprise how she utilized her magic. The large moth woman had a spell rod just like the other girls did, but hers had a small, fold-out fork at the end of it.

    Shayla muttered something quietly and flicked the spell rod, conjuring first a small sphere of intensely bright light in that fork that banished the darkness from around us in the gathering twilight. She then cast a second spell and the dot of light lanced out into the middle of the lake, where it sent a hissing gout of steam into the air. As the steam billowed out, Shayla cast a third spell and the form of a centaur trotted out of the mist, walking over the surface of the lake like it was solid ground. The shape wavered and dispersed after a few moments though as the light of the day continued to fade.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

    ¡°My spells focus mostly on illusions, but I¡¯m working out ways that I can create, concentrate, and enhance light into a beam of heat,¡± Shayla said shyly, turning to look back at our group.

    ¡°I need to bring some lenses over¡­ or see if you have a glassblower who can do¡ªKass! Your spectacles, can I borrow them for a second?¡± My words tumbled out in a rush as Shayla swayed in place, a slight blush on her cheeks.

    Kassandra shrugged and immediately handed me her spectacles, blinking owlishly a few times when she took them off.

    ¡°Someone is gonna have to describe to me what Liam is doing, since everything is blurry now,¡± my dwarf lamia grumbled as I carefully took her glasses from her.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be sure to explain, I just want to show Shayla something. Shayla, can you summon that bright ball of light again?¡± I blurted.

    The moth woman complied without hesitation, holding her spell rod over her head to keep the bright light from blinding the others, though all three of the other girls shielded their eyes and turned to watch what I was doing.

    It took a moment to find the right spot, but I could use Kassandra¡¯s glasses to start to focus the shed light into a spot of heat. It wasn¡¯t enough to start a fire, since Kassandra wasn¡¯t farsighted enough to have that work, but it was enough to prove the point.

    ¡°Glass lenses can do this?¡± Shayla muttered in surprise, peering closely at Kassandra¡¯s spectacles before turning to gently slide them onto my lover¡¯s face once more.

    ¡°Yes, though the focus point needs to be stronger to really get it to work well. A magnifying glass would work even better, as those have been used to start fires and intensify lasers for a while now back on my homeworld,¡± I explained.

    Shayla hummed thoughtfully while she extinguished the spell and resumed her spot on my left and back a bit, her hand lightly gripping my sleeve while we finished our trip up to the camp.

    The moth woman remained silently thoughtful throughout the preparation of dinner, pulling out her sketchbook and beginning to draw thoughtfully while Jane and Rieka chatted about what to expect down in the ruins tomorrow while Kassandra snuggled around me, once more impersonating a belt in a desire to steal as much of my body heat as she could.

    Since we were only out here for the night and the following morning, rather than actually cooking food, we had instead packed preserved meals and small clay crocks of soup sealed with wax. The crocks just had to be warmed by the campfire before we could eat them. The only time Shayla put down her sketchbook was when it came time to eat.

    Preparing for bed was another bit of awkwardness as well. Kassandra and Rieka made no bones about the fact that the three of us would be sleeping cuddled together. I figured that it had to be because Kassandra had already outed our relationship to the other two girls, so they didn¡¯t see any reason to hesitate at this point.

    I¡¯d let the girls go into the tent first to get settled while I put the fire out by using earth magic to cover it over with dirt.

    Kassandra had already set out her wardstones, keying them with the same password as she had before, ¡®Cosgrave.¡¯ Apparently, my last name made an excellent password since no one else but my four bonds knew it besides me.

    When Kassandra had finally called me to come to bed, I¡¯d been thinking over how odd it was that my last name was a magical password when I ducked into the tent and started taking my clothes off to get ready to sleep.

    The surprised squeak from Jane drew me back to reality and I blushed when I realized that both she and Shayla were sitting wrapped in their bedrolls and watching me on one side of the central pole of the tent.

    Kassandra and Rieka had claimed the other side for our communal bed, spreading out our bedrolls to make one large nest for us all to sleep in. The two of them had changed into familiar long shirts, the ones they had stolen from me in the past, and were patiently waiting for me. Our two new companions were wearing sleeping robes, from what I could see of them uncovered by their blankets.

    Jane had her blankets pulled up to her mouth to cover it, her eyes wide in surprise and ears perked out while she stared at my bare chest. A bare chest that was even more well defined than it had been, thanks to the assistance of my boosted physical stats. Shayla, though, was leaning forward to stare even more intently at me, her antennae questing through the air like two little hands as she studied my body from top to bottom, biting her lower lip like she was committing me to memory.

    ¡°You know, Shayla?¡± Kassandra teased lightly, ¡°if you want to draw him, all you have to do is ask. Liam likes spoiling his girls, after all.¡±

    I wasn¡¯t sure if it was Kassandra calling her out on staring, exactly how she did it, or the implications she put on the words ¡®his girls¡¯, but Shayla¡¯s pale face was as red as a cherry now and she looked away. Though her gaze kept sneaking back to me, then darting away when she realized I was still watching her watch me.

    ¡°She¡¯s not lying, Shayla,¡± I said gently, folding my shirt and draping it over top of my boots. ¡°I would be happy to sit for you to draw me if that is what you want. As your bonded guardian, it¡¯s my job to look after you however I can. It doesn¡¯t have to be in direct combat.¡±

    ¡°It can be in bed! Ow!¡± Kassandra interjected, then yelped in surprise when Rieka pinched her.

    ¡°Stop making the poor girl blush, Kass. If you don¡¯t let her calm down, she won¡¯t ever get comfortable around Liam,¡± Rieka chastised before turning to smile up at me from her spot on the outside of our pile of blankets. ¡°Come on, Liam. Finish undressing and get in here. It¡¯s getting cold with Kassandra stealing all my heat.¡±

    ¡°As my princess wishes,¡± I replied with a smile.

    I made sure that it was obvious that I¡¯d be taking my pants off next, fumbling with my belt for several seconds before actually taking them off. This got Jane to squeak again and look away, blushing furiously. Shayla continued to dart glances at me, her pitch-black eyes studying me intently as I folded the pants and set them aside too.

    Before, such studious staring would have made me self-conscious, but between the confidence boost that came from Kassandra and Rieka both becoming my lovers and my returning fitness, I didn¡¯t mind as much.

    ¡°Kass, wrap up the light stone, would you?¡± I asked, taking the three small steps to reach the pile of blankets in nothing but my boxers, and then flopping down.

    The dwarf lamia did as she was asked, wrapping the leather cover over the glowing rock that served as our lamp and casting the tent into darkness. That finished, she yanked her nightshirt over her head, tossing it to one side before reaching out towards me with grabby hands.

    ¡°Done! Now, come here and warm me up, Liam,¡± Kassandra purred, draping herself over my chest while her scaled tail twined around my legs to maximize skin-to-skin contact. ¡°If either of you two get cold in the night, you are welcome to come over and snuggle for heat. Ow! I was being serious, Rieka! The mountains get cold, and you know that Liam wouldn¡¯t mind.¡±

    ¡°Fine,¡± Rieka huffed, retracting her pinching fingers and tucking herself into my side as well. ¡°You tease more than is proper at times, Kass. I had to be sure.¡±

    ¡°Do I not get a choice in this?¡± I teased them both, getting a soft giggle from my two lovers and one from Shayla in the darkness.

    ¡°Are you really going to protest if one of our lovely new companions needs to snuggle for warmth?¡± Kassandra¡¯s question was pointed, but even she couldn¡¯t hide the amusement in her tone as she pressed her naked flesh to me. The soft pillows of her breasts settled onto me even as Rieka shucked out of her night-shirt and pressed her naked form to my side as well.

    ¡°Never, I place myself at you ladies disposal for any and all things you might need of me,¡± I replied loftily, getting another giggle from Kassandra.

    ¡°Did you hear that, girls? ¡®Any and all things,¡¯ ¡± she teased.

    ¡°No funny business, though. I think we¡¯ve shocked our new friends enough for one day,¡± I insisted when I felt her hips beginning to grind against mine through the thin material of my boxers.

    ¡°Aww, fine.¡± Kassandra pouted into my neck, nipping my throat lightly before whispering quietly enough that I doubted anyone but the three of us could hear it. ¡°I guess we¡¯ll have to have our fun out in the sun, then. Better wake up early.¡±

    The thrill of heat that statement sent down my spine, as well as the images it conjured to mind, made it hard to get to sleep for some time.

    <><><>

    When I woke the next morning, I was buried in women.

    I know. What a horrible fate, woe is me.

    Rieka lay tucked up against my right side, her legs wrapped around one of mine possessively while she had her arms folded to her chest and she burrowed her face into the crook of my shoulder. My right arm sat draped over her shoulders and served as a pillow for the wolf-eared woman.

    Draped over my chest like she was a blanket, leaving a small wet spot on my breastbone from her night-drooling if what I was feeling was accurate. Her mass of red hair obscured Kassandra from view, except for one pale shoulder. I could feel her tail wrapped around my other free leg several times, and she breathed quietly as she continued to sleep.

    What surprised me was the fact that, sometime in the night, one of the other girls had decided to take Kassandra up on her offer.

    Shayla¡¯s large form snuggled into my left side, her blanket held tightly to her chest while her wings poked out behind her. She¡¯d wrapped herself around my left arm, pulling the limb into her circle of blankets and clinging to it like a pillow while burying her face in my shoulder. I could feel the soft, slow breathing of the moth woman as she continued to doze quite happily there, as well as the gentle rise and fall of her chest that pressed her full breasts into my arm with each gradual breath.

    I lay there for some time, wondering about my predicament and how I would manage to extract myself without waking any of the girls, when a quiet stirring noise from above made me tilt my head back to look upwards.

    Apparently both girls decided to come cuddle, but one was late to the party? I thought when I spotted another bare tummy only inches from my head. Jane shifted again, her long tail flopping against the canvas flooring of the tent as she curled closer around the top of my head, smacking her lips in her sleep.

    ¡°Cute,¡± a quiet voice murmured from below.

    I glanced down to find a sleepy-eyed Kassandra peering up at me from within the mass of her red curls. She nodded towards first Jane, then Shayla, before rubbing at her face lightly with one hand, wiping the drool away.

    My dwarf lamia shifted on my chest, and then stiffened when she felt something hard under her. A wicked smile crossed her lips, and she locked eyes with me again.

    ¡°Bit more than cute, it seems. Right, Liam?¡± she whispered as she ground her hips into me. I gulped.

 Chapter 91

    It was more difficult than I had expected to extract myself from the grip of the girls. Not because Shayla refused to let me go. It only took a couple of small puffs of air across her antennae to get the moth woman to roll over and instead snuggle her back into my side. Or because Rieka was too firmly wrapped around me, either.

    It was because Kassandra obstinately refused to move off of me until the last moment.

    Let me tell you, despite the increases in strength I¡¯d taken, it was still difficult to do anything dexterous with several hundred pounds of dwarf lamia draped on top of you. Especially a naked dwarf lamia who was doing her absolute best to distract you by any means at hand.

    I did manage to wiggle free of the girls. No sooner had I vacated the center spot between them than Rieka rolled over to snuggle into my warm spot, her ears twitching and mumbling quietly in her sleep. Shayla rolled over as well, snagging the princess and snuggling in once more. The only one who didn¡¯t join in on the cuddle pile was Jane, who still happily slept in a tight ball above where their heads rested.

    Since I¡¯d managed to move despite her teasing, Kassandra allowed herself to be herded outside into the early dawning light, while still dragging a blanket along with her. Quickly rebuilding our fire for warmth, I set about ensuring my mischievous Nugget remembered how much I loved her out under the dawning sky of the morning. Kassandra did her best to muffle the noises, but I¡¯m sure that we woke up at least one of the sleeping girls in the tent. That¡¯s just my kind of luck.

    Thankfully, we were both finished, and I had my shorts back on by the time someone poked their head almost an hour later.

    Rieka¡¯s platinum-blonde head was the first to emerge from the tent and she actually pouted to see me dressed again.

    ¡°Kass! You could have woken me up too,¡± Rieka whined before glancing over her shoulder into the tent. ¡°It¡¯s safe to come out, unfortunately.¡±

    Not wanting my wolf princess to feel left out, I¡¯d started in her direction as soon as she turned away. When Rieka came back around, a frown firmly seated on her lips, I swept the blonde-haired wolf woman into my arms and dipped her in a kiss.

    Rieka let out a squeak of surprise as I yanked her off her feet and into my arms, but that transitioned into a happy moan when I dipped her so that my arms were the only support she had. One wrapped across her shoulders and the other low across her hips, just under her tail, which I could tell was wagging furiously now.

    I continued to kiss Rieka for another solid minute before setting her back on her feet. She refused to let go of me at first, clinging to my arm for balance for several seconds while the lust cleared from her icy-blue eyes.

    A quiet clearing of a throat behind Rieka made her jump. But since she was still struggling with her balance, I scooped her up in my arms and deposited her to one side. The motion made her yip in surprise again, before giggling and giving me a loving smile.

    ¡°Such a gentleman, Liam,¡± she teased, her arms wrapping around my neck while I had her in the air, which dragged me down to her level when I set her down as she refused to release me.

    ¡°Only when it counts,¡± I teased back, kissing her on the cheek. ¡°Can you let me up? I need to get dressed now that I know I¡¯m not disturbing you girl''s sleep.¡±

    ¡°Oh, you did that already,¡± grumbled Jane. The short mouse kin woman pushed her way out of the tent and stumbled over to the fire, blinking blearily. ¡°The impropriety would have horrified me, but you did warn us before¡­¡±

    ¡°Appreciate your understanding,¡± Kassandra said from her spot by the fire. My redheaded dwarf lamia sat wrapped up in the blanket that we¡¯d used to spread over the grass earlier, but it was obvious she was naked underneath it.

    She knew that dressing would help keep her warm. But for now, Kassandra was happiest by the warmth of the fire, since I¡¯d managed to wiggle free of her grip earlier to start making tea for everyone to have when they woke.

    ¡°It¡¯s either understand or¡ª¡± A massive yawn cut Jane off. She shook her head hard, making her large ears flap in the process, before flopping down across the fire from Kassandra. ¡°That or break the bond, and I¡¯m already in the hole too deep to risk that. Plus, this has been fascinating so far.¡± Jane was staring in our general direction while I disentangled myself from Rieka.

    ¡°Glad to hear that Liam¡¯s behind is so interesting,¡± Kassandra teased, our earlier activities having cured the dwarf lamia¡¯s morning lethargy, leaving her with plenty of energy for causing trouble.

    Jane was in the middle of another cavernous yawn when Kassandra said that and the mouse kin woman promptly choked on air while trying to breathe and form a protest all at once. Her tuft-tipped tail thrashed behind her as she fought to get enough breath, argue, and flail all at once. Kassandra giggled in amusement at her barb landing so well.

    ¡°Such a troublemaker,¡± murmured Rieka, nuzzling her head into my neck and kissing my throat lightly. ¡°Go on and get dressed. Shayla was just brushing out her hair when I left. I¡¯ve got our dimensional bag with me, so I¡¯ll make sure Kass gets dressed and I can start warming up the food.¡±

    ¡°Thanks Rieka. Love you, my princess,¡± I said and then buried my face in her hair and nuzzled gently, right between her fuzzy ears. Rieka giggled before finally releasing me with one last kiss on the nose.

    Even with Rieka¡¯s warning, I still called to Shayla to make sure the moth woman was okay with me entering the tent at the moment. She mumbled an approval, and I ducked inside to look for my pants and shirt.

    Shayla was dressed, mostly at least. She had on another of those long dresses that clung to her every curve, and in the dim light of the heavy canvas tent with her hair partially tousled from sleep, she looked like a model from the 1940s doing a boudoir shoot.

    My mom had a thing for Marilyn Monroe and had several prints of her decorating the house, so I knew about stuff like that. Stop judging me.

    The sight of Shayla in such a position, with the back of her dress still unbuttoned while she carefully ran a simple wooden comb through her hair, made me stop and stare for just a moment. Thankfully, as a benefit of Kassandra¡¯s constant teasing, I could recover quickly and looked away before Shayla realized I was staring.

    With as much dignity as I could muster, I stepped over to where my pants were laying and pulled them on. Let me tell you, there wasn¡¯t much dignity to be found when I realized that Shayla was staring with those fathomless black eyes of hers, but I did my best.

    I was tugging my shirt over my head, silently glad that Kassandra or Rieka hadn¡¯t managed to steal it when I wasn¡¯t looking, since that was becoming a thing for both of my girls, when Shayla finally spoke.

    ¡°Liam? Would you help me do up the back of my dress? My wings make it¡­ complicated,¡± Shayla¡¯s voice was whisper-quiet, but with the only other noises inside the tent being the quiet shush of the comb in her hair and the rustle of my clothes, I picked it up without issue.

    ¡°Sure, Shayla,¡± was my reply, and I carefully walked around to where she was sitting.

    Shayla hadn¡¯t moved far from the spot she¡¯d been sleeping in, and now that I was closer, I could see that today¡¯s dress was a delicate fawn color with white, geometric embroidery around the cuffs and hem. Sidling around behind her, I peered at the clasps of her dress in the dim light, doing my best to not stare at the expanse of pale skin on her shoulders or back.

    Don¡¯t think about the fact you don¡¯t see bra straps. No, they do chest wraps here, don¡¯t they? I don¡¯t see that either, I thought, immediately falling for the hole in my mental suggestion entirely by accident and thinking about Shayla¡¯s bare, muscled shoulders or the fact I could see the full swells of her generous breasts from behind like this.

    Giving myself both a physical and a mental shake, I focused on what I was doing again and carefully began hooking the small buttons through the narrow cloth loops on the other side. Shayla had spread her wings out to allow me to work, the comb she was carefully smoothing through her hair slowing when she felt my fingers touch her back and begin working on the buttons. The soft, gauzy looking wings pumped slightly, reminding me of a butterfly hanging on a branch, the colors shimmering in the dim light.

    All too soon, I finished buttoning up the back of the dress.

    ¡°All set to go, Shayla. Need anything else?¡± I asked, my words making her antennae twitch slightly. When she didn¡¯t speak after a moment, I nodded and stepped carefully around her to give the moth woman space. I didn¡¯t make it more than two steps away before I felt something catch on my sleeve and tug me to a stop.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    Looking back, Shayla had caught my sleeve between the fingers of one hand, her comb lying forgotten on her lap while she bit her bottom lip lightly. I paused, waiting for her to voice what it was that was clearly on her mind.

    ¡°Liam, I¡­ I know Kassandra likes to tease, but was she serious yesterday?¡± Shayla¡¯s quiet question had me searching my memory for what it was that Shayla was referencing. The first thing my mind stumbled across was what she¡¯d said just before bed last night, and I blushed as the words replayed in my head.

    Did you hear that, girls? ¡®Any and all things.¡¯

    Apparently, Shayla must have realized my mistake because she blushed furiously as well, her antennae standing up on top of her head like two little fans while she shook her head back and forth.

    ¡°No no, not that! I meant about drawing you!¡±

    I blinked at her in surprise, the gears in my head grinding against each other for a moment before finally engaging and I remembered that was also something Kassandra had teased Shayla about.

    ¡°Uh, sure? If that¡¯s what you want, I¡¯d be happy to. Did you want me to pose or anything?¡± Shayla nodded furiously in response to my question, her blush still riding high on those pale cheeks.

    ¡°Having access to a willing subject will help a great deal in my art studies. I can do landscapes and terrain really well, but people are harder.¡± Shayla¡¯s voice lost some of its fire and her shoulders hunched slightly as she admitted that fact.

    ¡°Then just let me know how I can help. Remember too that I can ¡®adjust¡¯ things, right?¡± My question brought Shayla¡¯s head up, so I gave her a wink and focused. My Shape-Shifting was something I¡¯d practiced a great deal with, beyond just snitching natural weapons or armor from other species. A bit of concentration and I felt a fuzzy ruff of my own sprout from my shoulders and neck, then the slight weight of the long, fluffy appendages as a pair of antennae sprouted from my head. ¡°See?¡±

    I had expected my actions to draw a laugh, or a surprised look from Shayla. We had filled her in on my capabilities, and I¡¯d given her demonstrations while we¡¯d hiked out here. So she knew about my combat changes, but I didn¡¯t think it had come up about being able to modify my appearance. I hadn¡¯t expected her to blush to intensify.

    A strange scent began to fill my head, though I couldn¡¯t quite place where it was coming from. It was almost as if someone had uncovered a basket of ripe fruit nearby, and their smell was slowly washing outwards. I felt my antennae adjust, stroking the air gently in response to the smell and drifting towards Shayla.

    ¡°Thank you, Liam!¡± Shayla said quickly, both hands coming up to cover her face now. ¡°I need a minute to finish putting myself together. May I have a moment of privacy?¡±

    ¡°Sure thing, Shayla. I¡¯ll be outside when you are ready. And feel free to let me know when you want to work with me. I¡¯ve never been an art model before, but if you walk me through what you need me to do, I¡¯d be happy to help out.¡±

    Shayla peeked shyly from behind her cupped hands, still blushing bright enough to put a cherry to shame, and nodded. So I left her behind and stepped out of the tent. I felt my antennae angle backwards, still wafting through the air trying to find that scent. I¡¯d thought at first that maybe Rieka had brought out some fruit for breakfast, but as soon as I left the tent, the fruit smell faded almost entirely.

    With a slight effort of will, I retracted the antennae and returned my body to normal. As soon as the antennae faded away, so did the last dregs of the scent.

    Huh, I forgot that they were sensory organs. I guess moths use them to smell, right? I guess that smell was Shayla, but I didn¡¯t smell any perfume when I was behind her, I thought idly before another thought crashed into my head.

    A faint memory of a documentary I¡¯d been watching on my phone when I couldn¡¯t sleep, about various types of insects that used their antennae to find mates because they could detect pheromones.

    Which means¡­ I thought before shaking my head, a small smile forming on my lips and a faint heat on my cheeks. Well, that does explain the blushes. She probably realized I could smell them. I¡¯ll need to find a minute to talk to Kass and Rieka about that then, just in case she decides she wants to act on them. Totally not because I¡¯m embarrassed over the fact that I now know she probably smelled Kassandra¡¯s pheromones all over me. Nope. not at all.

    <><><>

    ¡°Okay, Liam. I know it¡¯s around here somewhere. Why don¡¯t you make the earth shake for the third time today?¡± Kassandra crowed as she led the way into the large meadow dotted with ruined stones.

    ¡°Third time?¡± Rieka asked, her head tilting in confusion.

    ¡°Well yeah, the first two times were while you all were sleeping!¡± Kassandra chirped brightly, grinning at her friend and getting a roll of the eyes from Rieka when the wolf princess got her innuendo.

    Entirely engrossed in her sketchpad, Shayla slowly turned in a circle as she made broad strokes with her charcoal pen while looking at the different clumps of stone and moss-covered walls. Jane had bounced over to the nearest collection of them and was peering closely at the bricks, inspecting them with an intense look while her tail danced back and forth like an over-caffeinated snake.

    I just ignored my mischief-noodle¡¯s attempts to cause problems again. She¡¯d spent most of breakfast alternately teasing or dropping salacious hints to the other girls about her morning. Thankfully, she¡¯d been more than happy to help pack up the tent and get everything tucked away. There were a few more hours planned to inspect these ruins before we needed to head back to town. We had intended this entire trip as an opportunity to bring Shayla and Jane in on the secret of the ruins, and give them a chance to get used to being around me. We hadn¡¯t run into any dangers on the way out, but there was no guarantee that the trip back would be safe, either.

    A thought and a gesture made the earth shift and ripple out of the way. It took barely an effort to push the dirt around, then shift the slope of broken rock and collapsed dirt that lay underneath the cap I¡¯d just removed, changing that uneven slope into a set of steep stairs that dropped down into darkness.

    ¡°Shayla?¡± My calling her name broke the artistic moth woman out of her focus and she glanced over, her pale cheeks taking on a rosy tint as she looked at me but obediently scampering over with her sketchbook held to her chest. ¡°Can you illuminate the cave down there for us? As much as you can, please?¡±

    With a nod, Shayla pulled her spell rod out of its holster. A flick of a catch and the fork at the end folded out. She muttered something under her breath and flicked her rod forward like it was a spatula and she was flipping over an egg. A dot of bright light formed between the tines of her spell rod, so bright it felt like the mid-morning sun dimmed in response. The spot of light flew from her rod to arc down into the darkness. Shayla made another upward flick of her spell rod and the dot zipped up out of sight.

    ¡°There, it¡¯ll adhere to the ceiling of that room and remain for the next six hours,¡± Shayla said quietly, manually folding the fork back on the end of her spell rod by pressing it to her thigh before she slid it into the holster she had for the tool.

    ¡°That was wicked! Man, I wish we had her with us during the first exploration,¡± Kassandra said with an explosive sigh. ¡°Would have made getting through that tunnel with the shadows so much easier.¡±

    ¡°Agreed,¡± Rieka sighed. ¡°We should test and see if Shayla¡¯s light is as dangerous to them as the natural light, if possible.¡±

    I glanced over at Shayla to see what the moth woman thought of this suggestion. She looked nervous, but nodded in agreement after squaring her shoulders.

    ¡°I¡¯ll keep you safe, don¡¯t worry,¡± I reminded her, getting a small smile from the moth woman. Glancing to where Jane was still studiously inspecting the stones, I raised my voice. ¡°Jane, come on. We are heading down below!¡±

    The mouse kin woman jumped, her tail stiffening like a flagpole for a moment before she looked over at me with wide eyes. Seeing the open hole in the ground, she blinked before immediately scuttling back to the group.

    ¡°Whoa! How did you do this? When did you do this? I didn¡¯t hear a thing!¡± The questions and statements rained down from Jane in a torrent as the energetic mouse woman bounced back and forth, peering down into the now brightly lit hole in the ground.

    ¡°Magic, just a bit ago, and I¡¯ve had practice,¡± I answered with a laugh before turning towards Kassandra and Rieka. ¡°My ladies? Shall we?¡± I offered each of them an elbow, getting a pleased giggle from Kassandra and a snort of amusement from Rieka. I think the laugh was because of the angle I had to stand at in order to offer both women an elbow at a comfortable height, but it was worth it to ease some of the tension.

    Shayla and Jane fell in behind the three of us as we carefully descended into the open space underneath the field.

    Knowing what I did now about the ruins under the mountain, I was almost certain that this was some kind of parking garage or main entrance. We¡¯d found ruined trains down below that ran on rails, so the idea that the ancient humans of this world had some kind of mechanical personal conveyance wasn¡¯t too far-fetched. The brighter light also revealed more of the cave at once, and I had the feeling that those smears and small piles of rust were likely the only remnants left of those ancient transports.

    Shayla¡¯s spell had quite literally stuck to the ceiling near the middle of the room, forming a splotch of brilliant light that felt a bit like Shayla had somehow taken a handful of the sun and just smeared it on the rock overhead. It was surreal, but also welcoming, as it made the cave feel that much less intimidating.

    Guiding Kassandra over to the door, she got to work removing the seals that she had reengaged when we left last time. Since she knew how to do it, and had most of the formula in place already, it should only take her a few minutes.

    Jane scampered back and forth to check various things out, inspecting the large doorway from several angles. Rieka stood back and kept watch while Shayla flipped to a new sheet in her sketchbook and began recording the image in front of her. I stayed with Rieka and Shayla, alternately keeping watch and observing as the moth woman¡¯s dexterous fingers danced over the page, leaving behind thin lines of charcoal and capturing even Kassandra¡¯s lithe figure as she chanted a quick spell to empower carved runes again.

    The seals on the door failing suddenly made everyone jump. One second the door was obstinately closed, the next it creaked open slightly, the squeal of protesting metal loud in the silence. Jane jumped almost two feet into the air, as she¡¯d been standing by the door when it happened, and immediately raced back to the group, sliding between my legs like a runner in a game of baseball, before peeking out around one of my thighs to check for threats.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, Jane,¡± I reassured her while shooting Kassandra a look to ask her why she hadn¡¯t warned anyone.

    My mischief noodle just shrugged with a ¡®oops¡¯ look on her face. For once, she hadn¡¯t done it intentionally to annoy or tease someone, it seemed.

    ¡°Shayla?¡± Jane asked, glancing towards the moth woman, who was now tucking her sketchbook away into a hip bag. It was obvious that Jane was asking Shayla to cast another of her light spells, but the moth woman stopped midway through drawing her spell rod when I held up a hand and shook my head.

    ¡°I got this part,¡± I said, and gave her a wink before turning back towards the tunnel. ¡°Lights!¡±

 Chapter 92

    The sudden activation of the overhead lights produced a squeal of surprise from both of the new girls. Jane immediately ducked back behind me and when I glanced down to check on the mouse kin woman, I saw that she had her spell rod drawn and was warily poking it around my thigh.

    A tugging sensation on my left sleeve drew my gaze over there to find that Shayla was also standing close behind me. Her wings flared out wide in a threat display while she stared down the tunnel in surprise.

    ¡°No laughing, Kass,¡± Rieka reprimanded quickly, getting a sour look from Kassandra.

    ¡°What makes you think I¡¯d laugh at them? The gods only know how many times we did that when we first went down there with Liam.¡± Kassandra stuck her tongue out at Rieka to punctuate her sentence. Though I thought I saw a twinkle in her eye when she turned back to us.

    ¡°What was that? How did you do that? I thought you didn¡¯t have light magic!¡± Jane¡¯s torrent of questions was the first part to return to normal with the two clinging to me, and I found it strangely reassuring. She stiffened when I patted her shoulder lightly before looking up at me with her wide eyes.

    ¡°Not sure what it was. It appears to be voice-activated but only works for my voice, and I don¡¯t have light magic. This is one of the things we weren¡¯t able to figure out while we were down here the first time.¡± I explained to her patiently, getting nods of understanding as I finished each statement. ¡°I¡¯m going to lead the way down, and I want all four of you to stick close to me. Shayla, the bottom of the tunnel opens into a large cave that has a plaza in the middle of it. There are more lights hanging from the ceiling, but the ceiling itself is pretty dark. Can you spread your light spells around some so we can make sure things are safe?¡±

    ¡°Sure thing, Liam,¡± Shayla replied with a nod before folding her wings back with a visible effort of will. Her antennae curled in close to her head as well, the fluffy fronds settling back into her hair.

    ¡°Let''s go then!¡± Kassandra chirped with a happy little bounce on her tail, her arms crossed under her bust to enhance the effects of said bounce. I caught the wicked grin she sent me, so I knew it was all intentional.

    Mischief macaroni is what I should call her, I thought with a wry grin and led the way into the corridor that wound down into darkness.

    Once we got moving, Jane detached herself from my leg and fell back a bit to give me space. Shayla remained on my left, ready to start illuminating things, while Kassandra had my right now, ready to support me. Rieka fell in with Jane further back to cover our rear.

    The corridor was just as I remembered it, dusty and plain, without any kind of decoration or accoutrement to break up the plain walls besides the dust-covered bars of the recessed lights. The slowly sloping angle of the corridor made it hard to judge just how deep into the earth we went, but we walked for several minutes before we reached the two metal doors that hung at the end of the hallway.

    ¡°Through here is where I need you to light things up, Shayla,¡± I said gently. ¡°I need my arm back as well. If I need to hurry to get between you four and a threat, I don¡¯t want to tug you off balance.¡±

    Shayla blinked at me before glancing down, apparently only now realizing that she still had a grip on my sleeve. Blushing furiously, the moth woman released my sleeve and stepped back while nodding in understanding. I glanced at Kassandra on my right and she shot me a wink as well, flourishing her spell rod in her right hand to show she was ready.

    Squaring my shoulders, I shook my arms out. The end of that motion was also when I began the combat shift of my body. I felt my skin harden under my clothes, taking on a chitinous thickness to protect me from the bladed claws of the little shadow monsters as well as their gnashing teeth. My left arm thinned and extended, adding another four feet of length to itself while my hand slipped into a conical, armored tip like that of a scorpion, just without the venom sack. My right arm folded in half, the elbow reversing as my fist calcified rapidly, turning into the heavy bone club on its spring-assisted limb like a mantis shrimp.

    In all, it took me less than two seconds to press a full body morph throughout myself and I only used two animals¡¯ worth of shifts, so I also adapted my hearing, boosting it with the hearing array of an owl once more.

    Using the back of my left-hand spike, I pushed on the doors to open them and stepped out into the ancient defunct train station. I scanned the platform quickly before motioning the girls out with me. They spread out to either side, with Shayla and Rieka on my left, then Kassandra and Jane on my right.

    Just as before, the entire space was just a flat plane of bare stone, with the occasional tattered bench or broken bit of stone artistry to break it up. Overhead, the lights glowed brightly enough to illuminate around us, but not so bright as to light up the sheer depths of the stone ceiling. Shayla was quick to fix that.

    Four spells flew from the moth woman in rapid succession, the globules of condensed light splashing against the stone ceiling and breaking the last hold that the darkness had over the space. Another three she directed out over the rails, one to either side of the blocked tunnel to fully illuminate the small loop of track that would have held the transport train, while the third scattered over the cave-in, as Shayla had sent it directly down the center of the tunnel.

    With my advanced hearing, I hesitated, waiting for anything at all to reveal a threat to me or the four sorceresses with me. But other than the rustle of cloth and quiet thunder of heartbeats, nothing came to my attention.

    ¡°I think the plug is still holding secure,¡± I said after a moment, getting nods of understanding from Rieka and Kassandra, while Shayla and Jane just gave me confused looks. ¡°I¡¯ll check the tracks, but please keep an eye out?¡±

    ¡°Sure thing, Liam. Stay in pairs, girls, one can observe while the other keeps watch. Shayla, you can come with me.¡± Rieka was quick to take charge, beckoning the moth woman over with one hand and a smile. Nodding tentatively, Shayla stepped over and took the princess¡¯s free hand. The two of them together began inspecting the platform again, with Rieka angling towards the still-sealed pair of doors off to one side of the platform.

    ¡°Jane, you gotta come see this!¡± Kassandra cheered in excitement, immediately squiggling over to the heavily tarnished copper map still attached to the wall. The mouse woman followed after Kassandra, still keeping her spell rod out warily as she watched her surroundings.

    While the girls inspected the platform, I carefully wound my way across the open space, dodging ancient benches and ruined stone, until I was looking down on the tracks. With the extra illumination from Shayla¡¯s light spell, it was much easier to make out the crushed gravel of the track floor and just how badly corroded the rails were. The ceiling of the room was roughly cut, which probably explained why the lights were hanging down below it rather than attached to it.

    Even out here in another world, humans find ways around just¡­ finishing something, I thought with a wry smirk.

    Hopping down amongst the rails, I trotted over to check the caved-in tunnel. A quick pass with my earth magic told me that the plug of hardened soil and stone I¡¯d formed to block our little tunnel was still in place, and only slightly damaged. Apparently, the shadow monsters only tried to cut through it for a short time before giving up.

    ¡°Or maybe they are conserving energy?¡± I muttered, thinking about the horrific bag-monster we¡¯d fought in the deeper parts of the complex. A creature that could have escaped, but it would have cost the monster far too much energy to risk the attempt. My improved earth magic told me that time had caused the cave-in to solidify, and it had settled well in place now. I would have to heavily disturb it to cause more of the ceiling to fall in. Even knowing that, I pushed mana into the entire affair and compressed the soil to help support the ceiling again.

    Eventually, we are going to let the Queen in here. Once we confirm for Cerebaton and Cariad that all the references to summoning creatures that are entropy aligned have been removed, I thought while I worked. That line of thinking drew my attention back over my shoulder to where the girls were.

    Shayla was sketching something with her back to a wall¡ªprobably the platform as a whole¡ªwhile Rieka studied a piece of metallic art while twirling her spell rod. Kassandra was watching avidly while Jane fiddled with the large copper plate that was the map, likely trying to unfasten it from the wall. The mouse kin woman focused completely on her work. Any nervousness she¡¯d had around Kassandra was subsumed in her task.

    I was getting ready to head back towards the girls when my magic felt something shift behind the cave-in. It wasn¡¯t much, just a tumble of stones falling after being disturbed, but it was enough that I whipped back around to stare at the barricade, as if I could see through it. Because of the sheer amount of soil between me and whatever it was, there was no sound that made it to this side. But I felt the soil shift again slightly, and I could imagine something moving about on the other half of the cave-in.

    ¡°Girls, come here.¡± My words echoed through the brightly lit space, making all four of them jump in surprise. Rieka and Kassandra started moving my way immediately, while Shayla and Jane took a moment to catch up once their minds engaged.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    ¡°What is it, Liam?¡± Rieka was the first to reach me, purely by dint of leaping off the platform rather than climbing down.

    ¡°Something is on the other side of the cave-in. I think it¡¯s our little shadow buddies, but I¡¯m not sure.¡± My statement made her frown but nod, orienting towards the blockage with her spell rod out. The other three arrived shortly after, taking up positions around us. Shayla and Jane stared in surprise at the ruined rear end of the ancient train for several moments before shaking off their wonder and taking ready positions.

    I spread my senses out into the earth once more and listened with my magic. I could feel multiple stirrings in the earth, but not the feeling of something digging. Just movement over loose earth that occasionally disturbed small stones.

    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure they aren¡¯t trying to burrow through, but they are moving around the other side of the cave-in. Shayla, do you see that low tunnel over there?¡± I asked, pointing towards the entrance to the crawling pathway I¡¯d made before, tucked between the tunnel wall and the ruined train. When the moth woman nodded sharply, I continued. ¡°I blocked the far end of it with a plug formed of hardened earth and stone. I can pop the plug out and I want you to toss your strongest light spell through it. If it really is those shadow creatures, we¡¯ll hear them when the light hits them. I¡¯d rather test it this way than have you all crawl through that tight space.¡±

    ¡°I appreciate that,¡± murmured Shayla, her large, dark eyes focused on the tunnel. ¡°I¡¯m not sure how well I¡¯d fit in there with my wings. Is the path to the complex through there?¡± When I nodded an affirmative to her question, she grimaced and sighed. ¡°I¡¯d ask you to make it larger for when we eventually go down there. I¡¯m actually rather afraid of being trapped in a tight space and my wings getting caught.¡±

    ¡°That I can do, but for now we are going to basically be hitting these little bastards with a flash-bang to see how much they like it. Just going to be more flash than bang this time.¡±

    ¡°You know you can¡ª¡± Kassandra began with a wiggle of her eyebrows but stopped when Jane elbowed her, giggling instead.

    I sighed before gesturing to Shayla to step up. As she began to cast her spell and that dot of light formed between the tines at the end of her spell rod, I gave the earth and stone plug a push, sliding it out of the way. The scrape of earth on stone heralded a distant chorus of chittering squeals that made all four of my girls stiffen.

    Shayla, to her credit, didn¡¯t hesitate. She flicked the spell down the tunnel with admirable accuracy, the tiny bead racing away into the tunnel. Then Shayla turned her back towards the barricade while pressing her hands over her eyes. I only had a moment of time to wonder why she was doing that before the wrath of the sun erupted from the tunnel. The far side of the little tunnel erupted with a brilliant flare of light, as if someone had crammed Sol itself into it. A high-pitched shriek, like a hundred starlings squealing in surprise at once and only barely in tune, accompanied the searing light before going silent.

    I couldn¡¯t see very well though at the moment, as the center of my vision was mostly occluded by a large streak of alternating green and pink as my eyes protested the sudden and bright exposure. Rieka was swearing under her breath, rubbing at her eyes, while Kassandra groaned and Jane hissed.

    ¡°Shit, I did say your strongest, that was on me,¡± I gritted, focusing on yanking the plug back into place even as the brilliant light continued to stream down the tunnel like a wide-angle laser beam. It took a bit of effort because of the shooting pain in my eyes, but I was able to get the seal in place once more, which cut off the broad beam of light.

    ¡°Well, I think that answers that question,¡± Kassandra said, while blinking furiously. ¡°If they didn¡¯t like the light from the enchanted stones before, or the overhead lights, then they definitely didn¡¯t like that.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, agreed,¡± Rieka mumbled while rubbing her eyes.

    ¡°Sorry¡­¡± Shayla said nervously, her shoulders hunching in as she turned around. ¡°I should have warned you to look away. It didn¡¯t occur to me to say anything, since Liam had said to throw my strongest spell down there.¡±

    ¡°Already said that was my fault, so don¡¯t feel bad,¡± I said, waving it off with one hand. ¡°How long is that spell going to last?¡±

    ¡°About five more minutes. I focused it on outputting as much light as possible as quickly as possible,¡± Shayla responded, her hunched posture relaxing.

    ¡°Okay, once the spell duration ends, I¡¯m going to crawl through and check on the other side. I want to see if there are any signs of the little bastards left.¡±

    <><><>

    It took longer than the five minute duration for our vision to fully recover, but it was enough that I felt safe crawling through the tunnel while the girls stood guard on the far side.

    Pushing the plug out of the way, I made sure my eyes were closed, so I didn¡¯t re-blind myself until I could confirm that the spell had run its course and it was safe to look.

    When I didn¡¯t immediately get punched in the face with noonday sunlight, I opened my eyes and peeked through the crack between the cave-in and the plug.

    The tunnel on the far side was empty. I had felt no movement in the earth after Shayla had triggered her spell, not even the rapid patter of retreating feet. After observing for a handful of seconds, I pushed the plug out of the way and crawled fully out into the other tunnel.

    ¡°Liam?¡± Kassandra¡¯s voice echoed down the little tunnel with worry thick in her tone.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, just doing a quick check then coming back,¡± I called back while surveying the damage that Shayla¡¯s spell had caused by the illumination of a much dimmer light stone that Kassandra had provided.

    There were newer scratches in the stone and earth, recognizable from the lighter color against the ancient stone, but no sign of the monsters. Well, no sign except for the faint, scorched outlines, like shadows cast over the ground without any point of origin or source.

    ¡°Atomic shadows,¡± I muttered, eyes wide as I stared at the outlines.

    I remembered watching a Youtube history channel medley once that talked about how the shadows from the atomic bombs that were dropped during World War II were actually caused by the bleaching of the surrounding material, rather than the body being burned into that spot. The effect essentially locked the shadows in place even after the bodies had been destroyed.

    I remember these things dissolving in the daylight, but even then, that took time. The one that Kassandra and Rieka took back inside the dimensional sack lasted for days, or so they told me. But as soon as it got hit with direct sunlight, it broke down. These dissolved in what looks like moments and the light was bright enough to sun-bleach the soil and stone down here.

    My estimations of the gentle moth woman¡¯s power level rose several notches as I gave that a moment of consideration. Idly, I used the sharp spike that was still replacing my left hand to scrape at a still-stained bit of stone. The spike drew a small bright line in the dark shadow.

    ¡°Kinda wish I had light magic,¡± I muttered with a laugh. ¡°Would come in handy in all sorts of ways. Wonder if it¡¯s an option later in the tree that has my Manipulate Element power¡­¡±

    After checking the area for any more signs of the monsters one last time, I turned and crawled back through the tunnel, sealing the plug back into place once more behind me.

    Emerging from the other side, both Rieka and Kassandra immediately yanked me into a hug, who had been worried by my apparent silence. Jane and Shayla stood a bit further back, though from the way Shayla¡¯s antennae were up and gently stroking the air in my direction while she watched me, the moth woman had been just as concerned for my well being as my lovers.

    ¡°Well, I can confirm our Shayla is definitely an asset for dealing with those little beasties. Nothing left behind but an outline,¡± I said, giving my girls a hug and smiling towards the other two. ¡°Jane, did you figure out how to unmount that map before I called you over?¡±

    The mouse kin woman, who had been looking depressed and clearly questioning how useful she was at the moment, perked up.

    ¡°Yes, actually. I just need a bit of help from you with your earth magic and I can get it down without a problem. I only have a very small skill with earth, having spent all my time and energy practicing wind instead. Whoever put it up there sunk the anchors directly into the rock, but we can get them free.¡±

    ¡°How about you and I work on that while these three study that other door,¡± I nodded towards the still-sealed door up on the platform. ¡°Nothing is coming through the cave-in. If something does try it, Shayla can just blast them to smoke.¡± This got a grin from the moth woman and a pleased nod, so we split back up to finish what we came here for.

    It took around five minutes to detach and stow the verdigris covered map, the entire process relatively straightforward with the help of my earth magic and boosted strength.

    Jane actually climbed up on my bent leg, pressing herself between me and the wall while she peered behind the flat piece of decorative metal and directed me on how to move to extract it. I didn¡¯t have the heart to tell her that my earth magic was already showing me how to extract the thing by sensing the difference between stone and metal. The little mouse woman was adorable and excitable at being able to help, and she didn¡¯t weigh enough that I noticed.

    Once we had the map down, Rieka hurried over to get it tucked away into the dimensional pouch she carried. It was amusing to watch the mouth of the bag seem to stretch while the map shrunk to fit inside of it, and more than a little surreal, to be honest. With that secured, the three of us headed over to check on the other sealed set of doors.

    ¡°I wrote down all the runes the last time we were here, but I would swear that they changed since then,¡± Kassandra said with a huff, glaring down at her notebook and then back up at the door.

    To one side, Shayla was quickly blocking in a copy of the door too, her charcoal pencil flying over the page as she rendered the details of the arched double doors and began adding in details like the various runes and decorative carvings.

    ¡°Do you think it¡¯s possible there is a randomizer?¡± When I suggested the possibility, three out of four women responded with blank looks, as Shayla was too engrossed in her work to look up. ¡°I mean, something to vary the lock to make it harder to penetrate?¡±

    Kassandra blinked before looking back at the door thoughtfully and then shrugged.

    ¡°It¡¯s possible. I can only imagine it would require an immense amount of power to do that. But there is a lot about this complex we don¡¯t understand either, so I can¡¯t discount it?¡± The serpentine sorceress turned her glare back to the door when she finished her statement.

    ¡°The only way to be sure would be to watch for it and see if there is some kind of pattern, or bring all the supplies you can think of and try to crack it on whatever pattern it''s on, hoping it won¡¯t change before you can get it done,¡± Rieka sighed. ¡°Either way, we need to get moving so we don¡¯t have to rush back to town. Let¡¯s get this all secured and get out of here. I don¡¯t know about you other girls, but I¡¯m already missing the feeling of wind in my hair.¡±

 Chapter 93

    It didn¡¯t take long for Kassandra to get the door resealed and us back up into the sunlight. Since this was the second time she¡¯d done it and had the additional help from the new girls. Shayla stuck close, refining her sketches and visual records of what she¡¯d seen.

    When everyone was out of the cave and I¡¯d sealed up the opening once more, we all trooped back down the mountain towards the road and back home. The girls moved in formation, with Jane and Kassandra chattering away about the potential historical significance of the ruins and what they hoped to learn. Rieka kept pace with me, striking up a conversation with Shayla off and on while the moth woman continued to lightly cling to the back of my right arm.

    ¡°I¡¯m both looking forward to the end of semester competition and dreading it,¡± Shayla admitted while we worked our way through the trees and onto the road. ¡°I know that Liam will do well, but I also don¡¯t want him to get hurt, either.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine,¡± I reassured the moth woman gently. ¡°I¡¯ve been working on more than a few ideas of how I can utilize my Shape-Shifting ability. When I get home, I¡¯m also going to pour more of my points into boosting my stats as high as I can before the competition. I¡¯m already pretty sure that I will have no problem with it.¡±

    ¡°Confidence is good, but you know the perils of overconfidence, so I won¡¯t restate them,¡± Rieka cautioned, shooting me a cute smile while her ears bounced in time with her steps. ¡°Not that you need to worry, Liam. You have every right to be confident in yourself, given what I saw when you came to me and my mother¡¯s rescue the other day.¡±

    ¡°Any luck finding out what was going on with that? Or the other issues you¡¯ve had?¡± I asked, getting a sad shake of the head from her.

    ¡°No, the only reason my mother isn¡¯t insisting I always have a guard with me at the moment is because I have you. Your actions that day impressed her quite a bit, so she is trusting my safety to you.¡± Rieka said the last part with a bright wink towards me.

    ¡°I do my best.¡± I returned her wink before slinging an arm around Rieka¡¯s waist to pull her into my side in a hug before releasing her so she didn¡¯t stumble. The wolf-eared princess giggled, skipping a step further away from me to stay further out of range.

    ¡°How can we best support Liam, then?¡± Shayla asked, her head tilting to the right and both fluffy fronds of her antennae stretching out towards me before relaxing.

    ¡°Summon him as often as possible,¡± Kassandra chirped from further ahead, shifting to lean back even as she slithered forward, until her back arched so sharply that her head was nearly upside down. This caused gravity to snatch hold of her glorious assets and threaten to have them fall right out of her top. As it was, I spotted the rosy curve of a nipple starting to slip free.

    ¡°Only as you can afford. I know Liam well enough that he¡¯d feel bad if you put yourself in a financial bind by spending too much,¡± added Rieka seriously. ¡°We told you before, you can communicate with Liam via the bond you now share. So we can figure out a schedule that works best for everyone and then let him know. The important thing is going to be clearly stating what you need from him with as much detail when you summon him¡ª¡±

    ¡°Right!¡± Kassandra interrupted again, still not straightening, but she did reach up with both hands to keep her breasts from tumbling free of her top. ¡°Our Liam is such a good person that he¡¯ll just jump right in to do what you need if he sees it, but he won¡¯t get rewarded unless we tell him what we need.¡±

    ¡°They are right,¡± I added to the explanation. ¡°The rules are different, since I¡¯m not a normal summon. As a Traveler, I have a different set of rules and guidelines that I follow. I don¡¯t know exactly how it works for a regular summon, but mine revolve around completing those tasks that Rieka and Kass mentioned. For example¡­¡±

    I let the sentence trail off and closed my eyes to bring up my System interface. The Contracts tab was one that I didn¡¯t reference much, since I usually completed things as soon as they came up. But I still had one job open currently, the one that I¡¯d gotten the previous day when we headed out here.

    ¡°So what my current job is to: ¡®Assist your contracted companions, Kassandra Silverscale, Rieka Coldeye, Shayla Valo, and Jane Carsan, with initial training and introduction to the Ruined Human Research Complex and return them home safely.¡¯ Which means that as soon as we get back to campus, it should mark as complete and award me the System Points that I use to acquire abilities.¡±

    ¡°What qualifies as a task?¡± Shayla asked, tugging lightly on my sleeve to get my attention.

    I spared a moment to be amused at how ridiculous a thought it was that I could possibly ignore the over six foot tall buxom moth woman that was walking only inches away from me before I answered.

    ¡°It can be just about anything. The system awards points based on complexity and danger of tasks, though only up to a certain threshold, which is the maximum potential ¡®share¡¯ I could earn from being called. That is based on the mana cost to summon me, if what I¡¯ve been told is accurate. I think the simplest task I¡¯ve been given was helping Kass and Rieka plan which missions to take for a longer trip later in the week. That and helping warm Kass up,¡± I said the last part with a smirk to the dwarf lamia, who returned it with a wide grin of her own before straightening.

    ¡°That was one of the better moments surrounding my nearly freezing to death.¡± Kassandra¡¯s comment got concerned noises from Jane and Shayla, so she expounded on what had happened to both of them.

    While we walked, I snagged Rieka¡¯s hand when she returned to walking close to my side. The wolf-eared princess shot me a curious look and then blushed lightly when I blew her a kiss.

    <><><>

    We returned to Juneau without any further issues. No ambushes along the road, no signs of monsters, or even anything at all. The road was calm and quiet, something that Rieka said indicated the Hunt and Trade hall was hard at work keeping things safe and monster populations down. I thought it was a good and a bad thing, as the contracts we¡¯d taken in the past to hunt down specific monsters had been the most lucrative ones, but Rieka and Kassandra were both flush with cash at the moment.

    I got the girls back to their dorm buildings. All four of them were actually staying in Rue House, to my surprise, but apparently even Shayla had selected to live there. She¡¯d explained it as hoping to eventually bond with a summon who could convey to her the images of its home so she could render them in her paintings.

    Once we actually arrived back at Juneau, though, the System sent me an alert stating my mission was now complete and I was up another twelve-hundred points.

    I gave all four of the girls goodbyes, the degree of which depended on the girl. Kassandra and Rieka got kisses. Shayla, to my surprise, accepted a hug. Jane had returned to her more nervous attitude, so I gave her a polite bow and kissed the back of her hand when she offered it to me.

    When I was leaning back and saw the surprised look on her slim features, I realized she¡¯d been expecting a handshake, but it was too late to do it now. It didn¡¯t look like Jane objected to my actions, though, based on the faint reddening of her cheeks.

    Just before I left, I activated one of my new abilities. I¡¯d forgotten about it until the system had sent me the award message for the mission, then I kicked myself for not practicing it during our trip. I used the Ward Companion ability and laid it on each of the girls, explaining what it was, and they all expressed gratitude over the idea that I¡¯d be made aware if something threatened one of them. This would allow me to alert one of the others if the one threatened didn¡¯t summon me immediately.

    ¡°Seriously, that has a lot of potential,¡± Rieka muttered, staring at one of her hands after the glow from the effect faded. ¡°Even if it¡¯s just some kind of magical alert. I wish you had a way to teach folk some of these powers. I¡¯d feel a lot safer if my mother¡¯s guards had something similar.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll look into it,¡± I promised my princess, getting a happy smile and a wag from her plush tail. ¡°You four look out for each other while I¡¯m gone. Don¡¯t hesitate to call me if you need me for anything though. I¡¯m at your service.¡±

    With a final kiss from Kassandra, this one she initially tried to press to the front of my pants but I recognized the mischief in her eyes and kneeled to give her a safer target for being in public, Rieka made the requisite spell gestures to send me home.

    <><><>

    The next two weeks passed in a blur. The girls would summon me every other day for whatever task they could come up with.

    Everything from spell training with Kassandra so I could be her space-heater, working with Jane to improve her very basic understanding of earth magic, helping Rieka with her ¡®homework¡¯ by doting on her, and talking with Shayla to describe some of the scenes that I¡¯d seen while traveling between the worlds.

    It was the last one that confused me the most. I¡¯d offered several times to act as a model for her, given that it was clearly something that she had wanted in the past. But the shy moth woman had demurred each time, blushing rather fiercely in response to my suggestion but never outright refusing, just delaying.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    The repeated summons brought with them a trickle of SP, usually fifty to a hundred points per event as they weren¡¯t particularly difficult or dangerous, but because each of my partners summoned me at least once a week, I¡¯d racked up another eight hundred SP in those first two of the four weeks until the summoning competition. That pushed me well past the three thousand SP available mark.

    I¡¯d decided already to finish off my stat increases. The day I got back from the trip with the girls, I tapped the last three uses of the Enhance Self (Moderate) power to finish maxing out all six of my stats for that tier. I hadn¡¯t maxed any of them yet, which would have triggered the unlock for the next tier of Enhance Self, so that allowed me to plan what to do with the rest of the points.

    Thankfully, the changes were minor enough and spread out such that I didn¡¯t trigger another angry visit from Cariad, either. Adding ten points to each of my stats just left me couch-bound for a few hours.

    Name - Liam Cosgrave

    Strength - 80

    Agility - 77

    Fortitude - 82

    Willpower - 80

    Mental Acuity - 78

    Wisdom - 77

    I¡¯d spent a bit of time thinking about how amusing it was to remember myself only a few short months previous, back when five points of extra strength had been such a huge thing. Even now, I was pretty sure I could handily bench my truck, though I had to resist the urge to go try. My luck, I¡¯d tear the bumper off or something.

    The System, being the helpful little monster that it was, promptly showered me with the next idea that it could come up with to get me to spend more points, as well as dropping an additional alert, too.

    New Powers available in the System interface.

    Congratulations, Traveler.

    Enhance Self (Major) - Cost: 1250 SP - Increase personal stats by 60 points, can be spread out at once, up to a maximum of two-hundred and fifty points per stat beyond (Moderate) effects.

    May be selected multiple times. If the previous tier was not fully exploited, that opportunity is not lost. Previous tier will become unavailable once max points are allotted from it.

    Before I could do more than goggle at the idea of a single purchase of this power adding sixty points to a single stat, the additional alert flashed with even more fanfare.

    Congratulations, Traveler.

    You have passed a major threshold in the System store.

    By expending more than ten-thousand points total, you have shown commitment to your role as a Traveler.

    In appreciation, the System will be granting you one power, selected at random, from the following available to you:

    Enhance Self (Major)

    Shape-Shifting (Elemental Alignment)

    Drain Reservoir

    Empower Reservoir

    Stand by for selection.

    Just like before, it gave me only a moment to think over what I¡¯d seen before it populated with the results. I did have time to think that if I could figure out when these thresholds were coming, I might be able to trick the System into giving me an expensive power for free. Which, I would later wonder, might be why it selected the one it did.

    Congratulations Traveler.

    The System has awarded you: Shape-Shifting (Elemental Alignment).

    May it serve you well going forward.

    Shape-Shifting (Elemental Alignment) - Cost: 0 SP (Threshold Reward) - (Requires Manipulate Element of some form to provide elemental energy.) Allows for the inclusion of elemental effects to the animal forms created with Shape-Shifting, though no spells are usable, allowing elemental damage via natural weapons.

    One of the first things I had to do as soon as the changes settled was to test the new power to make sure that it didn¡¯t somehow force my Manipulate Element earth magic to always affect my shifts.

    Thankfully, it just added an extra effect. I could, with a small cost in mana, add additional effects to my Shape-Shifting. It allowed for denser armor, adding stone or metallic elements to the shift without it costing extra mass by instead substituting mana. So I tucked the ability away as something to experiment with and tried not to kick myself for hesitating on the cheap power earlier, which caused it to waste my System award.

    For the next two weeks, any time I wasn¡¯t with the girls, training with Cerebaton, or experimenting with my Manipulate Element ability to make jewelry samples, I was working on my Shape-Shifting. I didn¡¯t know what the next rank would cost, but I knew it would be a fair chunk. After the burn of getting an ability that I vaguely remembered only cost two-hundred SP as a ¡®threshold reward,¡¯ I didn¡¯t want to hesitate.

    From what I had observed of the abilities as the System further refined itself, I had two more major ranks of Shape-Shifting after the one I was working on currently. And given how big the jump in available mass had been with the current rank, I was anxious to see what it might unlock. But the mastery bar for the ability stubbornly remained around nine hundred and twenty of a thousand, not moving a single point up the entire week of practice.

    Unlike my Shape-Shifting ability, my Manipulate Element and Mana Reservoir both gained quite a bit, with Mana Reservoir three-fourths of the way through its mastery bar for the lesser tier, and Manipulate Element actually hitting mastery.

    Unfortunately for me, I had been knee deep in another of the local creeks using Manipulate Element to call gold into my hand. The sudden flash of light around my vision startled me badly enough that I¡¯d slipped and fallen face-first into the icy water, soaking myself to the bone.

    I¡¯d managed to keep hold of the walnut-sized lump of gold dust and flakes, but it broke my concentration.

    When I stopped flailing about and got back to my feet, I¡¯d stomped out of the river and dripped my way back to the truck, cramming the gold into my Dimensional Pocket ability in the meantime to keep it safe. Which was good because my screams and profanity had attracted the attention of a bicycle cop, who proceeded to question me as to what I¡¯d been doing in the creek.

    Once I¡¯d satisfied the officer¡¯s nosy disposition and gotten my soaked self into my old rig, I¡¯d read over the alert.

    Power Manipulate Element (Lesser) has achieved Mastery 1000/1000.

    New Powers available in the System interface.

    Congratulations, Traveler.

    ¡°Great,¡± I muttered while swiping chill water from my eyes and cranking the heater on the old truck as high as I could. I was sitting on the old wool blanket I kept in the truck for emergencies to keep from soaking the seat at the moment. ¡°I wonder if there is a power unlocked to get rid of being soaked.¡±

    Even though I knew I should wait until I got home and got changed, I couldn¡¯t help but dig through the menus to the Powers tab and see what had been unlocked.

    The first ability that I found was the next rank of the Manipulate Element power I was familiar with.

    Manipulate Element (Moderate) - Cost: 1600 SP - User has achieved competency with one of their chosen elements.

    Manipulate Elements (Minor) can now be used to select opposing elements though they cannot increase more than two levels below highest element (Ex - If fire is Moderate and Earth lesser, caster may select Water for Minor but not Air as Earth is only at Lesser).

    This can be selected multiple times for alternate elements.

    ¡°Handy, I suppose. It means once I take that one, I can unlock the other three to at least have access to them, but it does limit which ones I want to be stronger. Still, access is access. Dunno if I¡¯ll make much use of that. Earth does everything I need it to and the girls have a good handle on the other elements,¡± I muttered, thinking it over. It would be beneficial to take still, since Rachel Cedarfall had asked me to train her as well, and by having all four elements to use, I could potentially train the girls better too.

    Something to consider later, I thought and set the idea aside. I still don¡¯t have the SP yet to mess around, and the only power I¡¯ve really bottlenecked on is Shape-Shifting. I wonder if I should use the pure mana crystals to try to boost it? Would that be the smart play right now with the tournament looming?

    While I considered it, I flipped down and read over the other ability that had unlocked.

    Manipulate Element (Primal) - Cost: 800 SP - Select Light, Dark, Time, Entropy. User may add them to the list available at Minor level and improve as normal. The opposing element of one chosen is forever lost.

    May be chosen one additional time for one of the second set of opposing elements.

    ¡°Huh¡­ that¡¯s actually pretty cool,¡± I muttered, twisting the knob on the heater to blast a bit more hot air over my chilled skin. ¡°I know the girls talked about how Shayla having light magic was a big thing, since it was primal magic. I definitely need to talk to them about this¡­¡±

    Even with my eyes closed, my attention drifted back to the different options for primal magic.

    Light, Dark, Time, and¡­ Entropy?

 Chapter 94

    On the advice of the tax and finance accountant, I¡¯d put together a basic LLC corporation to hold myself at a distance from the jewelry sales. It had just been waiting for the licenses to clear and come back that had held me up at all. From there it was as simple as setting up a Bitsy storefront, which was a pain in the ass, but I was figuring it out slowly.

    I was in the middle of uploading the last photo for a combined set of pearl earrings and a necklace with a large, round pearl dangling in the middle when I got a message from Rieka.

    The sensation of the tattoo humming on my arm nearly made me drop my phone, but my improved dexterity kept it firmly locked in my hand. Tapping the Upload button with my thumb, I reached over to touch the humming tattoo with one finger, and Rieka¡¯s sweet voice echoed inside my mind.

    ¡°Hello Liam, first of all, love you. Second, Kass sends her love too. She would heckle me black and blue if she found out that I said it that way.¡± There was a small giggle from my princess before her message continued. ¡°I wanted to confirm if you were available this afternoon. Jane found an opportunity for you, but is too shy to bring it up, so she asked me. Apparently, she found you a sparring partner to help learn more about grappling. She¡¯s also a student here, so the cost of her teaching you will be easily satisfied. I met with her already and she has an opening in her class schedule tonight. It will just be Jane and I taking you to see her, as both Shayla and Kassandra have classes at the moment. Let me know when you can so I can pass the information on to her.¡± The message ended with the wet sound of a blown kiss.

    I couldn¡¯t help the smile on my lips at how open Rieka was becoming. She¡¯d been so reserved and noble when I met her¡ªshe still was at times¡ªbut now she was relaxing so much more and it was a wonderful change.

    And that¡¯s not just because she gets so much more forward and cuddly when she¡¯s relaxed, right? I mentally chastised myself before sending a response to Rieka.

    ¡°I¡¯m available whenever my princess needs me. Thank Jane for the opportunity for me, and let her know I will offer her my own thanks when I see her next. Just send me a summon whenever you are ready, as I am just working on preparing more of the jewelry for sale. I¡¯ve got pieces set aside for all four of you. I am just holding off giving them until I can get you all together as a group.¡±

    Sending the message off using the System interface, I set about packing away the pieces I¡¯d been photographing and laid out the next one in the impromptu shadow-box I¡¯d put together on my kitchen table.

    I¡¯d used some of the money from the payout that the DSR had given me in order to get the box and some silk pillows for the photographing, but for the most part I¡¯d been sitting on the funds. I put most of that money aside in a business account in an effort to spread it around and ensure it didn¡¯t look suspicious come tax time. The accountant reassured me that, while a one time deposit to an account like that might raise some red flags, if it was singular it should be fine, but I would be wise to pay taxes on it as they wouldn¡¯t have a corresponding entry in their system.

    ¡°I may be crazy, but even I don¡¯t mess with the IRS!¡± I muttered in a faux-Joker voice with a smirk as I remembered it.

    <><><>

    Rieka¡¯s summon came around an hour later. I¡¯d finished recording everything I had ready and getting it posted. There were over two dozen unique items now on the Bitsy shop front that I¡¯d set up.

    I had priced the pieces significantly higher than others on the market due to the unique colors of the pearls, but I did list their official grading information to confirm they were real pearls, just from a ¡®private source.¡¯ I¡¯d lucked out during my research the previous week, discovering that a local jewelry store had someone on hand with the training to certify pearls so I could start selling far quicker than I expected.

    The tugging sensation of the summon picked me up and whirled me away through time and space, allowing me to glimpse bare fragments of myriad different universes. One I caught sight of was a pair of armies standing facing off against each other while two men clashed in a one-on-one duel in the cleared ground between them, one with a polearm and the other with a great-axe. The summon whisked me away before I caught more than a glimpse of the fight.

    Soft grass cushioned my landing a moment later and the swirling colors died away to reveal a large, stone building looming ahead of me and my wolf-eared princess standing only a few feet away, her tail wiggling furiously as she smiled hard enough her eyes were squinting. Just to her side, Jane bounced from foot to foot nervously while her tail flickered over her head.

    ¡°Hello, Liam,¡± Rieka said, opening her arms to me.

    I only spared our surroundings a quick glance, confirming that my two summoners were alone, before I stepped forward and swept Rieka up into my arms. My princess let out a happy little giggle that transitioned into a muffled moan when I dipped her backwards and pressed my lips to hers in a deep kiss.

    Rieka clung to me, her hands balling up in my shirt and one leg hooking behind one of mine to support herself, while her tail whipped back and forth happily as she crooned into the kiss. I could feel her hips grind ever so gently against mine, and I returned the gesture just enough that both of us knew what the other was thinking.

    Not wanting to make it awkward for Jane though, I pulled back from Rieka with a quiet pop and set her carefully on her feet once more, keeping hold of her hips so she could regain her balance before I released her.

    ¡°Good day to you, my princess,¡± I said and got a roll of the eyes from Rieka, along with just the tip of her tongue coming out to taunt me. It nearly was enough to get her dragged into another kiss, but my improved willpower told me that I should keep myself from doing that and focus on the other of my companions who was blushing deeply even now in the wake of my affectionate greeting to the wolf kin princess.

    ¡°Hi, Liam,¡± Jane squeaked, taking a slight step back when I moved towards her.

    Given that she was so much shorter than I was, I took a knee so I didn¡¯t tower over the mouse kin woman. While I knew Kassandra liked my height and took it as a challenge when I stood over her, Jane was far more skittish in nature and I wanted to see if this put her more at ease.

    ¡°Hello, Jane. Rieka tells me that you were the one who found this opportunity to help me train? I wanted to offer you a special thanks for that, but only if it doesn¡¯t make you uncomfortable,¡± I said, holding an arm out to her.

    Jane watched me, the tip of her nose wiggling slightly as she thought before the nervous mouse woman nodded and stepped forward tentatively.

    Moving slowly, so as not to startle her, I pulled Jane into a gentle hug. She was stiff at first, but relaxed after a moment, burrowing her face into my shirt and enjoying the hug. Her large mouse ears even relaxed, settling to either side of her head rather than standing stiffly alert like they had been. The long strand of her tail slipped around to match her arms and hug me back.

    ¡°Thank you, Jane. I appreciate this and owe you¡ª¡± I started to say, murmuring into the fluffy black crest of hair that sat atop her head. Jane shook her head in denial, cutting me off mid-sentence.

    ¡°No, no debts,¡± Jane murmured, pulling back to look up at me with a small smile. ¡°I¡¯m just doing my part as your summoner to ensure you are as strong as possible. Come on, we should go meet with your teacher. I think you¡¯ll like her.¡±

    Jane released me from the hug a moment later and stepped away, the blush still coloring her cheeks but not as fiercely as it had been moments before.

    ¡°Her?¡± I teased gently with a smile. ¡°Someone else that you all want to join me as contracted? Or do you just not make friends with boys?¡± I waggled my eyebrows pointedly at Rieka, who snorted her amusement and rolled her eyes at me. Jane smiled tentatively and shrugged.

    ¡°It is harder with us all living in Rue House. It is a girls-only dormitory after all,¡± she offered by way of explanation.

    ¡°Not a problem, Jane. Was just poking a bit of fun. Shall we?¡± I gestured towards the building behind them, guessing that this was where we¡¯d be meeting my sparring partner. In preparation for this, I¡¯d changed into a pair of track-shorts and a loose-fitting shirt, throwing on my old pair of sneakers that were looking rather haggard now that I thought about it.

    ¡°Ah, not yet,¡± Rieka interrupted, turning to look at Jane with an amused smile. ¡°What is his task?¡±

    Jane bit her lip for a moment, her tail flicking back and forth behind her as she thought, clearly not taking Rieka¡¯s words as a chastisement.

    I¡¯d been slowly learning Jane¡¯s tells from her animal features. The relaxed pose of her ears meant she wasn¡¯t anxious, and the little flicks, regular in speed, was a sign of her thinking carefully. After a moment of consideration, Jane nodded and locked eyes with me, her embarrassment firmly tucked behind a serious and thoughtful expression.

    ¡°Liam, I need you to impress Lady Valda today during training. She only agreed to the one session out of curiosity, but I believe we can get her interested in more if you do well. She¡¯s a practical person and will appreciate the sort of exertion you can give her in the ring,¡± Jane said carefully before smiling up at me.

    I had to bite my tongue to not make a lewd joke about exertion, though from the way Rieka¡¯s eyes were twinkling, my wolf-eared princess was thinking along the same lines.

    Kass has corrupted us both, I thought with a grin as the edges of my vision flashed and the System responded to the request my summoner had given me.

    Assist your contracted companions, Jane Carsan and Rieka Coldeye, with impressing Lady Valda Ironclaw so she will continue to train with you.

    Reward - 150 SP

    ¡°Hmm, it worked and looks like it won¡¯t be considered an easy one to complete,¡± I murmured before returning Jane¡¯s radiant smile. ¡°Shall we get going?¡±

    With a nod from both girls, they led me around towards the stone building. The spot they had summoned me at was around a corner and just out of sight of the rest of the field. It only took a glance to orient myself to the much larger coliseum-style building that the girls had pointed out to me was where the competition would take place. I also spotted several of the open-air training rings nearby and the distant shapes of the dormitory buildings along the road.

    Jane bounced slightly ahead of us, while Rieka took hold of my elbow and allowed me to escort her around. Both of my summoners had their spell rods with them, something that reassured me despite the fact that the campus of Juneau was an area that they shouldn¡¯t need to carry the weapons with them.

    But they are here training to become spellcasters, so it makes sense, I reminded myself, gently squeezing Rieka¡¯s hand on my arm and getting a sweet smile from my lover.

    Jane pushed the large wooden doors open with a rather cute little grunt of effort before we got to them. She didn¡¯t wait for us, bounding through the doors and along a hallway lit with a single oil lamp.

    The short hall led out into an open-air sparring ring floored in packed earth. The ring itself was oval shaped and roughly sixty feet long, while only being two-thirds that wide, I guessed. Open doors off to either side of the hallway we were in revealed racks of wooden training weapons, hoops, ropes, and other tools for exercise and training.

    I only spared these a brief glance as my gaze tracked on Jane as she bounded out into the sunlight again to greet a woman I recognized.

    I had been too distracted by the naughty jokes earlier for the name to click for me, but the statuesque woman who was smiling genially down at Jane from where she stood near the far end of the sparring ring was rather familiar.

    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s right,¡± I muttered, shaking my head slightly. ¡°I¡¯ve met her before, in very brief passing¡­ She showed me her claws once while I was heading to train with magic? Or was it to help Kass train? I know you girls have mentioned her in passing a few times.¡±

    ¡°Well, that will make this easier for introductions. Also, Lady Valda is a well-known person on campus, much like myself, actually,¡± Rieka said with a grin up at me. ¡°Come on, we don¡¯t want Jane to leave us too far behind.¡±

    At Rieka¡¯s urging, we stepped up our pace. I noted that, while Lady Valda smiled down at Jane, her gaze was sharp when we stepped out into the sunlight and approached behind the smaller woman.

    ¡°Princess Rieka, it is a pleasure to see you. I assume that this gentleman is the one that friend Jane wanted me to spar with?¡± Valda gave Rieka a small, polite bow and received one in return before turning her eyes to me.

    I¡¯d taken the opportunity of our approach to study the woman. She was slightly shorter than Shayla, but still far closer to my height than the other three girls. Dressed in simple and functional clothes, her dishwater-blonde hair was shaved on the sides like Jane¡¯s was, but rather than fluffed in something like a pompadour mixed with a mohawk, Valda had her hair braided tightly and it fell out of sight behind her back. I spotted the gleam of metal amongst the pale hair, telling me she had something braided into it, but I couldn¡¯t get a good look at it to discern which.

    Unlike the other women I¡¯d met so far, with the majority of them being between the softer side like Shayla all the way to athletic as Rieka was, Valda had defined muscles.

    She wore a loose-legged pair of pants that clung to full hips, showing defined muscles in her thighs and waist, and a short-sleeved shirt that exposed her muscled forearms. Dark green scales ran up the backs of her hands and over her forearms, while leather caps covered the tips of her fingers that were attached to a strange glove that reminded me of an archery finger-guard. She had a sword belted at her waist on her left hip, with her spell rod holstered just above it.

    Fierce gray eyes studied me carefully when I reached her face, which had a guarded air to it as she waited for confirmation on her earlier question. Valda had a strong nose and high cheekbones. That, combined with her hairstyle and dress, immediately gave me the mental image of a better dressed alternate universe version of Red Sonja, and I couldn¡¯t help the smile that brought to my face.

    Jane didn¡¯t hesitate to talk, apparently at ease with the larger woman more than she had been with Kassandra initially.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    ¡°Lady Valda, you already know the princess, obviously. This is Liam the Traveler, he is the bonded companion of myself and the princess, as well as two others.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Lady Silverscale and Miss Valo, correct?¡± The scaled woman asked simply, her brows wrinkling for just a moment before smoothing and she held out her hand to me. ¡°I believe I have seen him on campus, actually.¡±

    ¡°That is correct, Lady Valda,¡± I said smoothly, as Rieka took her arm from mine. Remembering our last meeting, I offered her my forearm, and she smiled, clasping arms for a moment before we released each other.

    ¡°Well then, since this is not our first meeting and you come at the recommendation of both a friend and someone I respect,¡± Valda said, her eyes skipping first to a smiling Jane and then to Rieka before returning to me. ¡°Well met to you, Liam the Traveler. If we are to spar, then you should call me Valda. There is no need for titles within the ring.¡±

    ¡°Well then, shall we get started, Valda?¡± I asked and got a nod in return.

    Jane and Rieka took up spots by the wall to one side, with Jane sitting cross-legged on the packed earth to watch while Rieka leaned against the stone wall. Valda and I headed towards the center of the ring. I studied her movements as she walked and could appreciate the lithe grace that the muscular woman moved with.

    Because of my familiarity with female clothing from this world because of Kassandra and Rieka, I could tell that Valda had on a fairly tight chest binder to restrain her bust under her shirt, as well as a wide belt that, while it was intended to hold her clothes in place and support the rig for her sword and spell rod, would also act as light armor for her kidneys and stomach.

    Glancing up, I caught Valda¡¯s gray eyes studying me in return and nodded to her as we reached the center point of the sparring ring.

    ¡°So, Liam¡­¡± Valda said, letting her sentence trail off and tilting her head to one side and then the other, studying me with each of her eyes while her left hand rested on the pommel of her sword. ¡°What sort of training have you had already? Jane simply stated that she was looking for a way to meaningfully contribute to her group in preparing for the competition that the dedicated summoners have in a few weeks.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been training twice a week for several hours with a friend in both sword and mace work,¡± I answered easily, settling into a wide-legged stance that Cerebaton had taught me would keep me balanced in case I was attacked, but would appear less confrontational at a glance. From the way Valda¡¯s eyes glittered and a small smile tugged on her lips, she recognized my way of standing for what it was.

    ¡°And hand-to-hand?¡±

    ¡°Mostly self-taught. I learned to brawl when I was younger, and I¡¯ve gotten into more than a few fistfights over the years. What I really need to learn, though, is more to do with grappling, unarmed fighting, and all of that.¡± I glanced towards Jane and Rieka, who were clearly waiting for us to begin. Rieka was smiling while Jane was glancing between the two of us with a curious look on her face.

    ¡°There is not much I can teach you about my method of bare-hand fighting,¡± Valda said with a small sigh, her shoulders slumping. ¡°Since you do not have claws as I do, that will limit what I could teach you. Though I am interested in crossing swords with you.¡± She perked up slightly at the last statement, her left hand shifting to rub over the pommel of her sword.

    I grinned at Valda for a moment before leaning towards her while holding out my right hand with my palm up. She glanced down at my bare, pink, human hand before looking up at me with confusion in her eyes.

    ¡°I take it that Jane didn¡¯t tell you? I appreciate that she keeps my secrets too. Did you mean claws like this?¡± I said while pushing gently on Shape-Shifting. A moment later, my hands were covered in thick scales the same russet-red as Kassandra¡¯s tail, while thick black claws sprouted from my fingertips, the same black claws I knew that Valda carried as I had copied them from observing her weeks previously.

    Valda¡¯s eyes went wide as she watched my skin change color and segment, before widening even further as the scales settled in a ripple up my arm and the claws sprouted. I could perform the shifts in less than a second nowadays as I¡¯d practiced them so much, but this one I did slowly so Valda could observe.

    As the shift settled into place fully, Valda opened her mouth to speak, but I gestured with my left hand to wait, so she nodded, her eyes dipping back to my forearm where it was now covered in those thick red scales.

    I focused and poured mana into the effect now, drawing on the Shape-Shifting (Elemental Alignment) effect now too. I¡¯d debated holding onto it, since I wasn¡¯t sure if Valda was going to be someone we faced during the competition, but given the fact that Jane trusted the woman, I decided to show it as well.

    The red scales thickened further, taking on a metallic sheen as I shifted the keratinous material and used the mana to allow it to harden into stone, compress, and then harden further into iron, leaving the russet-red with a gray sheen now.

    ¡°Fascinating¡­¡± Valda muttered, a fierce smile holding place on her lips now. ¡°My own bonded familiar is that of a salamander, and our pact is such that it will bless my weapons with its heat while shielding me from fire. It appears you have a similar ability.¡±

    ¡°One of many,¡± I said, doing my best to keep the pride out of my voice. I¡¯d come so far since those first days with Rieka and Kassandra, but I didn¡¯t want to get a big head. ¡°Learning to fight better in close quarters is what I need most. My sword instructor continues to train me in weapons, but these?¡± I twiddled my clawed fingers. ¡°Are not something he is willing to train me to fight with. Not because of lack of trust, but due to¡­ other dangers.¡± I couldn¡¯t think of a subtle way to mention that touching a daemon¡¯s bare skin, even by accident, would be horrifically corrosive to me.

    Unless¡­ I shoved that thought away for now. I needed to consider a few more things first, and while I thought it would be an interesting surprise, I would need to speak to Cariad to check my idea with her first.

    Valda was nodding now, her smile even fiercer and wide enough to show her incisors were longer than the rest of her teeth, not quite snake-fang size but definitely pronounced.

    ¡°Let us begin then.¡±

    <><><>

    Valda and I sparred, the scaled woman insisting we move at half-speed for now to get used to each other. She kept the leather caps on her claws for now and I blunted mine, changing the sharp talons to blunt digging-style claws. She explained that, for her people, the scales on their forearms were hard enough to defeat blows from their own claws as well as most small blades, so it was acceptable to block the slashes with their forearms, though the scales on the underside could still be cut through if the blow was strong enough.

    While I¡¯d practiced and fought with the claws and my other shifted limbs, I had only been working at this off and on for months. A lot of my training was martial arts forms done without a partner, rather than sparring. So Valda, even moving at half speed, kicked my ass several times.

    Just like with Cerebaton, though, I bounced back from each loss and reset. The hours slipped by while Valda worked with me. After the first hour of just sparring, she had me walk through my training kata and showed me how to adjust them to maximize claw and open hand strikes. Just as I had learned initially, they were a lot more like open hand slaps or thrusts, but she added in raking motions and flexing of fingers to drag and rip with the claws.

    After three hours of work, I was covered in sweat and bruises. Meanwhile, Valda still looked fresh and ready, only a faint sheen on her forehead showing how much effort she¡¯d been having to put forth to throw me around like she did.

    We had just finished another practice spar, with Valda critiquing me on my movements and reminding me that even a single claw hooked into an opponent can deal damage and that I need to stop thinking of them as just fingers and remember they all bore sharp blades, when she paused.

    With my higher mental scores in general, I¡¯d noticed over the last hour that Valda¡¯s interested attitude had begun to fail and her brow was wrinkling in either annoyance or frustration. So when she stepped back and crossed her arms over her chest, I mirrored the pose, assuming she wanted a moment to talk.

    ¡°Liam, why are you hesitating?¡± Valda asked after a moment of silent study. ¡°While we have sparred, I have watched your form and your abilities. For someone who has admitted that they only started earnestly training recently, you are doing well. But there are tells that I have noticed which indicate you are holding back.¡±

    I grimaced slightly, understanding what she¡¯d referenced. One of the things I¡¯d been working on training at home was snapping between shifts, to capitalize on opportunities that presented themselves. What I¡¯d been fighting, what had produced those minute hesitations Valda had noticed, was me battling the reflexes I¡¯d built to do those.

    ¡°We entered into this sparring and training match with a statement of hand-to-hand only,¡± I said after a minute. My words apparently confused Valda, and she tilted her head to one side.

    ¡°Liam!¡± Rieka¡¯s voice calling from the sidelines drew my attention to the platinum-blonde wolf woman, and I could see her smirk even from here. ¡°We only have another half-hour on your summoning timer. Go ahead and show Valda what you can do. I think she will appreciate a full strength sparring match to cap things off, no?¡±

    Valda had glanced towards Rieka when the princess spoke, but when Rieka finished, the scaled woman¡¯s head snapped back to look at me with renewed interest.

    ¡°You are sure?¡± I asked Rieka, getting a nod from both her and Jane.

    ¡°Valda is on a different track. She¡¯s not going to be in the competition, if that is what you are worried about,¡± Jane called.

    ¡°And I will not divulge your abilities to others,¡± Valda spoke up on her own behalf a moment later. ¡°I am quite curious what you have been holding back on me thus far, Liam. I will accept that we did agree to a hand-to-hand training match earlier, but I want to see what you can do.¡±

    I took a deep breath and nodded once, rolling my shoulders and shaking my limbs to dismiss my shifted scales and claws. I¡¯d let the earth enhancement fade away far earlier, not needing the extra armor they provided and wanting to feel Valda¡¯s blows so I would know when she got me.

    ¡°Weapons and magic allowed. To surrender?¡± I offered Valda, while tugging my shirt off over my head. The garment was soaked in sweat and sticky, but I¡¯d managed to get through our training so far without it getting shredded. I didn¡¯t want to break that streak now by being an idiot and tearing it with a shift. Valda was a strong enough opponent that I knew I¡¯d not be able to hold back.

    Valda was blinking rapidly in surprise, whether at my bare chest or my words, I wasn¡¯t sure, but when her eyes met mine, she shook off her confusion.

    ¡°You would be willing to do a full contact spar?¡±

    ¡°Sure, I don¡¯t plan to use live edge weapons though, and I plan to pull any magic I use so it doesn¡¯t actually hurt you. I feel like we have formed enough of an understanding that neither of us would exploit the situation.¡±

    Valda nodded slowly, staring at me for another long moment before glancing towards Jane and Rieka, who were both smiling and waiting expectantly.

    ¡°Fine, I will go collect a practice weapon. I will do my best not to burn you, but my salamander has problems holding back.¡± I shrugged at her statement and worked my arms and legs to ensure all of my muscles were loose and ready.

    Valda collected a wooden longsword from one of the rooms off the entry door before returning. We squared up with each other and Valda gave me another odd look when I didn¡¯t retrieve a weapon for myself, just assuming a loose boxing stance before her with my hands held in front of my face and palms open. She opened her mouth to say something, paused, then spoke a moment later, having changed her mind about what she was going to say.

    ¡°Are you ready?¡±

    I nodded, my gaze directed towards the base of her throat and unfocused to allow me to observe her actions. I saw the telltale tightening along her trapezius and the subtle shift in her posture that Cerebaton had taught me about. A moment later, the scaled woman was moving forward in a long lunge, the blade of her sword leading the way, a faint shimmer of heat around it showing that she was calling on her bonded summon. I spared only a moment to think about how interesting it was that her summon was doing something different besides appearing to fight for her, and then I acted.

    Skipping to the left, I pushed a pair of shifts to my body. My left hand hardened, fingers merging into a flat plate of armored chitin with a sharp edge along the side of my palm that my pinky sat on. The bones in my wrist fused, locking it in place and hardening along the thumb side of my left hand. This allowed me to deflect the blade up in a smooth, scooping parry.

    My right arm stayed tucked into my side as the familiar ripple of change caused my elbow to reverse and my right fist to fuse into a knob of bone. No sooner had my left hand-blade deflected the sword to one side before the hammer of hardened bone on my right fired out in a straight punch that was powered by the spring-assembly I had stolen from a mantis-shrimp. The crack of shattering wood heralded the blow striking true, snapping the wooden practice sword off at the handle even as my left hand-blade lunged forward towards Valda¡¯s throat.

    The motion was one I had drilled multiple times in the last week, a combination that Cerebaton and I had been working on to help defeat armed opponents if there was ever a repeat of the fight with the bandits that had attacked Rieka and her mother on the road. I executed it without hesitation.

    Valda¡¯s eyes widened when she saw my limbs flow and even larger changes occur. She did not try to keep hold of her weapon. As soon as she heard the wood breaking, she threw herself backwards to evade my thrusting strike and lashed out with a kick at my chest while tossing the broken hilt away.

    I accepted the blow, hardening the skin of my chest into dense chitin and continuing to pursue her even as she rolled over her shoulder and back to her feet, a flick of her wrists sending the leather caps flying off her clawed fingertips.

    The spring-loaded club on my right arm retracted before flowing out into the scorpion-tail, though the tip was blunted and without the venom bulb as we were only sparring. I struck out with it rapidly, though not as fast as I had with the bone club. Valda slapped it aside with rapid, open-hand strikes that deflected the heavy limb. She could defend herself against it, but not close enough to put those claws of hers to use. They shrieked off the armored carapace of the scorpion tail, leaving dull scratches on the shiny shell but not catching.

    I slipped into a fencing stance that Cerebaton had taught me, presenting only my profile and right arm, using the extended limb as a mobile rapier to keep Valda at a distance. The look of intense focus on her face showed, along with the wild smile on her lips, reassured me that the scaled woman was not upset at the rapidly changing situation now. If anything, there was a hunger in her eyes as she slapped, clawed, and dodged.

    Can¡¯t toy with her. Not smart and also she doesn¡¯t deserve it, I reminded myself. My left arm flowed, the bladed limb lengthening. I switched sides, using the longer blade now to put Valda off balance while still menacing her with the scorpion limb, the switch up keeping her from being able to find the pattern to the attacks. And since she couldn¡¯t find a pattern, Valda must have decided to make one.

    I saw her hand drop to the handle of her spell rod, but not draw it a moment before a flash of fire from the scaled woman¡¯s mouth startled me. I threw myself into a sideways roll as she blew a breath of fire across the field where I had just been standing. If I hadn¡¯t reacted instinctively, the flames would have washed over top of me and likely scorched me pretty badly.

    I did say magic was available, my fault for forgetting, I chastised and rolled to my feet. A second later, something heavy struck me in the shoulder and I grunted in surprise, glancing down to see the handle of her broken practice sword falling to the ground.

    She must have grabbed it while I was distracted, the thought flitted through my mind like a scampering mouse.

    I looked up to see Valda lunging towards me, claws outstretched, while more flames danced between her teeth. I was struck in that moment by how fiercely beautiful the scaled woman was, before my survival instincts kicked in and I slammed both of my forearms together, elbow to elbow, as they flowed and changed once more.

    Digging my feet in, I shoved forward to meet Valda¡¯s charge as my arms merged together into a single plate of armored chitin that I slammed into her like I was driving forward a shield.

    A yelp and a thump were all I waited for before splitting the shield in half to spot my opponent. Valda was stumbling back from me, blinking furiously to recover from her impact with the heavy carapace. But she hadn¡¯t called her yield yet, so I used her distraction to return the favor of the surprise magical attack.

    Right behind Valda¡¯s left foot, even as she lifted it to step back, a hole opened up to accept the limb into the packed earth. Yelping in surprise, Valda fell backwards, hands flailing and eyes wide.

    Not wanting her to slam her head into the packed earth, I dove forward and caught her around the waist, my arms shifting back into actual arms to hold her up while I ordered the earth to release her foot again.

    I knew it was dumb, since she could just as easily use those claws of hers to declare a win by just putting them to my throat. I didn¡¯t want to actually hurt her, though, so I did it. Sue me. Not the first time I¡¯ve done something dumb for a pretty girl.

    Thankfully, Valda did not decide to keep the fight going. Instead, she straightened her arms to actually keep her claws away from my bare skin. When I returned her to her feet and stepped back, she was staring at me rather intently, her brow furrowed.

    ¡°I can understand why you were holding back before,¡± Valda said after a moment of studying me. ¡°But if you can do that, why in the world are you worried about grappling and fighting with claws?¡±

    I shrugged before I answered, wiping sweat from my forehead in the process and looking around for where my shirt had ended up.

    ¡°I like to keep my options open, and you never know when learning something new might be helpful. I have a duty to protect my charges, after all.¡±

    When I had located my shirt and looked back at Valda, I found her wearing an amused smile with her forearms crossed over her chest, the claws of her left hand tapping lightly against the scales on the back of her right. One eyebrow slowly rose and she glanced over towards Rieka, who was grinning broadly.

    ¡°I will say this,¡± Valda drawled slowly before looking back at me. ¡°I am glad this was only a sparring match and not an official duel. You surprised me quite thoroughly.¡±

    A moment later, the edges of my vision flashed, and a message scrolled across it.

    Assist your contracted companions, Jane Carsan and Rieka Coldeye, with impressing Lady Valda Ironclaw so she will continue to train with you.

    Reward - 150 SP

    COMPLETE

 Chapter 95

    ¡°I still can¡¯t get over how well you handled Valda in the fight the other day!¡± Kassandra¡¯s cheer was infectious as the dwarf lamia slithered along at my side, grinning happily while she swayed.

    ¡°It was just sparring,¡± I reminded her carefully. ¡°If we¡¯d been in an actual fight, I¡¯m sure there would have been injuries all around. She spent most of Wednesday kicking my butt.¡±

    It was now Friday, two days having passed since my sparring with Valda, and my lovers had decided they wanted a dinner date in town to take a bit of a break from the training. I wasn¡¯t about to decline.

    ¡°That¡¯s not what Rieka told me,¡± Kassandra insisted, leaning forward to shoot the princess in question a smirk.

    ¡°That¡¯s because you just wanted to hear about how the fight was when they went all out, Kass,¡± Rieka said sarcastically, but I saw the amused twinkle in her ice-blue eyes. ¡°You didn¡¯t want to hear about all the boring training.¡±

    ¡°Well yeah, that¡¯s boring!¡± Kassandra chirped, flipping her mane of red curls over one shoulder negligently, her nose rising to the air.

    I chuckled, watching the amusing interplay between these two as they continued to flip comments back and forth. It was always so nice to see the easy camaraderie that my girls had, having been friends for so long.

    Maybe even more than friends, I thought when the memory of our little threesome floated through my mind and I remembered just how at ease the two of them were together. I know that some folks think that if it¡¯s two girls together, it¡¯s not cheating, but I do hope they¡¯ll talk to me about it if they decide to get up to something while I¡¯m not here. Healthy communication and all that.

    Kassandra¡¯s next question caught me by surprise.

    ¡°So, what did you want to talk to the two of us about? Something fun, I hope?¡± Kassandra had latched onto my left arm, dragging my hand down into her cleavage while she clung to me as we made our way down the road that lay between Juneau and Kintos.

    The sudden question, and the track my mind had been racing down previously, caused my thoughts to seize up and my brain to begin to overheat.

    ¡°Ah¡­ uh¡­ wha?¡±

    ¡°I think you broke him, Kass. Maybe take his hand out of your tits before you ask him questions?¡± teased Rieka with a smirk.

    ¡°You¡¯d be surprised how eloquent our Liam can be while he¡¯s between my tits,¡± Kassandra replied with a stuck out tongue to punctuate her statement.

    Kassandra¡¯s blatant innuendo and the smirking banter between the two worked together to hit the reset button and remind me that I hadn¡¯t been wondering out loud about if these two might start hooking up without me.

    I trust them, I reminded myself. And they know that I don¡¯t judge. I¡¯ll just remind them later, to make sure. Both that I trust them and that we can talk about anything.

    Putting aside that thought, I dragged my mind back onto the other subject that had been floating around my thoughts for the last few days, ever since I¡¯d gotten the awards from the System as well as opened up new abilities.

    ¡°Yeah, sorry about that. Got distracted by a certain mischief-maker,¡± I twiddled the fingers of the hand Kassandra had stuffed into her shirt, making the dwarf lamia giggle and then moan playfully.

    ¡°Save that for after dinner, Liam!¡± Kassandra ordered, the heat in her voice adding to the flush on her cheeks to show that she, too, was looking forward to our after-dinner entertainment.

    ¡°If you insist, Nugget,¡± I cupped one of the breasts gently with my hand, getting another quiet squeal from the dwarf lamia.

    ¡°Anyway. I had a new power open up the other day, actually several, but I wanted to talk to you two about one of them in particular.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Rieka¡¯s ears perked up at this. My wolf-eared princess was always interested in learning more about how the System dispensed my powers and what they all could do.

    ¡°Yeah. I finished out my current tier of Manipulate Element¡ªthe ¡®lesser¡¯ rank¡ªand it opened up the moderate one now. But in doing that, there was another option too. Something that caught my attention based on what you two had been saying about Shayla¡¯s magic.¡±

    ¡°Liam! Did you get the ability to use light magic too?!¡± Kassandra¡¯s cooing and grinding of her breasts into my hand abruptly came to a stop as she tugged me to a halt with the arm she had captive. I turned my attention back to my dwarf lamia to find her staring up at me with an intense gaze and only a faint blush on her freckled cheeks to show her previous teasing still affected her.

    ¡°I got the option to access it¡ª¡± I was cut off by Kassandra¡¯s excited squeal, which was loud enough to send echoes across the countryside as the late afternoon sunlight drenched the waving fields of grass that surrounded the distant shape of Kintos. Before that excited squeal could fade away, she was already talking in a rapid patter of excitement, wiggling back and forth enticingly. The motion sent alluring jiggles through the expanse of exposed, freckled cleavage that had recently entrapped my hand, which drove my brain spiraling off track again.

    ¡°Ohmygods! That is so awesome! I heard that Shayla was believed to be a once in a century fluke, and you have access to light magic! That will be so helpful from now on! Wait, you said you have the option. Why haven¡¯t you selected it?¡±

    ¡°Kass, you need to give him a chance to actually answer your questions,¡± Rieka laughed. ¡°You should be used to Liam breaking the rules at this point. I¡¯m more curious about what you meant by the ¡®option¡¯ to select it. That sounded like there was more to it.¡±

    ¡°There was,¡± I said, turning to my lovely princess with a snort of amusement. ¡°What unlocked was a new entry: Manipulate Element (Primal). It lets me select one of four schools of primal magic to then add that school to the list I can pick from the Manipulate Element (Minor) tier. But it comes with some limitations.¡±

    Now both of my girls were staring at me in shock. Kassandra¡¯s slitted brown eyes were wide behind her spectacles, and the fur on Rieka¡¯s ears and tail had puffed up.

    Yeah, I kinda figured this would be their reaction¡­ I mentally sighed and wrapped an arm around Rieka to pull her into moving while using a hand on Kassandra¡¯s back because her shorter height wouldn¡¯t let me do the same for her.

    ¡°Before you two freak out again, the Manipulate Element (Primal) opens up access to four schools: light, dark, time, and entropy. But they are mutually exclusive. If I take light, I lose access to dark forever. Same with time and entropy. So I wanted to ask you two what you thought about it, if I should take one or two of them, and which I should take.¡±

    ¡°Liam¡­ this is¡­¡± Kassandra breathed in surprise, blinking furiously behind her spectacles. ¡°I don¡¯t even know where to begin. Have you asked your case-wokker?¡±

    I smothered a laugh as she mangled the term. It was clearly one of the ones that didn¡¯t have an equivalent in their language, so I ruffled her hair and corrected her gently.

    ¡°It¡¯s ¡®case-worker¡¯, love. And no, I wanted to ask you two about your thoughts first, then discuss it with Cariad and Cerebaton. You two are my partners, friends, and my lovers. Your opinions matter the most to me.¡±

    This got a dual ¡®aww¡¯ from both girls and they sandwiched me in a hug from either side. A hug that included more than a bit of groping from Kassandra¡¯s side, and some gentle kisses from Rieka¡¯s side.

    When we separated and got moving again, the girls began to discuss the merits and negatives of the four options. Primal magic was not something that was well known or studied, so they only had the most basic knowledge of it, and most of what they knew revolved around the first two, so that took us until we reached the gates of the town.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    ¡°Light and dark magic still need a lot of study,¡± Kassandra said with a sigh. ¡°Shayla was telling me that a lot of the spells she uses are family knowledge, as her great grandfather was a light mage too. Dark¡­ I think the professors said we had a sorcerer that could use dark magic a few decades ago. I remember it coming up in history class, but I wasn¡¯t paying much attention.¡±

    ¡°Oh? What was distracting you at the time?¡± I teased my lamia, shifting the hand that had rested on her back to stroke the outer edge of her ear, sending a shiver down her back that traveled all the way along her serpentine body.

    ¡°Your hard co¡ª¡±

    ¡°Kass!¡± Rieka interrupted, shooting the redheaded serpent woman a glare as we approached the gate. ¡°Not in public like this. I know that you don¡¯t really care about a lot when Liam is involved, but please?¡±

    ¡°Fiiine,¡± Kassandra said with mock-annoyance. ¡°If you insist, Princess.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s asking nicely, Kass,¡± I reminded my redheaded menace. She smirked up at me with a wink.

    ¡°I know, Liam. I just have to keep poking Rieka to ensure she doesn¡¯t get too uptight. It was hard enough getting her to relax the first time.¡±

    Rieka huffed in annoyance and pouted at both of us as we passed the guards at the gate. As the sun was still out, the gates weren¡¯t closed yet. The guards didn¡¯t even stop us, only glancing at the girls to note the badges that marked them as students of Juneau before relaxing again and resuming their posts, propping up the walls.

    ¡°I was not that bad,¡± Rieka grumbled as we followed the cobblestone street deeper into the city.

    ¡°You were pretty bad,¡± giggled Kassandra. ¡°But back to what we were talking about. The decisions are hard. If you pick light, then you can help teach Shayla new spells, but if you pick dark, it covers something that we don¡¯t have access to.¡±

    ¡°What about time and entropy? You ladies haven¡¯t said virtually anything about those two,¡± I asked, using the hand on Kassandra¡¯s shoulder to guide her to one side so that there was room for the cart I saw approaching to get by without getting close to her.

    ¡°That¡¯s because I¡¯ve never really heard of those being practiced,¡± Rieka said earnestly, her ears perking up again. ¡°It would be fascinating to study. Does the time school actually allow you to manipulate time, traveling back and forth? Or does it let you alter probability? The ¡®primal¡¯ elements were thought to only be light and dark, as legends state they were the first things to exist when the gods came into being and then shaped the world,¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m more interested in that entropy one,¡± Kassandra took the opportunity of me pulling her to one side to snuggle into my hip despite the crowds of villagers that flowed around us. ¡°That was what we saw before, what scared your case-worker.¡± I smiled at the effort my lover put into making sure she pronounced the word correctly, squeezing her shoulder affectionately before releasing her.

    ¡°Yes. From what I understand from my homeworld, entropy is labeled as the ¡®end of all things¡¯ or the gradual decline into disorder that will eventually bring about the end of the universe. Basically, energy is slowly but surely fading away from the universe, causing entropy to grow. From what we saw, that thing literally caused organized things, like physical matter, to dissolve into chaos. It wasn¡¯t destroying them.¡± I shivered at that particular thought, remembering what the daemons had told me their bodies do to convert matter they consumed or touched into energy they could use. ¡°But it was causing them to fall apart and enter a state of disorder where they basically ceased to be functional.¡±

    ¡°That would make for quite the potent weapon. And if time is supposed to be the exclusive counterbalance to entropy, it makes me wonder what that one can do even more¡­¡± Rieka¡¯s words sent a chill up my spine and I had to fight the grimace that wanted to form on my face.

    ¡°Liam?¡± A perky voice from my right drew the attention of all three of us. Glancing that direction, I spotted the tufted tip of a tail waiving back and forth at eye level for me, which I followed down to the familiar smiling face of Jane. The mouse kin woman had a stack of books clutched to her chest, trying to stuff them all into a hip pouch while working her way down a set of shallow steps that led up from a basement shop.

    ¡°Jane, how are you¡ªwoop!¡± I started to say, waving with a smile as she tried to wave, bag, and scamper up the stairs at the same time. This sort of action inevitably ended up with the energetic mouse woman tripping on a stair and starting to tumble forward into a fall.

    I was moving before I really had a chance to think, slipping from between my lovers and throwing myself out to catch her. My right arm stretched out, Shape-Shifting acting on instinct as it added length to the limb and spread my hand out to catch Jane before she slammed face-first into the street. Two of her books landed on the cobblestones, but I would much rather they do that than have her face meet the same fate.

    ¡°Jane! Are you okay?¡± Rieka was the one to speak up as both my girls hurried over to check on their friend. Jane flinched at her words, grimacing as she looked up at Rieka with regret, clearly just now realizing I wasn¡¯t alone.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, prin¡­ I mean Rieka. I didn¡¯t mean to ignore either of you,¡± Jane glanced between my two lovers, her tail flicking anxiously as she steadied herself, leaning into my arm for support as I reversed the shift when I finally got within normal reach of the mouse woman.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, Jane. Liam kinda does stand out in a crowd after all,¡± Kassandra was quick to reassure the smaller woman, scooping her dropped books up from the ground and giving them a quick dusting off before holding them out to Jane. ¡°I mean, he¡¯s just so handsome!¡±

    Kassandra¡¯s words had the mouse woman blushing and ducking her head before sneaking a glance at me. I did my best to just smile reassuringly at her.

    ¡°You okay? Didn¡¯t whack your knee or anything?¡± I asked and Jane nodded quickly, accepting her books back from Kassandra one by one and getting them tucked into the satchel at her side. Rieka stood watch at her back, urging those passersby that were staring at our group to get back about their business with the liberal application of a cool glare.

    ¡°Yes. Sorry about that again. I got distracted. I found several new books on wind magic that I just had to get so I can study to keep up with all of you.¡±

    Jane spoke in her normal rapid patter, but the tufty tip of her tail flicked back and forth rapidly. That was a sign of anxiety that I¡¯d noted from the small woman over the last few weeks. Thankfully, I wasn¡¯t the only one learning to read our newest companion¡¯s tells, either.

    Kassandra smiled at Jane as she handed over the last of the books.

    ¡°You are doing just fine keeping up with us, Jane. Don¡¯t you worry about that. Just focus on making sure you don¡¯t burn yourself out, okay? This is a marathon, not a sprint after all. Sure, we have exams coming up, but there is still another term after this one before any of us even finish the apprentice courses.¡±

    ¡°I just don¡¯t want to get left behind again¡­¡± the worry was thick in Jane¡¯s tone as she spoke, but she perked up when Rieka laid a hand on her shoulder to reassure her.

    ¡°As long as you don¡¯t start slacking off in class, then you have nothing to worry about,¡± I chipped in as well. ¡°I¡¯ve seen how hard you work and the practice you do when we train together. Keep that up and you¡¯ll do just fine.¡± I gave the much smaller woman a wink that made her blush only intensify, and Jane ducked her head to look away. Thankfully, the thrashing of her tail stilled, at least.

    ¡°So what are you three up to?¡± Jane asked weakly, clearly trying to change the subject.

    ¡°Liam is taking us on a date,¡± Kassandra said with an impish grin. Jane¡¯s head came up in response to that and she stared at the dwarf lamia in disbelief.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s not joking, Jane,¡± Rieka added gently, patting the mouse kin woman on the shoulder. ¡°We were going to walk the market and then go have dinner. If you want to join us for the first half, you are welcome to tag along.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I couldn¡¯t! No! I appreciate the offer though,¡± Jane squeaked, her voice running high in surprise as she dipped her head in a quick bow, bouncing from foot to foot. ¡°I should let you three get back to your evening. I just saw Liam and wanted to say hello, since I figured one of the others was there, too. I hope you three have a great evening!¡±

    Given that Jane looked like she was about to sprint away to escape the awkwardness, I could understand her panic. Unintentionally crashing a date was awkward enough, but with the addition of the fact it was three people, and one of them was a princess, no doubt made it even more awkward.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, Jane,¡± I said gently, squatting down, so I was on a level with her and not looming over the much smaller woman instead. Kassandra, of course, immediately took advantage of the opportunity to throw her arm around my neck and pull herself against my side. I did my best to ignore the sensation of Kassandra¡¯s breasts squishing into my ribs while I met Jane¡¯s eyes. ¡°You really are welcome if you want to hang out with us for a while. But if you have things to do, I¡¯m not going to impose on you. Your time is your own, and I know that you have a life and passions to pursue besides interacting with me as my summoner.¡±

    The mouse-eared woman¡¯s eyes locked with mine, and she stared silently at me for several long moments before nodding slowly. Her long tail bounced once above her head, almost like a pen dotting a lowercase I, and she smiled a moment later.

    ¡°Thank you, Liam. I¡¯ll keep that in mind. Maybe next time? I do have some homework to get done after all, so I need to get back to Juneau.¡±

    ¡°Be careful on the road, Jane. Take one of the carriages, okay?¡± Rieka said, holding her hand out to Jane. The mouse-eared woman nodded with a small smile at Rieka, accepting the handshake and I saw a sparkle of a coin passing between them.

    That is so like my princess, I thought with a small smile. The carriage ride isn¡¯t that expensive, nor is the road that dangerous, but she¡¯d still rather throw around a bit of money to make sure a friend is safe. I was about to offer to escort her back to Juneau myself, but this is a delicate balance between letting Jane do her own thing and making sure we look out for each other.

    ¡°Thank you, all of you. I hope you have a pleasant evening.¡± This time, Jane¡¯s voice was more confident and she dipped a shallow bow to each of us before scampering off.

    ¡°She¡¯s just so cute,¡± Kassandra murmured, watching the other woman leave.

    ¡°Down, Kass,¡± Rieka ordered playfully. ¡°You¡¯ve got Liam to drool over right now, so don¡¯t get distracted.¡±

    ¡°You are right!¡± Kassandra cheered, and before I could say anything, my dwarf lamia used my squatting position to crawl her way up onto my back, wrapping her thick, scaled body around my waist. Once she was satisfied with her perch, wrapped around me and with her tits pressed firmly into the back of my head, Kassandra let out a cheer, ¡°onward!¡±

    ¡°Not again,¡± I heard Rieka sigh, though I could see the amused smile on her noble face when I shot a glance her way before rising with my snuggly backpack.

 Chapter 96

    Having spent so long struggling to get by, working in a shitty job, and having to put up with so much bullshit to make ends meet gave me a strong sense of work ethic. That translated into my need to be up relatively early each morning, being productive. Either by working on my Shape-Shifting or the Manipulate Element practice I¡¯d been doing recently.

    So far, none of the sales I¡¯d put up on Bitsy had sold, but that wasn¡¯t surprising at their value. I couldn¡¯t rush things. I knew that it was going to be a trickle at first until the brand built a name and a reputation. In the meantime, I had to continue practicing and building my skills so I could come up with new designs that could sell

    With Manipulate Element currently maxed, and me having not bought the next rank yet, it really only left Shape-Shifting to practice and drill with in the mornings if I wanted to actually train, and the core skill was still obstinately stuck at a mastery rating of nine-hundred and twenty out of one-thousand. The ticker hadn¡¯t budged in weeks, and I was debating trying to gamble with my remaining pure mana crystals to see if I could push it up the last bit to rank up.

    I was currently holding several thousand SP still, and unsure of what to spend it on. During dinner the previous night, Kassandra and Rieka had batted back and forth the different types of magic I should look into with my new access to the primal schools, but we made no further headway in deciding which way to go, as they both had good points to make.

    And this was how I ended up awake with the sun, sprawled in Kassandra¡¯s bed while pinned down by my scaled lover being sprawled over my chest, while Rieka lay curled up between my legs, using my right thigh as a pillow. Awake, and unhappy to be so because both my lovers were still sleeping so peacefully.

    Shifting just a bit, I stretched out my left leg and wiggled my toes before relaxing again while I stared at the beautifully painted ceiling that hung over Kassandra¡¯s bed. The faint threads of sunlight that managed to creep past the curtains were chasing each other across the ceiling, an action that sent delicate streamers of illumination over the pale paint and dark hardwoods of the molding.

    Will the idea work? I turned it over in my mind again. The thought had been haunting my idle moments since the power had presented itself to me, and I had wanted it to be a surprise. I should just ask Cariad.

    Sighing quietly, the action caused the mountain of red curls draped over my chest to stir slightly. As this was the only thing concealing the lush form of my lover who was currently pretending to be a blanket on top of me, I puffed once or twice more playfully until Kassandra gave a quiet groan and shifted, burrowing deeper into my chest while her muscled tail squeezed me once in a sleepy hug before she stilled again.

    Deciding not to tease my lovers and let them sleep¡ªI¡¯d certainly kept them up late enough the previous night¡ªI closed my eyes to focus more intently on the message I was composing to send to another of the gorgeous women in my life.

    Though, unlike the others, you¡¯re likely to melt if you touch Cariad. Also, she¡¯s the only one that you have only just been flirting with, I reminded myself as I opened up our message history.

    Liam

    Hey Cari, sorry to message you so early in the day¡ªwell, it¡¯s early for me at least¡ªbut I had something I wanted to ask you. I recently hit another milestone with the System and it opened up some ability options that I¡¯m both curious about and worried over. I¡¯d been planning to bring it up at my next training match with Cerebaton, but I figured you might need to do some digging, so I should alert you ahead of time.

    Like usual, Cariad was quick to respond to my message, something that made me wonder if whatever messaging setup the System used had her personal number rather than her work one.

    Cariad

    Morning Liam! And no worries, I was already up and getting started on the day. I got the alert about the threshold reward. Congratulations on that, by the way. The System keeps a lot of stuff to itself, privacy reasons and the like, so I can¡¯t exactly see your power set when I open up the interface on my end. But feel free to ask me anything. If I don¡¯t know the answer, we can always ask Mr. Cerebaton. He may act grumpy more often than not, but he¡¯s happy to help out.

    Liam

    Grumpy is putting it lightly. Still, I appreciate that both of you are willing to help me with this. So, rather than beating around the bush, I¡¯ll just say it outright. The System offered me something called Manipulate Element (Primal) and it gives me access to some types of magic I¡¯m hesitant to embrace without asking first. The four it gives me the option to choose from are: light, dark, time, and entropy. You can guess which one makes me nervous.

    While I waited for Cariad to respond, I adjusted my arms slightly so that my left hand could stroke lightly through Kassandra¡¯s hair, enjoying the feeling of her soft curls beneath my fingers while she made happy little noises in her sleep. My right hand cupped the back of Rieka¡¯s head, with my thumb slowly tracing the edge of one of her pointed ears as she nuzzled into her pillow as well. I might be awake far earlier than my girls, but that didn¡¯t mean I couldn¡¯t enjoy having them close.

    I was just daydreaming about what it would be like to spend all my time here on Cortha with my girls when Cariad¡¯s response arrived.

    Cariad

    Liam, first of all I want to congratulate you. Gaining access to the primal schools is not something that happens for most Travelers. Usually, you would have to aspect your mana to something adjacent, and it would normally give you the option for a single school. Not the four core schools at once. It makes me wonder what in human genetic history is prompting this. You were given Shape-Shifting as part of your initial package, and a wide range of magic too. I feel like there is a lot that is going unsaid right now and it concerns me. But that¡¯s not something you need to worry about. I¡¯m going to guess that your concern is about the entropy school that was offered, and what it might do?

    Liam

    Got it in one, Cari. I know how¡­ emphatically you and Cerebaton reacted when we found the entropic-aligned monster wandering around in that ruin and I wanted to ask you about it. I won¡¯t take the power if you advise me against it. Also, I can only put the ¡®time¡¯ school on the same tier as it, given that it is as equally mysterious. My girls didn¡¯t have any information on them, really. So I figured I¡¯d turn to my favorite daemon for advice.

    Cariad

    Favorite am I? Mr. Cerebaton will be so disappointed.

    I smirked at her teasing tone in the message. I could easily see Cariad shooting me a wink while sticking her tongue out, blue-green eyes glittering with amusement.

    Liam

    He shouldn¡¯t be. He knows you are outstanding, after all. If you hadn¡¯t told me he was your boss, I¡¯d assume he was your brother with how protective he is of you.

    Cariad

    Stop that, Mr. Cerebaton is just my boss. I don¡¯t think I could actually work for my family. It¡¯d be way too awkward, and it always feels like, with family, they expect you to work extra for no real compensation. But back to your point! What do you know about entropy, specifically?

    Liam

    Entropy is considered to be the heat-death of the universe. The eventual chaotic end-state of all matter where all things will decline into disorder is what I remember finding online when I researched it.

    Cariad

    Spot on with most of that, but your phrasing isn¡¯t quite on target. Rather than disorder, you should call it ¡®chaos.¡¯ Which I know means the same thing in your language, but it¡¯s the more recognized name that is in the System database. Entropy is chaos, and that heat-death you mentioned is the ultimate form of chaos. A point where all things have intermixed to where nothing is distinguishable and only chaos remains. It¡¯s the effect that surrounds daemon¡¯s bodies and causes us to dissolve organized matter when we touch it. Why such an effect doesn¡¯t cause our own bodies, which are a collection of organized matter, to dissolve is something I don¡¯t know the answer to. I just know it¡¯s magical, and magic is weird.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Liam

    Fair enough. But what about time? Rieka asked about that one and suggested some interesting ideas, but since it¡¯s set as opposition to entropy, I¡¯m expecting a connection like ¡®light versus dark,¡¯ but I¡¯m not seeing it.

    Cariad

    That¡¯s because you lack a point of perspective. Time is a means of measurement that is applicable to almost all things. And if you can measure something, you can organize it. Even entropy can be measured over a period of time, and thus categorized and organized. So if entropy is chaos, that makes time the agent of order.

    Liam

    That is confusing, but also makes sense in a very strange way. So what kind of abilities can I expect to see from these powers? Earth magic gave me the ability to manipulate earth itself, either by shifting it, compacting it, or molding it. How does that equate to order and chaos, or time and entropy?

    Cariad

    That is something you¡¯d have to experiment with. You¡¯ll want to be very careful of touching either effect too, as both can harm you even in small amounts. I believe it would fall into the ¡®do not lick the science¡¯ if I understand euphemisms from your homeworld. :)

    I snickered at that, which caused Kassandra to stir again. A gentle stroke of her hair calmed her once more and her breathing returned to normal. Rieka didn¡¯t move, other than her ears flicking on occasion as I softly rubbed their base. With an effort of will, I held back the mischief that Kassandra had been interjecting into my personality and didn¡¯t offer to lick Cariad¡¯s science, as I had no idea how the attractive daemon woman would react to that. Our flirting had been reserved so far, but I did find her attractive. Only the perils of physically touching her prevented me from considering doing more.

    Liam

    So you know that it is dangerous, but can¡¯t go beyond that?

    Cariad

    Liam, you are asking what will happen if you start meddling with intrinsic building blocks of reality. As a daemon, I carry a bit of entropy with me at all times. That doesn¡¯t mean I can actually project it like a weapon. But if the System offered the ability to you, then it has information on it and believes that it will not cause some kind of cascading effect that would destroy reality as we know it. Trust your instincts on this.

    Liam

    My instincts told me to ask you and Cerebaton before making any decisions.

    Cariad

    Smart instincts. I¡¯ll do some extra research and talk to Cerebaton to see if he knows anything specific. If we can figure out something for you, I¡¯ll let you know. Being cautious about this isn¡¯t a bad thing. I looked up the entry for Manipulate Element (Primal) in the System and it mentioned that they are mutually exclusive. So you won¡¯t have the ability to use the other side to fix something, and it¡¯s not as easy to shut off entropic decay by just dumping water over it as it would be for a fire. :P

    I snickered again at Cariad¡¯s cute emoji she included in her message, and was about to formulate a response when I felt something soft and wet against my right thigh. I wasn¡¯t able to see past the barrier made by Kassandra¡¯s thick mane of red hair, but I could feel Rieka stirring slightly. The wet sensation came again as her head turned to press her face into my leg, and I deduced she was kissing my thigh lightly.

    ¡°Liam,¡± Rieka¡¯s voice was low and a little raspy from sleep. ¡°You awake?¡±

    I didn¡¯t respond verbally, but I used the hand gently stroking her ear to tickle it, getting a sleepy giggle from my blonde lover.

    ¡°Oh, is this for me?¡± I heard Rieka murmur a moment before the soft sensation of lips pressed to my manhood, which had been doing his morning sentry duty given the amount of luscious female flesh pressed to me.

    As I felt Rieka¡¯s lips kiss their way up my shaft to wrap around my head with a wet noise, I had to suppress a groan of need as my little soldier came to a sharp attention at her affection. Deciding that I could worry later about the new potential for power that could unravel reality around me, I tangled the hand I had on Rieka¡¯s head into her hair and gently guided her down onto my morning wood while she hummed happily.

    <><><>

    ¡°Mother is looking into getting more of them for us, but it will take time. I told her what sort of budget we had, and while she was curious how I¡¯d gotten that kind of funding, she didn¡¯t question it,¡± Rieka was explaining several hours later while I and my four summoners sat around a small table in Rieka¡¯s rooms.

    Rieka had been rather insistent about getting her treat that morning and the more vigorous motions had woken Kassandra, who also insisted on a turn. By the time the two of them were satisfied again, it was already late morning, and we needed to meet up with the other two girls to discuss our schedule for the next two weeks leading up to the actual competition. Because of that, we decided to shift the meeting to Rieka¡¯s rooms, which would definitely smell fresher than Kassandra¡¯s did at the moment.

    I had told the girls that I still had the extra pure mana crystals that Rieka had given me, having held onto them for now to see if there was a more efficient use for them than just boosting my point totals.

    The small glass bottle now sat in the center of the fine oak table, the nine clear stones inside glittering like diamonds in the light of the day that streamed in through the window.

    ¡°I¡¯m still surprised that you are asking for our input on this,¡± Jane was leaning forward on the table, a stack of parchment pages in front of her that she was making notes on while we all talked. The mouse kin woman had elected herself as the scribe of the group, taking notes on what we suggested and offering to draw up a schedule once we had things figured out.

    ¡°Why would I not? The whole summoning class thing was supposed to be you helping to raise a summoned creature to be a companion. Sure, I have to agree to the things you want to train me to do, but that doesn¡¯t mean I shouldn¡¯t include you all in the decision-making process for my powers.¡± I shrugged and smiled down at the mouse-eared woman, who blushed only slightly before nodding in understanding.

    ¡°You mentioned that your Shape-Shifting is getting close to its next threshold. Why not use a few of these to push it to that edge?¡± Kassandra asked from her spot between Rieka and Jane. My mischievous noodle had decided to give up her spot on my left to Shayla, something the moth woman was quite happy for as she sat close enough that we were nearly touching as she studied the stones. When Shayla had first arrived in the room, right after our greeting hugs, she had settled into a spot on my left and to the side, holding onto the back of my sleeve with one hand until we settled at the table.

    The whole ¡®moth clinging to me¡¯ thing is so adorable¡­ I thought with a smile while watching Shayla study the stones intently. It¡¯s like she doesn¡¯t even realize she¡¯s doing it, she just settles in and likes to have a hand on or near me. After carrying Kassandra like a backpack the other day, I can only imagine Shayla would be just as happy to perch there too, though with her size I dunno if it would work.

    ¡°Liam?¡± Kassandra¡¯s prodding drew my attention back to the table, and I blinked, looking around to realize that three of the four girls were staring at me now.

    ¡°Sorry, I got distracted thinking. I¡¯m hanging on to them because of their rarity. If I need just a little boost to buy a skill, then I can use a few. When I use them to boost mastery, it is randomized so I don¡¯t know for sure what I¡¯ll get. It could just boost my Ward Companion skill, which can easily level up from use right now. We just need to get it to discharge before I reset it.¡±

    That was something else we had learned over the last few days. I¡¯d tried to reapply the warding effect, but it refused to take since a ward was already in place. It took a concerted effort to actually get the ward to trigger. Kassandra tossing stuff at Rieka playfully wouldn¡¯t make it happen. So during our training, whoever I was with would spar with each other to get the wards to discharge so I could replace them. These only got trickles of mastery at the moment, but it would add up.

    ¡°That makes sense to be careful, but holding all of them is not efficient, I think,¡± Shayla said, not taking her eyes away from the stones. ¡°I think you should reserve three of them for emergencies and use the others. Either to gain more of your ¡®points¡¯ to buy powers, or to boost the ones you have. You won¡¯t be wasting them either way, but sitting here without being used is a waste. If they give you something you need to practice, then you should be practicing now.¡±

    ¡°She makes a good point,¡± Jane added thoughtfully, tapping the shaft of the metallic pen she was using against the table lightly. ¡°At the moment, our training with you is whatever tasks we can come up with, time on the magic range, and the handful of sparring matches we¡¯ve been able to work out with Lady Valda.¡±

    ¡°Which I appreciate quite a bit. Having someone else to spar with, especially in hand-to-hand, is a blessing.¡±

    ¡°And I know Rachel is learning from you every time she comes by to watch you work,¡± Kassandra teased with a grin, her slitted eyes sparkling behind her spectacles. The elf woman made a habit of coming by to talk whenever we were in the magic training range, always listening raptly when I described the processes I went through with my spells. Her not approaching me to form a summoner bond had surprised me, but I didn¡¯t push the issue. I had more than enough to manage right now with the four summoners I was dealing with currently.

    ¡°Shayla? Is everything okay? You¡¯ve been staring at those for some time now.¡± The concern in Rieka¡¯s voice was obvious and Shayla blushed, leaning back from the glass bottle full of shimmering crystals and finally looking away.

    ¡°They just look so familiar. I remember my mother having something like this years ago before we moved. But I haven¡¯t seen it since. I¡¯ve been trying to remember more about it, to figure out if what she had was a gem or one of these mana crystals. If she knew where to get them, it might help Liam.¡± Shayla said the last part shyly, darting a glance in my direction as her antennae wafted gently back and forth. Her blush only intensified when I patted the hand currently holding onto my sleeve comfortingly.

    ¡°Well, if you do figure it out, let us know? Even if we have to import them, it might come in handy.¡± Shayla nodded in agreement with my request, still not letting go of the light grip she had on my sleeve.

    ¡°Anyway, let¡¯s figure out the plans for the next two weeks. We need to make sure we get Liam as ready as possible for the competition. Gods and magic know I need the boost to get my grades up,¡± Jane sighed. ¡°Those months of fighting with the sylph really tanked my numbers. I wish I¡¯d thought to approach you three sooner.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, Jane. I¡¯m sure Liam will do great in the competition and blow everyone else away!¡± Kassandra¡¯s cheerful enthusiasm quickly carried all of us along, and we set to planning with fervor. I focused especially hard on the planning, as Rieka¡¯s hand on my lap, under the table, did its best to distract me as she played her fingers over my crotch.

 Chapter 97

    ¡°Liam, you have picked up what I can teach you with a sword and a mace with surprising speed.¡± Cerebaton¡¯s blunt statement brought me to a halt as I reset for our next round.

    It was another Tuesday night, and I had spent most of the day working through my thoughts with the different powers to take¡ªknowing I¡¯d need to make a decision soon¡ªand had been looking forward to the mindless exertion of working with Cerebaton. One of the things I hadn¡¯t expected to miss so much from working at Rykol Foods was that physical exertion. I missed it less when I spent time with my girls, and not just because Kassandra and Rieka did their best to wear me out, either.

    ¡°That sounds suspiciously like you might be about to stop training with me?¡± I asked, letting the wood sword I held settle onto my shoulder. I didn¡¯t relax quite yet. After fighting with Valda the other day and learning under Cerebaton for the last several months, I knew better than to relax while we still were sparring.

    ¡°It is, unfortunately,¡± Cerebaton said with a huff while planting the tip of his wooden sword into the deck of the gazebo we used to train at in the park. ¡°I was able to get approval to train you like this as part of the compensation for the accident that led to you becoming a traveler. With you having crossed the second threshold in the System, the higher-ups are pressuring me to cut the additional costs of these training sessions.¡±

    ¡°That is fair,¡± I said with a shrug. Cerebaton looked up at me, surprise engraved on his handsome features. Again, I was struck with just how much he reminded me of a young Dolph Lundgren with the aggressive chin and high cheekbones coupled with his shockingly blond hair.

    ¡°I¡¯m surprised that you are so okay with this. I half expected you to be upset,¡± Cerebaton said slowly, still not moving from his pose with hands folded on the pommel of his practice sword.

    ¡°It was going to happen, eventually. Would I prefer it if I could keep sparring with you? Of course. Do I understand that you have limitations? Totally.¡± I shrugged again with an easy smile and the big man relaxed his shoulders and slumped slightly.

    ¡°There are a few things I could still teach you, but you have absorbed the vast majority of what will matter. The fact that you are already working to improvise and add in your Shape-Shifting with your fighting means that you just need someone to spar against more than anything else. We can still meet up for that on occasion, but these formal training sessions are not something I can continue to justify with your runaway success so far.¡±

    ¡°Runaway success?¡± Cerebaton had relaxed enough now that I felt comfortable to approach and not expect to get smacked in the face with his practice sword, so I ambled over to him. The big man sighed and nodded.

    ¡°Hitting that second milestone so soon after the first was what threw the flags up for the higher-ups. If this was me training you to work with the DSR rather than just as a compensation, then I could get an extension. But that would be the only way and it¡¯d require you actually signing on as an employee. Something that your non-daemon status would make impossible.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, nothing like going into an office where the furniture itself wants to eat you, right?¡± I joked, getting a smirk from the large man.

    Cerebaton glanced around at the dark park for a long moment and sighed again before looking back at me.

    ¡°Liam, shall we call it an early night and go get a beer?¡±

    Not really having a reason beyond wanting to continue to train, and honestly I¡¯d been doing so much of that for the last two weeks that taking some time while back here on Earth sounded good¡ªI nodded.

    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s head back to my place and I¡¯ll drive us. Do you have your straw with you?¡±

    <><><>

    Cerebaton did have his straw. Apparently, it was part of a small kit that he carried with him whenever he was ¡®in the field¡¯ and according to the disguised daemon, any time he was out of his home dimension he considered that to be in the field.

    The Brass Monkey was a decent place that I enjoyed, though the last time I¡¯d been here was with Jameson and that miniature miscreant had gotten into a fight over a game of darts. I¡¯d stayed away since then to give tempers time to cool and because money had been tight. Now though, even without a job, I was doing better based on what my savings account was looking like.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got the tab tonight,¡± Cerebaton said as I angled us towards a corner of the dingy bar that was clear. For a Tuesday night, the place was fairly well populated with over a dozen people scattered around that had the tired air of regulars about them. Most sat clustered near the two threadbare pool tables, but a trio of women sat in a booth by the long window talking over drinks and finger-food.

    ¡°If you insist,¡± I said with a shrug, gesturing for Cerebaton to pick which stool he wanted. The daemon chose the seat furthest into the corner, a decision that confused me at first until I realized it was likely to minimize the chance of him casually touching something or someone and his nature dissolving it.

    ¡°Since we cut short our training session, I can bill it as a business meal. I¡¯m still irritated with my superiors for cutting my time training you short, so they can buy us a few drinks as compensation,¡± Cerebaton chuckled as he got settled.

    While I blended in fairly well with my old work boots and a battered jeans and t-shirt combo, Cerebaton stood out in his full-coverage jogging suit and gloves. If the bar had been more busy, it might have caused some problems or attracted attention, but the regulars were more focused on their individual distractions and the bartender had a glazed look in her eyes when she ambled over to take our orders. The Brass Monkey did a fair job on their burgers, so that¡¯s what I got, while Cerebaton got a loaded-fries plate to go with our beers.

    Once we had the drinks in hand and Cerebaton had inserted the odd straw he had to use into his, he held his pint glass up in one gloved hand and we clinked them together.

    ¡°To bosses who won¡¯t leave well enough alone. May they get the rewards they richly deserve,¡± Cerebaton toasted, and I couldn¡¯t help but laugh.

    You could say the girls are my bosses now, since they are the ones summoning me and giving me work. Though if they get the rewards they deserve for that, then they¡¯ll be very well off, I thought with a small smile. They are easily the best kind of bosses I¡¯d ever had.

    Once we¡¯d both had a drink from our beverages, Cerebaton leaned forward onto the bar top with a long and drawn-out sigh. I could tell that Cerebaton wanted to say something, but didn¡¯t want to pry, so I just waited.

    ¡°You know, I really do wish that I could just hire you to work for the DSR, Liam. I actually put in the paperwork to see if we could get you on the books as a contractor.¡±

    The blunt statement from the normally dour man made me blink, and I took another drink from my pint to give myself time to think. Cerebaton stared down into the dark red liquid inside his glass that still fizzed slightly from being poured.

    ¡°I take it that it wasn¡¯t approved?¡± I said after a long moment of thought.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°No, shot down by my supervisor. ¡®Travelers are too temperamental¡¯ is what she told me. I think she just didn¡¯t like the fact that she would have to come here to interview you, and she couldn¡¯t demand that you spend time in the office,¡± Cerebaton grumbled, taking another deep drink of his beer.

    I wondered for a moment if the big man was even going to be able to get drunk on alcohol from Earth, or if his unique biology would just dissolve it all inside his stomach before the chemical could make its way to his bloodstream.

    ¡°Sounds like bosses everywhere, to be honest,¡± I said instead of commenting on his drinking.

    ¡°I do my best to not be one of those bosses myself,¡± Cerebaton grunted. ¡°The people in my department seem happy enough, so I guess they prefer my way of doing things.¡±

    ¡°I know Cari looks up to you as a great boss,¡± I offered, which got a little laugh from the daemon sitting next to me.

    ¡°Miss Cariad is a great example of what a motivated employee can do. She¡¯s been working hard to help out with the workloads of her fellows, since the only case she has currently is yours.¡± The pride in Cerebaton¡¯s voice was obvious, but the reminder of Cariad¡¯s status in his department sent my mind spiraling down a line of thinking that I didn¡¯t like.

    ¡°Hey, question for you. If your boss is pressuring you to stop the extra training, then can¡¯t they also pull Cari off my case?¡±

    ¡°Not a chance,¡± Cerebaton growled, his voice dropping several registers and shaking with anger. ¡°My superior can cut me off from this, as I was already walking a line for compensation over your situation and using the excuse that you were unprepared as the reason. There is no reason they would have to give orders to change or remove someone from a case. In fact, the only one who handles that kind of arrangement in my department is me, and they would have to replace me first.¡±

    The relief that Cerebaton¡¯s words gave me was palpable, and I was about to thank him when our food arrived. Another thing I¡¯d always enjoyed about the Brass Monkey was that it had fast service. I¡¯d been to bars in the past where even appetizers took half an hour to an hour to arrive, regardless of how busy the night actually was.

    Digging into our food, the conversation turned to my recent exploits and the fruits of said labor. Cerebaton had a fair bit to say about my skill choices and some advice to give.

    ¡°Unlike Cariad, I¡¯ve seen someone weaponizing entropic energies before. It¡¯s not a pretty sight to see, but very effective. Also, your people¡¯s knowledge of it is inherently flawed, given the youth of your species.¡±

    I glanced at the bartender to make sure she wasn¡¯t close enough to catch word of Cerebaton¡¯s ¡®species¡¯ commentary. I had a ready-made excuse revolving around the idea of LARP if she did, but the dark-haired woman was leaning against the taps while doomscrolling on her phone, her back obstinately towards the rest of the room at the moment.

    Clearly not in it for the tips tonight, it seems, but there isn¡¯t really a large tipping crowd either, I thought before turning my attention back to Cerebaton.

    ¡°How so? I mean, you likely have a far stronger grip of what entropy means as it¡¯s part of your makeup.¡±

    ¡°Indeed, there is a lot that makes more sense from the other side. The inherent instability of being a living creature, which necessitates organization to survive, but somehow has a primal force that makes up a portion of our beings, which consumes and dissolves organized matter, is strange enough. It¡¯s not quite the same thing, given the whole matter-vs-antimatter debate as well, but I won¡¯t bore you with the details. But I believe your theologians have a saying about monkeys and typewriters?¡± Cerebaton paused in his description to stuff a mouthful of cheese and meat shrouded fries into his mouth and chew.

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m familiar with that one. Something about how utter chaos will eventually spit out something organized and coherent?¡±

    Cerebaton nodded, still chewing for a moment before swallowing and continuing.

    ¡°Yes, basically. Your science views entropy as the heat-death of your universe. It will eventually be the end of all things. But in reality, it is a natural state. Once everything devolves back into that primordial chaos once more, the process will then reverse and start flowing the other direction. It is something that the DSR has observed in several of the dimensions we look after already, but the process takes so long that it is simply a recorded event, not one that anyone alive has witnessed.¡±

    ¡°Okay, that is good to know. So it¡¯s not that the clock will eventually run down and everything will cease to exist then?¡±

    ¡°Yes. And the reason that I¡¯m telling you this all is more to reassure you that, if you were to choose to begin to practice such magic, it isn¡¯t going to appreciably speed up the end of your reality. Not unless you decide to start setting off cascading reactions that devour planets, and for that sort of thing to happen, you will need far more mana than your body will hold.¡±

    Cerebaton spoke with such calm confidence about actions that would destroy an entire planet that I was more than a little chilled at the idea. That kind of power was rather intimidating and made me question the intelligence of taking the power as it were.

    ¡°So you think¡ª¡±

    ¡°That you should take the primal magic option and pick up entropy. It¡¯s a powerful tool to have in your arsenal, but you need to be very aware of who and what you use it on.¡± Cerebaton shot me a sidelong look, his expression intense as he continued. ¡°You have so far displayed a level of competence and honesty that means I have no hesitation in trusting you regarding this, or for recommending it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good to know. I have been thinking it over since I mentioned it to Cari the other day.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, she brought your concerns to me as well. It¡¯s why I wanted to reassure you. Ultimately, it is your choice to make, but I think it is a solid choice.¡± Cerebaton gestured with his fork that had a load of french fries impaled on it currently. ¡°You¡¯ve already done the other half of what I would recommend, which is to raise your stats up. They contribute so much to what you are doing that they are the most effective way to give yourself a boost.¡±

    I nodded, still chewing my burger while I thought it over before shrugging. I¡¯d been keeping the idea to myself and figured it was finally time to bring it up. And as he was another person with the Shape-Shifting ability, he might know the answer to my thought.

    ¡°Hey, Cerebaton. Are you familiar with the Shape-Shifting (Elemental Alignment) ability?¡±

    The question caught the big man by surprise, and he paused with his fork halfway to his mouth. Cerebaton continued to sit there for several long moments before carefully setting the fork down and turning to look at me.

    ¡°Do you have access to that power?¡±

    Cerebaton¡¯s question was quiet, but his voice was very intense. I considered hedging, but given the last several months I¡¯d spent working with him and with Cariad, I felt like I could trust him.

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ve had access to it for a while. I just didn¡¯t buy it because I didn¡¯t see the use for it. I was worried that it would lock down the elemental manipulation, so I couldn¡¯t use it for something else. Now that I have it, I was able to test and find out that it¡¯s useful for enhancing my defense with the earth effects. I was wondering if it would¡ª¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± I blinked at Cerebaton in surprise and he waved the hand that had been holding his fork.

    ¡°Yes, it will do what you want it to. Whether it will be strong enough to do it right away, I am not sure. But it would be something to practice.¡± Cerebaton didn¡¯t look away. His full attention remained focused on my face as he waited for my response.

    ¡°You think that¡ª¡±

    ¡°If you take the ability to manipulate entropy with that power, and then combine it with Shape-Shifting (Elemental Alignment), you should be able to tinge your body with entropic energy and be able to endure touching a daemon.¡± Cerebaton¡¯s lips ticked up in a smile, but the daemon still didn¡¯t blink as he continued to watch me. ¡°I would offer my services to test it out, but I have a feeling you might already have a daemon in mind. Make sure you actually warn her first. The last thing I can imagine Cariad would want is to see you hurt. And if you hurt her¡­¡± Cerebaton let the sentence trail off with a threatening rumble to his voice.

    ¡°Come on, Cerebaton. You know me. I would never do anything that would hurt her or any of the girls I know.¡± I shot him a mock glare and the big man grinned finally and looked back at his food.

    ¡°Of course. But I would have been remiss if I didn¡¯t at least level a warning to you. I need to look out for my subordinates, after all.¡±

    ¡°That much, I can accept,¡± I replied, and then turned the conversation back towards other subjects. Though my mind continued to wander back to the potential that this could give me. Both as a weapon that would help me protect the girls, and would actually open an avenue for a connection that I had basically consigned to be impossible.

    My mind kept returning to wondering just how soft Cariad¡¯s lips had looked the last time that I had talked to her. I knew that Cerebaton was aware of my wandering thoughts from his smirk, but at least the big guy had the kindness of not actually bringing it up.

 Chapter 98

    I gave both Cerebaton¡¯s warning and his suggestion several days to percolate in my mind. One thing that kept slowing me down was the realization that, while I was undoubtedly interested in Cariad, I had a very full plate at the moment. Between the relationship I already had with Kassandra and Rieka, adding in the obvious interest that Shayla was showing and the bits and pieces I was seeing from Jane, I didn¡¯t know if I had the emotional capacity to handle something with Cariad, too.

    Honestly, you need to focus on this competition. Maybe worry about other relationships after that point. The girls need you to focus on the competition, and you need to deal with your new burgeoning business.

    I reminded myself of this fact several times a day, but it kept floating to the surface of my thoughts and distracting me no matter what I did.

    In order to diversify the offerings on my storefront, I started working more with my earth magic to shape some other items to list on the Bitsy storefront. Since I was sourcing all of my own materials myself, it meant that my costs were way down as far as production expenses. I knew that I needed to focus and get things done, but without the impending doom of potential homelessness hanging over me, it was harder than expected at times.

    The Friday after my meeting with Cerebaton, I made my decision regarding the Manipulate Element (Primal).

    ¡°Even if it doesn¡¯t combo how I hope, it¡¯s still gonna be useful. I know that creature¡¯s blood burned like hell and being able to unmake stuff would be really useful. If it works, I could bore through the rock walls around the blast doors then just seal the ends, rather than have to shape it out of the way and then have to put it back.¡± I mumbled to myself, staring at the entry on my interface once more.

    I was intensely curious about what selecting the ¡®time¡¯ school would give me the ability to do, but as I had no idea on it and no one to ask about it, I was unwilling to risk the potential gains.

    Reading the entry over again, I didn¡¯t spot anything new from what I¡¯d seen the last six times I had read it.

    Manipulate Element (Primal) - Cost: 800 SP - Select Light, Dark, Time, Entropy. User may add them to the list available at Minor level and improve as normal. The opposing element of one chosen is forever lost.

    May be chosen one additional time for one of the second set of opposing elements.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know why I¡¯m hesitating. Eight-hundred SP isn¡¯t that much anymore,¡± I muttered to myself. But I knew immediately that I was lying. I knew exactly why it was that I was hesitating. I didn¡¯t like the fact that it locked me out of another school.

    Even with the regular minor level of Manipulate Element, the phrasing was different. It just said the opposing element cannot be selected. Not that it is ¡®forever lost.¡¯ The thought bounced through my head like a DVD player screen-saver for a moment before I growled under my breath and mentally selected the power.

    Immediately, a flashing message scrolled into my view that reminded me of when I had first selected earth magic, but this one had a few choice differences and a large warning attached to it.

    By selecting the power, Manipulate Elements (Primal) the Traveler is granted access to one of the four primal powers.

    This does not force your natural mana to aspect, so if the Traveler had previous abilities from another element, it will not prevent you from using them.

    WARNING: Due to the highly conflicting nature of the primal powers, selecting one half of the pair will bar you from ever learning to manipulate the other half.

    Please select from the following:

    Light // Dark

    Time // Entropy

    As before, each of the names glowed with a color-matched hue for its power, rather than the iridescent purple of the other entries. Light was a pearly white, while Dark was pitch black and only visible because it was somehow darker than the background of the interface. Time was the color of steel and entirely uniform, while Entropy shimmered with an opalescent sheen that reminded me of a cube of bismuth.

    ¡°Well, here it goes,¡± I muttered to myself. ¡°Hope Cerebaton was right, and it doesn¡¯t make me dissolve or some shit like that.¡± Again gripping my hesitation, I selected the opalescent option of entropy and waited. I didn¡¯t have to wait for long.

    You have selected: Entropy.

    Please confirm your selection.

    Yes // No

    I sighed and hammered the ¡®yes¡¯ mentally, and everything vanished from my vision. A moment later I felt something, like the tingle of an evening chill washing around my ankles and creeping into my clothes before it sunk into my body then faded away.

    Due to the restrictions of Manipulate Element (Primal), your choice of Entropy has barred you from the school of Time magic.

    Entropy has been added to the list of options available at the minor rank of Manipulate Element.

    May your choices serve you well, Traveler.

    Flipping through the options quickly, I found and selected Manipulate Element (Minor) and hurried through the menus to select entropy as my next school of magic. Again, the interface vanished from view and left me in nothing more than the questionable darkness inside my eyebrows for a pair of heartbeats before a new message popped up.

    You have chosen: Entropy.

    As this is a Manipulate type skill, utilizing it will be different from a more structured spell-casting that you may be familiar with.

    Working with your chosen element will allow it to grow and evolve.

    Congratulations, Traveler.

    Just as before with the earth magic, I didn¡¯t really feel any different in the wake of selecting the power. But after the amount of practice I¡¯d gone through with learning to manipulate earth magic, I was sure it would be simple enough to figure out.

    I¡¯d been sitting at my kitchen table, with the various projects and bits of assorted detritus that came from setting up everything for the jewelry and other bits of product I¡¯d been trying out scattered around me. One of those was a fist-sized piece of the decorative river stones that were used to line parking lots and planter beds. I¡¯d snatched it to experiment with, but hadn¡¯t decided exactly how to go about that yet.

    Now, though, the lump of unworked stone made for a convenient target. Reaching into myself, I found the spot that my Mana Reservoir occupied and tugged on it gently. Before, when I only had the earth element, it would flow without a problem out of that place within me.

    The power paused after stirring, and I felt as if I had my mental hand wrapped around two pieces of cloth, both of which could move, but only one at a time. One felt familiar and strong, while the other was weaker and wispier. It was the second one that I focused on and pulled again.

    The power that flowed outwards felt off, and more than a bit dangerous as it flowed into my hands. Using the same mental patterns I¡¯d learned from Rachel Cedarfall while practicing earth magic, I formed a sliver of intent with the mana, only pouring a single point of mana into it, and then guided it towards the stone in front of me.

    A blot of chaos, its colors roiling and shifting in a multitude of hues, shot from my extended fingertip. It was small, about the size of a sunflower seed, but zipped across the intervening distance to slap onto the stone with a hiss. The blob sunk abruptly into the stone, boiling for a moment before vanishing in a puff of iridescent smoke and the scent of¡ªoddly enough¡ªstrudels.

    The hunk of granite, which had started out the size of my fist, now had a quarter-inch, irregular hole bored into it that was a good several inches deep. I picked the rock up and flicked on the halogen lamp that I had clipped to the table in order to illuminate my workspace. Peering into the hole, I could see that its edges were entirely smooth, though oddly irregular. The scent of strudels still hung in the air around the rock as well.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    I spent a good five or six minutes inspecting the rock, looking for any signs of the material that had been taking up the space previously.

    I know it didn¡¯t just destroy the matter. Cari and Cerebaton both have told me before that it doesn¡¯t do that, it just breaks down the bonds and divides the object into their base components. So does that mean that I have microparticles of the elements that make up granite floating around?

    I winced at that thought and mentally promised myself to be careful of things that broke down into toxic components in the future. The last thing I needed was to idly apply this energy to regular table salt and make poisonous gasses on accident. Intentionally might be useful, but by accident was something I needed to avoid.

    ¡°Okay, next step,¡± I muttered and focused on my Shape-Shifting power. It leaped to my command like a well-trained dog, and the thumb on my right hand¡ªthe one holding the stone¡ªsprouted a dense black claw rapidly. Another twist of that power in my chest and I felt it flow out and encapsulate the claw on my hand. The claw shimmered for a moment before returning to normal.

    I waited for several seconds, for any sign that the elemental alignment effect would go rogue and start hurting me. I¡¯d intentionally only shifted the outside of my thumb to the claw, leaving the interior normal. When nothing happened, I focused and tugged on the spell again, letting the imbued element encapsulate my thumb entirely.

    A brief tingle passed through my body, but when I flexed the thumb it followed my directions without issue.

    ¡°Okay, not falling off. The entropic effect is remaining constrained to the imbued flesh. Test number three then,¡± I muttered and dragged the sharp tip of the claw over the stone just underneath the bored hole.

    A hissing noise, similar to the effect from earlier when I¡¯d shot the spell at the rock, emitted from the point of contact and a swirl of iridescent smoke rose up from the stone. The claw left a narrow gouge missing from the rock as it passed, parting the granite like I had a handful of butter rather than rock.

    I could feel the difference in my Mana Reservoir though, and when I checked my interface, I could see that the effect had bled off another five points of mana from my reserves.

    ¡°Got it. Expensive as hell, but very effective. Something to keep in my back pocket then,¡± I mumbled, grimacing as I realized there was one last test I needed to complete.

    Moving hesitantly, I tapped my left index fingertip to the back of the claw and quickly checked the pad of my finger when a twinge of pain ran through me. The first layer of skin was now missing from my index finger in a section roughly as big across as a pea, and a little bit of blood was welling up now as a result.

    ¡°Okay, that confirms I have to be very careful with this power while I¡¯m using it. Got it.¡±

    <><><>

    The swirling colors faded away, and the transfer deposited me on a tiled floor a moment later.

    I glanced around to take in my surroundings. Large windows set into three of the walls illuminated the room I now stood in. Behind me, a large hanging sheet of a pale blue color that reminded me of a summer sky covered the fourth wall. All the walls were painted white as well, though it was hard to actually spot the walls because of the number of different hangings, paintings, and other decorations scattered between the windows.

    After studying my surroundings for a moment, my eyes settled on the reason that I had arrived here.

    Shayla stood between an easel that held a canvas and a table covered in small jars of paint. The large moth woman was wearing another of her flowing dresses, a buttery yellow one that matched the red and tan patterns in her hair and wings surprisingly well. I couldn¡¯t see how well it fit her though, as she had a paint-stained canvas apron over top of it and that bit of fabric hid a lot of the curves I knew the moth woman had.

    ¡°Liam! I¡¯m glad you came,¡± Shayla bounced happily, sending an alluring ripple through her body even with her cleavage so heavily restrained by the apron. Her wings pumped happily as well, the large appendages flaring out wide on either side of her before folding neatly at her back once more.

    ¡°Of course I came. One of my girls called for me,¡± I replied with a smile, crossing the few feet of distance that separated the two of us and held my arms out to Shayla. She started to open her arms for the hug, but hesitated at the last moment.

    ¡°I might get paint on your clothes,¡± Shayla murmured, her shoulders and antennae drooping sadly.

    ¡°I don¡¯t care. Besides, it doesn¡¯t look like any that you have on you is wet right now. If you want a hug, come get it.¡±

    The shy moth woman only hesitated a moment more before stepping forward and wrapping her arms around me in a hug.

    Since we were of a similar height at over six feet tall, Shayla didn¡¯t have to bend over to wrap her arms around me. And this resulted in the soft fans of her antennae stroking the side of my face as she hugged me.

    I know it might have freaked some folks out, but the antennae and wings weren¡¯t the strangest thing I¡¯d seen so far on this world, so I just took it in stride. The feeling of her full breasts, even through the several layers of cloth, was enough to make it rather easy to ignore anything else that might bother me, too.

    Shayla extended the hug for over a minute, humming happily as she leaned into me, and when she finally pulled back, it was obvious she was reluctant to do so.

    ¡°How has your week been, Shayla? I haven¡¯t seen you for several days after all,¡± I asked, not pulling away from her immediately as the moth woman had not released her arms from around me, just leaned back enough that she could look up the slight amount to meet my eyes.

    ¡°It¡¯s been good. I¡¯ve been doing a lot of practice with my practical classes. I wish I could do more to help you get ready for the tournament, but¡ª¡±

    ¡°¡ªbut there isn¡¯t much that can be done. Right?¡± I interjected.

    She giggled quietly at that, her antennae curling at the tips and bopping me lightly on the forehead as she shook with laughter.

    ¡°That is right. It isn¡¯t as if we have to train you to respond to commands. All we have to do is ask nicely, and you¡¯ll do whatever we ask.¡±

    ¡°Almost anything at least,¡± I interjected, wiggling my eyebrows playfully at the moth woman. She blushed furiously in response, biting her lower lip lightly while her pitch black eyes sparkled in amusement. ¡°I still can¡¯t believe Kassandra asked me to strip to show off for you all the other day. I¡¯m just glad the System didn¡¯t recognize it as an actual mission.¡±

    ¡°Are you that hesitant about being bare in front of us? I thought¡­¡± Shayla asked shyly, letting her question drop off but not looking away from me.

    I held back my first instinct, which was to automatically reassure Shayla that I had no problems. I¡¯d been getting better about the knee-jerk reaction to people asking me for things, even circumspectly. This was because of Kassandra and Rieka both reminding me to think about myself and my own well-being more often, and I loved them dearly for that.

    Finally coming to a decision on the answer to Shayla¡¯s question, I looked up to meet her pitch-black eyes and didn¡¯t look away as I answered.

    ¡°It depends on the situation. For a joke? I¡¯d prefer not to, especially as I don¡¯t know how comfortable you or Jane are with something like that. It is one thing to know that your friends are sleeping with someone. It¡¯s entirely different to see him wandering about naked with his everything hanging out in the wind. Not knowing if those involved were okay would make me uncomfortable with it.¡±

    ¡°And if you did know they were?¡± Shayla¡¯s question was quick in response and her voice a bit breathless, but I considered it for a moment before answering.

    ¡°I¡¯ve worked hard to bring my body back into shape as it is, so if I knew those around me didn¡¯t care, then it wouldn¡¯t bother me. But I¡¯m not a nudist by nature, so it¡¯s not as if I want to walk around naked either. Why?¡±

    Shayla was chewing on her bottom lip again, her head tilting to one side while her antennae curled in apprehensively. She appeared to be searching for the proper words to voice what she wanted to ask, so I waited patiently for her to find them. The seconds dragged on and as they grew into minutes, I could see that Shayla was struggling mightily, so I decided to just suggest something and see if it helped her come up with what she needed to say. I had a decent guess, given our location.

    ¡°Did you want me to pose for you or something, Shayla?¡± Her eyes, which had drifted away from me to stare into the distance, snapped to my face once more and she nodded hesitantly. ¡°Well, I did promise you I¡¯d model for you if you wanted. Having a shape-shifting model has to be tempting, and I figured you¡¯d cash in that promise eventually.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to strip entirely naked, but¡­¡± Shayla¡¯s voice dropped in volume and she mumbled the rest of her statement.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Shayla. You have to repeat that, I missed the last part,¡± I teased her gently, using the arms that still hung around her waist to give her a hug. This made the moth woman start in surprise, and she glanced down to realize that we were still half-pressed together in that hug from earlier.

    ¡°Your shirt,¡± Shayla said quickly, and I glanced down to check it.

    ¡°What about it? I don¡¯t see any stains on it¡­¡± I replied, looking back up at the blushing girl.

    ¡°I was hoping to paint you without your shirt on is all,¡± Shayla said, her voice squeaky with concern and I had to stifle a laugh that bubbled upwards. She was just too damn cute with how shy she was.

    A flash of light around the edges of my vision told me that the System had accepted her request for the summon and I smirked as I read it over.

    Assist your contracted companion, Shayla Valo, with her body study for painting.

    Reward - 150 SP

    I considered teasing Shayla a bit more¡ªespecially with the System calling it a ¡®body study¡¯¡ªbut with her hanging around Kassandra as part of our team, I knew that she was going to get that enough in the future. So, rather than poke her again, I just nodded and released my grip on her to step back. Shayla hesitated at first before she did the same, her strong grip relenting and allowing me to step back slightly.

    Grabbing the hem of my shirt, I yanked it over my head and then tossed it on the ground next to her easel.

    ¡°Shirt off, as requested. You¡¯ll have to tell me how to pose or whatever you want. I told you before I¡¯m not used to modeling,¡± I said as I stepped back from her easel and stretched my arms over my head.

    It¡¯ll be good to do something straightforward like this. I¡¯ve been obsessing over the whole primal magic thing for the last several days. I just haven¡¯t had the courage to message Cariad yet and ask her to help me test it. ¡®Hey come over so I can find out if I am able to get away with touching you and not getting vaporized!¡¯ is not the best way to invite a cute girl over to your place, I thought idly while waiting for Shayla to get herself settled.

    When no response to my previous request for direction was forthcoming, I looked over at Shayla to find that she was still standing there staring at me with her head tilted to one side and her mouth hanging ajar. Those large, black eyes of hers were staring in my direction but unfocused, while her fluffy antennae were the only thing moving, wafting in my direction like a little pair of fuzzy hands trying to reach towards me.

    ¡°Shayla?¡± Her name spoken aloud made the other woman start in surprise and she blinked several times, the blush that had been fading from her cheeks returning with reinforcements.

    ¡°Ah! Uh? What is it, Liam?¡± Shayla stuttered, her hands coming up to grip the front of her apron, hunching her shoulders and her antennae curving back in protectively again.

    ¡°How did you want me to pose?¡± I reminded her gently, resting my hands on my hips and tilting my head slightly. ¡°You wanted me to be a model for you. What pose do you want and do you want me to use my Shape-Shifting to alter anything?¡±

    Shayla blinked several times before her hunched posture reversed and she straightened. The blush didn¡¯t leave her cheeks, but a smile returned as her antennae bounced upright once more.

    ¡°Ah, how about¡­ one hand up on your chin thoughtfully? Leave your right at your side and look in that direction, but keep your chest towards me?¡± Shayla suggested, energy returning to her voice. I nodded, shifting to take the pose she suggested.

    ¡°And the Shape-Shifting?¡±

    ¡°No, you are perfect as you are right now.¡± I might have imagined the hunger in her tone at that statement, but I didn¡¯t call Shayla out on it, not right now.

    She¡¯s shy, so I don¡¯t want to rush her. But I am not going to complain¡­ I thought with a small smirk as Shayla picked up her tools and started using a thin piece of charcoal to begin her work.

 Chapter 99

    Days bled away and the competition that we had been preparing for was soon upon us.

    I¡¯d still not figured out a way to diplomatically ask Cariad if she¡¯d let me touch her and see if the entropy magic would protect me from the consequences that may have very well been why she was willing to be around someone like me.

    I knew I was falling into my old habits of self doubt, but it was easy to let those worries shove the thoughts to the back of my mind and hide them in a corner under a dusty sheet.

    The business starting to take off didn¡¯t hurt either. I¡¯d managed to sell a few pieces of jewelry and one statue I¡¯d made, bringing in enough that I¡¯d have rent covered for the month without too much trouble. Which had been one of the distractions that I¡¯d let keep me from doing more with the entropic magic, too.

    The statue that I sold was actually one I had made to mimic the giant elemental wolves that we¡¯d fought months ago at that lumber camp. I¡¯d spent a good amount of time refining the features and was rather proud when the simple granite sculpture sold so quickly.

    I¡¯d gotten several messages on Bitsy asking if there were any more, and disappointed replies when I revealed the statue was one of a kind. Ever since, I¡¯d been looking for new inspiration for another sculpture, as people seemed more willing to buy those than expensive jewelry.

    Well, that might work for one, I thought as I stood across the packed sand of the arena from my opponent.

    The animal standing in front of me had the rough appearance of a mastiff, but sized up to about the level of a pony with a more angular muzzle that reminded me of a jackal or those old Anubis statues I¡¯d seen online while researching stuff for my business. Its fur was a rich red-gray mixture, looking similar to the embers in a fire with how the red shot through the bed of gray.

    An image that was furthered by the flames dancing along those red strands or flickering between obsidian-black teeth.

    The girls had been in constant contact with me today, letting me know that we would be dealing with several fights over the course of the day and what my spot in the order was. Apparently, it was considered part of the process to actually summon your creature onto the field, as it proved without a doubt that the creature taking part in the fight was a summoned beast. So I¡¯d been stuck waiting at home for the girls to call me.

    I hadn¡¯t known the specific nature of my opponent until moments before I received my summon, since the organizers had decided to do a concealed bracket in order to ensure no one could cheat. Something that, according to Rieka, was new.

    So I studied my opponent and its summoner as I settled into a ready stance, rolling my head on my neck to finish loosening up. I¡¯d originally stretched out back home, but I couldn¡¯t help the instinctive actions.

    The arena we were standing in was familiar, as we¡¯d been here only months before to do the initial check ups with the instructors running the competition. Oval in shape and constructed of stone with a sandy floor, the whole place reminded me somewhat of a trimmed down football stadium, with rising tiers of wood and stone benches for spectators to watch, and there were definitely plenty of those as it was obvious more than just those competing were present. There was even an entire section of the stands that had the look of faculty. The roof had been opened up to reveal a clear blue sky dotted with a trio of clouds overhead, and I was glad that the weather was cooling off, otherwise the sun beating down on us would be stifling in its heat.

    Since I¡¯d finally started seeing some money coming in from my sales, I¡¯d decided to spring on some ¡®fighting clothes¡¯ to give myself a bit of an advantage when word had come from the girls that confirmed I wouldn¡¯t be allowed any weapons or armor. I wasn¡¯t as worried about the weapons, since my Shape-Shifting had all but taken over that role, but the loss of the armor was annoying.

    So instead, I was wearing a set of thick jeans made of the same material as fire hoses. It was supposed to be cut resistant and definitely felt durable, so I hoped it would help my shifted skin. My top was just a tight fitting cotton shirt. I¡¯d decided it was better to have freedom of movement rather than whatever small protection the cloth could give my torso.

    When the girls had summoned me, I appeared directly in front of them with all four of my bonded summoners standing about two feet behind me, something I confirmed with a quick glance around. The fiery hound stood a hundred yards away from me, with a thin young man who wore fine silk clothes behind him.

    I watched the hound for another second, but it didn¡¯t react, simply glaring at me while huffing little breaths of flame from between its blackened teeth. When I was sure it wouldn¡¯t just attack right away, I turned to glance at my girls, getting relieved smiles from all of them and a blown kiss from Rieka.

    Before I could greet them, though, a voice rang out from the seating above the ring.

    ¡°Objection! What the hell is going on? This is a course for summoning! Where did that man come from?!¡±

    The angry words came from an older wolf kin male high up in the stands. His black hair and pointed ears stood out against the reserved grandeur of his gray robes shot through with shimmering silver embroidery at the hems and collar.

    ¡°Lord Willem, you were already aware that some of my students succeeded in summoning and bonding with a Human. You were there at the staff meeting where we discussed it happening. Why do you raise such a fuss?¡± This counter-jibe came from a familiar form that sat a few seats down from the wolf man.

    I hadn¡¯t seen Lady Maia in some time, having only met her the once to talk and then seen her in passing twice since my arrival, but the stern elven woman glared at her colleague with obvious irritation in her eyes that I could see from even down in the ring.

    ¡°I gave those foolish reports the sort of respect that they deserved for being nonsense. You are telling me that your students have passed off that man as a Human? Preposterous!¡±

    ¡°Lord Willem, the summoned has already been examined and confirmed to be a conjured being by the student¡¯s actual instructors. Please, take your seat as you are causing a disruption.¡± The cool voice of Instructor Rainfist cut through the air of the stadium and earned the cat kin man a glare from Willem.

    Something must have passed between the two men, as Rainfist did not back down and continued to stare evenly up at Willem. The wolf kin man snarled briefly before scowling and flopping down onto his chair with a huff, directing his glare at me instead.

    I just stared back at him idly, as if he wasn¡¯t even worth the effort. Which was true. I didn¡¯t need to prove myself to the man. The people grading the competition were the actual instructors, and I already knew Rainfist was on my side.

    ¡°All right then. As before, this is a single elimination match. Earl Gregor has matched with the group led by Princess Rieka. Summoners are not allowed to assist their summoned creature with spells, but can direct it with orders. Remember, this is to submission not to death. Summoners, stand ready to dismiss your creature if it stops obeying orders.¡±

    Rainfist rattled off his quick spiel with the air of someone who had repeated the same several times already today. Given that it was nearly noon, that fact did not surprise me. According to what the girls had told me, there were a fair number of fights to get through, and I¡¯d have at least one or two more today depending on if I got eliminated.

    I returned my gaze to the flaming dog in front of me while waiting for Rainfist to continue.

    ¡°The match is between Skarb the Hellhound and Liam the Human. When you hear my horn, you may begin.¡± Rainfist held up a curving black ram¡¯s horn that had brass fittings around either end of it.

    ¡°Liam, be safe!¡± The rush of murmurs from the gathered students on the stands above us nearly drowned Shayla¡¯s words out.

    ¡°You girls do the same. Stay well back so you don¡¯t get caught in this, okay?¡± I replied, shooting them a small smile over my shoulder again.

    ¡°Anyone else thinking about how ridiculous it is that we are having Liam basically fight for sport and our grades right now? It doesn¡¯t feel right.¡± I didn¡¯t hear the answer to Jane¡¯s murmured question before Rainfist gave a blast on his horn.

    ¡°Skarb, attack!¡± barked the wolf kin student, his voice surprisingly high and youthful for someone of his apparent age. The hellhound let out a flame-filled snarl and lunged forward, bounding across the sandy floor of the arena towards me.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    I knew that I could end this fight with just one quick spell if I could catch the animal. The entropy school of magic was just too powerful in that regard, but I was glad to have it as an ace up my sleeve. I hadn¡¯t let on to the girls that I¡¯d taken it yet, wanting to explore it more before bringing that up and dealing with the onslaught of questions I knew were coming. So instead, I went with what I knew best.

    Circling quickly to the left to draw the hellhound away from my girls, I raised both my arms up in front of myself and prepared for the clash I knew was coming.

    My left hand rippled and flattened slightly before angular black scales emerged while my fingers all blended together to form a single flat scoop-like feature at the end of my arm where my hand had been.

    I¡¯d been researching different creatures and adaptations for different encounters. After my last two issues with fire-breathing monsters, I¡¯d wanted something to deal with that and protect myself should I encounter a third. The fact that I was already encountering said third firebreather in the first round of the competition made me doubly glad.

    The hellhound skidded to a stop only feet away from me and its mouth spread open to belch a jet of flame at me. I acted quickly, bringing my scaled left arm up over my face and covering my head with the wide flap of my hand.

    The fire hit and burned right through my shirt, leaving only charred rags behind. My pants were made of sterner stuff, though, and smoldered rather than lighting.

    I could already feel a light burn rising on my skin, but my second shift hardening the rest of my skin into a thick, leathery material combined with the reinforcements from my earth magic using the elemental alignment sub-power kept me safe.

    ¡°Ha ha ha! See that? He¡¯s already cowering from Skarb¡¯s flame! If you ask nicely, Princess¡ª¡± I heard the silk-clad idiot already shouting over the fighting towards my girls and didn¡¯t need to let him finish to know he was about to say something stupid and taunting.

    Rather than letting this Earl whoever-he-was keep rambling and annoying my girls, I seized the opportunity of the fire-breath cutting off and lunged forward. The hellhound was fast, but I was faster with my boosted stats.

    The heavy weight of my left hand caught it on the top of the head and I drove it to the ground with a hammer-blow from above. My left hand then expanded a bit further, wrapping around the hellhound¡¯s muzzle and pinning it closed. I also covered the creature¡¯s nostrils and mouth entirely.

    The hellhound lost it, emitting a muffled yelping noise as it tried to yank away while slashing at me with the stubby claws on its forepaws. Given its size, it should have been able to throw me off of it, but the other part of my new use of Shape-Shifting came into play.

    While researching ways to keep myself from burning, I¡¯d found out about another interesting little gastropod back on Earth. The Volcano Snail. While its name was misleading, it did give me the idea that led to this new plan. Those angular scales on my arm were actually the sclerites that protected said snail¡¯s foot, giving it the scaly look. They actually had an iron-sulfide covering, which had deflected enough of the heat from the burst of flames that it had protected my face and head, but most importantly: my eyebrows.

    Now, though, those sclerites were performing their second function and binding to each other. The little scales overlapped like roof tiles, and as they had an iron coating, it made it easier for them to resist the forces of the hellhound trying to open its jaw or pull away by interlocking them while the ¡®foot¡¯ my left hand had become wrapped around its muzzle and squeezed down with all of my eighty plus points of strength.

    ¡°Yield, before Skarb gets hurt,¡± I yelled, shifting so that I could put my body weight into pinning the large animal down and letting those sclerites flow over my body to increase my total mass.

    The one way that the hellhound could get free would be to throw me away, but it was panicking and trying to scrape my hand off its face with its claws.

    ¡°What are you doing, Skarb?! Bite him!¡± demanded Gregor, not listening to my advice.

    ¡°He can¡¯t bite me. I¡¯ve got his mouth pinned shut. Now either yield for him, or you risk your summoned companion getting hurt!¡± I snapped again, glaring at him now.

    The young man glared at him, his lips curving up in a snarl as Skarb¡¯s struggles slowly became weaker and weaker.

    Seeing that the young idiot wasn¡¯t going to listen to reason, I turned my attention to Rainfist and quirked an eyebrow. The instructor was observing carefully, a frown on his lips as he waited, only glancing away to check on Gregor to see if the youth was ready to call the match.

    When Rainfist noticed the defiant scowl on the student¡¯s face, I saw him sigh and lift the horn to his lips. The cat kin man¡¯s ears laid back tight against his skull as he blew a firm note on the horn.

    Guessing that sound signaled the end of the fight, I immediately released my grip on the hellhound¡¯s muzzle and relaxed the sclerites so they would disengage. The animal was already unconscious, slumping to the ground in front of me, but I could see it already stirring weakly as it could breathe again.

    ¡°Match win goes to Liam the Human. Please clear the sands so the next competitor can enter,¡± Rainfist called, giving me a nod and a small smile.

    I nodded back to the cat kin man and backed away from the hellhound as its eyes blinked open. The animal¡¯s eyes tracked on my movements and it snarled, scrambling to its feet and preparing to lunge at me. I hadn¡¯t released my shift yet and balled my scaled left arm up to block or bludgeon the creature, but Gregor had apparently finally pulled his finger out, as a flash of red light raced from the animal''s paws and it vanished before it could go more than a few inches.

    With the threat removed, I turned my gaze back to the scowling Gregor, but the wolf man was already stomping off with a frown on his face, his silk clothes swirling after him while the bright overhead light shimmered off the metallic threads in his clothes.

    ¡°Princess Rieka, you can dismiss your summon if you please. It is not required though, as Liam¡¯s restraint is already known to us,¡± Rainfist called from his spot at the center of the arena. ¡°Your next match is in two hours¡¯ time, and you will be notified when to return to the sidelines to prepare. Please remain within the arena until after your second match.¡±

    ¡°Understood, Instructor,¡± Rieka replied with a bow. I could see her tail whipping back and forth behind my princess, so I knew that she was excited about how well the match had gone, despite her more reserved attitude while speaking to her instructor.

    Kassandra was under no such restraints, though.

    My grinning, redheaded lover struck with the speed of¡­ well, of a snake. As soon as I was within range, Kassandra launched herself at me from her normal waist-high angle.

    While she didn¡¯t have the kind of tells that a cat would, with wiggling behinds and rolling shoulders, I¡¯d learned to see the warning signs when my mischievous lover was about to jump on me. So when Kassandra sailed through the air to slam into my chest, my arms already spread to catch her and my left arm was flowing back into its normal shape.

    The dwarf lamia hit my chest with a giggle and wrapped her arms around me while I let her momentum spin me to the right, which brought her trailing coils around my waist. Kassandra, used to my reaction to her attempts to tackle me, clung on tight while I finished the spin with her coil draped around my hips and squeezed tighter when I stopped moving to keep her position mounting me. Now that she was part way up, my lover had no problem using the coil wrapped around me to climb my waist until she could claim my lips with a kiss while wrapping the rest of her tail around me further.

    Indeed, I had quite a lot of practice catching her like this, and barely broke my stride while tucking my arm under Kassandra¡¯s bottom to support her human torso while the serpentine length squeezed me.

    There was some rumbling from the crowd above us, as more than a few had spotted Kassandra¡¯s affectionate greeting. While I knew that Kassandra didn¡¯t care, I didn¡¯t want her reputation to take any kind of hit either. She had enough people bugging her in the past for being friends with Rieka. I didn¡¯t want to see any others causing problems for her now.

    I wonder¡­ does her kissing me count as bestiality for them? Considering I¡¯m classed as a ¡®summoned beast¡¯ for the purposes here? The thought was so ridiculous, I couldn¡¯t help but laugh as the other three girls fell in around me. Rieka was on my right, with Jane and Shayla on my left. I had forgotten about the fact that the fire-breath attack had incinerated my shirt until I felt a cool hand land on my lower back.

    Kassandra had finished her kiss and was now snuggling into my neck while making little happy noises, so I glanced back quickly to find Shayla blushing furiously, but smiling, and not moving her hand one inch from its spot on my back.

    Since having the gorgeous moth woman touching me did not bother me one iota, I just smiled at her and winked, which made Shayla¡¯s blush deepen even further. Since her smile got wider to complement the blush, though, I called it a win.

    ¡°Okay, ladies. Let¡¯s get us some seats and relax. We should pay attention, since you never know who might end up being our next opponent now that the brackets are going. I can appreciate them wanting to keep it concealed to plan, but I also can¡¯t help but feel like this was a ploy to make those who wanted to exploit advanced knowledge sit through all the fights, too.¡±

    ¡°Probably,¡± snickered Jane, her long tail with its fluffy tip flicking back and forth animatedly as she led the way up the carved stone steps to the seating. The energetic mouse kin woman bounced from foot to foot even as she climbed the stairs and the difference in height brought her firm butt into view despite the fact she still wore her reserved skirts, as the bouncing steps echoed themselves in her bottom enough to make it obvious through the skirt.

    ¡°I¡¯m just glad that you managed to get through that without getting hurt. You didn¡¯t get hurt, did you?¡± Rieka asked, reaching out to stroke one hand over my right arm, which was rather tender from the heat of the fire but not actually burned.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine. Had far worse last time, especially helping you with those flame serpents. Didn¡¯t even lose my eyebrows this time!¡± I was rather proud of my achievement in that fact, so when Kassandra stiffened in my arms and started swearing under her breath, I grew worried.

    ¡°Kass, what is it?¡± Rieka¡¯s sensitive ears had picked up the dwarf lamia¡¯s words as well, and she had beaten me to asking about it.

    ¡°Oh, I just¡­ we forgot to give Liam a task. That fight would have been an easy way for him to earn some more SP,¡± Kassandra grumbled, turning her pouting face up to me, which was just too adorable because her spectacles again sat crooked on her button nose because of her nuzzling into my neck earlier.

    I kissed the frown off her lips while Rieka let out a relieved sigh.

    ¡°Okay, that we can work with. We just need to remember to make sure to give him a task before the next fight.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve got a task for him,¡± Kassandra murmured as our lips parted, a wicked grin on her face as one hand began tracing over my abdomen. Kassandra wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, and I couldn¡¯t help but roll my eyes at my lascivious lamia.

 Chapter 100

    ¡°Liam, I¡¯m worried about you.¡±

    Shayla¡¯s simple statement came between matches, and it was quiet enough that I nearly missed it in the rowdy chatting of the students around us.

    We¡¯d found a spot that was removed from the other spectators, higher up on the tiers that would give us a better view of the entire competition. There were several empty seats on either side of our row, and I still had Kassandra wrapped around me and sitting basically in my lap. Rieka had my right side, with Shayla on my left and Jane on hers. We¡¯d gone high enough that there wasn¡¯t anyone behind us, both to give us room to lean back and so Shayla¡¯s wings wouldn¡¯t be in the way for anyone else.

    ¡°In what manner?¡± I asked gently, turning to look towards Shayla. Kassandra lay snuggled into my shoulder again, and I kept the little troublemaker there by running my fingers gently through her hair in a slow and steady rhythm which kept my affectionate noodle content.

    ¡°These fights¡­ They are vicious. The majority of summoned creatures seem like they are nothing more than barely tamed beasts. I¡¯m worried that you are going to get hurt really badly.¡±

    Shayla¡¯s quiet words got the attention of the other girls, and both Rieka and Jane were glancing towards us as well, while several caretakers quickly raked the sands of the arena clean to disperse the area stained with blood from the previous fight.

    The previous battle had been a clash between a large earthen bear and a fast-moving flying insect with several sharp stingers. The insect had continually struck the bear again and again, evading the counter attacks of the lumbering creature without a problem, until the bear had finally succumbed to the venom in the stings and collapsed.

    ¡°She does have a point,¡± Jane added her two cents to the pot. ¡°I hadn¡¯t really thought about it until now, but the idea that we are basically coercing you into doing this for our classes feels¡­ petty?¡±

    ¡°I think that is just because you two have known Liam more as the person, opposed to the true force of nature that Kass and I have seen him as,¡± Rieka said gently. ¡°Don¡¯t get me wrong, I worry about him too and dislike that we are asking this of him. But I¡¯m also sure that Liam will be fine. Considering some of the things I¡¯ve seen him tackle, I can¡¯t think of it any other way, really.¡±

    ¡°Yep. Our big, strong human is gonna kick butt out there. No need to worry or fear. He¡¯s got this handled,¡± Kassandra purred sleepily, and I felt a soft sensation on my neck when she pressed a kiss there. ¡°Just trust in Liam. He¡¯s got this. We¡¯ve done all we can at this point to make him stronger. He¡¯s going to win this competition, so just have faith and trust in his determination. I doubt anything here is as dangerous as that sack monster we dealt with in the ruins.¡±

    Shayla shivered at the mention of the creature, while Jane grimaced, and Rieka nodded.

    We¡¯d told the other two all about the monster and the eerie way its blood had corroded everything it had touched. It still confused me as to why it hadn¡¯t been able to escape the complex. The explanation I¡¯d been given that it would have taken too much of the creature¡¯s strength still didn¡¯t make sense to me. Cariad and Cerebaton never mentioned anything about their entropic natures needing energy to dissolve matter in the past, but I was only just now experimenting with the entropic magic myself, so I figured I might learn more with time.

    ¡°I¡¯m still torn about that. I want to explore those ruins, or one of the other ones marked on the map, but I also am worried we will run into more creatures like that. It¡¯s a hideously risky endeavor after all¡­¡± Shayla had rubbed her arms as if she was cold, so I looped an arm around her shoulders and pulled the tall woman to my side.

    Shayla stiffened at first, clearly surprised and uncertain in response to the action, but quickly realized it was just a hug and relaxed into it. Even quicker, I felt the soft tickle of her fluffy antennae stroking over my forehead as the little appendages seemingly had minds of their own, and began running over my head like two inquisitive little dogs sniffing away.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be fine. We will be well prepared before we go in there again. I know that Rieka and Kassandra agree on that one, right?¡±

    ¡°Of course, Liam. We need to finish exploring the rest of that ruin up in the mountains, then we can turn it over to my mother for study. I still dislike having to wait on that, but I understand why your contacts asked.¡± Rieka shot me a small smile as she watched me comforting Shayla.

    When we met eyes over top of Kassandra¡¯s fluffy mane of curls, my wolf-eared princess leaned over and brushed a kiss across my knuckles with a small smile. From the twinkle in Rieka¡¯s eyes, I could tell she wanted to do far more, maybe even mirror Kassandra and settle down onto my lap, but her position forced her to be more reserved, and I would respect that for now.

    I¡¯ll just have to make sure to spoil her later when I get the chance, I thought with a grin that made Rieka blush slightly, as she clearly knew I had something naughty on my mind.

    A bone-rattling roar from down in the stadium that drew all of our attention to the sands interrupted our conversation.

    There were four students down there, a group of three familiar wolf kin girls in the fine clothes of noblewomen, and a single male with the scales and clawed hands that reminded me of one of Valda¡¯s people. The trio were facing off against the young man from across the arena, while their summoned monster paced the sand in front of them with an eager stride.

    The source of the bellow had been the large, quadrupedal monster that was obviously the trio¡¯s summoned partner. It looked just like I remembered it. Large, with heavy armor plates running the length of its body. Four stumpy legs supported a thick body, three toed feet tipped with blunt-looking claws. A mouth that ran from the tip of its wedge-shaped head to nearly its shoulder scissored open to show a forest of sharp teeth as it let out another eager roar.

    Standing in front of the young man was a large feline, about the size of a lynx, with dark blue fur in a spotted pattern like a jaguar, though the cat had a far thicker build. It yowled defiantly at the wedge-headed monster, fur puffing up to make it look larger.

    Before any of us could comment, Rainfist signaled the start of the fight.

    The battle was short and brutal.

    The blue feline did its best, but the thick scales and hide of the other monster defeated it at every turn. Several times, the cat¡¯s claws left thin white lines on the armor of the wedge-headed monster as it lashed out. However, despite its sheer mass, the armored monstrosity was quick.

    It lunged at the cat and missed the first three times, its broad maw easily large enough to engulf the feline if it got hold of it. The cat proved more than capable of dodging, though, either jumping to one side or straight up to race along the creature¡¯s armored back. But the fourth lunge, the thickset monster feinted to one side but slapped out with one thickly muscled foreleg.

    The blow connected as the cat tried to dodge in that direction, and there was a cracking of breaking bones preceding the feline being launched through the air to slam into the stone wall of the arena. With its prey finally immobilized, the armored beast roared in triumph and charged forward after the cat, mouth wide to snatch it up whole.

    ¡°Yield!¡± yelled the scaled student, snapping his hands in the gesture to dismiss his companion before the other could get there in time to finish it off. A flash of blue light snatched away the feline even as the piercing sound of Rainfist¡¯s horn echoed over the battlefield to signal the end of the fight.

    The sound of the horn barely had the time to begin fading before the thunderous roar of the quadrupedal monster overpowered it. The beast wheeled towards the other summoner, mouth still gaping wide enough to engulf him whole.

    I was just beginning to move, knowing that there wasn¡¯t any way for me to get there in time to intervene anyway, when the great monster was engulfed in shimmering brown light and dissolved before it made it more than a step.

    ¡°Sorry about that,¡± said the snide voice of the leader of the trio of wolf kin summoners. ¡°He doesn¡¯t like it when his meals get away from him. I assume we are done then?¡± The wolf kin woman directed the last part at Rainfist, who was giving the speaker a sour look for not immediately restraining their beast at the statement of yield.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    A nod from the instructor saw the trio retreat back into their own gate and vanish from sight while Rainfist hurried over to go check on the other student, who had tripped over himself in his haste to get away from the raging summon.

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t help my worry,¡± Shayla said in a quiet voice. ¡°You promise you¡¯ll come back safe if you end up fighting that thing?¡±

    I didn¡¯t even hesitate to answer that question. It wasn¡¯t a hard promise to make, after all. I definitely wanted to come back from that fight in one piece.

    ¡°Of course, Shayla. I promise I¡¯ll come back safely if I have to fight that beast.¡±

    A flash of light around my vision and scrolling text made me grimace as the System made its opinion known.

    Defeat the Deep Hunter and return to your contracted companions safely.

    Reward - 800 SP

    ¡°Deep hunter?¡± I muttered while studying the mission that I¡¯d been assigned. It wasn¡¯t what I was hoping for in tasks today. I¡¯d quietly been hoping that the System would assign me something a little simpler, but the reward would definitely be worth it.

    Does that mean that the System knows I¡¯ll be facing it? Or is it just acting preemptively? I wondered while the girls exchanged looks before there was a bit of shuffling movement.

    I started in surprise when I felt something soft brush against my left arm. I looked over to see Jane leaning into Shayla¡¯s side comfortingly and resting her head on my arm as well. Rieka pressing in on my right to receive comfort as well told me they were all worried to varying degrees at this point.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be okay, girls,¡± I said gently, shifting to get my arms around as many of them as possible and pulling them into a gentle hug.

    I did my best to not think on the idea I was promising something I didn¡¯t know if I could guarantee, instead focusing on the fact I¡¯d be doing my absolute best to ensure I made good on that promise instead.

    <><><>

    My next fight was thankfully not the deep hunter, that much I was very thankful for.

    While doing my best to reassuringly cuddle four different girls wasn¡¯t really any burden I¡¯d complain about, it had been a bit awkward. I¡¯d also been distracted trying to think of how I¡¯d deal with the creature when I fought it. Given how powerfully it had dominated its opponents, I was fairly sure I would end up against it eventually, though.

    Instead, I ended up in the arena against the large, flying insect that had taken down the earth-aligned bear. And even better, the girls had remembered to give me a direct order to win the fight for them, which generated another quest.

    Assist your contracted companions, Kassandra Silverscale, Rieka Coldeye, Shayla Valo, and Jane Carsan, by defeating your opponent in this round of the competition.

    REWARD - 100 SP.

    Wonder if they were dumb enough to just do the fights one after another? I guess I¡¯ll know shortly, depending on what matches occur after me.

    Since we had already gone through the first round of fights, Rainfist just checked on the two teams to ensure that we were ready before signaling the beginning of the duel.

    The insect monster was even more ferocious up close than it had been when we watched its previous fight up in the stands of the arena.

    Nearly four feet long, from the top of its head to the base of its curved stinger, the thing looked like someone had up-sized a flying ant and then equipped it with a curved stinger shaped an awful lot like a cavalry saber. Each of its six legs ended in a hooked claw that would allow it to hold on tightly once it got hold of its target. Mandibles clicked in front of its face that looked sharp enough to shear right through an arm or honestly, anything else it got hold of.

    The only thing that looked like a weak spot on the entire creature was its diaphanous wings, but they buzzed so quickly to keep it aloft that I barely could see them as more than a glittering blur behind the creature. The bright light of the afternoon made its red-brown carapace glitter like clay-rich earth, and the buzz of its wings had a menacing drone to it.

    As the echoes of Rainfist¡¯s signal faded away, the insect lunged towards me, its hooked limbs spread wide to try to catch hold of me. Rather than trying to meet it, or even block the attack, I threw myself out of the way and into a roll to the right this time.

    With an angry buzz, the insect arrested its charge before reorienting on me and charging once more even as I rolled to my feet.

    Throwing myself into a second roll, this time ducking down low to roll underneath it, I heard the whistling sound of its stinger slicing through the air where my head had been moments before.

    Again, I watched the insect slew to a stop, its wings beating furiously to slow it down and then turn it.

    When this bug fought the bear, it did it with dive bombs from above. Why is it just charging me outright like this? It feels like it¡¯s underestimating me, since it¡¯s not being nearly as wary as it was of the bear. Time to change that, I thought furiously and dug the toe of my right boot into the ground before kicking upwards towards the insect monster.

    Normally, kicking sand in someone¡¯s face was a somewhat useful way to distract your opponent for a moment. Given the size of the insect monster, I had a fairly large target to hit, but I also wasn¡¯t expecting sand to do a whole hell of a lot to distract the creature. It wasn¡¯t as if it had eyelids to close over the bulging compound eyes it had.

    Which is why I ensured that when my foot kicked out, rather than sand, I was propelling large lumps of compressed sandstone in a shotgun effect. My Manipulate Element ability had been something I was trying to work into more tactics, and this was one that I¡¯d come up with for distracting opponents. Admittedly, I¡¯d been thinking more along the lines of more humanoid bandits rather than a giant, flying murder-bug, but the idea still had potential.

    The buzzing monster shrieked in surprise as the hard stones peppered into its body, throwing off its wings enough that the bug aborted its charge and dodged to one side, clearly expecting me to try to go after it, but I didn¡¯t move. Instead, I took the opportunity to settle my stance once more and spread my arms wide in a challenge.

    ¡°Come on, you flying asshole, you think you can take me?¡± I called up at the bug, specifically focusing on the idea of speaking in English, so that the natural translation power I had as a Traveler didn¡¯t kick in. Just yelling profanity at it felt like enough to try and provoke the beast.

    The bug hesitated, so I threw in some rude hand gestures. I had no idea how intelligent the thing was, but ultimately, that didn¡¯t matter. I just wanted to annoy it enough to get it to come back down.

    While playing matador with the winged nightmare was good training, I didn¡¯t want to worry my girls too much. Also, trying to use a competition as training seemed like a bad idea in general to me. It puts too much at risk after all. The only reason I¡¯d used the dirt shotgun spell was to get enough room to set myself.

    I smirked as I shifted my stance, putting my left arm forward with my palm up and my right tucked back behind my back while I assumed a side-on stance. Mimicking one of the legends of martial arts, I beckoned the flying murder-bug to come at me while keeping my stance loose and prepared to react.

    The bug buzzed its wings angrily¡ªclearly intelligent enough to understand I was mocking it¡ªand charged again.

    This time, it was coming in at me from a steeper angle. When it had evaded the earth spell, it had moved higher to hover above the ground. I waited for my opportune moment as it approached, and I distantly heard the yells from my girls to dodge, move, do something. But my body was angled enough that they couldn¡¯t see what I had done to my right arm until I struck.

    Screeching in joy at the fact I hadn¡¯t dodged away this time, the bug lashed out with its claws and I reacted. The motion was smooth and practiced, which made sense since I had to do it several times a day after all. My right hand came out of concealment, my hand having changed into a broad, flat crab claw, and snapped out to meet the flying bug¡¯s middle-left talon at the hook. I sidestepped smoothly, though I didn¡¯t try to get out of its way entirely, just out of the way of its stinger and body.

    Grunting with the exertion, I cinched down with my new claw-hand and the bug let out a scream of surprise as hundreds of pounds of compressive force locked onto the barbed hook at the end of its leg. The rest of that practiced, smooth motion that I had perfected from being nearly tackled by Kassandra hundreds of times since I met my lovely little snake, happened on instinct.

    I let the creature fly past me, pivoting and leaning so that the force of its charge instead spun me in place. Rather than drawing the bug towards me though, I kept my right arm extended and angled the large, flat claw so that it carried the bug upwards, dragging the insect by its pinned foreleg, using the claw like a bird¡¯s wing.

    I let the force of the charge carry me around half a turn before abruptly twisting my wrist to bring that shell ¡®sail¡¯ down and slammed the flying insect headfirst into the ground like I was bringing a sledgehammer down, using its arm as the haft of the sledgehammer.

    The insect impacted the loose sand of the arena floor with a solid thump and a quiet crunch. Its wings continued to buzz furiously, but it was clearly stunned. Releasing its trapped foreleg, I brought my left leg up to my chest before planting it firmly into the back of the giant murder-bug, right between its wings, and pinned it to the floor of the arena.

    My heart was pounding in my chest and I bent forward, raising my claw-hand over my head like a club when the word I¡¯d been waiting for echoed around the arena.

    ¡°Yield!¡±

    The edges of my vision flashed, and the notice I had completed my quest scrolled past, allowing me to breathe a sigh of relief.

 Chapter 101

    Throwing myself into another roll, I growled as the sucking mud that the sand beneath my feet had become. It gripped my limbs and while I could power through it, the clinging weight of it threw off my balance.

    A push with my thoughts and the Manipulate Element power scraped the sticky clumps off my body, causing them to rain back down to the floor of the arena. The action took little effort or mana, but it was still another distraction. The one thing that it couldn¡¯t do though, was remove the water that had already soaked into my clothes.

    My opponent grumbled happily, clearly amused at my state, and I shot the creature a glare.

    ¡°Sure, laugh it up. I regret calling you pretty earlier!¡± I snarled at the creature.

    It responded with a glare in kind and the scales that covered the creature¡¯s shoulders shifted before another series of water jets blasted out from under those scales, forcing me to dodge away, again.

    And roll in the mud, again.

    When I¡¯d first stepped into the arena and spotted my opponent, I¡¯d been caught up with how cute it had looked. The summoned animal was somewhat similar to a pangolin in shape, though rather than being the size of a small dog, it was almost six feet long and stood nearly three high at its humping back. The scales were a sandy brown shot through with threads of pink and white, giving it an almost marbled look. Rather than the large digging claws that pangolin normally sported on their feet, this creature had large, webbed paddles that it waddled on awkwardly as it sidled around to keep its front towards me.

    The most annoying part, though, were the continuous high-pressure streams of water it shot out. I¡¯d caught a glancing blow from one and it¡¯d felt like getting hit with a fastball pitch. I was pretty sure that the only reason it hadn¡¯t cut through my skin was the fact I¡¯d started using the adaptations of the volcano snail to armor myself. The thin iron plates had deflected the blast, though tore several of them free in the process. It may not move quickly, but it was startlingly accurate with the bursts of pressurized water.

    ¡°Come on, Liam! You can do it!¡± Kassandra shouted from the sidelines. I fought the urge to look towards her, as I needed to be ready when this beastie fired its next shot at me. I knew they were safely off to one side, one of the first things that I¡¯d done once I realized the threat this monster posed was move so that the girls wouldn¡¯t be in the line of fire if I had to dodge suddenly.

    I could probably get it from underneath with an earth spike. Don¡¯t know if its belly is armored. But I¡¯d rather not kill or injure the creature. It¡¯s annoying the fuck out of me, but hasn¡¯t actually hurt me. And it still is kinda cute.

    Rather than roll out of the way on the next salvo, I ducked down and conjured up a barrier of rock to absorb the blow, wanting to confirm that the threat of injury was as real as I was guessing. The blast of water slammed into the three inch thick barrier of compressed sand and blew a large chunk of it off. Another blast followed the second a moment later and my barrier began to crumble rapidly.

    Okay, I can¡¯t stay here and just hide out. I need to finish this, I thought. Not being able to see my opponent made it hard to know which way it was looking. That, in turn, made it hard to decide which way to dodge around the barrier as well. And that thought gave me an idea.

    So far, I¡¯d been very sparing in my use of the Manipulate Element ability, far more than the other summoned monsters for this battle. And boy, did it mess with my head to realize that here I was, a human guy, competing in what amounted to a Pokemon battle on another planet.

    God, my life is weird¡­ but at least there are significantly more beautiful women in my life than in that cartoon, I thought with a grin.

    Scooping up a handful of the muddy sand, I slung it to my right as a distraction before scurrying my way to the left. My mud-ball was shot from the air within a second of leaving cover, but it did the job and let me get a look at my opponent.

    The sand around the bizarre water-gun pangolin was entirely dry, and I guessed that it must be somehow drawing the water up into its body to fire it with whatever bizarre organs it had under those scales.

    The creature was angling the wrong direction to attack at the moment, but my movement drew its gaze and the creature¡¯s eyes narrowed while it began to turn towards me, the flippers on its feet making for an ungainly waddle.

    Grabbing the wet sand in front of me with the Manipulate Element power, I yanked it upwards to form barriers between me and the creature. The sand responded sluggishly at first, as the water imparted an increased level of stickiness to it initially.

    But I didn¡¯t need much.

    The barrier that rose between me and the creature only needed to be about waist high to impede its vision, and while it had been accurate before, it needed to be able to see me to fire properly. The way its body sat with its head so low to the ground gave it a distinct disadvantage.

    I kept moving, spreading the sandstone barrier up around the creature in a wide ring until it was encased. The monster responded by blasting a hole in the barrier to try to spot me, but I kept moving in a circle to get around it.

    When it blew through the barrier, I¡¯d urge new sandstone to grow up to repair or cover over the gaps in the wall, which wasn¡¯t very thick, just enough to stand upright like a sandcastle, really. Pushing that much mana around put a strain on my mind and actually ended up rearranging the features of the arena floor, as I drafted more and more of the sandy bottom into service as a vision blocker. In several spots, I splashed over the stone floor rather than the thick sand that had been there moments before.

    Growling in anger, my opponent began to fire wildly around itself, trying to knock down enough of my barriers that it could spot me, but I had already achieved my aim. Confuse it of my location and get closer. It only took a bit more maneuvering to find the spot that I wanted to strike from and lunge in. I¡¯d wanted to leap over the barriers to just end this¡ªthe chafing of my wet pants was getting to be annoying¡ªbut I¡¯d learned from Cerebaton that being in midair just meant that you couldn¡¯t redirect yourself.

    Instead, I just went through my own barriers with a vengeance.

    Slamming through the thin sandstone was easy enough with my momentum and increased strength. It didn¡¯t hurt that I could intentionally weaken the shaped sand to make it easier either, and that had the added effect of scattering a cloud of clumps into the air as distractions when I finally reached my opponent.

    I didn¡¯t know how much the critter weighed, but I was pretty certain that it didn¡¯t weigh enough to stop me as I grabbed hold of its tail with the armored crab claws I¡¯d shifted to take the place of my hands. The coconut crab claws had worked on the oversized bug from before, and they worked just as well now to shield my hands from the sharp scales of the creature while still letting me get a good grip on it.

    Dropping into a lunge, I turned my running momentum into a heaving jerk that lifted the surprised creature off the ground and into the air. The water-pangolin-monster flailed its flippered limbs in protest, but I was already using its bodyweight and newly imparted momentum to guide it into a spin.

    I made two complete turns before bringing the creature down like I was driving a railroad spike with a maul. I knew that I could have just thrown the beast at its summoner, or even one of the nearby walls, and ended it that way. But I was still trying to be sportsmanlike in this competition. No reason to excessively hurt the creature.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    So I¡¯d released my hold on the sandy walls and actually pulled the sand together into a gigantic pile so that it would muffle the impact when I brought the creature down on its back, hard.

    The scaled monster let out a sharp grunt of pain at the impact and began flailing its limbs to try to flip over, but I was already moving and had my clawed hand fastened over its neck before it could really get enough air back to think straight, let alone escape.

    ¡°Yield!¡± The shout came from the other side of the arena and I stepped back, releasing the creature as the resonant note of Rainfist¡¯s horn signaled the end of the match. Only when I was a good four steps away from the creature did I look up to see its summoner, a petite young woman with fox ears and a puffy red tail scampering over with a worried look on her face.

    ¡°It should be fine. I just knocked the air out of it,¡± I said gently, getting a concerned frown from the smaller girl, though she didn¡¯t slow her approach.

    ¡°If you are really sincere, will you help me roll Molly over so I can look at her back?¡± The young woman asked, her voice surprisingly high for someone who had to be of college age.

    Shrugging, I stepped forward again and squatted next to the water creature.

    ¡°Are you going to let me help you, Molly?¡± I asked the creature, and got a snort of irritation from the beast, but it continued to flail its limbs and wriggle to try to turn over now that I had released its throat.

    Taking that as agreement, I bent and dug my still-shifted hands underneath the creature to roll it over. The water-monster let out a bleat of surprise at being airborne again, but relaxed as soon as I set it back on its feet.

    ¡°There you go, Molly. Go let your summoner have a look at you, will you?¡± I laughed, and the water monster huffed in irritation before waddling over to hide behind the smaller girl, who was trying to split her attention between scowling at me and inspecting her friend.

    Dipping the two of them a brief bow, I turned and slopped through the muddy sand back to where my girls waited.

    Kassandra was quick to cast a pair of spells at me, the first one healing the bruise on my side and then the second banishing the water from my clothes. This left them feeling oddly stiff, like they¡¯d just been starched, but I bore it with a smile and scooped my dwarf lamia up even as she was tucking her spell rod away.

    ¡°Liam!¡± Kassandra squealed in protest, nearly elbowing me in the nose as she threw her arms around my neck to steady herself. I just laughed at her faux pout as her scaled tail slipped around my waist to hug me tight.

    ¡°He just knew what you were planning to do next and decided not to wait,¡± Rieka said with a grin, accepting the kiss on the cheek as our group of four trooped back into the stone hallway and up into the stands once more.

    ¡°Liam seems to be good at anticipating ambushes,¡± Jane piped up, the energetic mouse woman bouncing ahead of us with a grin.

    ¡°Anticipation will only take you so far.¡± The cutting words came from behind Jane and startled her enough that she tripped and nearly tumbled back down the stairs onto us, but Shayla was quick to dart forward and catch the smaller woman while I glared up at the speaker.

    The trio of wolf kin women from before stood at the head of the stairs, the one in front standing with her arms crossed over her chest and scowling at our group.

    ¡°Oh, I don¡¯t know. Anticipation can be one of the best seasonings for something, like reven¡ª¡± Kassandra began acidly, before Rieka interrupted her.

    ¡°You are in the way, move,¡± my wolfish princess said in a cool tone as she stepped around to stand in front of the hip Kassandra was currently riding.

    My redheaded lover began wriggling in my arms until I released her and let the serpentine woman drop back to the ground. Kassandra¡¯s hand remained on her holstered spell rod the entire time, but let Rieka handle this. I could tell from the way Kassandra¡¯s shoulders shook in anger that she really wanted to tear into these three, but it would be better to avoid it if possible.

    ¡°You waste your time associating with this common trash, Princess,¡± simpered the wolf woman on the right, her ears laying back submissively while she frowned in concern. ¡°You should be building your alliances and working to keep your reputation up. We just want what is best for you is all, and worry about your safety in this company.¡±

    A glare directed my way punctuated the speaker¡¯s words, but I just watched them passively and waited to see what my girls would do. Shayla had drawn Jane off to the side, so it was only Rieka and Kassandra between me and the trio. They had the high ground being above us on the stairs, but that didn¡¯t mean much when I could turn the stairs against them if I needed to. The fight with Molly had drained a good chunk of my mana, but I still had more than enough to deal with these three from a distance, if needed.

    ¡°A likely story. You three are impeding us returning to our seats. I ask you again, move aside so we may pass. That or descend and stop blocking the stairs.¡±

    ¡°Princess, that creature with you is dangerous¡­¡± the one in the lead said in a stage whisper, her eyes darting from Rieka to me once more. ¡°I worry that it is going to turn on you one of these days and harm you. Not to mention what the gutter-worm might attempt to earn a coin.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d be a shit guardian if I wasn¡¯t dangerous,¡± I cut in, setting one hand on Kassandra¡¯s shoulder to restrain the woman. My desire to be patient had gone out the window when the woman insulted Kassandra. ¡°And if you continue to insult those under my charge, I will take exception to it. Did you forget my last warning?¡±

    My voice pitched down into a growl and I noticed Shayla twitch in surprise at it, both her and Jane turned to look at me in surprise, but I remained focused on the trio.

    ¡°See! Princess, this is exactly why you should be careful¡ªeep!¡± the speaker began, malicious glee dancing in her eyes while her puffy tail flapped back and forth, clearly excited that I was helping to prove her point. Excited, that was, until she triumphantly glanced at my face.

    I¡¯d waited for her to look back at me after exulting to my wolf princess, and then let my Shape-Shifting out to play. My skin thickened and shifted colors to pitch black. My mouth spread and lips peeled back to nearly my ears as my lower jaw distended and opened to reveal barbed teeth.

    The trio shrieked almost perfectly in unison and promptly fled back up the stairs in a flurry of flailing limbs and tails.

    By the time Rieka turned to see what it was that startled the three, I¡¯d returned my features to normal and was just staring after them with a smirk.

    ¡°What was that?¡± Rieka asked waspishly.

    ¡°What?¡± I did my best to feign innocence.

    ¡°What did you do?¡± Rieka pressed, her brows knitting. ¡°I was about to tear into them for ignoring me, and then they race off like a devil is chasing them.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I just reminded them of a past warning, is all,¡± I said offhandedly with a shrug.

    ¡°Liam¡¯s scary,¡± Jane said quietly, and I was reminded of the fact both she and Shayla had been looking at me when I¡¯d intimidated that trio. Wincing, I turned to apologize to the mouse woman.

    Jane didn¡¯t look scared, though. She had an expression of intense curiosity on her cute features, her nose wiggling while her tail flicked back and forth above her head. Shayla had a thoughtful look on her face as well, mirroring my stance with Kassandra by standing behind Jane with her hand on the mouse woman¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°Ah, sorry about that, you two. Hope it didn¡¯t startle you very much?¡± I apologized. My words got a sunny smile from Shayla and a shake of the head from Jane.

    ¡°What was up with your teeth there? They looked¡­ weird. I¡¯ve never seen teeth like that,¡± Jane asked after a moment, while Rieka huffed in irritation at being ignored.

    To placate my wolfish princess, I shifted to wrap an arm around her shoulders and pull her to my side. Rieka fought it for just a moment before allowing me to hug her close enough to whisper in her ear.

    ¡°I needed to remind them who is looking out for all four of you, not just my princess. I apologize for usurping your authority there, love.¡± The statement relaxed Rieka, and the wolf woman folded herself into my side with a sigh and an understanding nod.

    With that particular problem handled, I turned back to the others. Kassandra had joined Shayla and Jane in turning to stare up at me, but she had a smirk on her lips now.

    ¡°Shall we go have a seat? I¡¯d like a chance to rest. I¡¯m surprised they are getting us all the way through the semifinals today, and I want to be sure I¡¯m ready for my last fight of the day.¡±

    ¡°Fine, but you need to answer Jane¡¯s question, and I want to see these teeth,¡± Kassandra insisted, pouting cutely up at me.

    I shrugged and ruffled her hair, getting a noise of protest from the smaller woman and a slap on the stomach for my efforts. Apparently, she¡¯d done something special with her curls today and didn¡¯t appreciate me messing them up.

    We shuffled around a bit and headed up the stairs with Rieka in the lead this time and Shayla at the rear. Kassandra and Jane were on either side of me, as those two were the most curious about the teeth in question. I shifted them again to show Kassandra before returning them to normal to be able to speak properly.

    ¡°Okay, so they were from a creature called a crabeater seal, which is badly named as it doesn¡¯t actually eat crabs¡­¡±

 Chapter 102

    Yeah, called it, I thought with a sigh as I stared across the arena at my last opponent for the day.

    The break between rounds had been short enough that Rainfist had actually called for a recess to allow people to go and get food and relax a bit. Apparently, this particular season of fights had gone far quicker than they¡¯d expected. I could see why, as the vast majority of the class had only a strong summons, rather than truly powerful ones. My fights had, on average, been the longest ones, as I¡¯d been doing my best to not grievously injure my opponents.

    That was not a stance held by most of the opponents, though.

    The fight right after mine was the terrible trio and their deep hunter, and I could tell they were taking their anger out on their opponent. The creature that was summoned to fight the craggy beast looked like an eight-legged crocodile of rather prodigious size. And it was purely that size that gave me any hope the creature would survive its injuries.

    The deep hunter had just charged the massive reptile, not caring one whit that its opponent was twice its size. A brief tussle later and the deep hunter had gotten hold of one of the crocodile¡¯s legs and its sharp jaws had torn the limb right off at the torso while its thick claws tore furrows into the underside of the animal.

    The deep hunter had again been enraged when its prey was taken from it; the summoner forfeited with that injury and sent its partner away. This time, though, the trio were quick to banish their summon as well, so it only got to take a single stomping step towards its next victim before it vanished as well.

    The leader of the trio had turned to glare up at where we were seated pointedly, clearly making her threat known that I would be next. I ignored her, instead focusing on reassuring Shayla who was clearly shaken after that fight.

    Another two fights occurred after this, but I honestly spent more of my time talking with the girls and promising them that I would be okay than I did watching the fights. It was clear that the wealthier students were dominating this competition just purely through their ability to throw mana at the problem and empower their summoned creature. That fact alone made me glad that Shayla and Jane had joined our team, as I doubted either would have been able to do much in this format.

    After the recess, almost the entire class returned to the coliseum to see the last two fights of the day. The staff also remained behind, and I spotted more than one bloodthirsty expression on several of their faces, clearly enjoying the bloodsport put in front of them.

    Now, to make sure none of my own blood is spilled for their sport, I thought wryly, rolling my head on my shoulders and stretching out.

    ¡°I still don¡¯t like how they crammed so many fights into the first day,¡± Shayla was complaining behind me from her place along the wall. ¡°It leaves nothing for tomorrow other than the final and also ensures that those competing in the later fights are tired.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know either, Shayla. That¡¯s just the brackets that they announced,¡± Rieka said with a sigh. ¡°I¡¯m sure there was some political finagling done in the background. Either someone wanted to see specific match-ups or they wanted to tilt it in the favor of certain students whose creatures were more endurance-focused.¡±

    ¡°Liam¡¯s definitely got the endurance,¡± giggled Kassandra, though her customary lewd comment didn¡¯t have the same amount of energy that it normally did, telling me she was also worried.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be fine, girls. I got this.¡± I tried to inject as much confidence into my words as possible, but I knew this was going to be a hard fight. Especially since, as I¡¯d said, my suspicions were confirmed.

    I was facing the deep hunter now, as my last fight of the day.

    So far I¡¯d done well, with only minor injuries to show for the three other fights I¡¯d gone through. I did agree with Shayla¡¯s annoyance at the way they¡¯d scheduled things, as it barely gave time for the summoned creatures to recover between their fights. And even in spite of cramming most of the fights into today, we¡¯d still had to take an additional recess to have a reasonable amount of time for fighters to catch their breath.

    Poor management. Whatever, focus on the here and now. Live in the present tense, I reminded myself, and settled into a ready position.

    ¡°Fighters ready?¡± Rainfist called and got affirmatives from both summoner groups.

    I might have imagined it, but the look he shot at me was concerned. I just nodded, though. There were still tricks I had up my sleeve, after all, and this would be an interesting fight.

    Like jousting a rhino. The thought made me smirk, which apparently annoyed the wolf kin on the other side of the arena. I abruptly realized that I¡¯d never even gotten any of their names. I¡¯d just been thinking of them as ¡®that annoying trio¡¯ this entire time.

    The blast of Rainfist¡¯s horn pushed that thought out of my mind and I was forced to react already.

    With a bellowing roar, the deep hunter charged me with its wedge-shaped head down, sending clouds of sand into the air with each ponderous step as it built up speed.

    I immediately shifted so that it would angle away from the girls. The last thing I wanted was for it to miss me and charge towards them. To ensure that the bloodthirsty creature stayed fixed on me, I kicked at the sand underfoot and used my Manipulate Element to send a large chunk of compressed sand into the air to smash into the beast¡¯s head.

    The creature didn¡¯t even react, other than to angle itself to keep its charge aimed directly at me. The hunk of stone burst on its armored forehead in a shower of smaller rocks. I was pretty sure I heard a distant, haughty laugh from one of the trio, but I ignored it in favor of keeping focused on my opponent.

    I didn¡¯t want to test if the heavy monster could slam through the coliseum walls either, so I kept towards the center of the arena to avoid that particular activity. A quick tune-up to my legs and I leaped to avoid its charge, the increased musculature and bone density allowed for a truly powerful leap to one side.

    The deep hunter slid to a stop, snarling in anger from a mouth wide enough it would likely bite me in half if it got hold of me. It stomped around in a broad circle until it spotted me, beady eyes flaring evilly, and charged again.

    I evaded again, this time measuring my distance a bit more, so I didn¡¯t evade by quite as far. I¡¯d hit on the idea of using something akin to a grasshopper¡¯s legs to avoid the creature¡¯s charges during its last fight, but I didn¡¯t want to go too far in that direction. The amount of power a grasshopper could put out for its body weight was crazy, and the last thing I wanted was to either plow into a wall, the seats, or end up so high in the air that I¡¯d get a broken leg coming back down.

    Need to work on flying, I reminded myself as I dodged a third charge, peering closer at the interlocking plates of the creature¡¯s armor, looking for a weakness of some kind.

    ¡°Come on, coward! Fight!¡± shrieked the leader of the trio.

    My evasions had driven me further towards their side of the arena, and while I knew that they couldn¡¯t interfere, I didn¡¯t want to take a chance one would try to be subtle. Admittedly, none of the three had seemed subtle to me before, but now would be a bad time for them to decide to learn it.

    Shifting quickly to one side, I guided the next charge of the deep hunter to head in the direction of its summoners. I doubted that it would actually plow into them, but it was the closest I could do to sparing the time and energy to flip one of them the bird. From the squeals of surprise and laughter that came from my own set of girls, I¡¯d succeeded for the moment. It was further confirmed by the laughter of the other students watching them scramble.

    When the deep hunter wheeled about to charge me again, I slapped a hand down onto the ground and pushed with my Manipulate Element again, this time causing a forest of sandstone spikes to erupt from the ground in front of me in a spiny fan of foot-long quills that were several inches thick at the base.

    The deep hunter hit them and rolled right over the top like a truck running over a pine-cone. The creature didn¡¯t even bother to avoid them, instead just kicking the cluster with one large paw and sending it exploding into a shower of dust and pebbles.

    Okay, scratch that idea, I thought with a grimace, throwing myself out of the way of yet another charge. Need to come up with something. That thing really is like a rhino, and here I am without a big game rifle.

    I had my father¡¯s old hunting rifle in my Dimensional Pocket at the moment, but I doubted that a 30-06 would be enough to punch through the creature¡¯s armor. I¡¯d read somewhere that while you could hunt a rhino with that caliber of rifle, it was not recommended. And the thick armor plates on the deep hunter looked even denser than a rhino¡¯s hide.

    How to bring down big game¡­ without a rifle. I turned the thought over in my mind while I dodged another charge. I created a shallow hole in front of the deep hunter, but the sand was only a few inches down and it barely stumbled at the hole.

    The deep hunter roared in anger, and its eyes flashed with malice. I felt a shifting in the ground under me and threw myself upwards in a straight leap that carried me almost ten feet into the air.

    Sparing a glance down revealed that the ground where I¡¯d been standing had been replaced with a large spike of stone that protruded a good four feet up. I¡¯d only managed to clear the tip by a few feet, and as my momentum bled off and I began to fall back towards it, I kicked out with one foot to throw myself away from the spike of stone.

    Okay, shit. So it does have some power beyond just being so damn big, I snarled inside my own mind.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    I landed roughly, having to roll in order to avoid breaking something, and then kick off the ground to propel myself away from the danger I knew was coming. The deep hunter¡¯s charge carried it past me once more, but this time I heard the whistle of its clawed paw go by as well.

    Rolling to my feet, I decided to change tactics and lunged after the deep hunter as it skidded to a stop and stomped into a turn.

    My right arm flowed and my fist shifted into a familiar knob of bone.

    The punch I drove into the creature¡¯s haunch made an ear-piercing crack as it impacted right where two armored plates met.

    Bellowing in anger, the deep hunter lunged about, moving far faster than it had been earlier, and snapped at me with its scissor-like maw. I was already moving though, keeping as close to its backside as I could and powering several more of the rapid fire swings.

    My shoulder ached from the blows, as a good amount of the force was being redirected back into me by the creature¡¯s armored plates. And for all that the blows were landing, it wasn¡¯t doing much beyond chipping at the plates.

    I had to throw myself away again as another ripple in the ground heralded more of the stone spikes, which gave the creature a chance to finish its turn and lunge at me. I was able to avoid being impaled on the spike only barely and had to roll furiously to get away from the deep hunter. This time, I ended up having to use my punching club as a lever to launch myself up and away from the ground to get back onto my feet.

    ¡°Okay, not gonna work that way either,¡± I growled and shook the shift out of my right arm, letting the club fade away and return as my normal arm.

    I needed to find a way to deal with this creature. The armor plates were too dense for me to avoid hitting them, and they seemed to be growing naturally out of the creature¡¯s thick hide.

    For all that it was extremely violent, I didn¡¯t want to outright kill the creature either. I still had the entropic attacks I¡¯d been practicing, but I wasn¡¯t confident enough to use them yet. It would only take one missed blow and I could dissolve part of my own leg.

    I need to stun or paralyze it. I can¡¯t keep counting on dodging it, and the armor around its head is even thicker than the rest of its body, I thought furiously as the shouting and cheering of different students continued to rain down on the arena.

    ¡°You¡¯ve got this, Liam!¡± Kassandra¡¯s voice cut through the crowd, and I spared a glance to one side to check on my girls.

    Rieka was doing her best to stand resolutely, one hand on the hilt of her spell rod, but I could see that my wolf princess was gritting her teeth and her brow was furrowed in worry.

    Shayla stood behind Rieka, her hands clasped in front of her full chest, her wings tucked tight to her back.

    Jane was right next to the princess, wringing her tail in anxiety while bouncing slightly on her heels.

    But Kassandra, my sweet, loving little noodle, was ahead of the other three. Her mass of red curls bounced energetically as she pumped her arms and shouted my name, pride shining in her slitted eyes even as the overhead sun glinted off her silver spectacles and glowed on her pale skin. There was nothing but confidence in my silly little snake, confidence that I¡¯d figure this out as she wiggled back and forth on her thick tail.

    Tail¡­ snake¡­ venom¡­ the thoughts cascaded through my mind and the idea that struck a moment later brought a grin to my face.

    Turning back to my opponent, who had just taken its first stomping step to start another charge, I shook out my arms again. This was going to be difficult, but I could do it.

    My shirt had been shredded and burned in the previous fights, and I hadn¡¯t bothered to try to replace it. I¡¯d instead just shifted my skin into overlapping scales, and I would harden them with iron like the volcano snail if I needed to. Now, though, I let that shift fall away, as I was going to need everything I could.

    ¡°What is he doing?¡± I heard someone shout from above, but I didn¡¯t catch the response as I was already moving to meet the charge of the deep hunter as my arms flowed and elongated, gaining segmentation and a large, bulbous head on either side to replace my hands.

    The deep hunter roared, clearly happy I was meeting it head on, and left its mouth open to snap me up. Which, while threatening, actually worked out better for me.

    My first strikes came in from either side of the creature, burying into the thin line of flesh where the top and bottom plates of its facial armor came together. With the mouth wide open like that, I was able to bury both stingers into the thick, leathery flesh and confirm that the spur I had replaced the tip of the stinger with would penetrate.

    Kicking off with my shifted legs, I leaped up and over the creature and yanked the spurs out, striking several more times at the distinct cracks in its armor that I could see as I passed over. Half of the stings missed their mark and scraped over the hard plates, but the others managed to penetrate the deep hunter¡¯s hide.

    Check, that¡¯ll do it. Now for the fun part, I thought with a growl, landing on the other side and leaping away again. As I moved, I pushed on the glands tucked just behind the tips of the long, weaving scorpion tails that had replaced my hands.

    Scorpion venom is a potent cocktail of a number of different types of chemicals. Ultimately, it¡¯s purpose is to kill or incapacitate, by either overloading the body¡¯s pain receptors, shutting down the heart and lungs, or in some rare cases causing necrosis in the tissues. Which was great for a fight where I wanted to kill my opponent. But that was not what I was after today.

    Instead, I had something even better.

    During my research on different animals and their unique bits that I might be able to utilize, I¡¯d stumbled on more than a few fascinating specimens in the realm of zoology in relation to Earth. While I¡¯d confirmed that I could assume the form of creatures from Cortha too, I¡¯d not had as much time to study them either. This was how I¡¯d come up with the idea of the mantis shrimp¡¯s arm club, the volcano snail¡¯s iron reinforcements, and even a few other tricks. And it was one of those tricks that I was using to fill the venom glands that I¡¯d shifted my hands into.

    The deep hunter let out a furious roar of anger at the tiny pinpricks I¡¯d given it, sliding to a stop and charging after me. I didn¡¯t need long to ensure I had enough of my surprise, since I was actively pushing the glands with Shape-Shifting to fill themselves as quickly as possible. It took less than a minute of dodging, weaving, bobbing, and bouncing to buy the time I needed.

    The third stone spike the deep hunter sent at me was the signal I needed to turn the tide. I felt the mana surge through the ground and saw the shifting in the sand ahead of me, so I threw myself to one side in time to avoid the spike that would have taken me in the guts.

    Rolling to bleed off momentum, I clambered to my feet as the deep hunter continued its headlong charge at me. This time, the creature didn¡¯t open its mouth and block off its vision, but that was fine. I didn¡¯t need to do more than dodge the charge, and I¡¯d already proved I could do that.

    Springing to its right side, I lashed out with both of my stinger-arms. One strike skittered off the thigh plate on its front leg, but my left-hand strike drove into the joint in the armor, sinking beneath the plate and injecting the venomous payload.

    The reaction was immediate, and the deep hunter stumbled, bellowing in pain as it kicked out with the back-right leg in a furious attempt to dislodge my strike. I pulled my stingers back and kept circling even as the creature stumbled, screeching angrily as it limped after me, kicking up vast clouds of dust with its enormous feet. But it was already favoring the injured leg, so I was easily able to keep ahead of it now.

    Another strike scored a hit on the backside of the thigh on that same leg, right behind where the armor plate was, and the limb promptly gave out on the creature. It bellowed even louder now.

    ¡°Call the fight, Instructor,¡± I shouted in between the creature¡¯s bellows, still circling.

    ¡°What?! No! He¡¯s not finished yet! Keep fighting you great idiot!¡± screamed the leader of the trio.

    ¡°Liam?¡± Rainfist had to shout himself to be heard over the creature¡¯s bellows.

    ¡°It¡¯s not getting up. I can keep hitting it with the venom, but it¡¯s just going to make it hurt more,¡± I shouted to Rainfist, proving this by making three more rapid strikes but not injecting more of the venom. All three hits landed in sections of the creature¡¯s hide, which was thick, but the power behind the spurs still drove the blows deep enough to draw beads of blood to the surface.

    ¡°What did you do, you monster!¡± screamed one of the deep hunter¡¯s summoners.

    I wasn¡¯t sure which spoke, due to how much my ears were ringing from the creature¡¯s pained bellows. I did want to call her out on being a ¡®monster¡¯ given how much their summon had savaged the others it fought, but I held that thought back.

    The longer the venom had to take effect, the more frantic its sounds and attempts to get at me. But with the leg being unresponsive, it wasn¡¯t able to balance its immense weight enough to pursue me at anything more than a hobble. A pained hobble at that, which I could avoid by walking slightly faster than normal.

    When I didn¡¯t respond to the summoner¡¯s question, Rainfist just shook his head, studied the creature for a moment before raising his horn to his lips and blowing the signal for the end of the match. He then had to shout for the opposing team to dismiss their summon, as the creature continued to try to chase me across the sands while screeching its pain to the blue sky with the fury of a thousand teachers dragging nails on a chalkboard.

    In the echoing silence that fell when they complied, I let the Shape-Shift ability fall away and returned my hands to normal.

    Which was fortunate because Kassandra slammed into me from behind and knocked me right off my feet and into the sand with a giggling hug.

    ¡°Liam! That was so awesome! What did you do? How did you do that?¡± Kassandra¡¯s happy questions were music to my sore ears after the creature¡¯s bellows of pain, though I couldn¡¯t really answer as she had me pinned face-first in the sand with her tits resting on top of my head. It was a pleasant weight, but still a weight.

    ¡°Get off him, Kass!¡± Rieka barked from behind us. ¡°If you want answers to your questions, then you are going to have to actually let him up so he can talk!¡±

    ¡°Awwww,¡± Kassandra¡¯s voice was filled with the offended pouting of a master at the technique. I was glad that I wasn¡¯t looking at her, because I knew I¡¯d cave for whatever she was asking for, and Kassandra didn¡¯t need any more power over me.

    Thankfully, my mischief macaroni didn¡¯t drag it out and slithered off of her perch on top of me. The girls were quick to help me up and dust me off, with Shayla fussing over the scrapes I¡¯d gotten in the near misses and from landing on the ground. I didn¡¯t want to admit it, but I¡¯d taken more injuries from Kassandra¡¯s energetic greeting than I had from the Deep Hunter.

    I¡¯d barely gotten to my feet when the flashes at the edge of my vision confirmed my win and the completion of the mission the System had seen fit to assign me earlier.

    Defeat the Deep Hunter and return to your contracted companions safely.

    Reward - 800 SP

    COMPLETED

    ¡°Well then, that¡¯s that,¡± I said with a chuckle, allowing Kassandra and Shayla to take one hand each and tow me away from the sands.

    Rainfist intercepted us before we made it to the exit for the arena.

    ¡°Liam,¡± the cat kin man calling my name brought us to a stop, and I glanced back as he trotted to a halt a short distance away. ¡°You move on to the finals tomorrow. You can either hang around for the last fight to witness your opponent, or you can head out and rest.¡±

    I glanced at the girls and got shrugs, though Shayla clung tighter to my arm in clear telegraphing that she wasn¡¯t going to be letting me go anytime soon. While I¡¯d gotten out of the fight unscathed, apparently I¡¯d scared the large moth woman more than once.

    ¡°We¡¯ll hang around. Can¡¯t hurt to see what¡¯s going on and who we face,¡± I said and got a nod from the cat featured man.

    ¡°What did you do to that creature, Liam?¡± Rainfist asked after another long moment. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen a venom act that fast.¡±

    ¡°Well¡­ I am not surprised. The venom of the animal known as ¡®God¡¯s Tinkertoy¡¯ is fairly unique, after all.¡± The confused look from the instructor just made me laugh, so I decided to add on to it. ¡°It may look ridiculous, but no sane creature goes back to fuck with a platypus more than once if it stings you. The venom won¡¯t kill you, but damn does it hurt!¡±

 Chapter 103

    The girls were silent as they led me back to the dorm rooms. Shayla remained clinging to my arm and back the whole way. Kassandra shared a look with Rieka before swapping with my wolfish princess, allowing Rieka to slip her arm into mine.

    Jane was entirely oblivious, happily bouncing along ahead of our group while her tail danced and swayed happily as she babbled about how epic the fight was, and how she was confident that I¡¯d do just fine in my next duel. Kassandra slithered up next to the excitable mouse kin and joined in with a smile.

    It warmed my heart to see the formerly nervous Jane getting along so well with Kassandra. I knew that there had to be a story there, but I could also tell that Jane didn¡¯t want to talk about it, though she did take pains to overcome her shyness and issues with my dwarf lamia¡¯s presence.

    ¡°So, Liam. How are you feeling now that the fights are done for the day?¡± Rieka¡¯s voice was soft as my wolf princess leaned into my shoulder, laying her head lightly against my deltoid. The fluffy tips of her pointed ears stirred and tickled my cheek lightly until I turned and nuzzled into them gently.

    ¡°Fine. The fights were tough but not impossible,¡± I answered, brushing my lips over the tip of one of those fluffy points.

    ¡°I still don¡¯t like that we are asking Liam to fight like this at all,¡± Shayla huffed, the large moth woman crowding a little closer on my left. I felt a brief stirring of a breeze behind me, and I guessed that had to be her wings flapping in irritation. A moment later, I felt a soft sensation as one of her antennae brushed against my forehead, the delicate organ stroking over my skin gently before retracting.

    ¡°I don¡¯t like it either, Shayla,¡± Rieka admitted. ¡°At this point, the whole competition thing feels¡­ wrong. What does it gain any of us to pit our summoned companions against each other in such a brutal battle? It would make far more sense to have the time spent in sparring matches where the summon can join in. But this is the curriculum of the academy.¡±

    ¡°If this is what Juneau has to offer in its wisdom, I don¡¯t know if I want to learn here,¡± grumbled the moth woman under her breath, quiet enough that I would have missed it if she wasn¡¯t clinging so close to me that I occasionally felt her soft bust brush against my back.

    ¡°Juneau is¡­¡± Rieka began to protest before grimacing and sighing. ¡°I don¡¯t know what to say to that. I can¡¯t disagree that it is a rough environment to learn in, and somewhere that I question the worth of on occasion either.¡±

    ¡°There have to be reasons for you to stay here. What made you decide to attend Juneau in the first place?¡± I interjected, turning to look over my right shoulder at Shayla, who was frowning down at her feet while still clinging to the back of my arm tightly with her right hand.

    Her antennae, which I had learned were as much tells of her mood as Rieka¡¯s ears, were curled close to her skull now rather than their normal, airy selves. Which told me she was anxious and worried.

    ¡°I came to Juneau to learn about my magic, which is rare in general. But if this is how the school treats its students, I don¡¯t know if I want to take part in this,¡± Shayla mumbled, not looking up at me but clearly aware of my gaze as she began to blush slightly.

    The blush crept down her cheeks, just a faint tinge of pink at the moment. I knew that if I kept staring at her, that blush would work its way down her throat to begin dusting the top curves of her pale breasts where they lay exposed by her loose dress.

    ¡°The school is treating its students fine. It¡¯s just being a bit rough with their summoned companions is all,¡± I interjected gently. ¡°I¡¯m an aberration in that norm. A Traveler is not normally summoned in those rituals after all¡­¡±

    The sentence trailed off as I thought about the situation that led up to my bonding with Kassandra and Rieka that first night. Sure, I¡¯d gone off a bit on the deep end of the whole white knight thing when the girls had said they needed help and I just promised to help them. But it¡¯d turned out alright in the end, and I¡¯d become a better person with their encouragement. But that wasn¡¯t what had caught my mind.

    Events of that night¡­ I thought back, tapping into my vastly improved mental stats to remember what had occurred months ago.

    I¡¯d been parked on the side of a highway after having gone out of my way to help a friend who¡¯d blown a tire out in the mountains. On the way back, I¡¯d gotten into an accident that had dinged up my truck. We¡¯d exchanged insurance cards, but I¡¯d never heard anything about the claim or not from my insurance. And I¡¯d gotten a ticket for the accident. I¡¯d been sitting in the truck wondering about my choices in life when that first summon had come through, snatching me up involuntarily.

    After cruising through the maelstrom of intervening space, I¡¯d landed in the summoning room of Rue House and scared more than a few of the students there, especially when I¡¯d shown that I wasn¡¯t bound by the confines of the summoning circle.

    But that was because the circle was damaged, wasn¡¯t it? I thought, digging a bit at the memory before I found the point where I¡¯d noticed the prised up bit of metal on one corner, a bit that had set the fear response off in the others even worse when I¡¯d pointed it out.

    ¡°Rieka, did they ever figure out who damaged the summoning circle that night that you and Kass got me?¡± I asked gently as Jane and Kassandra led us through the front doors of Rue House and towards the stairs that went upwards to the floors where their rooms were.

    ¡°No. I asked Lady Maia about it, but she only ever told me that it¡¯d been repaired and was believed to have been an accident. Why?¡±

    ¡°It just struck me as odd that the section was damaged when you and Kassandra went to use it. Were you and her volunteers at random, or did you know you¡¯d go first?¡± I turned my gaze back to the platinum blonde on my arm and she hummed thoughtfully, lifting her head from my shoulder to peer at me for a moment before she answered.

    ¡°We knew in advance. The instructor wrote up a schedule by drawing lots, but the whole class knew who would go when, so that we knew when to bring the materials we wanted to use for the summoning. You don¡¯t think¡­¡±

    ¡°That someone damaged the circle intentionally? I do think that, Rieka,¡± I sighed. ¡°Between the fumbled summoning, the issues with those bandits that attacked that farm to try to lay a trap, then the other group who hit your mother¡¯s caravan? I think something¡¯s going on. You haven¡¯t heard anything from the city guard yet, have you?¡±

    Rieka blinked at me in surprise, her mouth falling open into an O for a moment before her brows knit together and she scowled.

    ¡°You are right. I¡¯d forgotten about that part of the whole summoning thing. It worked out just fine, so I just¡­ let it go. I didn¡¯t even let my mother know about it.¡±

    Shayla was glancing between me and Rieka now, her earlier worries overshadowed by what we were saying.

    ¡°You should let her know. If they aren¡¯t connected, then all the better. If they are somehow connected to someone trying to do you harm, then she needs to know. There might be some way she can help. I¡¯m less worried about this competition than I am about the other stuff going on in the background that could hurt one of my girls.¡±

    My statement made Rieka blush, and she paused on the stairs, pulling me and Shayla to a stop long enough for my princess to bounce onto her tiptoes and press her lips to mine in a quick kiss.

    ¡°I think I will do that, Liam. I had planned to spoil you some in thanks for your hard work dealing with these problems and the competition. I know you¡¯ve been training hard the last several weeks for it and all for something as nebulous as our grades. But I am sure Kassandra will be happy to monopolize you for the night instead.¡±

    Rieka¡¯s voice was low and husky as she whispered that into my ear, but not low enough that Shayla missed it. I could tell from the way the big moth woman tightened her grip on my arm just a bit before relaxing a moment later.

    ¡°You¡¯ll just have to catch up on that later then is all, my princess. I love you and would love to spend more time with you.¡± I murmured into her hair, nuzzling the edge of her ears and nipping the curve of one lightly. This drew a quiet moan of need from Rieka and she shivered against me for a moment before stepping away.

    ¡°I will have to do just that, Liam. I¡¯ve put this off for too long, though. Mother needs to be made aware of the possible connection. My only worry is that she might insist on me leaving Juneau for my own protection.¡±

    Shayla¡¯s unladylike snort of derision drew both of our attention to the moth woman, who blushed suddenly at our attention.

    ¡°I do not mean to speak ill of the queen¡­.¡± Shayla began, pausing until I reached back with the arm she was clinging onto to give her thigh a reassuring pat. She smiled at me gently before squaring her shoulders and continuing.

    ¡°I was just thinking that if she thought she¡¯d make you safer by taking you away from here, that¡¯d be foolish. The safest place for you to be is near Liam, after all. And while the rest of us are here at Juneau, then he will be here the most often. I know that you can summon him to you at a moment¡¯s notice, but it still would be better to stay close.¡±

    ¡°Fair point,¡± Rieka chuckled, her ears flicking upward in amusement while her tail fluffed and danced behind her. ¡°I¡¯ll make sure to include that in my message.¡± She held up a hand when Shayla began to protest. ¡°Not that you said that, Shayla. Just to remind her that my protector has other charges, and thus staying close to them will ensure he is around most often.¡±

    ¡°And I think I made a pretty good impression on your mum when we met last, didn¡¯t I?¡± I teased gently, getting a scandalized look from Shayla for referring to the queen as ¡®your mum,¡¯ while Rieka just grinned at me.

    ¡°That you did. The only way you could have done better to impress her would be if you¡¯d had your shirt off,¡± Rieka husked, leaning in to nuzzle my neck. ¡°You always look so impressive like that. It really gets me going. And you smell so good right now.¡±

    ¡°Did you change your mind about wanting to spoil me, Rieka?¡± I teased lightly, wrapping an arm around her shoulders to squish the wolf woman into my side.

    Rieka huffed in irritation and shook her head, leaning back to look up at me.

    ¡°No, more''s the pity. I need to be responsible for a bit, which makes this harder.¡± I waggled my eyebrows at Rieka meaningfully and she snorted, slapping my chest. ¡°I was meaning my duty, you dirty man. Kassandra is rubbing off on you.¡±

    ¡°As often as I can!¡± Kassandra chirped from the top of the stairs. ¡°Are you two going to just strip Liam bare down there on the stairs or do you wanna head back to your room first, Rieka? Not that I mind sharing him with either of our new girls. He¡¯s more man than either you or I can handle, after all.¡±Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    Shayla began to blush furiously but didn¡¯t respond, while Rieka just rolled her eyes and tugged our group into motion.

    ¡°If you must know, Kass. I need to write a message to my mother. Liam reminded me of something important that I need to pass along to her. I also need to get ready to light a fire under certain members of the Kintos City Guard, as they have had no information to give me,¡± Rieka explained once we met up with Kassandra and Jane.

    Kassandra¡¯s face fell into a scowl at that, remembering the events in question and the clash with the city guard as well as the commander who had tried to steal credit for our actions. At least, that was my guess as to why her face fell. Since Rieka speaking of them reminded me, I still had a bone to pick with a particular commander.

    ¡°That is fair. And knowing how long those messages take to travel, you¡¯d want to get them going as soon as possible. It¡¯s too bad that your mother doesn¡¯t have a summoning pact with Liam. He¡¯d be able to relay information to her immediately with that one power.¡± Kassandra tapped the side of her head with one finger meaningfully, making her curls fluff and bounce.

    ¡°Why doesn¡¯t Liam have a pact with her majesty?¡± Jane interjected. ¡°It might actually be beneficial and a way to carry secret messages. Just give the sealed message to Liam if you don¡¯t want him to convey it via his power, then have the intended recipient summon him to deliver it.¡± Jane turned her attention to me, the tufty tip of her tail flicking over her head in excitement. ¡°I know you don¡¯t have a ton of space in your Dimensional Pocket ability yet, Liam. But you could still act as a courier for valuable items if someone really put the thought into it. Hard to intercept confidential communications when the courier is an extra-dimensional entity.¡±

    Rieka paused with her mouth open, staring at the bouncy mouse kin woman as the five of us stood on the landing of the second floor, having only made it a dozen feet before the revelation brought our group to a stop. My princess continued to stare at Jane for a solid ten seconds before her mouth closed with a quiet click.

    ¡°That is actually a brilliant idea, Jane,¡± Rieka said a moment later. ¡°If Liam would be willing to do that, it would allow for a level of secure communication that could not be easily compromised.¡±

    ¡°If he was willing to do it,¡± Jane tacked on, shooting me a wry smile. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to offer you up like that, Liam. I just had an idea and wanted to get it out there before I forgot.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I don¡¯t mind playing Pony Express if any of you need me to. Same goes for your mum, Rieka. Within reason, of course. My first duty is to protect you four.¡± I shot each of the girls a smile, getting one in return with a bit extra from my lovers.

    Rieka smiled lovingly at me and squeezed my arm into her breasts. Kassandra blew me a kiss to go with her smile. Jane just smirked and continued to bounce from foot to foot slowly, her excitement keeping her from standing still. Shayla blushed while she smiled, her balled antennae slowly uncurling as she relaxed again.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what you mean by ¡®Pony Express¡¯ Liam, but I can guess you mean that you wouldn¡¯t mind being a messenger if needed?¡±

    ¡°Sure, though it¡¯ll take some setting up to do,¡± I said with a shrug. ¡°Might be best to test it with just your mother at first. I don¡¯t know how many contracts I can have going at once, and that might limit me. Maybe write up the idea for her and send along the summoning information that lets you target me, like you did for Shayla and Jane. If she wants to do it, she¡¯ll be able to summon me to send a reply.¡±

    ¡°If you are okay with it, Liam¡­¡± Rieka¡¯s eyes shone with love as she let the sentence trail away. I smiled and nodded to her, getting another loving peck from my wolfish princess before she unwound herself from my arm. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll go and start preparing the message. If I pay an express courier, they can get it to the capital in a day or two. That¡¯ll let us finish the competition before we have to worry more about this.¡±

    ¡°Sounds good. Don¡¯t stay up too late, love,¡± I replied.

    ¡°Same to you, Liam. Get plenty of rest before the finals tomorrow, okay? I don¡¯t care if you win or lose, but I want you well rested so you don¡¯t make a mistake and get hurt,¡± Rieka called over her shoulder. I shot her a mock-salute before turning my attention back to the other three women with me.

    ¡°Well then, did you ladies have anything you wanted to do tonight?¡± My question got a wicked grin from Kassandra. My mischievous noodle opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by Jane.

    ¡°Kass and I actually needed to get some work done on that report we are writing regarding ancient humans. We¡¯ve¡­ kinda left it to the last minute while helping you get ready for the competition and it''s due tomorrow.¡±

    Kassandra¡¯s face fell at Jane¡¯s pronouncement and she swore under her breath.

    ¡°Shit! I¡¯d forgotten about that report for our historic class. It¡¯s really due tomorrow?¡± Jane nodded with a small frown of her own.

    ¡°Yeah. I wanted to work on it sooner, but I knew that none of us would be able to think clearly while preparing for the competition. We¡¯ve got a lot we can use from the ruins without revealing where they are, but we still need to get the reports actually written for class.¡±

    Jane¡¯s normally perky tail was now drooping nearly to the ground, the flexible strand bent double and its fluffy tip hanging like a broom¡¯s bristles over the ground. She clearly wasn¡¯t enthused about the report either, but from the resolute look on her face, Jane was determined to keep her grades up.

    ¡°I wanted to reward Liam for how well he¡¯s done,¡± Kassandra whined. Her bottom lip stuck out in the queen of all pouts while my redheaded lover crossed her arms over her stomach and hmph¡¯d in irritation.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, Kass. You need to keep your studies up after all, and I¡¯m not going anywhere,¡± I reassured her, holding out my now-free right arm to her.

    Kassandra¡¯s eyes lit up with joy and she slithered over quickly, using her length to push herself up high enough to snuggle into my side happily.

    I never complained when Kassandra wanted to give me some cuddles, and not just because of how her plush form felt against me. She was always so affectionate and open with her love that it was impossible to not be happy having her there with me.

    ¡°Sorry Liam,¡± Jane had a contrite look now, though her tail had perked up some. ¡°I hate to steal Kass away from you like this, but we agreed to work on this report as a group so¡ª¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t sweat it, Jane,¡± I interrupted, wrapping my right arm around Kassandra and squeezing her to my side, making the redheaded dwarf lamia eep out a giggle at the sudden pressure. ¡°I¡¯ll just head home and rest, like Rieka insisted. Better to take it easy and recover when I can. The final only has one fight tomorrow, but I need to be on top of my game for it.¡±

    A murmur of noise from my left drew my attention over to Shayla, who¡¯d been silent since Rieka had bounded off. The moth woman was blushing even more furiously, but the hand on the back of my arm was still resting firmly there.

    I could feel the occasional brush of her soft skin against my bare arm, since I¡¯d lost my shirt during the fights to a combination of the fire effects, claws, and other close calls.

    ¡°What was that, Shayla?¡± I asked gently of the shy moth woman.

    ¡°I¡­¡± Shayla began, her head dipping down so that her antennae and her hair hid her face. ¡°I¡¯m not doing anything. You could spend some time with me if you want, Liam.¡±

    Her voice was quiet, almost so quiet I couldn¡¯t hear her, but the hope in Shayla¡¯s voice was obvious and I could feel my heart going out to the shy woman. Shayla had slowly been coming out of her shell over the last few weeks and I¡¯d been getting closer to the woman. The hints had been there of her attraction, between clinging to me and the blushes, that I could tell she was interested. Given her shyness, though, I¡¯d wanted to let her decide the pace.

    No guarantees, Liam. She just might want to spend some time sketching me again, I reminded myself.

    While I was exercising self-control and urging myself to not get my hopes up, Kassandra had no such reservations.

    ¡°Ooooh? Want to score some more private time to reward our Traveler?¡± Kassandra¡¯s eyebrows bounced up and down like a pair of foxes playing on a trampoline for the first time. ¡°I can¡¯t say I fault you. Liam is just so easy on the eyes, especially after all that hard work he put in for us. I knew you wouldn¡¯t be able to resist him for too much longer, Shayla.¡±

    ¡°Kaaass!¡± Shayla whined, her blush now dark enough that her face was starting to match colors with Kassandra¡¯s hair in color and it had descended to vanish beneath the bodice of her dress.

    ¡°I mean, he just looked so deliciously dangerous out there in the ring, sweat dripping down off his muscles while he dominated the opponents. All for us too,¡± Kassandra continued to ramble along, the fingers of one hand tracing over my abdominals playfully while her slitted eyes twinkled. I could feel the pressure of one of her hard nipples digging into my side, so I knew she was winding herself up as much as she was winding Shayla up right now.

    ¡°He was pretty hot.¡±

    The comment from Jane broke through the tension and all three of us turned to look at the smirking mouse kin woman, who shrugged despite the slight blush on her cheeks that actually flowed up into her large mouse ears where they protruded from her hair.

    ¡°What? It is true, you know. And really hot knowing someone that dangerous is only a second away from coming to our help. It¡¯s reassuring,¡± Jane said with a shrug. ¡°Especially after he made those three back down at the arena. I¡¯d be considering it myself if we didn¡¯t have that report to get to, Kass.¡±

    ¡°Another time, Jane,¡± Kassandra shot the mouse woman a saucy wink. ¡°Liam is easily able to keep up with all four of us. And you know he¡¯s a perfect gentleman from when we were camping the other day.¡±

    ¡°He may be a gentleman, but I know you are a pervert, Lady Silverscale,¡± Jane jabbed back with a smirk. ¡°I know you towed him off for a morning rendezvous while the rest of us were sleeping. So dirty to want to do it out in the wilderness like a pair of animals like that.¡±

    Kassandra had a wicked twinkle in her eye when she got ready to respond, but I shut her down with a pinch to the bum. She yelped before slapping me in the chest lightly and turning back to Jane.

    ¡°If you want a turn, all you have to do is ask, Jane. Rieka and I have already approved of you both. You just have to get Liam to agree,¡± Kassandra said without a hint of remorse, making the mouse girl blush even more as her comments had finally chipped through Jane¡¯s resistance.

    ¡°Okay you two, you have a project to finish. Stop teasing Shayla so much, Kass,¡± I gave my serpentine lover another butt-pinch, but gentler this time. She squeaked in surprise before turning her smile on me once more.

    ¡°Fiiine. I guess we¡¯ll leave you in Shayla¡¯s capable hands. The mana in the summon should last for the next six hours, Shayla. You know how to send him back if he wears you out before then, right?¡±

    Shayla didn¡¯t respond verbally. She still had her eyes downcast and was blushing hard enough that I swore her pale antennae were about to start changing colors too, but she nodded instead.

    ¡°Good! Love you, Liam. Don¡¯t break our magnificent moth girl now.¡± Kassandra wriggled higher to plant a kiss on my cheek after she finished speaking, then slid free of my arm to land on the ground once more. ¡°Come on, Jane. Let¡¯s get that report done so I don¡¯t have it hanging over me again. I am going to have to be more aware of my homework so that it doesn¡¯t get the chance to steal my Liam time in the future.¡±

    The last part of her sentence was said with such an amusing mixture of annoyance and petulance that both of the other girls began to giggle in response.

    ¡°Okay, Kass. Let¡¯s get this done. I have some other¡­ things I wanted to talk to you about, too.¡± Jane shot me a meaningful glance, her ears folding back shyly against her skull while her fading blush flared.

    Kassandra was quick to hook her arm in Jane¡¯s and begin to tow the other woman away.

    ¡°I am an open book to you, Miss Carsan. I¡¯ll be happy to give you all the juicy details!¡± Kassandra said with a happy wiggle that both sent her mane of red curls bouncing and her bottom jiggling under her tight skirt as she slithered away. Jane just laughed, allowing the serpent woman to tow her along.

    This left just me and Shayla standing on the landing in awkward silence. A silence I couldn¡¯t allow to linger.

    One thing amongst many that my two lovers had given me so far was far more confidence in myself. It¡¯d allowed me to make choices to better myself and grow as a person. So I put that new confidence to work and turned to Shayla. The moth woman continued to cling to my arm with her head bowed, but her antennae were fully extended now, the fluffy stalks reaching out towards me like two little hands.

    ¡°Shayla, you know that I¡¯d never do anything to hurt you, right?¡±

    The moth woman nodded once, her antennae bobbing.

    ¡°Do you want to just send me home? Kass was teasing more than she should have, so it won¡¯t offend me if you aren¡¯t comfortable¡ª¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    Her one-word answer cut me off, and I paused to let Shayla speak.

    The beautiful winged woman looked up at me finally, her bottomless black eyes shimmering slightly in the light and the blush on her cheeks firmly in place. But her shoulders squared with determination and she took in a slow breath before nodding.

    ¡°No, I want you to¡­ spend some time with me. I want to know you, Liam.¡±

    Shayla¡¯s other hand came up to trace my arm lightly before she smoothed her palm out over my chest, tracing the handful of small scars that I had there from the few times I¡¯d gotten into fights back home before I had my powers.

    The feeling of her soft hand sent a thrill of pleasure down my spine, and I nodded to her.

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯m all yours then, Shayla. Lead the way.¡±

 Chapter 104 <3<3<3

    Shayla remained plastered to my side for the short walk up to the third floor where her room was. The hand that had just been cupping the back of my arm shifted to wrap around my left biceps and drag it back into the softness of her bosom.

    There was only a faint difference between her delicate skin and the material of her dress, both were nearly cloud-soft in texture, but the skin was infinitely warmer.

    While we walked, I occasionally felt the gentle brush of one of Shayla¡¯s wings against my back, or the tickle of her antennae stroking over my cheek lightly.

    Yup, they really are just as expressive as Rieka¡¯s ears, I thought after the third time those fluffy appendages bopped me on the cheek. For all Shayla¡¯s shy silence, I could tell she was excited at spending time with me and the implications of what was to come. And I had more clues than just the hardness of her nipple digging into the back of my arm.

    The moth woman only separated from me when we reached her room and she had to fumble out the large brass key needed to open the door. Her moves were stiff, anxious even, so I decided I needed to do something to ease her mood.

    Once the lock was turned, I pushed the door open and held it for her.

    ¡°Miss Shayla,¡± I said in a respectful tone and bowed to her slightly, gesturing for her to precede me into her rooms.

    ¡°Silly,¡± Shayla said with a quiet giggle, her wing flaring out enough to bonk me lightly on the head as she went by. I followed after her, trying not to stare at the curve of her ass where it bounced under the mellow, orange dress that she had been wearing for today.

    When I finally could tear my eyes away from Shayla¡¯s butt¡ªand let me tell you, it was a hard thing to do¡ªI cast a quick look around her room.

    While Kassandra and Rieka had gone for a more elegant appearance to their suites with lots of hardwood and silk, Shayla seemed to prefer more open space. Large windows sat along one wall and illuminated the entire room. They were large and long enough that I was pretty sure she got strong light basically all day, which I had a hunch was appealing to the moth woman and her artwork.

    The open spaces of her rooms were not barren by any stretch of the imagination, with a double handful of easels sitting out. More than half of those easels held canvases with paintings on them already that were in various stages of completion, and two held sketches that looked vaguely familiar from our session earlier in the week. A few stools stood next to some of the paintings, while a table to one side of the door, sheltered from direct sunlight by a cabinet, held an array of paints in trays, racks, and jars. Stacks of charcoal sticks sat in other jars, while sheaves of paper sat upright in a rack at the back of the table, ready for use should Shayla need them.

    Shayla¡¯s bed lay tucked into one corner of the room, near the fire but out of the way enough that it had a sense of privacy to it. A tall armoire of dark wood stood beside the bed with one door hanging open, revealing a multitude of strapless dresses similar to the one that Shayla was wearing right now. On the other side of the bed was a small hearth that had a fire crackling away in it, while a large, claw-foot tub sat in front of the fireplace, steam rising gently from the contents.

    ¡°Oh!¡± Shayla paused partway across the room, staring at the tub. ¡°I¡¯d forgotten about that.¡±

    ¡°What? The bath?¡± I asked, coming to a stop just behind the tall moth woman, standing just beyond where I¡¯d be crowding her wings, which were folded against her back at the moment.

    The choice to not crowd her was fortunate, as her wings flared slightly at my words, clearly having startled her despite the fact she¡¯d climbed the stairs here basically on my back.

    ¡°Yes. I only ask the servants to bring up hot water for me twice a week. It feels decadent even to do that,¡± Shayla said shyly, turning to look over her shoulder at me.

    The late afternoon light made her pale skin glow brilliantly, sending dancing highlights through her chocolate colored hair to go along with the faint red and cream highlights from her markings. The fluffy ruff of downy white at her neck matched the fluff at her wrists, giving her the appearance of some ethereal goddess of the setting sun, a look that was accented by the warm orange of her dress clinging to her lush body.

    ¡°Liam?¡±

    Shayla¡¯s speaking my name broke me out of my distraction and I blinked in surprise.

    ¡°Yes, Shayla?¡± I asked, my voice going deeper than I¡¯d expected. I coughed once to clear my throat while Shayla just giggled sweetly.

    ¡°You are surely tired from your fights, and sweaty too. Would you let me bathe you?¡± She asked, her voice remarkably firm for how pink her blush was coloring her cheeks.

    The thought of this beautiful, elegant woman bathing me sent a thrill of desire through my body, and I felt myself harden in an instant.

    When I¡¯d first joined with Kassandra, and then later with Rieka, it had been a furious and passionate thing. Sure, we¡¯d had our soft and delicate moments since then, but there was always that underlying promise of animalistic desire that fueled it all. A sensation that, at any moment, we might break into furious coupling without any warning.

    Shayla was something entirely different from my other two lovers. She had always been far more proper than either of them¡ªinfinitely more reserved than my dearest snuggle-noodle¡ªand despite the fact I could feel her desire rolling off her in waves; I didn¡¯t find myself possessed with a need to claim her. Instead, my desire to protect and cherish was driven to even higher levels, and I just wanted to wrap her in cotton wool and give the woman in front of me everything she could ever want.

    ¡°If that¡¯s what you want, Shayla,¡± I said a moment later, realizing I¡¯d gotten lost in my thoughts again while staring at her.

    ¡°Okay, Liam. Why don¡¯t you get comfortable in the tub while I get¡­ ready,¡± Shayla said a moment later, her full lips rising into a gentle smile. Nodding to her in understanding, I turned to make sure the door was closed and locked before turning back to the room.

    Shayla was already over by her armoire, her wings flapping gently while she hummed to herself. The moth woman¡¯s bottom shook back and forth slowly as she swayed, clearly unaware of just how sexy she looked at the moment.

    If this had been Kassandra or Rieka, I¡¯d have raced across the room to rip her dress right off, knowing that my lover was specifically teasing me. But the sheer innocence of Shayla¡¯s actions told me that she was unaware of the effect it was having on me. So rather than race across the room to ravage her, I did as she asked and headed over to the tub to strip off my boots and pants.

    I¡¯d only gotten one off by the time Shayla returned, a soft cloth in one hand and a cake of pink soap in the other.

    ¡°Here, let me get that,¡± Shayla said with a gentle smile, kneeling quickly and setting her cloth and soap aside to swiftly pick my laces apart to get the other boot off.

    Clearly she wants to dote on me, I thought with a smile, leaning back onto the edge of the claw-foot brass tub and letting her work.

    While Shayla worked by boot off, I watched the large moth woman, studying her to see if what I thought was in store for the evening was actually going to happen. The angle that she was at gave me a wondrous view down her cleavage, past the delicate ruff of fluff at her neck. The flutter of her gossamer wings at her back was a bit distracting, but was something I could put aside relatively easily with the acres of pale flesh that were on display just in front of me.

    Just like with Rieka¡¯s ears and tail, Kassandra¡¯s scales, or even Cariad¡¯s extra set of eyes, I thought while glancing back at those fluttering wings. They don¡¯t bother me. In fact, they make her feel just a bit more special. Does that make me a deviant? Probably¡­ I strangled the laugh that threatened at that thought.

    A bump against the front of my pants brought my thoughts back to something besides boobs and soft skin, and I blinked when I realized that the sensation was Shayla¡¯s antennae bopping the crotch of my pants lightly, the fluffy appendages stroking over the taut cloth slowly before Shayla glanced up at me shyly.

    The embarrassed blush she¡¯d been sporting was gone now, and replacing it was a dusky pink hue that instead conveyed a world of desire along with the sparkle floating in her midnight eyes. Her shyness was there too¡ªin the hesitation as she gently set my boot aside and just looked up through her downy lashes at me¡ªbut there was no fear in the woman in front of me.

    Shayla was the one to break the silence, speaking a moment later in a low tone.

    ¡°Go ahead and get in the tub, Liam. You should enjoy the water while it¡¯s hot.¡±

    ¡°This is your bath though, are you sure?¡± I asked the big woman, reaching down to cup her cheek with one hand. The tips of my fingers tickled that soft ruff around her neck and Shayla let out a contented sigh, nuzzling into my hand.

    ¡°I am sure, Liam. I¡­ like the idea of washing you. Of looking after you, just like you look after all of us. Plus, this will let me check you for any injuries you might be hiding. To ensure your body is fine¡­¡± Shayla¡¯s blush darkened by a single shade at that statement, but I didn¡¯t call her on it.

    She¡¯s so shy that it must be about all she can do to even be this forward, I thought, before rising slowly to my feet.

    I moved carefully so as not to knock the woman over and sidled to the side enough that I could undo my belt and strip off the heavy material of my fire-hose pants. Shayla remained seated on her heels by the tub, her dress tucked in around her legs and watching me shyly through her lashes while I stripped down.

    I might have imagined it, but I thought I heard a sudden, indrawn breath from the kneeling moth woman when my pants and underwear finally hit the floor and left me bare to her. Given the earlier teasing of my girls, and the innocent allure of the woman kneeling behind me, I was at full mast and showing not a single sign of fading.

    Being naked would normally leave someone feeling vulnerable. But with my Shape-Shifting, that¡¯s not something I ever really have to deal with, is it? I thought while tapping into the new confidence I had and carefully stepping up and into the tub, hissing at the heat of the water before settling down gingerly.

    ¡°Is it too hot, Liam?¡± Shayla asked quietly from behind me, and I heard her shuffle slightly to get into position.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s fine, Shayla. Just warmer than I expected. They must have just dropped the water off right before we got back here.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good. Now, relax and let me wash you, Liam.¡±

    Shayla¡¯s words tickled the back of my neck and I shivered slightly, but forced myself to relax and just lean back into the curved end of the tub. Taking a deep breath, I let it out slowly. After the fights earlier, my muscles were a bit tense, and I had a few sore spots, though my injuries had all been treated by Kassandra and her healing magic. There was only so much the magic could do at once though, so the heat felt good as the water settled just below my breastbone.

    There came a quiet splash of water before I felt the soft sensation of the cloth rubbing over my chest, followed by something even softer in its wake. Blinking my eyes open, I glanced down to see Shayla¡¯s slender hand rubbing the washcloth over my chest, leaving a glistening trail in its wake. The second softness was the downy mass of fluff that encircled her wrist. The water looked to wick right off of it without soaking in, leaving the cottony fuzz entirely dry.

    ¡°Thank you, Liam,¡± Shayla murmured into my hair from behind, and I felt two soft impacts on the top of my head. I knew that they were her antennae, but the thought didn¡¯t bother me. In fact, the attention of those fuzzy appendages made me smile, and I relaxed into her arms. ¡°Thank you for looking after us, for risking yourself for us. I am not happy with the risk that you put yourself in. The competition is barbaric. But you still put yourself forward without a question.¡±

    ¡°I kind of have a history of doing dumb things for beautiful women,¡± I said quietly, getting another delicate giggle from Shayla.

    She went silent at that, and I just luxuriated in the feeling of her hands gently moving over me.

    Shayla never really strayed below my belly button, even then mostly only dipping her hands that low to wet her cloth. The soap she used was smooth against my skin, not the normally harsh bar that I used back home, and it smelled faintly of roses. Though the longer that Shayla continued to work the soap over me, the fainter the smell got. Instead, the scent of sweet fruit billowed around me, smelling faintly of warm peaches, apricots, and citrus.

    The scent tickled at my mind as I just enjoyed Shayla¡¯s touch, but I couldn¡¯t quite figure out what it was until she shifted to wrap her arms around me further and I felt the soft brush of her neck-ruff against my cheek moments before the side of her face brushed my own. That scent became even stronger, and it pushed me back far enough. To when I had experimented with my Shape-Shifting and given myself antennae too. I remembered the scent coming from Shayla in the tent, and I finally realized that it had to be her personal smell. Not just the smell of her soap, which was a gentle floral tone. This had to be her scent, just like that cinnamon-musk was Kassandra, and how Rieka always carried the faintest hint of ozone around with her.

    ¡°Mm, you smell good,¡± I mumbled, and Shayla¡¯s hands stilled against my body for a moment before she made a happy noise deep in her throat and rubbed her cheek against mine.

    ¡°You smell good too, Liam. It¡¯s always so¡­ distracting whenever I¡¯m around you. Your natural smell is bad enough, but the smell of the others lingers around you,¡± Shayla murmured, nuzzling into my neck again while the soft fronds of her antennae brushed my face. ¡°I can sense their love and lust for you, even days later. It lingers about you¡­¡±

    ¡°Sorry,¡± I chuckled. ¡°I¡¯ll try to wash better in the future. I didn¡¯t realize your senses were that sharp.¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Shayla¡¯s protest was so sharp that it made me jump, but her arms around my chest kept me from moving far since I didn¡¯t want to hurt the woman. ¡°No, don¡¯t worry about that, Liam. The scent is distracting, but only one of my kind could detect it, and only at close proximity. Why do you think I like to stay so close to you?¡±

    Shayla¡¯s antennae stroked my face lightly, and I acted out of habit from my time with Rieka. I kissed one of those soft fronds lightly. The contact drew a quiet groan from Shayla and I felt her hands tremble against me. To give her a moment to collect herself, I answered her question.

    ¡°I assumed it was a nerve thing. You are such a shy thing, I figured you felt safe close to me.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s how it started,¡± Shayla admitted, her voice breathy as she settled her chin on my shoulder, the soft sensation of her fuzzy collar-ruff tickling my skin. ¡°But when I realized just how¡­ wonderful you smelled. I couldn¡¯t help myself. I had to stay close to you. I hope it doesn¡¯t change how you think of me?¡±

    ¡°Only that you might be a bit more like Kass than your innocent exterior might portray,¡± I teased, lifting one hand from the water to lay it over the one of hers that held the soap.

    ¡°I wish I could be that uninhibited,¡± Shayla sighed, nuzzling into my ear. ¡°Liam¡­ can you please take the lead with me? I¡¯m¡­ inexperienced, but I want this. I know I can trust you not to hurt me, and I know you keep the other girls happy. Can I trust you to do that for me too? So I can experience that sort of joy?¡±

    ¡°Of course, Shayla,¡± I turned slightly to catch her gaze out of the corner of my eye before I pressed a kiss to the hinge of her jaw. Shayla blushed furiously but nuzzled into the contact.

    The cloth in her hand slipped free of Shayla¡¯s grip and dropped into the water with a plop, followed by a louder plop when the soap followed it a moment later. Both her palms smoothed over my chest, tracing the small scars I had there, outlining my muscles, or toying with the little tuft of chest hair that I had.

    I kissed an inch over on Shayla¡¯s cheek, then another just an inch more to her mouth, touching the corner of her lips.

    Shayla moaned into the contact and slid forward further so that she could press her lips to mine.

    We savored the kiss for several long moments, but I couldn¡¯t help the little smile that curved my lips as her antennae continued to gently bonk my forehead or caress my face while Shayla hummed happily into the awkward kiss.

    Parting after Shayla finally realized that it was quite difficult to breathe and kiss at the same time. Given how much Kassandra enjoyed it, I¡¯d learned the trick of breathing through my nose a while back, and it was something I looked forward to teaching Shayla.

    Given that the moth woman didn¡¯t have pupils like I was used to, and her eyes were just shiny, bottomless orbs of jet, I was surprised when I realized she was struggling to focus on me while panting softly. There was something in how her eyebrows softened and she swayed that told me she was unable to see straight. Her wings pumped behind her back in time with the panting, the gentle swishing and flicker of movement obvious out of the corner of my eye.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°Shayla,¡± she twitched at my voice and blinked a few times but didn¡¯t respond verbally. ¡°Do you want to join me here in the tub, or do you want to move this to the bed?¡±

    Shayla frowned at me a little petulantly and I smirked right back, though I softened it by turning and reaching up with my right hand to cup her cheek, which caused her frown to melt into a rather adorable pout instead.

    ¡°I asked you to lead this, Liam,¡± she pouted.

    ¡°I will, but proper communication is needed for this to succeed, Shayla. So I need to know what you are okay with. If you want just a kiss and a cuddle, then that is fine, and I¡¯d be happy to show you more about myself and your sexuality. If you want to go all the way, then I need to confirm this is what you want. It¡¯s not something that can be fixed afterwards.¡±

    My words were gentle, and I stroked her jaw with my thumb lightly, my fingers threading through Shayla¡¯s long chocolate hair. The affectionate caress calmed the moth woman, and she took a slow breath before nodding.

    ¡°I want to experience it all. Liam, you¡¯ve shown me you are a powerful man who obviously loves his partners and treasures his friends. You have not once tried to manipulate me or extract favors from me. I¡¯m not even of noble blood, but other than you, only our little group has avoided trying to manipulate me. Even some teachers have tried to pressure me into producing art for them, as ¡®favors.¡¯ ¡±

    I scowled fiercely at this, but Shayla kissing my fingertips kept me from snapping.

    ¡°And even now, you want to confirm my desires and ensure I am happy with the outcome. Why wouldn¡¯t I be happy with this? Liam, if you weren¡¯t already attached to Kass and Rieka like you are, I¡¯d be trying to lock you down for myself.¡± Shayla took a deep breath and leaned in to kiss me lightly. ¡°Now, I¡¯ve reached the end of my courage, Liam. Would you please take the lead now?¡±

    ¡°As long as you promise to stop me if anything hurts or scares you. I don¡¯t want to ruin this for you and it would hurt me to know I¡¯d mistreated you, Shayla.¡±

    When she nodded, I returned the kiss and started to lean forward. Shayla didn¡¯t let go of my chest initially, clinging to my back like she always did, but this time she pressed her full body to my shoulders and I felt the two mounds of heaven she carried inside her dress pressing to my shoulder-blades.

    ¡°Shayla, love. I need to stand if you want me to do this,¡± I chuckled, and she released me with a small, wry laugh of her own.

    Sloshing in the still steaming water of the tub, I got to my feet. My erection, which hadn¡¯t flagged in the slightest, bounced as I steadied myself. Turning towards Shayla, I found her still on her knees at the back of the tub, but she¡¯d produced a large, fluffy cloth from somewhere and held it out in both hands to me, smiling shyly. From her pose and grip on the towel, I could tell she was offering to dry me off.

    ¡°So cute,¡± I mumbled at the hopeful expression on her face, and stepped out of the tub to stand dripping before her. Shayla didn¡¯t hesitate, leaning forward to begin wiping the water from my skin with a determined expression on her flushing face.

    The tickling sensation of her antennae as they did their thing, bopping and stroking over my chest while she worked over my thighs, was just as adorable as watching Shayla work while darting the occasional glances at my throbbing shaft as it bounced in response to her actions. She worked around it initially, but when the time came to wipe it down, she was quick and methodical as she did so despite her furious blush.

    ¡°If this isn¡¯t to be a one-time thing, Shayla? I would like to do the same for you as well eventually,¡± I said as she bent to get my legs and calves. Apparently, my offer startled her again, and she glanced upwards sharply. The motion sent her antennae swaying and the downy appendages stroked over my cock from base to head. It felt like the most delicious, feathery caress I¡¯d ever had and I had to bite back a groan.

    ¡°I¡­ that is¡­ I would¡­¡± Shayla stammered in surprise as her face darkened to a cherry color.

    Realizing that I¡¯d overloaded the already shy woman, I held out a hand to shush her and kneeled in front of her. Without my cock bouncing inches from her face, it seemed to reset Shayla¡¯s mind, and she blinked several times at me but stopped babbling at least.

    ¡°If you want. You don¡¯t have to decide right now. I just know that I spent some time in a bathhouse with Rieka and Kass. We had a lot of fun and I got a chance to wash them. I¡¯d like to return this favor to you too. Now, let¡¯s get you up off your knees. As beautiful as you look down here, this can¡¯t be comfortable.¡±

    Before Shayla could protest, I gently tugged the towel from her hands and dropped it over the puddle I¡¯d left around my feet. With her hands free, I bent and set my hands on her sides before leaning back and hauling the large woman to her feet.

    While I was strong, moving someone nearly as tall as I was would have normally been difficult, but that was before I¡¯d boosted my stats. Now it was just a matter of leverage.

    Shayla squealed in surprise as I lifted her up into the air and against me, her already wet dress sticking to my skin as she ended up molded to me while her wings flapped for a moment before relaxing when she realized I had her steady.

    ¡°Brute,¡± Shayla said with a snort, lightly slapping my chest.

    ¡°You asked for the brute,¡± I teased her back, leaning in to kiss her lightly. Shayla melted into the kiss, molding her body to mine, ignoring how the water that still speckled me was soaking into her dress.

    Then again, from the heat I can feel against my crotch, she¡¯s probably already soaked parts of that dress, I thought wryly, smirking into the kiss.

    Wrapping my arms around the moth woman, I let my hands settle over her firm buttocks. With the other girls, they¡¯d had tight little bottoms full of muscle, either from running around like Rieka did, or the slithering action of Kassandra.

    Shayla, on the other hand, had a plush bottom with full hips that let my hand sink into them. She hummed happily as I kneaded her bottom before squeaking in surprise when I used my grip there to lift her slightly and pull her against me. The short skirt of her dress kept her from throwing her legs around me, but Shayla clung to me and her wings began to pump again, holding her up enough that I easily carried her towards the bed where it sat in the corner of the room.

    The glow of the setting sun through the window was bathing the whole place in a russet light that matched Shayla¡¯s hair and the patterns on her wings or fur, which made the white fluff of her ruff glow like it was graced with shimmering fire, giving her an even more divine look as she panted into our kiss.

    Her hips ground against me more insistently during the trip too, clearly able to feel the trapped heat of my cock pressed between our stomachs. I wasn¡¯t sure if the squishing noises I was hearing were just my wet feet on the hardwood floor, or if it was Shayla¡¯s sex. Either was likely at this point.

    When she was on her feet once more, Shayla¡¯s shyness returned and she ducked her head, burying her face in my neck while I slid my hands over her back and body. When my hands found the laces of her dress at her back, she shivered once, but tucked her wings so that I could easily undo the laces. A bit of tugging and wiggling had the orange cloth loose around her shoulders.

    Shayla, the sweet, innocent girl that she was, only stepped back far enough to let her dress fall. It caught around her hips, but I pushed it down the rest of the way to fall to her feet in a puddle of cloth. As soon as the barrier was out of the way, Shayla pressed herself shyly to my chest once more. The soft mountains of her breasts squished delightfully into me, and my soon-to-be-lover gasped at the sensation as her hard nipples dug into my chest.

    Feeling her tremble in my arms, I just stood there for the moment, letting Shayla get accustomed to being naked. I knew I was a bit of an aberration with being so calm like this¡ªI blame that on Kassandra¡ªso I wanted to let her know it was safe.

    Running my fingers up and down Shayla¡¯s back, I gently kneaded the muscles along her spine and where her shoulders thickened to support the muscles which powered her wings. Those gossamer appendages continued to flare and relax occasionally, moving in time with Shayla¡¯s panting breath as she nuzzled into my neck again. The softness of her collar ruff danced over my skin, but it felt wonderful while her breath washed over my throat and ear.

    I was about to ask Shayla if she was okay and wanted to continue when I felt her hands shift from where they¡¯d been clutched to my chest. One hand snaked down over my abdominals to wrap around the head of my shaft gently. The feeling of her delicate hands on my cock drew a groan from my lips, making Shayla stiffen again for a moment before I felt her lips turn up in a smile and she began to slowly explore my shaft with her hands.

    We stood like that at the foot of the bed for a minute or two, just calmly exploring each other¡¯s bodies before Shayla pulled back slightly and looked up at me, her eyes sparkling with affection and the furious blush that had colored her cheeks before having faded enough to just be a faint pink now.

    ¡°What¡¯s next?¡± she asked, her voice small, but I could hear the echo of lust within it.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you have a seat on the bed and take a look at my little friend you¡¯ve been petting? He¡¯s not that scary, you know. In fact, he¡¯s a rather simple creature when you get down to it?¡± I suggested, squeezing Shayla¡¯s full bottom with both hands.

    She giggled in response to that, quirking one downy eyebrow at me while her antennae continued to twiddle next to and stroke my face lightly.

    ¡°Simple? How?¡± she asked, still smothering laughter.

    ¡°He likes beautiful women and getting kisses. He likes making people I care about happy. And he isn¡¯t shy about pointing out people that he thinks look great,¡± I reeled off with a mock-serious expression. Shayla giggled again, kissing my jawline lightly.

    ¡°You talk about it like your¡­ penis has a mind of its own,¡± Shayla said quietly, hesitating on the word ¡®penis.¡¯

    ¡°He does. And you can call him whatever you want: cock, dick, penis, schlong, sausage¡ª¡± I said, starting to list out the different euphemisms for her before Shayla burst into giggles at my words. ¡°Just don¡¯t laugh at him too much, he¡¯ll go pout if you do.¡±

    ¡°No! Don¡¯t go pout,¡± Shayla looked down to address her plea to my cock. ¡°I want to get to know you better!¡±

    Using the muscles in my abdomen, I tensed them to make my shaft twitch in her hand. Shayla squealed in surprise and her hand tightened on my shaft.

    ¡°I think he forgives you, but you might want to give him a kiss in apology,¡± I teased her, making the appendage in question bob again as if it was agreeing with me.

    ¡°Well fine then,¡± Shayla huffed, pouting up at me before shifting to settle onto the edge of the bed, but not removing her hand from my cock.

    This gave me a moment to fully appreciate the plush glory of her body, and I drank in the sight before me.

    Shayla had, apparently, gone without anything under her dress. The pendulous glory of her full breasts hung on display. Fat pink nipples sat hard and crinkled on top of the pale peaks of her curves. A little roll of tummy fat crinkled her abdomen given her softer figure, but it was cute in its own way. Shayla had a faint bush of the same dark brown hair that was on her head, shot through with thin threads of red and cream to match the pattern of her hair. The little bush was trimmed neatly up and away from her full vaginal lips which were already moist with her arousal. The scent of peaches had grown thicker once her dress was off, and I grinned, knowing my earlier suspicions were confirmed.

    ¡°Beautiful,¡± I said, just as Shayla glanced down at herself and began to frown.

    ¡°I¡¯m¡ª¡± she began to protest, but I cut her off.

    ¡°Beautiful. I¡¯m honored you chose me to give this gift, Shayla.¡± My words got another blush from her, but not as heavy as the others had been. Instead of speaking, she leaned forward to lightly press her plush lips against the head of my cock, apologizing for her earlier ¡®insult.¡¯ I had to bite back a groan of contentment at the contact and Shayla giggled before leaning back once more.

    ¡°Liam, I want you to teach me all about this,¡± she waggled the cock in her hand, ¡°but for the moment, I would like to feel you inside me. Kassandra has teased us all with innuendo for long enough that both Jane and I want to know what this feels like. I just¡­ seized the opportunity first.¡± She gave it another waggle and smiled up at me while her antennae swayed slowly in front of her face.

    I smiled down at her as well, cupping her face in my hand and smoothing my thumbs over her cheeks gently. She made a happy purring noise, kissing my right thumb and nipping lightly at it. After a bit of thought, I asked her a question.

    ¡°Can you lay on your back or would that damage your wings? I¡¯d normally have you be on top, but that might be a bit much for a virgin.¡±

    ¡°I can, but if you are okay with it, I would like to be on top?¡± Shayla said with a smile.

    She leaned in to give my cock-head one last parting kiss before lying back to sprawl on the bed. The motion was just vigorous enough that it sent her large breasts swaying and bouncing all over the place and I had to bite back a needy groan of my own at the sight.

    While Kassandra had a generous figure for her size, Shayla¡¯s breasts were easily almost as large as my dwarf lamia¡¯s head and I had to wonder at her strength to not have back pain from them. Her wings spread out behind her and turned into a beautiful, multi-color blanket beneath the larger woman before she sat up and rotated to sit on one hip alluringly.

    Remembering the trick that Kassandra and I had played on Rieka previously, I glanced around until I spotted the holstered spell rod that Shayla had been wearing when we came in. Now it hung by the fireplace, and I hurried over to collect it for her. Returning with the spell rod, I offered it to her handle-first.

    ¡°Contraceptive spell and a sound dampening one,¡± I explained at her questioning look.

    Shayla flushed again and nodded, casting the two spells quickly before I took the rod back and set it on the nightstand. Returning to the foot of the bed, I crawled onto it and stole a kiss before flipping over to lay on my back then patting my hips.

    ¡°Go ahead and straddle me, then. Just throw a leg over and settle on top. Once you are comfortable, we can kiss a bit more.¡±

    Shayla nodded, biting her lower lip as she maneuvered to settle her hips over top of mine. This ended with the hot, wet lips of her sex snuggling down onto the shaft of my cock with a wet squish as she rested her weight there. Moaning in surprise, Shayla¡¯s hips began to rock back and forth as she ground onto my shaft automatically. This motion sent her large breasts shaking and swaying right in my face and I couldn¡¯t help but press a kiss to the first nipple that bounced into range.

    ¡°Good girl, just like that. You¡¯ve got the motion already. When you are ready, just rock forward and we can line him up and you can slide back. This way, you can set the pace as you want to,¡± I coached her gently.

    Shayla¡¯s black eyes blinked open as she continued to grind her hips against mine, rocking against my cock with rapid back-and-forth motions that made lewd squishing sounds. She leaned forward and dove in for a kiss, compressing her breasts against my chest while she continued to rock herself on me, grinding her clit against the head of my cock.

    Our chaste kiss accelerated into a full on French kiss when I teased her lips with my tongue for a moment and she sent hers out to play. I gripped her full hips with my hands and aided in the rocking motion, enjoying the heated wetness of her sex as she ground into me. Neither of us noticed when her vigorous grinding shifted my cock enough that the head caught in her opening, but when Shayla rolled her hips to grind down into me more and it drove the head into her, we both definitely noticed that.

    ¡°Oh, gods¡­¡± Shayla moaned sharply into the kiss, flinching back in surprise. However, the action had the side-effect of her settling back onto my cock even further, and a full-body tremble shot through her as she sank down onto my cock entirely. I braced for her to wince or cry out in pain, but I felt no hymen part over me before her soaked sex settled to the root of my shaft.

    ¡°Shayla?¡± I asked as the woman just sat there in my lap, panting with desire.

    ¡°Liam¡­ this feels¡­ oooh,¡± Shayla moaned into my chest. Her back arching and her wings fluttering as a shudder rattled through her body.

    ¡°Does it hurt at all?¡± I asked, cradling her head to my chest with one arm while stroking her back with the other.

    ¡°Noooo,¡± Shayla moaned, elongating the sound while her sex clenched on me tightly. ¡°Feels good¡­ Kass was right¡­¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t let her hear you say that, she¡¯ll be insufferably smug,¡± I teased Shayla back, running my fingers through the soft ruff of fluff at her neck, combing the fur with my fingertips while her antennae twitched and wriggled against my chest, even the sensory organs uncertain of what to do next.

    Before I could advise her to just rest and get used to the feeling, Shayla began to rock her hips back and forth again like she was grinding on me. Each little rock and thrust sent a sparkler of pleasure through my body as her channel gripped and stroked me. Shayla would moan into my chest every so often, kissing it or playing her tongue over my pectorals while she rode me in a slow and steady rocking motion. Her wings began to pump in time with the grinding of her hips and I just couldn¡¯t get over how cute this unique and beautiful woman in front of me was.

    I just held Shayla, steadying her against the shakes and guiding her hips to keep to a steady rhythm. Her full bottom bounced slowly in my lap, rolling in and out like a steady tide as Shayla climbed to her own climax while I held myself back. I knew that I could go multiple times, but I wanted to make sure she enjoyed every second of her first time.

    Sneaking a hand under where her chest pressed to mine, I found one fat nipple and began to roll it between my fingers, tugging on it gently. This was enough to send a spike of pleasure through Shayla and she straightened up suddenly with a yelp of surprise. Her antennae stood up like two long banners as another long shudder wracked her plush body. This also had the added effect of driving me even deeper into her snug sex, and that sensation was enough to trigger the orgasm Shayla had been chasing.

    Moaning, Shayla held her arms out to try to steady herself, her wings pumping furiously but out of sync as her climax crashed over her. The shuddering roll of her climax sending delicious ripples through her soft flesh with each contraction.

    Eager to help keep her on the peak as long as possible, I palmed a breast with each hand and kneaded them gently, thumbing her nipples in alternating passes. This caused Shayla¡¯s moans to skip up an octave and then for her to go dead silent when I began to bounce my hips underneath her full bottom to fuck up into her spasming pussy.

    Shayla remained in a climax for nearly a full minute before she finally began to reach the end of it. When her trembles began to slow down, I relaxed and stopped thrusting up into her, and she leaned forward to catch herself with a hand on each of my shoulders.

    ¡°Oh, Liam¡­¡± Shayla panted, her hair mussed, but still looking as beautiful and sensual as ever. ¡°I¡­ that was so much better than anything Kassandra ever described.¡±

    ¡°And that was only your first of many,¡± I teased her, flexing my shaft inside her sweltering snatch and making the woman on top of me moan again. ¡°I¡¯ve got many positions to show you from now on, too. There is a lot to be done, and I¡¯m happy to be your lover as long as you want me to be. Just remember, communication.¡±

    Shayla blushed furiously at the suggestion of different positions, but when I mentioned communication, her expression firmed and she smirked down at me with a devilish tint to her features.

    ¡°Then, sweet Liam. I want to feel you climax inside of me. And I¡¯m going to ride you until you do so.¡± Shayla¡¯s words were surprisingly blunt for the normally shy woman, and I was about to mention that when she began to bounce her hips on top of me.

    Before, she¡¯d just rocked slow and steady in my lap, a grinding motion with my cock buried inside of her. I guess when I¡¯d thrust up into her, it¡¯d given shy, reserved little Shayla an idea of what kind of pleasure could be found in more vigorous movements, and she was bound and determined to capitalize on that.

    Earlier, the sound of Shayla¡¯s moans had been the loudest noise in the room. Now it was the wet slapping of our hips together as she rode me with the kind of wild abandon that I would expect from Kassandra, though seeing sweet, innocent Shayla driven to that level of arousal was empowering in and of itself.

    I had two choices: try to slow her down or just give the woman what she wanted, and I had a hard time telling any of my girls ¡®no,¡¯ after all. So rather than fight it, I shifted my grip back to her hips and began to thrust up into her in counterpoint. This sent her full tits bouncing and swaying over my face as Shayla used her position bent over me with her hands planted on my shoulders to push back and fuck herself onto my shaft. I waited until one fat nipple got within range and latched on with my mouth, sucking the delicate bud between my lips and lashing it with my tongue.

    Shayla came again a moment later, her entire body tensing and her sex clamping down like a velvet fist as she came hard. A splash of liquid around my cock heralded her squirting as well, and Shayla¡¯s face screwed up in an orgasmic rictus while her wings flared out behind her to try to steady her.

    My climax was rising fast in my gut, and I continued to thrust up into her spasming cunt as it pulled, sucked, and dragged at me, begging me to fill it with my creamy seed.

    Shayla was only just beginning to come down out of her climax when mine touched off, sending her spiraling out over the edge again. Planting both feet into the mattress, I used that leverage to thrust up into her as deep as possible while I came, painting the inside of her sweet pussy with rope after rope of hot seed. Shayla¡¯s whole body twitched with each blast. When I finally finished, and my cock gave a last kick to expend its final round, the big woman slumped down on top of me like a puppet with its strings cut.

    Shayla sprawled over top of me, but didn¡¯t shift far enough that my cock slipped free. Instead, my little soldier was treated to another slow round of massaging contractions as the aftershocks of her orgasm continued to rack Shayla¡¯s body.

    With my climax though, I could think clearer, and I gently smoothed the hair back from her forehead, planting a kiss there between her antennae, which folded down around my head like a little pair of soft arms hugging me.

    ¡°That was¡­ glorious¡­¡± panted Shayla.

    ¡°You are welcome, love,¡± I murmured into her hair. Shayla let out a happy coo and nuzzled into my throat, her arms coming up to wrap around my neck while her antennae mirrored that action with my head.

    ¡°How long do you need to rest before we can do that again?¡± Shayla asked after a minute or two of savoring the afterglow.

    I chuckled and tensed my abdomen slightly, making my little soldier bounce inside of her and getting another moan from the moth woman.

    ¡°Ready for duty, lovely Shayla.¡±

 Chapter 105

    As much as I enjoy my time with my girls and the cool powers that being a Traveler has given me, there is a part of me that wishes I hadn¡¯t actually made it back to Earth that first night and just been trapped on Cortha without the Traveler powers.

    In the moment, I¡¯d been relieved to find myself in familiar surroundings. But as the reality of it all set in and I realized that I had to deal with keeping my apartment and earning a living still, all while knowing something as wondrous as magic, and as adorable as my girls existed.

    It didn¡¯t help that the times I spent with them were so much fun and so emotionally charged. I love Kassandra and Rieka dearly, and with the growing affection I¡¯d been feeling for Shayla and Jane, I knew that I¡¯d have more and more ties to Cortha as time passed.

    I wasn¡¯t sure when it was that I started thinking of home as wherever my girls were, but when I woke up in my own bed, in my shitty little apartment back on Earth, I couldn¡¯t help the grimace or the feeling of disappointment that swelled up to engulf me.

    Shayla and I had spent several hours exploring each other. I learned all about her on a physical and emotional level. Beyond just the sex, we had connected even further.

    I learned that her antennae were ticklish and sensitive, but she dearly enjoyed them being stroked and kissed when she was in the mood. Her wings were surprisingly durable, and while they weren¡¯t as sensitive as her antennae, she did enjoy having them stroked. Shayla¡¯s dream was to travel and paint all sorts of scenes in the world.

    We¡¯d fallen asleep on the mess of her bed after the first few hours, with Shayla snuggled up to my side and her wings spread over us both like a colorful and warm blanket.

    Waking up naked on my own cold bed had been another blow to morale.

    Reminding myself that I¡¯d be seeing my girls again soon for the last fight of the tournament, I got myself up and going.

    I showered, shaved, and got breakfast going, sending an affectionate morning message to all four of my bonded companions, though I might have been a bit more risqu¨¦ with the ones that I sent to Kass, Rieka, and Shayla.

    I didn¡¯t want to push Jane, despite the suggestions that Shayla had made the previous night that she was just as interested as the moth woman had been.

    While staring into my steaming coffee, I had an epiphany and closed my eyes to access the interface for the System. It only took a moment to navigate to the lesser-used Contracts tab.

    The last time I¡¯d checked this was weeks ago, and I was curious what the contracts were ranked at, since at that time Kassandra had been slightly ahead of Rieka with a level three contract.

    The information spooled across my vision in glowing letters, a compact stack of information that made me smile.

    Kassandra Silverscale (Guardian Contract level 4)

    Rieka Coldeye (Guardian Contract level 4)

    Shayla Valo (Guardian Contract level 3)

    Jane Carsan (Guardian Contract level 2)

    ¡°Wonder what the difference between the levels of contract means,¡± I muttered, taking a sip of my coffee and opening my eyes to let the information fade. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s how often they¡¯ve summoned me? No, that doesn¡¯t seem right. Jane and Shayla have summoned me basically the same number of times, far fewer than Rieka did in the past and she was only a level two. So how is Shayla ahead of Jane?¡±

    I pondered it long enough for my coffee to go cold, turning over different ideas and discarding each of them when they didn¡¯t fit quite right. My best guess was a level of trust that existed between us, though I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if somehow the physical intimacy played into it.

    After all, for most people trust is needed before sex occurs, I thought with a wry smile.

    Before I could fall too far down the proverbial rabbit hole on that idea, I felt a slight tremble at the edges of my vision before a message scrolled into place in front of my eyes.

    Kassandra Silverscale, Rieka Coldeye, Shayla Valo, and Jane Carsan have sent a non-urgent request for your presence regarding participation in their competition.

    Transit? View summoning?

    Reminding myself that I needed to be better at looking ahead to make sure things were safe or to know how to react, I mentally activated the View Summoning option.

    An image appeared showing my four girls standing together in what looked like Rieka¡¯s room, with Shayla blushing furiously, while Kassandra grinned at her. Rieka was focusing on the summoning with her spell rod out. Jane stood beside her, blushing, but trying to focus as well.

    Everything looks good. Let¡¯s do this, I thought with a smile.

    My earlier annoyance at being separated from my girls had faded as soon as the message for the summon came through. I focused on the Transit option and pushed my cold coffee away to lean back into my lumpy dining-room chair.

    A moment later, the tugging sensation of the Traveler magic wrapped around me and yanked me through the barrier between worlds.

    Keep off the grass, I thought with a laugh that sounded both like the cawing of crows and the color chartreuse at the same time. Colors flooded my vision and briefly, the image of a sprawling valley appeared before me, dotted with tiny villages and sparkling rivers as the rolling green hills vanished off into the distance. Almost as if whatever power it was that guided me between worlds at the call of the summoning magic had heard me and decided to poke a bit of fun at me.

    A moment later, I felt the softness of a carpet under my feet and the bright light of the sun faded to a more quiescent glow of candles and lamps with all four of my girls arrayed in front of me.

    ¡°I¡¯m just saying, now you know why¡ª¡± I heard Kassandra saying. Knowing something was coming, considering that she¡¯d made a habit out of it, I decided to reverse the surprise on my loving lamia.

    ¡°Kass!¡± I shouted and dove towards the smaller woman just as she turned towards me, her hips already wiggling slightly as she coiled to throw herself in my direction in greeting.

    Her slitted chocolate eyes widened in surprise behind the silver rims of her glasses, and then I was on the much smaller woman before she could react.

    Scooping Kassandra up off the ground with one arm around her hips and the other part way down her scaly length. I spun with the serpentine woman in my arms while she squealed in surprise, wrapping her arms around my neck to stabilize herself.

    ¡°Well, that is just adorable,¡± Rieka commented, laughter thick in her voice as I finished my third pirouette with Kassandra, the dwarf lamia¡¯s shriek of surprise transitioning into happy giggles.

    After lifting Kassandra up for a quick kiss that got a happy coo from my redheaded lover, I gently set her down. For once, she didn¡¯t fight it. The mischievous sparkle in her eye told me that she had an idea of what it was that I planned to do.

    ¡°It is sweet,¡± Shayla was saying before I turned and lunged for Rieka this time, grinning widely.

    My princess didn¡¯t have time to react either before I wrapped my hands around her slim waist and hefted her up into the air for a spin.

    Rieka gave a brief, surprised scream before she laughed too, smacking me on the shoulders and head playfully.

    ¡°Put me down, Liam¡ªmph!¡± I cut her protests off by doing as she asked, lowering my wiggling, platinum-blonde lover down to press a kiss to her soft lips. Rieka¡¯s tail whipped back and forth happily as she molded herself to my chest, humming into my mouth contentedly.

    Kneading her hips gently with my hands, I savored the kiss with Rieka for another long moment before setting her gently on her feet.

    Rieka opened her mouth to say something, but I was already turning towards Shayla. The moth woman¡¯s black eyes went wide, and she took a half step back with her wings spreading out before I reached her as well.

    Just like with Rieka, I got hold of Shayla¡¯s much broader hips and hoisted her into the air. Despite her larger size¡ªbeing nearly my height, after all¡ªI had no issues getting the giggling moth woman up into the air. Especially after Kassandra¡¯s greater weight because of body density.

    Shayla¡¯s wings pumped furiously, sending a gusting breeze of moving air over all of us before I carefully lowered my newest lover to within kissing range.

    Shayla clung to me tightly, her arms looping around my shoulders while her soft antennae bonked my head lightly, like little fists trying to chastise me for my cheek. Her thighs spread to cling to my hips, and I shifted my grip slightly to use her plush bottom to pull her against me while we kissed.

    After a moment of savoring the contact, I let Shayla slide to her feet and stand on her own once more.

    ¡°Well then, that was definitely interesting,¡± Jane said dryly. Shayla arched her brows at me, out of sight of the smaller girl from being on my other side, and I just smirked at her.

    ¡°I¡¯m glad you thought so,¡± I said before spinning in place and lunging at Jane.

    The energetic mouse girl was ready for me though, leaping directly upwards and away with those powerful legs of hers, her long tail flicking merrily as she sailed a good five feet directly up and her ears nearly brushed the ceiling.

    ¡°Ha! Thought you¡¯d¡ªEEP!¡± Jane started to gloat before I altered my balance and pushed off the ground to jump upward as well.

    She was just beginning to descend when I caught her in my arms, one arm going around to scoop her into my chest while the other went around her shoulders and pulled her to me.

    ¡°Gotcha, Jane,¡± I said with a laugh, landing lightly and giving the little mouse woman a gentle hug that brushed her large ears against my cheek.

    Since I wasn¡¯t sure how far Jane was willing to go just yet, I just hugged her for a moment before kneeling to set her on the ground once more.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    Jane was blushing furiously while she tried to glare at me, but I just smiled down at her. A part of me that I know was influenced heavily by Kassandra wanted to tease her, but I held it back. Instead, I turned to smile at my other three girls and nodded to the door.

    ¡°I missed all of you. Shall we get going?¡±

    <><><>

    On the walk over to the arena, I¡¯d asked the girls why they had summoned me before we departed, rather than waiting till they were at the arena grounds.

    Apparently, the tradition of summoning your companion in the ring itself was only part of the first portion of the tournament. Once it went past the first round, it wasn¡¯t expected anymore since it had already confirmed to everyone that the creatures fighting were, in fact, summons. The rule had been included to prevent people with lower skill from just buying a trained monster and trying to use that rather than following the summoning guidelines.

    ¡°So, now that we¡¯ve gotten this far, does anyone know for sure what I¡¯m gonna be facing? You ladies dragged me off last night before the last match. Not that I¡¯m complaining about being fussed over,¡± I teased as we entered the large stone arena and followed the dim passages around to the waiting area for the contestants.

    ¡°Lady Josephine won the last match of the semi-finals, so you will face off against her in the final.¡± Jane was the one who supplied the answer, the mouse kin bouncing along at the head of our little group energetically. I was just glad she didn¡¯t hold my earlier actions against me, though she¡¯d pouted for a bit at how easily I¡¯d caught her midair.

    ¡°Josephine¡­ Why is that name familiar?¡± I asked thoughtfully.

    ¡°She is the daughter of Duchess Icefang, who holds land further north, on the other side of the capital from here. She¡¯s¡­ not very nice.¡± Rieka sighed from her spot on my right, her arm resting in mine.

    ¡°You mean she¡¯s a bitch,¡± Kassandra piped up from the rear where the dwarf lamia slithered along. I could feel her eyes drilling holes in my butt, and given what I knew of my snuggle-noodle, she was likely already fantasizing about what she wanted to do to celebrate tonight, win or lose.

    ¡°That¡¯s not¡­ inaccurate,¡± Rieka hedged, and I glanced down at my blonde-haired princess. She was grimacing as she clearly tried to find the right words to explain.

    ¡°The Icefangs are a hard family and Duchess Icefang often clashes with my mother over how things should happen in the Queendom, but that is normal for the nobility,¡± Rieka said with a half shrug.

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t talking about Duchess Icefang. I was talking about Josephine. Her cronies have been annoying me for years, and you know that you had problems with her back in the capital before she aged out of the academy there and came to Juneau two years ago,¡± Kassandra insisted and Rieka sighed, letting her head fall forward and her hair shadowed her face.

    ¡°Knowing her personality is good and all, but wouldn¡¯t knowing her summon be better for Liam?¡± Shayla added in a quiet tone, the shy moth woman clinging to my left arm even tighter than usual.

    ¡°Shayla is right!¡± Jane chirped, turning to walk backwards for several bouncing steps, a forced smile on her lips. ¡°Better to strategize right now. I don¡¯t want Liam to get hurt again during his fight. So Lady Josephine bonded herself to an ice-aligned creature. You might remember it. The thing looked like a giant centipede with a head like one of those pinchy beetles with the mandibles.¡±

    ¡°Okay, big bug I can handle, centipedes are creepy, but I can deal with that,¡± I said, trying to remember what the monster had looked like.

    There were easily two or three dozen different summoned creatures the previous day, and while I had been trying to keep an eye out and scout what could do what, it was harder than I wanted to admit focusing with the distraction of my girls all around me.

    And having to keep watch on those near us, I thought with a quiet sigh, remembering the altercation with the trio of wolf kin that had been harassing Kassandra.

    Thinking about those three jogged my memory. Coupled with Kassandra¡¯s statement about Josephine bothering her, I was pretty sure I¡¯d at least seen this ¡®Lady Josephine¡¯ at a distance, back when I¡¯d tried to scare the trio off the first time.

    Either way, I just need to keep moving and avoid the creature. Ice attacks generally are split between area of effect slowing or bludgeoning, or individual sharp attacks. At least the ones that I¡¯ve seen Kassandra use while we fought and hunted, I thought.

    We emerged from the tunnel into the edge of the arena a moment later, the rumble of the spectating crowd having slowly risen as we got closer to the sands.

    While it had been busy before, the majority of people in the stands were just the students and the staff. Apparently, the finals were a bit more anticipated than the lead up, and there were a number of finely dressed people in the crowd that stood out from the robed professors or the clumped groups of students.

    ¡°Huh,¡± I muttered, scanning the crowd idly. The sands on the other side of the arena were empty at the moment, so the girls settled in around me to wait comfortably.

    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s a bit of a spectacle. I think you¡¯ll do just fine, though, Liam. Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± Rieka said reassuringly, not looking up at the crowd as she unlinked our arms and stepped back slightly. Jane scampered over to join her while Kassandra moved up to settle in beside the princess. Shayla shyly nuzzled my cheek with hers, the rightmost of her antennae stroking over my face as well before she fell back to the others.

    In turning to return the nuzzle to Shayla, I spotted a familiar shade of platinum-blonde hair in the crowd accented by a gray, silk dress that glittered in the afternoon sunlight. She wasn¡¯t looking our way yet, but was instead deep in conversation with a stern-looking woman with similar hair color and wolfish ears that sat next to her, dressed in a military uniform.

    ¡°Hey Rieka, is that your mum up there?¡± I asked idly, nodding my head toward the woman I was studying.

    I wasn¡¯t looking at my princess, but I heard the quiet cursing that came next and guessed that my assumption was correct.

    ¡°Really?¡± Jane¡¯s voice was a little louder. ¡°The Queen is here? Oh, gods and magic¡­¡±

    ¡°Easy, Jane. Even with the Queen here, our part in this is done. All the pressure to impress is on Liam,¡± Kassandra said, her throaty voice full of mischief. I could just imagine my redheaded noodle¡¯s wicked grin, and that helped calm the sudden feeling of butterflies in my stomach.

    ¡°I¡¯m not worried about Mother,¡± Rieka grumbled under her breath. ¡°She¡¯s already content with Liam¡¯s work. What bothers me more is the fact that my sister is with her. Griselda is currently the heir to the throne, while I am fourth in line for succession. She¡¯s¡­ well, she¡¯s very focused on maintaining her position.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, Rieka,¡± I said gently, turning to lock eyes with my princess over my shoulder. She smiled weakly, and I could see the concern in her ice-blue eyes now. Her mother and sister being here clearly rattled my princess, and while I wanted to reassure her, I knew I couldn¡¯t be overly familiar with her in public like this.

    ¡°Yeah, don¡¯t sweat it, Rieka,¡± Jane added from beside the princess. ¡°You trust Liam, don¡¯t you?¡±

    The question was innocent enough, but I saw Rieka¡¯s back stiffen suddenly and she nodded, her worries visibly falling off of her.

    ¡°You are, of course, right. I forgot for a moment there,¡± Rieka said quietly.

    ¡°We can trust Liam with anything,¡± chirped Kassandra with a grin, shooting me a wink to go with it. ¡°You do your best, win this fight and impress the Queen, Liam!¡±

    Assist your contracted companions, Rieka Coldeye, Kassandra Silverscale, Shayla Valo, and Jane Carsan, by winning the competition and impressing Queen Gemma Coldeye.

    Reward - 2000 SP

    As the message flashed in my vision, I had to fight the urge to swear. I knew going in that this fight wasn¡¯t going to be easy, given that it was to be the final fight. I didn¡¯t want to think about the fact that they¡¯d dedicated the entire morning to this, having raced through the other engagements the previous day to save just the final of the competition for today.

    That reward tells me this isn¡¯t going to be fun or easy, I thought while grimacing.

    ¡°I need you four to stay well back during this fight,¡± I said, locking eyes with each of my girls in turn. ¡°Kass¡¯s words triggered a System mission, and if the reward is an indicator, this isn¡¯t going to be easy.¡±

    ¡°Shite¡­ sorry Liam,¡± Kassandra groaned, slapping one hand to her face.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, Kass. This just warned me that I need to be ready. Did any of you bring a spare set of clothes for me?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Shayla said, blinking in surprise at my question.

    ¡°Think about it, Shayla. Yesterday, his shirt was destroyed during the fights. If this is going to be as hard as Liam expects, his whole outfit is probably toast,¡± Jane interjected.

    ¡°No, sorry Liam. I didn¡¯t think of that¡­¡± Rieka said with a grimace.

    ¡°You focus on ensuring you get out of this fight in one piece, Liam, and you can wear me as clothing to preserve your modesty,¡± Kassandra said with another salacious grin.

    I could tell she was teasing to hide her own growing worry, but I decided to accept the encouragement as I could use it.

    The rumble of the crowd growing quiet brought my attention back around to the front. I spotted a group of four stepping out of the exit on the other side of the arena. Three of the number were young men dressed in the elaborate clothes of the young noblemen, but they didn¡¯t proceed more than a single step past the door before settling into an at-ease posture.

    Guards? I wondered as the wolf kin woman I assumed to be Josephine continued past them to stand across from us.

    Josephine still had the same haughty air about her that she¡¯d been sporting the previous time I¡¯d seen her, in the market months ago when I confronted her cronies.

    She had her nose up in the air like she smelled something that offended her, and a haughty tilt to her shoulders. If it wasn¡¯t for her expression, she would have looked beautiful, though. Fine features with high cheekbones and full red lips. She moved with grace as her elaborate blue and white dress swirled in her wake.

    A thin silver necklace with a large blue stone hung about her neck, the stone drawing the eye to her very full bosom. A jeweled belt tucked her dress in at the waist by clinging to her round hips, and she had a jeweled scabbard hanging from her belt that held her spell rod.

    Her plush gray-white tail flicked behind her in annoyance, while pointed wolf ears of a matching color protruded from her rich, red hair done up in deep curls that hung out of sight behind her.

    Shayla¡¯s got a better ass, Rieka¡¯s attitude is better, and Kass has both better boobs and hair than her, I thought wryly. Hell, Jane¡¯s got a better butt than her, I¡¯m sure of it. The way she¡¯s mincing across the sand makes me wonder if she walks anywhere willingly or only if she has to.

    As if she could hear my thoughts, the haughty young woman¡¯s eyes met mine and her lip curled in a sneer.

    ¡°We want to welcome all of you to the finals of our semester tournament for the summoners here at Juneau,¡± Rainfist¡¯s words cut through the air and I let my eyes drift to the side to watch him.

    ¡°Today will be only one match between our two finalist teams. To those of you who were present yesterday for the other portions of the tournament, I welcome you back. To those just joining us today, I promise you will wish you¡¯d been able to see the earlier part of our tournament. Many of our students showed their skills and that of their summoned companions, and these two you see before you are the ones who have risen above them all!¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s really playing it up,¡± I heard Kassandra mumble from behind me, followed by a quiet thump and oof as someone, I guessed Rieka, smacked her to quiet her down.

    ¡°Now, as you can see, we have one team of four students and their summoned companion against a sole student and her summon. I will remind you all that the summoners, once their companion is deployed, cannot intervene with magic. You may direct your partner with orders verbally, but you cannot directly act. If you dismiss your companion, that is considered forfeiting. Otherwise, you will listen for the sound of my horn to declare the end of the match. This is to incapacitation, not death, so keep that in mind!¡±

    The rumble of the crowd picked up for a moment before dying off again as Rainfist continued without pausing. I spotted the man finally standing on the edge of the upper ring by the professors. Apparently, he wasn¡¯t going to be down in the ring with us this time.

    ¡°On this side, we have our group of four led by Princess Rieka and their summoned creature, Liam the Human. Facing them is Lady Josephine and her companion, Gyrallia the Polar Worm!¡±

    Another rumble of whispers came through the crowd, this time mostly the nobles and people that I guessed were the family of the students, when I was announced as ¡®Liam the Human.¡¯ But the whispers dropped off at the mention of Gyrallia¡¯s species.

    I heard Rieka curse quietly under her breath while Rainfist called out to Josephine to summon her companion and hold them ready.

    ¡°Liam, you are going to have to be fast and hit very hard. Polar worms have heavy armor and can move ridiculously fast despite it. Don¡¯t let it bite you, as they will swallow just about anything that can fit in their mouth. The only real weak spot in their armor is the joints, and that is only ¡®weak¡¯ by comparison,¡± Rieka rattled off as Josephine drew her spell rod and began to cast.

    Light flared in front of the lone wolf kin as she worked her spell, consolidating a moment later into a long, tube-shaped monster perched on dozens of articulating legs that ended in sharp spikes.

    The creature was a deep blue with a white underbelly, like the dress that Josephine was wearing. Fog rolled off of its carapace and I could feel a chill billow through the air towards me. Its head was cone-shaped, but as it settled into being and reared up over the arena, that head segmented into four distinct sections that spread open to reveal a cavernous maw of chill-looking pale-blue flesh. Long fangs hooked up in a series along each of the four jaws that the creature displayed.

    I could see two small eyes set deep within the carapace of its head glaring at me as the creature hissed malevolently while the sharp legs on the body that was now upright lashed the air angrily. The creature¡¯s thick chitinous armor was edged with sharp horns and hard spikes, giving it a weapon-like appearance.

    ¡°Well, crap,¡± I muttered, squaring my shoulders and starting to run ideas through my mind of what sort of changes I could do to handle this monster.

 Chapter 106

    How the hell did I miss seeing this monster during the preliminary fights? I thought while we waited for Instructor Rainfist to signal the beginning of the match. I think I remember a few people just conceding without fighting. Was that her matches?

    The polar worm stretched its upper torso towards me, its clawed legs stroking the air like it was trying to drag itself forward without actually touching the ground. The creature¡¯s maw yawned open again, the mandibles on the end of each of its jaws flexing menacingly while the teeth lining its mouth twitched in their fleshy gums.

    It¡¯s going to try and bite you. That thing has the attitude of something that wants to swallow me whole. If it tries that shit though, I¡¯m not going to hesitate to use the entropy imbuing to burn right through the side of it, and damn the consequences, I thought while settling myself into a wide-legged stance.

    A moment later, the brazen note of Rainfist¡¯s signal horn echoed through the arena, and the match began with a roar.

    The polar worm lunged forward through the air, its body slamming down into the sand and sending it spraying in all directions while the fog billowing off of its clearly chilled body thickened. Laid down like this, the creature stood about as tall as my shoulder. It raced towards me, body weaving from side to side in a sinuous fashion as its myriad legs thrashed the sandy bottom of the arena furiously.

    Much like the deep hunter, this creature moved quickly for its size. But unlike the deep hunter, it was far harder to dodge the creature¡¯s sinuous movement.

    I¡¯d thought ahead this time and left my shoes with the girls, allowing my legs to shift and flow as well as my feet to morph to the large, flat pads of a kangaroo just as the creature reached me.

    Bracing, I mirrored the jump that Jane had done earlier that day in an effort to avoid me. A touch of earth magic hardened the sand under my feet to survive the impact and I was flying upwards in an arc over the creature.

    I hate being stuck in midair; I growled to myself, remembering the last time I¡¯d tried this in a match with Cerebaton. It¡¯d not ended well, and I¡¯d sworn not to try it again, but I needed to find out if this was a way to evade the beast.

    The polar worm hissed angrily, sliding to a stop in the sand and scrabbling into a turn. Its tiny eyes searched for me, but I was still sailing towards its tail end, which terminated in a wicked spike of chitin that I was sure I wanted nothing to do with.

    Instead, I focused on the worm itself and prepared the spell I needed. Since I wasn¡¯t actually in contact with the ground, it was far more difficult to cast the earth magic, but it still worked.

    Just as the polar worm spotted me and began to skitter forward once more, a spur of hardened sandstone jammed up from the ground and into the underside of the polar worm.

    The creature screeched in anger at the attack, a sound that was echoed by the screech of the spike along its carapace as the sharp tip of the spike was unable to find purchase in the thick armor, instead just scraping along it before the weight of the beast snapped it off.

    Landing about halfway down the creature¡¯s length and around ten feet to one side, I threw myself into a forward leap rather than an arching one, ducking under the thick spike of its tail as the creature tried to thrash its bottom into my way.

    ¡°Nimble one, aren¡¯t you?¡± Josephine¡¯s voice was as refined as her dress when she spoke.

    I had landed about a dozen feet from her end of the arena. I didn¡¯t respond, instead coming around to face the polar worm and study it again.

    Last time I fought something heavily armored, I just had to find the chinks in the armor. But while the deep hunter had armor that looked thicker, this one is far more comprehensive. Can I crack this nut?

    Bouncing from foot to foot¡ªI only realized after a second or two that I was mirroring Jane¡¯s anxious habit¡ªI readied myself for the charging beast as it finished doubling over itself and finally got back to me.

    My right arm flowed and bent backwards, elbow reversing as my right fist fused into a hard knob of bone.

    ¡°Gyrallia, fog!¡± Josephine barked as the creature closed within ten feet of me.

    Rather than continuing its headlong charge at me, the polar worm dug its many feet into the sand and began to decelerate while hunching its many shoulders. This caused the shell segments to puff out and make the creature look larger for a moment before the creeping mist that had been clinging to it abruptly thickened.

    After less than a second, the creature had vanished into a cloud of fog and I growled in frustration. There was no safe way for me to approach that, and from the chill I could feel emanating from the thick bank of clouds, I could tell that it was cold enough inside that it was guaranteed to sap my strength if I was foolish enough to enter that fog bank as it rolled closer.

    A stirring in the wall of clouds triggered my instincts, and I threw myself to one side just in time to evade the creature¡¯s lunge.

    The polar worm emerged from the fog bank like a striking snake, its four jaws spread wide and snapping down like an organic bear-trap on the location I had just been standing.

    I twisted during my evasion, turning to lash out with my prepared mantis-shrimp club. The blow caught the creature on the side of its shell, glancing off with another shriek of stressed chitin but failing to crack the hard shell.

    Landing on one foot, I used the coiled power of my shifted legs to launch myself backwards, away from the polar worm as it lashed towards me, trying to snatch me up with its hooked mandibles.

    ¡°If you forfeit, then I won¡¯t have Gyrallia hurt you,¡± Josephine said offhandedly as I skipped past her. The wolf kin did not even react to how close I and her pet monster were to her. She stood there with her hands behind her back and waited patiently.

    I ignored her words, studying the creature¡¯s movement as it scampered after me. The large plates of the monster¡¯s carapace flexed again and another burst of fog emerged from the spaces in between them.

    Does it have some kind of chilling organ under there that is making it foggy? Or is its skin icy and exposing more of it to the air is causing a condensation reaction? I wondered while continuing to skirt the fog cloud.

    Gyrallia only followed me for another ten feet before it ducked back into its fog bank and vanished once more like a train in the night.

    I could hear the scrabble of its clawed feet on the sand over the shouting of the crowd, but only just barely. I could faintly hear the girls shouting something encouraging from behind me as well, but I focused my attention on the fog bank and trying to figure out where the next attack would come from. While I waited, I shifted my left arm into another of the punching bone clubs.

    In mantis-shrimp we trust. Little rave-attending aquatic murder-bugs that they are, I thought while juking from side to side, trying to bait out the lunge I knew was coming.

    Another brief surge in the thick white fog occurred, and I threw myself aside, firing off with a one-two combination from my shifted hands as I rolled away. The blows clacked hard against the polar worm¡¯s armor and just bounced off for the most part. One of the punches caught the base of a leg and the creature hissed in pain, wriggling the injured limb slightly before chasing me once more.

    I baited out two more attacks before the polar worm wised up. Each time, I aimed for leg joints and the weaker spots between carapace plates. The spots between plates resisted every blow, refusing to give despite several square hits. Going for its legs slowed the creature, but only for a moment.

    I need something harder. The blows are striking, it¡¯s not evading them. But I need to break through that armor. Unless I want to try to spike its eyes or something, I thought furiously while I jigged back and forth.

    A ripple in the fog bank warned me of the attack and I threw myself to the left once more. This time, though, Gyrallia didn¡¯t emerge from the fog like it had before. At least, not where I thought it had been.

    Instead, the polar worm¡¯s lunge struck out from where I was dodging to rather than where I was trying to escape from. I saw the faintest hint of its spiked tail in the fog and realized that the monster had caught on to my tactics and used them against me.

    ¡°Fuck!¡± I had time to swear as the creature lunged forward with its mouth open, clearly planning to snatch me up and drag me into its drooling mouth. The blast of cold from its mouth was enough that I felt the hairs in my nostrils freeze.

    Time seemed to slow as my brain fought furiously with what I could do in order to evade the attack. I knew that if it got hold of me, I¡¯d be going face-first down that gullet and while I doubted it could kill me if I remained conscious for the trip, I didn¡¯t want to risk getting cut up on the way down.

    My mind spun back along the description of the Shape-Shifting power that had been my bread and butter since day one in this strange world. It had grown since then, going from five pounds of mass that I could mold to nearly three hundred with the boosts I¡¯d taken.

    Three hundred pounds of mass I can add¡­ I thought, but my mind insisted that I was missing something and brought up the description of the power in my head, highlighting one phrase in particular: may be added, removed, or modified.

    The idea locked in immediately and I put it to use just as quickly.

    I couldn¡¯t get both of my strikes shifted, but my left punch crashed into the creature¡¯s mandible as its mouth reached me.

    The blow was powerful, but my body weighed enough that it normally wasn¡¯t enough to do much other than jostle me. Along with changing my muscles, tendons, and bones to handle the punishment and the motion, my body naturally adopted the position I needed to brace in order to not be driven off balance by my own swings.

    But that was normally.

    As soon as the blow landed, I reached inside with Shape-Shifting and removed mass. My body began to shrink immediately, though I kept my left arm the same shape and size as it had been, allowing the lightning fast punch to propel my far smaller body away.

    Landing on the sand, I sprawled into a roll as the polar worm¡¯s jaws snapped shut where I had been a moment before. I didn¡¯t hesitate, shrinking my left arm down in size to match my current body before slithering across the icy sand.

    Fuck! Kass wasn¡¯t kidding about how it sucks being cold-blooded! I thought furiously while my serpentine lower half raced over the sand. This is bloody cold!

    I was maybe five feet long and the entire world looked absolutely enormous to me as I raced over a desert of icy sand, skirting wide around the billowing cloud of fog.

    The ground shook under me as Gyrallia came about, its many pointed legs hammering along as it pursued my much smaller form.

    ¡°Oh my gods! He¡¯s CUTE!¡± I heard Kassandra squeal, and I wished that I could spare the energy to glare at my redheaded lover, but I had to focus to keep the unique muscle action of a snake¡¯s tail working while I slithered my escape from the chasing monster.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    I¡¯d taken the form of a lamia, but scaled way down. I probably only weighed about thirty pounds, was maybe six feet long, and my waist was only a couple of inches across. Unfortunately, I¡¯d left behind my pants and had to slither out of my shirt in my mad dash to get distance from the polar worm.

    I imagine this must be what a baby lamia looks like, I thought as I thrashed over the sand. I¡¯m just glad I went with this in the split-second decision I had, rather than trying to figure out wings. Need to try that later. Forgetting that I could just remove mass as well as add it was dumb, and I should have taught myself to fly ages ago.

    A change in the pitch rumbling through the ground to me was a warning I would have been foolish to ignore. I shifted direction first away from the fog bank and then back towards it, just in time for Gyrallia to crash down on the outside, corralling me towards the fog.

    Fuck! Okay, time to try something stupid, I thought and pushed on the Shape-Shifting again while throwing myself into the bank of white mist.

    My body blew outwards, swelling in size and mass once more, fur sprouting from my skin while my head lengthened into a long muzzle. The frigid mist enveloped me and I lost all sense of sight in the swirling cloud. Frost formed on my fur immediately, but my muscles didn¡¯t seize, so I called it good.

    Something large, like a park-bench welling out of the fog, lurched in front of me and I leaped upwards to avoid Gyrallia¡¯s body where it had remained hidden in the fog. Slashing out with the claws on the end of my fingers, I felt the sharp scraping throughout my whole body and up into my teeth as they squealed over the hardened chitin like nails on a chalkboard.

    A bellowing roar from Gyrallia told me the monster was turning back my way, so I let myself fall on the other side of its long body and loped in the direction I expected Josephine to be, as Gyrallia¡¯s head was between me and my girls at the moment.

    Bursting from the chilling fog, I shook off a cloud of snowy crystals as I went. I was gratified to see Josephine¡¯s eyes widen in surprise as I bounded free of the cloud.

    While people of this world were used to animal features on each other, I hadn¡¯t known for sure if there was something like a werewolf here. But the reminder of the ability to remove mass had also covered that I could do full half-forms.

    My fur was already an icy white, having pulled from the arctic wolf to endure the chill of the fog. I¡¯d have considered keeping it small and going for a fox, but I wasn¡¯t entirely sure I could do a full animal shift just yet.

    One more thing that I¡¯ve been slacking on experimenting with, I thought with a growl. I need to stop thinking that bigger is better. I mean, the volcano snail already saved my ass.

    Skidding in the sand, I came around as Gyrallia emerged from the fog cloud at my rear, trailing more fog from its open mouth as it snapped and snarled at me.

    ¡°Hurry up and finish this already,¡± Josephine sighed explosively as I slid to a stop with my back to her.

    Lippy one, aren¡¯t you? I thought before kicking off, making a point to kick up a spray of sand behind me to pepper the regal young woman.

    Josephine shrieked and sputtered as the icy sand rained down on her for a moment. I reversed the motion I did earlier to her. Instead, digging my foot into the loose, icy sand and kicking it towards Gyrallia, but urging the particulates into the shape of small stone blades.

    I guess the polar worm was smart or sensitive enough to recognize a potential magical attack, because it slammed its mouth shut and let the sharp stone blades rattle off the armored carapace of its jaws.

    ¡°Gyrallia, stop playing with your prey. I¡¯m bored with this!¡± barked Josephine, her regal tone gone now. Instead, her voice was high with anger.

    Fine, let¡¯s end this, I thought, my wolfish ears pricking up and tail flicking back and forth before I lunged to one side, dodging out and around the polar worm and leading it away from its summoner. I needed every bit of help I could get to make my new idea work, and having the polar worm out of Josephine¡¯s line of sight would help.

    Moving at a loping sprint, I raced around the edge of the fog bank on all fours, skidding to a stop just on the other side of the cloud, which was beginning to dissipate in the early morning light.

    Gyrallia was right behind me, snarling as its many legs thundered over the sand. The polar worm was largely untouched from our fight, and while I¡¯d avoided injury so far, I didn¡¯t know how long that would continue.

    Okay, time to try out this one. I¡¯d been wanting to experiment more before I used it in a fight, but we will see, I thought, clenching and unclenching my right hand.

    A moment of focus and my body flowed. My right arm shifted and returned again to the same hunched and locked-in club shape of the mantis shrimp, but the knob of bone that replaced my hand was different. Rather than being a smooth club of chitin and other additives, now ridges protruded from it at regular intervals. I had to drop some of my muscle mass as well to account for densities and weights, but thankfully the Shape-Shifting power worked that part out automatically.

    Goethite, let¡¯s see how you do, I thought with a canine grin, since I still kept mostly shifted into the werewolf form to protect myself from the cold.

    The polar worm feinted one way, then the other, before lunging forward to engulf me once more. I caught both feints and then launched myself out of the way, striking out with the dactyl club that had replaced my right arm and driving the newly-enhanced weapon into Gyrallia¡¯s head as it passed by.

    While researching methods to make ends meet and improve my lot back on Earth, I¡¯d done a lot of research on biominerals. One had stuck in my mind as interesting, but ultimately useless as it was only found in a specific animal¡¯s teeth, and I still refused to bite anyone while in a shifted form.

    I¡¯d forgotten to think outside the box until now, and remember that I could modify things at will and adding said teeth to the outside of something was simple enough. The entire process was one that I¡¯d over-thought, and the reminder that sometimes smaller was better got me back onto the idea.

    The crack of breaking chitin heralded Gyrallia¡¯s scream of pain. I started to shout in excitement when one of the creature¡¯s thrashing legs caught me in the chest and sent me flying.

    I landed in a heap on the icy sand as Gyrallia thrashed for a moment before turning towards me with murder in its eyes. The long, icy monster roared and threw itself at me with abandon.

    The next several seconds were snapshots of terror and reflexes. Everything I¡¯d trained with Cerebaton flooded back as I ducked, dodged, jinked, and wove. My matches with Valda had helped me boost my boxing skills, and after the first three seconds, I had the chance to shift my left arm over into another dactyl club.

    I punched, parried, jabbed, and kicked. My feet had short claws on them as well, but they didn¡¯t do as much damage as the enhanced dactyl clubs. The thousands of tiny needle-like teeth, reinforced with the thin tubes of the naturally crafted biomineral, provided just enough to catch on the smooth chitin of the polar worm that it cracked like glass under the ferocious pressure I put into it.

    I shattered three of the legs on the front half of Gyrallia, as well as nearly a dozen armored plates, before I was able to get out from under it. One parting shot caught the base of its bottom left jaw and that chitin plate cracked and broke as well.

    Gyrallia was howling in pain, thrashing furiously and sending icy gouts of blood out over the sand that froze solid as soon as they hit the floor of the arena.

    I darted in, aiming for the base of its many legs again and cracked shells on four more legs before dodging backwards. The animal, previously quick and dangerous, was now reduced to lumbering after me as the pain of movement hurt the other legs it had as well.

    ¡°Call the match,¡± I barked at Rainfist, bouncing from foot to foot.

    A brief smear of the creature¡¯s blue blood chilled my right dactyl club. Cold enough that I could feel it through the bone and chitin of the shift.

    Need to remember to wipe that off on the sand before I shift back, I reminded myself while I waited for a response from the instructor.

    ¡°Lady Josephine, do you wish to yield? Gyrallia is injured, while Liam is not,¡± Rainfist called to my opponent, and I held myself back for a moment to see what she would say even as Gyrallia limped towards me, its many jaws working angrily.

    ¡°I don¡¯t see why my companion should be injured further,¡± Josephine called in return, her voice tight with suppressed anger. ¡°Fine. Yield. You got lucky on this one.¡±

    Relaxing, I took several steps back and knelt to wipe the icy blue blood off my dactyl club. The fight had carried us back towards my girls, and I was only a dozen feet away from them now.

    Gyrallia roared in anger and threw itself at me, clearly not accepting its summoner¡¯s surrender.

    I was already on a knee and not balanced to evade in time as the polar worm plunged towards me. It was moving far faster than I had expected, and blood rained from its injuries. If I dodged, though, I was sure the monster would continue forward and plow into my girls.

    Shouts rose up all around me, a cacophony of anger, fear, and noise. But it was nothing to the fact that I knew I needed to do something to protect my charges.

    Darting a glance past the creature, I saw a cruel smile on Josephine¡¯s face as she watched her summon continue its charge. I knew how fast summoners could dismiss their creatures, but she was simply letting it continue.

    Even if it doesn¡¯t slam into the girls, it getting close could injure Kass. Fuck it, I tried playing nice and both of them aren¡¯t listening.

    A snap moment of focus and I felt a ripple of energy plow up and out of my core. The mana that I had quickly drained away as I channeled the effect I wanted into the hundreds of tiny teeth on the surface of my right dactyl club.

    I surged forward and thrust out, putting my shoulder and hips into the snap punch that fired the hit off at speeds more similar to a gunshot rather than a punch.

    The crunch of breaking chitin came, but also there came a loud hissing noise as the entropic energy enshrouding my right fist burned a hole right through Gyrallia¡¯s jaw. The piece of chitin and all the underlying tissue tore free like so much wet toilet paper. The blow continued into the creature¡¯s mouth, leaving a smoking trail behind it where the energy devoured its flesh and left a slush of dissolving tissue in its wake.

    My mana pool bottomed out just as my fist impacted with the soft palate at the back of the creature¡¯s throat. I felt something crack under it and then the polar worm¡¯s weight hit me, carrying me back towards my girls.

    As we went past, I realized that Shayla¡ªmy lovely and shy moth girl, bless her heart¡ªhad apparently seen the threat for what it was and acted. She¡¯d grabbed Kassandra, who looked like she¡¯d gone for her spell rod, and dragged the lamia away from the fight. Rieka had been on the other side of them, along with Jane, and were bowled over out of the way by the larger moth woman in the process.

    A moment later we slammed into the wall of the arena, the pained howling of Gyrallia echoing in my ears as I drove my unenhanced left dactyl club into the side of Gyrallia¡¯s head right over where it¡¯s eye was.

    I imagine that there was a splut noise, as the compressed air from my club slamming down over its hard eye socket ruptured the sensitive organ, but I was more focused on the screaming pain of the creature¡¯s toothed maw¡¯s digging into my shoulders and hips as the remaining jaws closed over me.

    Retracting my right dactyl club, I slammed a second blow into Gyrallia¡¯s soft palate, and this time the crunch was far more pronounced as the worm stiffened, then slumped to the ground while a gush of freezing liquid engulfed my arm, carrying me with it.

    I only had to suffer the crushing weight of the summoned monster on top of me for a second before it faded in a sparkle of light.

    ¡°Liam!¡± I could hear Kassandra¡¯s frantic yelling now, though my head was ringing from the sudden ambush of Gyrallia after the fight was called. There was even more yelling all around the ring, and the flash of gray silk in the stands drew my attention to where the queen was standing, glaring down the tiers at another woman who had red hair that was pointedly ignoring the queen to shout at Josephine, who just looked annoyed.

    Another sudden blast of icy sensation over my body made me yelp in surprise, and I nearly lashed out with one of my dactyl clubs before I realized my ¡®attacker¡¯ was Kassandra, her healing magic sinking into my body.

    ¡°Liam, it¡¯s going to be okay,¡± she demanded from a few feet away, her hand shaking as she steadied her spell rod.

    ¡°He¡¯ll be fine, Kass,¡± Shayla reassured the smaller woman, straddling her tail from behind and pulling Kassandra back into herself. The sight of Kassandra with her head wedged between Shayla¡¯s boobs was cute enough that it broke me from my pained fugue.

    I tried to speak to reassure her, but the barking noise reminded me that I was still shifted into the form of a werewolf with arms stolen from a mantis shrimp.

    Gods, I must look so weird right now, I thought with a hazy chuckle, flexing Shape-Shifting to begin reversing the shift.

    The sharp increase in the icy sensation against my skin made me wince, and I snarled in sudden pain.

    ¡°I know it hurts, Liam. I¡¯ll get you fixed up as soon as I can,¡± Kassandra begged, casting another spell that sent a jet of icy water over my arms. It felt cold on most of my arms, but where the pale blue blood had been, the jet felt warm.

    Frostbite? From its blood? Good lord¡­ I thought while gritting my teeth.

    Movement on the other side of the arena drew my attention to Josephine, who was storming off the sands while her trio of guards stood by the door, all three of them pale.

    ¡°Kass, you can¡¯t get any closer to him,¡± Shayla was chastising my little wonder-noodle, and I realized that she wasn¡¯t just hugging Kassandra to keep her from freaking out. My moth girl was actually keeping the dwarf lamia from approaching me, which was a good thing, given how cold I felt right now.

    ¡°Rest, Liam. I¡¯ll deal with this,¡± Rieka snarled, and I shot my princess a pained smile before shaking my head.

    ¡°Don¡¯t¡­ go too far. Gotta keep an eye¡­ on you all still,¡± I wheezed. A moment later, I felt a pop in my chest as a rib that Gyrallia¡¯s charge had broken realigned.

    Rieka said something, but I missed what it was as the edges of my vision flared and a message scrolled over it.

    Assist your contracted companions, Rieka Coldeye, Kassandra Silverscale, Shayla Valo, and Jane Carsan, by winning the competition and impressing Queen Gemma Coldeye.

    Reward - 2000 SP

    COMPLETED

 Chapter 107

    Assist your contracted companions, Rieka Coldeye, Kassandra Silverscale, Shayla Valo, and Jane Carsan, by winning the competition and impressing Queen Gemma Coldeye.

    Reward - 2000 SP

    COMPLETED

    I grimaced weakly in pain as another bone popped, and this time I felt the click as the ends sealed together.

    ¡°Sorry, Liam,¡± Kassandra murmured as she focused her healing magic on me again. ¡°You took a lot harder hit than I thought.¡±

    ¡°Would have been¡­ harder if I wasn¡¯t ready,¡± I grunted.

    Focusing inwards on what Kassandra was doing while Shayla worked to keep Kassandra calm, I found her magic working to heal the cracked bones and realign dislocated ones. The bruised flesh didn¡¯t help either.

    Remembering something that Cerebaton had told me a long time ago, about using Shape-Shifting to help keep myself in one piece until I could heal, I urged the bones to realign, using Shape-Shifting to urge pieces back where they should be.

    A sharp click ran through my body as the bones moved to their proper places, followed first by a wash of sharp pain and then a moment later by a cool sensation as the magic surged in to finish the mending and fix the damaged tissue, regardless of whether it looked fine.

    Another dull flash around the edges of my vision and I thought I was about to pass out in the wake of the mixed rush of pain and relief before more words scrolled across my view.

    Power Shape-Shifting (Moderate) has achieved Mastery 1000/1000.

    New Powers available in the System interface.

    Congratulations, Traveler.

    ¡°Well, shit,¡± I grunted, blinking furiously before I began to shiver as the chill bit back into my healing flesh. ¡°That worked in an unexpected way.¡±

    ¡°What did, Liam?¡± Rieka was standing closer than the other girls, but I could tell from how her fluffy tail was stiff behind her rather than dancing in its normal gentle wag that she was anxious. Combine that with the fact her ears were laid back and the scowl that decorated my princess¡¯ face, I knew she was upset.

    ¡°Just something with my Shape-Shifting, I can explain later,¡± I grimaced, glancing down at my bare chest and then at my bare crotch.

    I¡¯d forgotten that I¡¯d lost the clothing during my shift earlier when I¡¯d had to drop in size. My hands immediately shot to cover my junk, which got a snort of amusement from the frowning Rieka and a quiet titter from Jane.

    Shouting from the stands above us drew my attention, and I glanced up to see the queen barking orders to her daughter, who had been on her feet since the queen rose.

    Rieka¡¯s elder sister shot away down the row where she had been sitting in a flash of movement, and the woman that the queen had been shouting at finally stopped ignoring the queen to turn a surprised look at the other woman. I couldn¡¯t hear what was being said between the two of them, but Queen Gemma was clearly furious.

    With good reason, I thought while shooting a look over at Rieka who was glaring across the arena at the retreating back of Josephine. If I hadn¡¯t brought that thing down, it might have plowed right into the girls. Even if two of the four aren¡¯t nobles, that is going to require something to save face for such a blatant violation of the rules. Why, though? What would drive Josephine do something like that? She didn¡¯t order Gyrallia to keep attacking after the fight was called, but she also didn¡¯t recall the creature. It happened so fast¡­

    The weight of something soft settling over my body pulled me out of my introspection and I glanced down to find a sky-blue cloak settling over my lap while Rieka buttoned closed the dimensional pouch she kept on her hip.

    ¡°Cover up, Liam. If you can shift your lower half to something that doesn¡¯t look like it needs pants, that might be good too. I don¡¯t think we are going to be able to retreat to the dorms for you to dress. I won¡¯t even ask if you want us to send you home,¡± my princess said with a grimace.

    ¡°Smart girl. I knew I loved you for a reason,¡± I shot back with a tired smile, making Rieka blush. ¡°I¡¯m not leaving until I know you four are okay and whatever that is,¡± I pointed towards the far side of the arena where Rieka¡¯s sister had appeared from the exit tunnel to confront Josephine and her three hangers-on, ¡°is taken care of.¡±

    Rieka grimaced and nodded once before turning to study the altercation going on at the other end of the arena.

    ¡°Liam¡­¡± Kassandra¡¯s worried tone drew my attention back to my dwarf lamia, and I smiled at her reassuringly and opened my arms to her.

    I was still cold, but I could feel it burning off under the heat of the sun overhead and my body-heat. The sand was still chilly under me, but it was also warming quickly.

    Kassandra dove at me with a worried cry, burying me under a mixture of her coils, flying curls, and kisses as she piled on top of me to make sure I was all right. I caught her as best I could, unable to bleed off the momentum of the tackle this time, but Kass was at least considerate enough to not crush me.

    The dwarf lamia throwing herself on me was apparently all the signal that the others needed to close the distance.

    While Kassandra lay on top of me, Jane crouched near my head and I saw that the mouse kin woman had her spell rod in her hand, standing guard over us. Shayla crowded by my feet, kneeling with her wings spread to block the view from most of the arena while Rieka stood on my other side, just as wary as Jane.

    ¡°I¡¯m okay, Kass. You saw to that,¡± I reminded the dwarf lamia, hugging her to my chest even as she tried to burrow into my neck with her face.

    ¡°You are cold, Liam. I don¡¯t like that. I like it when my Liam is warm,¡± Kassandra grumbled as she clung to me.

    ¡°Give it a bit. I¡¯ll warm up,¡± I teased her.

    Though I didn¡¯t mention it to Kassandra, I was still feeling chilled, but having her snuggled up to me was helping my temperature normalize. While she was cold-blooded and thus unable to warm me normally, Kassandra¡¯s much larger body was still warmer than I had been, so it was helping me even out.

    Remembering Rieka¡¯s suggestion, I glanced around for a moment, looking for my pants.

    I spotted the bundle of shredded cloth a moment later, out towards the center of the arena. Apparently, Gyrallia had run right over top of them and shredded the cloth, so that removed my only other idea.

    Shrugging under Kassandra, I pushed at my Shape-Shifting and shifted my lower body to that of a goat, complete with digitigrade legs, thick fur, and animalistic feet. But rather than the normal goat-hooves that would end the legs, I instead shifted my feet into a camel¡¯s wide pads to better handle the sand.

    ¡°Okay, that¡¯ll do to keep me decent enough,¡± I mumbled, squeezing Kassandra to my chest to reassure the still clearly distraught dwarf lamia.

    ¡°Princess Rieka?¡± The calm voice of instructor Rainfist came from just above us and I glanced up to find the cat man standing on the edge of the arena just behind us. ¡°You and your group are the winners of the competition, but we will have to forgo the normal ceremony. Rest assured that there will be a punishment forthcoming for the breach of etiquette in this fight. The grades will be assigned later once the instructors can confer.¡±

    I wanted to complain, to argue that Gyrallia had tried to kill me and that it had been far more than just etiquette that was broken here, but bit it back. I could see the scowl on Rainfist¡¯s face, and it was obvious he wasn¡¯t any happier than I was.

    ¡°Understood, Instructor. Are we being dismissed to leave, or does the Juneau staff need statements regarding this¡­ event?¡± Rieka replied to the older man in a cool tone, her left hand resting on the pommel of her spell rod like it was a sword sheathed at her side.

    ¡°Yes, please remain. I¡¯m sure that the queen will want to ascertain you are okay as well, as she is heading this way.¡± Rainfist¡¯s reply got me to glance in the queen¡¯s direction, and I could see her making a beeline for us with a scowl on her face.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°Up, Kass,¡± I murmured into my serpentine lover¡¯s hair. ¡°The queen is coming and you need to put up your best.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t wanna,¡± Kassandra grumbled into my neck, but my snuggle-noodle complied and slithered off of me and to one side to allow me upright.

    ¡°Liam? Are you decent?¡± Shayla asked, only blushing slightly as she glanced down at my bare chest and the cloak Rieka had thrown over me.

    ¡°Is he ever decent?¡± Quipped Jane, before the mouse kin blushed furiously when all three of the other girls turned incredulous looks on her. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to expose myself to the queen when I move the cloak, no,¡± I laughed.

    Pulling back the cloak to reveal the dense brown fur that covered my lower half got a gasp of surprise from Shayla and Jane. While both of them blushed, Shayla was clearly more in surprise while Jane looked a little disappointed that she didn¡¯t get to ogle me more.

    ¡°Up you get then, Liam,¡± Rieka said briskly and gave the back of my shoulder a push. The slender wolf kin woman wasn¡¯t able to do more than make me shift slightly, and I chuckled but obeyed her, rolling over and hopping to my feet, quickly brushing the last of the sand from my fur.

    Being upright and moving helped get my blood circulating, and not being pressed to the still chilly sand was improving my body-heat, too. So when Kassandra crowded close to me as soon as I was upright, I just pulled her into my side and she gave a relieved sigh, leaning into me.

    ¡°Are you really okay, Liam?¡± Jane asked, letting her own concern leak through as the mouse kin woman peeked up at me through her lashes from her much smaller height.

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine. Kass patched me right up, though Gyrallia did hit me like a truck,¡± I grumbled.

    ¡°Truck?¡± Rieka quirked an eyebrow at me questioningly, and I snorted before rolling my eyes.

    ¡°Runaway carriage? Trucks are large vehicles that carry freight back home,¡± I explained, and Rieka nodded in understanding.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. You¡¯ve mentioned yours before,¡± Rieka said.

    The wolf-eared princess sidled up to stand next to me on the other side from Kassandra, and I wrapped an arm around her hips to pull her into my side reassuringly. I wanted to do far more to my princess, but with her mother bearing down from above, I figured it was best to keep things subtle. From the blush on Rieka¡¯s cheeks, I could tell she appreciated it.

    ¡°My daughter, come up here. Bring your companions with you,¡± the queen demanded. Gemma¡¯s voice was calm but firm in her orders. I could hear the shuffle and clank of armored footsteps, so I knew that the queen wasn¡¯t alone.

    ¡°Coming, Mother,¡± Rieka said, turning to look over her shoulder up at the queen for a moment. ¡°Let¡¯s go up to the stands. I know I¡¯ll be glad to be out of the sands. It¡¯s not just cold down here, but it makes me¡­¡±

    Rieka let the sentence trail off, and I nodded. She didn¡¯t have to explain that she was nervous down here, separated from others with only us at hand. I knew she trusted me to protect her, but there was no reason to take greater risks.

    If one squinted just right, Gyrallia¡¯s actions earlier could have been construed as an assassination attempt, though I doubted that Josephine would portray it that way.

    Thinking of the noblewoman, I glanced across the sands to see that she and her coterie were gone from sight, as was Rieka¡¯s older sister. I noted that down, wondering if they were being held, questioned, or were just chased off for political reasons.

    While I thought over the implications, I gestured for my girls to precede me out of the arena. I quickly folded up the cloak for Rieka and offered it back to her. It was sized for her smaller frame and would look ridiculous on me, so I decided to just go bare-chested for now. If the queen wanted to talk to us without giving me time to dress, that was her choice.

    Heading into the narrow stone corridor beyond the gate, Jane led the way up the sturdy stairs to the first row of seats. Rieka was right behind Jane, while Kassandra clung to my right side and Shayla took up her normal position on my left, one hand resting on the back of my shoulder. I knew that if I¡¯d had a shirt on, the moth woman would have her fingers balled in the cloth, but this was the next best thing.

    Shayla really does like to cling onto me. She doesn¡¯t do it with the other girls at all, only me. Heck, she¡¯s done it since we first met, really. I wonder why? Is it like Rieka enjoying headpats and scratches? A racial thing? I wondered, moving slowly to allow both women to maneuver up the stairs on either side of me without a problem.

    We emerged onto the upper tiers to find that many of the students who had been observing the matches from this section were already gone. Whether the group of soldiers that surrounded the queen had cleared them out, I wasn¡¯t sure, but they¡¯d apparently departed before we¡¯d even left the sands, since I hadn¡¯t seen any sign of them on the stairs.

    Queen Gemma stood in the middle of a group of six armored guards, her spell rod, which also looked like a scepter, loose in her right hand. Dressed in the same gray silk that I remembered from before, Gemma gave the air of having a storm cloud draped about her.

    ¡°Daughter, how are you and your companions doing?¡± the queen asked as we approached with Rieka stepping around a suddenly shy Jane to take over leading. The three of my girls not related to the queen dipped curtseys to her

    ¡°I am fine, same with the others. Liam is¡­¡± Rieka let it trail off as she twisted her head to glance towards me.

    ¡°Just fine. Kassandra got me patched up after that¡­ altercation at the end,¡± I answered simply, meeting the queen¡¯s icy eyes with a neutral gaze and inclining my head to her slightly.

    The guards around the woman tensed at my apparent lack of respect, but the queen just smirked, her aristocratic neutral expression thawing for a moment before she nodded.

    ¡°I¡¯m glad that Lady Silverscale was able to put you to rights, Traveler. You showed today why you are more than capable of handling the protection of my daughter. Why did you hesitate so long to bring the fight to its end?¡±

    The penetrating question as well as the queen¡¯s unblinking stare would have given me a case of the nerves months ago. The sheer presence of the woman was enough that I would have caved before my girls bolstered my self-confidence.

    So, rather than immediately answering her question, I glanced at her guards meaningfully before looking back to the regal woman.

    ¡°This was just a school competition,¡± I answered simply. ¡°It¡¯s the same reason that I took my time during the previous matches yesterday. It doesn¡¯t serve my purposes or those of my contracted wards to brutalize my opponents. I only struck down Gyrallia because the creature broke the rules of the contest and I was concerned it might hurt my charges.¡±

    ¡°No worries about your own survival?¡± Queen Gemma asked pointedly, her eyes not breaking away from mine despite the increased stirring of her guards.

    ¡°Nope,¡± I said bluntly. ¡°I was both confident that my summoners would dismiss me if they thought I was truly at risk, or intervene themselves. Also, I did not show anywhere near all of my tricks in the arena.¡±

    Just most of them, I thought, without letting it show on my face. I need to check that skill award and see what unlocked after finally hitting the mastery for Shape-Shifting (Moderate), I just wish that I knew if it was using the half-form, reducing my mass, or using it to help Kass with the healing that triggered the final bit to hit mastery.

    ¡°That is good to hear,¡± Gemma said after studying me for another moment before turning her attention back to Rieka. ¡°Daughter, have you had issues in the past with Lady Josephine? Do you have any cause to believe that she might seek to cause problems?¡±

    ¡°No, mother. But those that spend a lot of time in her company have a habit of causing trouble for those around me,¡± Rieka replied, her head held high as she addressed the queen. ¡°We have had verbal altercations with several of her lackeys and they have targeted my friends for harassment in the past.¡±

    Kassandra stiffened at this, and I could tell that my dwarf lamia was surprised that Rieka knew about it. The redhead shot a questioning look over her shoulder at me and I shook my head. While I¡¯d not outright told Rieka who had been the ones harassing Kassandra, it wasn¡¯t exactly hard to parse out, and I knew my princess was observant and smart.

    ¡°Hmm¡­ that sort of thing is hard to prove for sure. I¡¯ll keep it in mind,¡± the queen muttered thoughtfully, finally looking away to stare out over the emptying arena.

    While the students in this section of the arena had already vacated it, there were still a few lingering in the other sections as well as the groups of instructors and other nobles that were also hanging about, either pretending to converse about the match or something else. I noted that the other woman, the one who I assumed to be Josephine¡¯s mother, was also gone.

    ¡°Regardless, I am glad that we were able to make it for the last match at least,¡± Rieka¡¯s mother said again, shaking off her distraction and turning her sharp eyes to our group once more. ¡°I wish that we would have been able to make it for the earlier matches, as I am sure that your Liam acquitted himself well.¡±

    It amused me slightly to see Rieka straighten when her mother said ¡®your Liam,¡¯ and my princess¡¯ tail began to wag a little faster. I wasn¡¯t sure if anyone else noticed, but since the fluffy appendage whacked me in the knees with each pass, it was hard for me not to be aware.

    ¡°I wish that you had been able to make it as well, but I appreciate you coming for this match. It didn¡¯t interfere with anything, I hope?¡± Rieka replied, her voice studiously neutral.

    ¡°Nothing that couldn¡¯t be put aside for a time, daughter,¡± Rieka¡¯s mother smiled slightly at her daughter. ¡°Your sister was also interested in seeing how your Liam performed.¡±

    ¡°And?¡± Rieka asked, her tail picking up speed just a bit.

    ¡°I believe she was impressed. Don¡¯t be surprised if she asks to spar with him while we are here. If you are amenable to that, Liam?¡±

    The queen addressed the last part of the statement to me, and it was surprising. All too often I¡¯d gotten to experience the dubious joy of being talked over or about like I wasn¡¯t there. The downsides of being a ¡®pet human,¡¯ I suppose. But Queen Gemma addressed me directly, and it increased my respect for the stern wolf kin.

    ¡°I¡¯d be happy to. I learned quite a bit from sparring with the Lady Valda leading up to the competition, so any chance to expand my skills will be welcome.¡±

    Gemma¡¯s eyebrows rose and a few of her guards shuffled about, one shifting to let a hand rest on the pommel of her sword warily.

    ¡°You sparred with Valda Ironclaw? With or without weapons? How did that go?¡± the queen asked the questions rapid fire.

    ¡°He won,¡± Rieka interjected with a smirk, her tail now whipping behind her and bouncing off my legs rapidly. ¡°And without weapons, as he wanted to learn how she used her claws.¡±

    The queen¡¯s eyebrows went up even further at that statement, while the guards exchanged another set of wary looks. I just did my best to not react and keep a neutral expression.

    Apparently Valda is more of a big deal than the girls let on? I thought. A squeeze of my right hand drew my attention down to Kassandra, who was grinning up at me, pride shining in her eyes.

    Rieka cleared her throat to break the awkward silence, and that drew Queen Gemma¡¯s attention back to her daughter.

    ¡°Mother, there was something else I wanted to let you know about. Something that might be useful for you and Griselda at the very least,¡± Rieka said quietly. When Gemma tilted her head questioningly, Rieka smiled and gestured over her shoulder, vaguely toward the dorms. ¡°It would be better to discuss it in private, if you are done here?¡±

 Chapter 108

    The transfer magic deposited me back in my shitty little apartment and I fought down a sigh as I walked out to the living room and sat down on my ratty couch. My flat, camel feet made quiet thump noises on the cheap carpet as I walked over it, reminding me of just how run down this place was.

    ¡°I really need to figure out something better¡­¡± I muttered, staring tiredly up at the cracked and faded ceiling above me. I could see one spot where the drywall tape was tearing and left a large crack in the ceiling. ¡°Suppose that I should just be glad the insulation isn¡¯t utter shit and nothing leaks.¡±

    After spending the last hour in Rieka¡¯s beautiful suite talking with her mother while the queen¡¯s guards stood outside, going from that luxury to my squalor was jarring.

    Is it really mine anymore? I thought again, turning my situation over in my head. Am I really trapped here?

    I patted my hip where my pocket would have been, if I was still wearing pants, and jumped at the fuzzy sensation of my currently woolly legs.

    ¡°Fuck, that¡¯s right,¡± I snorted and shook my head. Getting up again, I walked over to the kitchen counter where my phone waited on its charger.

    No new messages, but who else besides Jameson would message me? I thought before flicking over to my sales window for the Bitsy storefront.

    I had a half-dozen messages regarding sales, mostly the stone statues I¡¯d made already. I did a quick bit of math in my head and snorted, realizing that I¡¯d made more this morning off of selling rocks than I did in a week when I was working for the loading company.

    ¡°That really was a bullshit job,¡± I growled. Putting up with my old boss, the fat idiot that he was, had been such a mistake. ¡°Suppose it makes sense, though. It wasn¡¯t comfortable, but it was enough to get by and because of that and a lack of confidence, I didn¡¯t want to risk it.¡±

    My mind drifted back over my girls, especially Kassandra and Rieka, as the two of them had done the most to help build me up as a person over the last few months. They¡¯d given me the boost in confidence to actually make something of myself, to be serious about what I was doing, and to not put up with abuse from others. All just by treating me like a person and caring about me.

    I need to do something nice for them. For all four of them. We got through the competition and I won, so they should be set for classes for a while. Which means I can take a bit of time off from training¡­

    Snapping my fingers, I growled at myself for forgetting this long about the mastery alert the System had sent me nearly two hours ago.

    Remembering the completion of Shape-Shifting (Moderate) also reminded me that I had hooves currently, so I set my phone back down and shuffled over to the shower, pushing to change back to normal.

    ¡°Need to clean up after the fight, might as well review that information while I do,¡± I muttered, grabbing some clean clothes before padding over to my dimly lit bathroom and getting the water going.

    Once I was under the warm spray and just enjoying being there¡ªI knew that I had to figure out a way for Kassandra to experience something like this if they didn¡¯t have hot showers on Cortha somewhere¡ªI closed my eyes and flipped through the skill info to see if any of my other skills were getting near to leveling up.

    Shape-Shifting (Moderate) was the only one that had completed, and the next closest was actually my Dimensional Pocket (Minor) ability. I had to admit, that had mostly been because I started storing my wallet and keys in it while I was out, so I¡¯d never have issues. The repeated back-and-forth transferring of those items, as well as me moving pearls, gold, and the finished pieces, were rapidly training that ability up.

    ¡°Wonder what it¡¯s going to unlock when Dimensional Pocket hits mastery. Hopefully, a larger space¡­ would be cool if I could bring the girls to Earth somehow,¡± I mumbled, shampooing my hair before dunking under the hot water to rinse off.

    After confirming that there weren¡¯t any other skills nearing leveling up, I reviewed the abilities that had upgrades currently available.

    Manipulate Element for the earth element was maxed out and ready to go, while the separate entry for Manipulate Element in relation to the entropic energy was slowly gaining mastery, but that was only bits and pieces, despite being at the minor rank.

    Still need to figure out how to talk to Cari about that. If I can somehow use the Shape-Shifting (Elemental Alignment) ability to protect myself¡­ no. I shook my head firmly as the thought crossed my mind. Cari is a friend. It¡¯s better to let that develop first than sweat the attraction. Be happy with the three beautiful women who are interested in you right now, and worry about the rest later. Stop being so whiny.

    Rather than let myself dwell on the lingering attraction that I felt for the daemon who was in charge of my case with the DSR, or Dimensional Service and Repair, I quickly flipped to the new entries that were available now that I¡¯d mastered the moderate rank of Shape-Shifting.

    There were two entries, one a modifier like the mass control one had been, and the next rank of Shape-Shifting.

    Shape-Shifting (Integration) - Cost: 500 SP - When assuming a non-native form that would damage clothing or worn items, the System will temporarily store said items until the user returns to their natural form. Items stored in this fashion do not count towards totals for dimensional storage powers, as the only way the item can be recovered is to return to native form.

    Shape-Shifting (Major) - Cost: 6400 SP - User is able to draft major changes from beasts of many types. Limit of different types is now increased to five. Increase modifiable mass to 100% of user¡¯s base mass (before modifiers).

    ¡°Huh,¡± I muttered. ¡°That first one would have been useful before. Maybe I can stop tearing up so many sets of clothing. Wouldn¡¯t have lost my pants today.¡± I set aside that thought for another day and studied the next rank of Shape-Shifting. This was going to be a rank I spent a lot of time at. Considering how slow the moderate rank had been to gain mastery, I knew the major rank was going to be even longer.

    ¡°Okay, so easy notes. Five forms I can pull from rather than three, that¡¯s good,¡± I mumbled, just standing under the showerhead and letting the hot water fall down on me, banishing any memory of the chill from the fight with the polar worm.

    The only good thing about this apartment complex was the fact that it worked off a shared water heater, so I could get as much hot water as I wanted.

    ¡°And one-hundred percent of my base mass can be shifted, times three because of the mass control modifier,¡± I mumbled with a grin.

    Six hundred pounds of modifiable mass was a lot to work with. It opened up avenues that I had ignored previously because I¡¯d forgotten I could lower my mass too. While I couldn¡¯t give myself a serpent tail like Kassandra¡¯s yet¡ªat least not matching my normal torso size¡ªthere were other options.

    I made a mental note to check and see what my minimum size was, as I knew there had to be a bottom limit of size to still be functional.

    Flicking over to my main screen, I checked to see what my current SP was at. I knew I¡¯d stocked up on a fair bit, especially with the completion bonus from the fight with Gyrallia.

    Current SP - 5,220

    Hmm. Okay, so not enough. But I do have those pure mana crystals still. I¡¯ve got nine on hand and that¡¯s another four and a half thousand SP, so I can snap three of them to SP and be able to grab the major rank of Shape-Shifting if I want to.

    I grimaced as I turned the idea over in my head. Since Cerebaton had been forced to cancel his training with me, it wouldn¡¯t be as easy to chat about which to go with. I wanted to snatch up the new rank of Shape-Shifting immediately, but it was also something that stretched beyond what the daemon knew. He had never gone beyond my current rank of the skill.

    You could just message him, Liam. Just like you could message Cari to talk, I reminded myself, growling under my breath at the mental image of Cariad in the shower with me that popped up.

    ¡°One track fucking mind, Liam,¡± I snapped and slapped the water off. ¡°You just hooked up with Shayla, and you are already planning on trying to seduce Cari, too? What the fuck, man,¡± I growled while fumbling for a towel.

    I continued to chastise myself intermittently while I dried off dressed. I stomped back out into the livingroom to sit on my threadbare couch and glare at the wall, my desire to brainstorm about the new power wilting in the wake of the irritation I felt at myself thinking like a man-whore.

    Cerebaton was the one who put the idea in your head, my traitorous mind supplied and I growled again.

    In an effort to distract myself from the thought of what Cariad might look like underneath the sexy office wear that she always had on when she visited, I messaged Cerebaton.

    Liam

    Hey Cerebaton. I unlocked the next rank of Shape-Shifting already. I¡¯m debating if I should jump on it or use my SP on something else for a while. You always said stats never abandon you, so curious about your thoughts on this?

    With the message sent off, I flopped sideways on the couch and threw my bare feet up onto the arm with a sigh.

    Staring at my toes for a few minutes, I idly used Shape-Shifting to stretch them out like fingers before returning them to normal. My feet then shifted into hooves, then fins, then back to feet once more.

    I¡¯ve got a lot of flexibility already. Do I need to boost the mass that I can shift? Wouldn¡¯t it be better to dedicate myself to training how to actually use what I have? I thought while staring at my toes again.

    A rapid tap on the door to my apartment broke me out of my thoughts. I knew that it wasn¡¯t Jameson. That idiot always pounded on my door like he was trying to drive a nail through it.

    ¡°Huh, wonder if Cerebaton just decided to drop by,¡± I muttered, rolling to my feet and straightening the black t-shirt I had on before I headed to the door.

    Twisting the knob, I pulled it open to greet my large, sometimes-green friend but stopped dead when I saw the smiling face of my daemon caseworker outside the door.

    ¡°Hello, Liam! Mr. Cerebaton advised me that you were in need of help deciding what way to take your ability progression?¡±

    <><><>

    Of course he sent Cari over, I grumbled silently. This kind of stuff is actually her job, after all.

    I ushered the peppy daemon woman into my apartment. Unlike Cerebaton, Cariad wasn¡¯t able to shift her body to hide her appearance, so leaving her on my doorstep was a bad idea. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    I¡¯d known that she was my best option, but had disregarded the thought because I was still conflicted over my attraction to the daemon woman. Before, I¡¯d always been able to hold up the fact that even touching her would cause my body to start to corrode, but after Cerebaton had put the idea in my head that it wasn¡¯t a guarantee, my mind wouldn¡¯t stop dwelling on it.

    Cariad was dressed like always in smart office-wear. She had on a pencil skirt in a dark, charcoal gray that looked good against the pitch black stockings she wore to cover her legs.

    A white blouse with two buttons undone covered her upper body, leaving the gentle, blue-gray curve of her bust showing through the open V at her neck. Long, black, opera-style gloves covered her hands and arms, vanishing up the short sleeves of her top as well.

    Her long, strawberry-red hair hung down to below her bottom, held straight by sheer weight except for the last foot or so, which bounced back upward in a single thick curl. Cariad¡¯s sea-green eyes twinkled happily as she strode past me, a leather folder held to her right breast with that arm. The other set of eyes, the special ones, remained lidded and hidden just above her temples on either side of her head. I only saw the faint line of the lashless lids because I knew where to look.

    ¡°Hey Cari, I am sorry that you came all the way out here. I just needed to do some brainstorming to figure out what to do with my current crop of SP and if I should keep focusing on my Shape-Shifting. I didn¡¯t expect Cerebaton to send you out when I poked him,¡± I apologized, but she waved it off with one long-fingered hand.

    ¡°Not to worry, Liam. I¡¯m happy to help you figure out what to do. Normally, a Traveler has a much larger support structure in place in the form of family or mentors to help them decide, but you are on your own, the first human Traveler from this world in centuries.¡± Cariad¡¯s voice was throaty and joyful, and it was clear from the twinkle in her regular eyes and the bounce in her tone that she was excited to help me.

    ¡°Well, would you like some coffee or juice? I did manage to scare up some disposable mugs so you don¡¯t have to worry about dissolving anything,¡± I offered, gesturing for her to make herself at home and trying my hand at teasing her to break the ice.

    ¡°Coffee would be grand, actually. How did that competition you¡¯ve been training for go?¡± Cariad asked, pulling out a chair at my chipped kitchen table and setting out her document folder.

    She flipped open the folder to reveal a sky-blue legal pad lined in green as well as a stack of loose paper sheets covered in angular print. Cariad carefully laid out the pages before producing a pen from inside her shirt somewhere. The gesture made me swallow hard once, as it had flashed the edge of a dark gray bra that barely contrasted with her skin.

    Makes sense, she wears white after all. If she had on a brightly colored bra, then it¡¯d show right through, I reminded myself before turning to hurry over and start working on the coffee.

    ¡°It went well,¡± I answered, clearing my throat before continuing. ¡°I won, but the last competitor tried something shifty. Rieka¡¯s mum, she¡¯s the queen of the local kingdom if you didn¡¯t remember, was impressed with the fight. We also came up with the idea of me bonding with the queen to be able to pass messages from Rieka to her and back securely. The queen was rather enthused with the idea.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a clever idea. Most Travelers wouldn¡¯t deign to respond for such banal tasks, as they only are worth a small handful of SP, but it¡¯s a fair use of your skills. You have the Dimensional Pocket skill, so you can carry packages and sealed missives too!¡±

    Cariad¡¯s smile grew even wider, and I swore a hint of pride shone in her eyes as she looked up at me.

    Coughing, I turned back to the sink and set about filling up the battered kettle from the faucet.

    ¡°It¡¯s less about the SP and more about helping them out,¡± I said, going about getting the coffee set up.

    ¡°I figured as much, Liam. Your girls really lucked out getting you when their summon went awry.¡± Cariad paused to give me another sunny smile before clicking her pen a few times and glancing down at the blank sheet of paper in front of her. ¡°So! What options do you have to look at, and what kind of budget for SP do you have?¡±

    Letting out a quiet sigh of relief, I began listing off my options to Cariad. She listened carefully, nodding along while making notes on her sheet of paper. A few strands of her hair fell over her face and she brushed them out of her vision with an idle flick of her hand.

    ¡°I feel bad that you came all the way out here for this, Cari,¡± I said while she studied her list of options, chewing lightly on the end of her fancy metal pen. Behind me, the kettle quietly rumbled while heating on the stove.

    Cariad glanced up at me in surprise. Her primary eyes wide and the secondary set flicking open as well, revealing the electric-blue eyes that sat high on her head for a moment before they closed once more.

    ¡°Why would you be sorry, Liam?¡± Cariad asked, setting her pen down before looking back up at me. ¡°I¡¯m your caseworker. This is my job to help you with stuff like this.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I know. I just feel bad because you came all the way out here. If I¡¯d known that Cerebaton was going to bounce the job off to you, I¡¯d have just messaged you directly. I was trying to not be a pest,¡± I said, grimacing slightly at the excuse and how weak I knew it was.

    ¡°It¡¯s no trouble,¡± Cariad replied, smiling once more now. ¡°Besides, I wanted a chance to see you, Liam. Mr. Cerebaton let me know that he had to cancel your weapon training, so I wanted to take the opportunity to come by when it came up.¡±

    I opened my mouth to protest, but caught the words before they could make it past my lips. Cariad was a friend, or at least I thought of her as one. I¡¯d previously made an open invitation for her to swing by whenever if she wanted, and I wasn¡¯t about to rescind that invitation just because my attraction to her was growing.

    Just be her friend for now. If things develop in the direction of a relationship, you can worry about testing your power out then, I reminded myself, and nodded.

    The kettle began to whistle, so I set about getting the beat-up French press that I used for coffee ready before carrying it and a pair of mugs to the table. The one I had for Cariad was from a stack of insulated coffee mugs made with recycled paper. They were sturdy enough to reuse, but I¡¯d gotten a pack of a hundred for ten bucks, so I wasn¡¯t worried if touching her lips dissolved the cup.

    Once the coffee was poured and I sat across from the gorgeous alien woman at my kitchen table¡ªit startled me again when I thought about the fact I had an extra-dimensional babe in my boring kitchen, even after the last few months¡ªwe set about talking shop.

    ¡°So, you would have to tap into some resources you were saving for a rainy day to get Shape-Shifting (Major) right now and you are uncertain if you should?¡± Cariad was chewing on the end of her pen as she stared at her notes.

    ¡°Yeah. I know that if I hold them for too long, then I lose the opportunity to make the most of them, but I can¡¯t help the decision paralysis right now.¡± I sighed, looking down into my coffee mug again and taking a sip of the scalding brew. ¡°Sort of the same with my living situation. I could move somewhere else, somewhere nicer, but I have no idea how reliable the flow of cash is going to be, so I hesitate.¡±

    Cariad nodded again in understanding, her hair bouncing in response to the motion, and she smoothed her collar down with one hand, flashing another glimpse of her chest idly.

    ¡°And your other options were?¡± Cariad asked, looking up at me with just her primary set of eyes.

    ¡°Mostly tossing up between getting the moderate rank of Manipulate Element for earth or buying up more stat increases. I also can¡¯t help but think I should be expanding my power base more. I¡¯d like to open up some other abilities.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t think about that too much,¡± Cariad said, waving the hand holding her pen in the negative while she picked up her coffee mug and took a sip, carefully rotating the cup so that she didn¡¯t dissolve too much of the recycled paper with her lips.

    Watching as the firm paper simply fizzled away and vanished in a quarter-inch wide strip after her lips pulled away made me grimace slightly and nod. The other half of what worried me about pursuing Cariad: what might happen if I let my attention lapse and whatever protection from imbuing myself with entropic energy failed at the wrong moment?

    Instead of dwelling on it, I focused back on our conversation, glancing down at the list Cariad had made of the available skills that I hadn¡¯t taken.

    ¡°That¡¯s one that I was wondering about too,¡± I tapped the page above one entry that had been on my mind for a while, and I closed my eyes to reference it.

    Grant Power (Minor) - Cost: 100 SP - Able to grant specific abilities to contracted partner for a short window of time. Power is reduced two tiers from what the Traveler has mastered. Parameters are preset at time of grant.

    ¡°Admittedly, that is a more traditional path to power for those who contract with Travelers,¡± Cariad explained, making a small triangle mark on the page next to the power. ¡°It¡¯s cheap enough that you could snag it without an issue, but the only power you have that you can grant someone is your Shape-Shifting and even then that would be at the minor rank, because it reduces it from your highest mastered level.¡±

    I grimaced at that. Up until Cariad said something to that effect, I hadn¡¯t considered that part. I¡¯d assumed that just having the rank of the ability would work, like buying the moderate tier for Manipulate Element or something. But having to master it?

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if I plan to up my Manipulate Element to the point that it would make sense. Earth was always meant as a utility power, and I have far more destructive options,¡± I mumbled.

    ¡°I know,¡± Cariad said with a grin. ¡°Have you had much luck practicing with the entropy magic? And before you ask. Yes, Mr. Cerebaton told me that he talked to you about it, and for what it¡¯s worth? I¡¯m glad you picked entropy over time.¡±

    Cariad gave a full body shudder at that, and her response to the idea of me taking the time school of magic broke me out of my surprise. So much had been going on that I couldn¡¯t actually remember if I¡¯d talked to her about which to take or if that had just been Cerebaton. Either way, she knew now, that much was obvious.

    ¡°Why is that?¡± I asked, taking another drink of my coffee before setting the mug down in front of me.

    ¡°Time magic is like entropy, in that it handles one of the primal building blocks of the universe. Time is a measurement, and thus an agent of order, while entropy is the opposite and an agent of chaos. Not to say one is good or evil, but daemons have a side of the proverbial fence they are on, and that is not on the side that time and order favor.¡±

    ¡°Can I ask what exists on that side, though?¡± I inquired, not meeting her eyes and studying my mug. I hadn¡¯t really questioned it as much before, being so caught up in the idea of being able to touch one of the daemons safely to consider it.

    ¡°They have many terms to refer to them, but the more common one is a deva. I know humans use that to refer to gods, but it¡¯s not entirely true. No more true than angels or demons, really. But deva are¡­ inflexible,¡± Cariad said with a shrug, as if the revelation wasn¡¯t really anything important.

    Which it probably wasn¡¯t, at least to her, I thought, smirking as I tapped the outline of a green, flaming dumpster on the side of my mug. This used to be my life, but not anymore. No more dumpster fires for me.

    Shaking off the introspection, I glanced back up at Cariad, who had been watching me with a small smile on her face.

    ¡°Based on your options currently, Liam?¡± Cariad said, and I blinked in surprise before I remembered the original conversation we¡¯d had. ¡°You should boost your Shape-Shifting to the next rank. The major rank is going to take a while to fill out. Sure, you have to dip into your ¡®rainy-day¡¯ fund to get it, but the sooner you have it, the sooner you can experiment and start building it up. I guarantee that the last rank, the true master rank, will be expensive enough that you will have to hoard SP to acquire it, but it¡¯ll be worth it.¡±

    ¡°But what about the other powers?¡± I asked, tilting my head and tapping the Grant Power ability. ¡°There¡¯s also the Empower Reservoir one that I can put to good use.¡±

    ¡°Those can come later.¡± Cariad shook her head in denial to my statement. ¡°Shape-Shifting is the foundation of your skill set. Also, you can take the Grant Power ability and start working on it too. I believe the higher ranks of it will not penalize the power gift as much.¡±

    ¡°That¡­ actually makes sense. Okay¡­¡± I mumbled, rubbing my chin thoughtfully. ¡°I¡¯d wanted to use it to gift the girls the Mana Reservoir power, that way they wouldn¡¯t end up without the ability to cast because they didn¡¯t have the infused metal with them.¡±

    Cariad nodded and tapped the sheet of paper again with her pen.

    ¡°That makes sense just fine. But you couldn¡¯t actually train the ability until you had one that you could give. Now you do. So my recommendation is to take those two: Shape-Shifting (Major) and Grant Power (Minor). That¡¯ll tap out most of your available SP, but honestly, it¡¯s not good to just sit on it. You should be spending the SP or planning to spend it as soon as it comes in.¡±

    ¡°The only trade-off is the stat points,¡± I said, unwilling to give up on playing devil¡¯s-advocate just yet. ¡°I could boost every one of my stats by sixty points for roughly the same amount of SP.¡±

    Cariad shrugged, setting her pen down on the paper in front of her and collecting her coffee mug for another sip. When she finished, Cariad spoke again.

    ¡°That is an option, and a good point to make,¡± she said at first. ¡°But again, Shape-Shifting (Major) is going to take a long time to master. Meaning you can always pour SP into your stats later. Liam, you are probably six to eight times stronger in every aspect of a normal human right now.¡±

    That thought made me pause and do the math. It wasn¡¯t quite clean, but based on my stats when this had all started¡ªwhich were in the low teens mostly¡ªCariad was underselling the difference quite a bit.

    ¡°I¡­ hadn¡¯t thought of it like that,¡± I said thoughtfully.

    ¡°Exactly. And while the stats will help you, you do need actual powers. Plus, you¡¯ve been boosting your stats for a while now, you should let them settle out and grow used to them before you surge again.¡±

    Cariad had made good points so far, and I couldn¡¯t honestly argue beyond the fact that I knew Shape-Shifting (Major) was going to take a long time to increase, and I¡¯d gotten a bit addicted to seeing the steady climb of numbers and stats.

    Ability points go ¡®brrrr,¡¯ I thought, smothering a smirk before nodding.

    ¡°Okay, you make good points there, Cariad. I¡¯ll grab those two then.¡±

    It took only a moment to pull the three pure mana stones out of my Dimensional Pocket and consume them, bringing my total SP up to six-thousand, seven-hundred and twenty. That left me with six more of the stones in reserve.

    Cariad waited patiently, a small smile on her lips, as she watched me.

    ¡°I imagine it never gets easier spending this much of anything, whether it be cash or points,¡± I muttered when I hesitated again before sighing and mentally selecting the two new powers.

    A flare of light on the edges of my vision, and the powers getting a glittering outline confirmed that they were now mine.

    ¡°Well, with that out of the way,¡± Cariad said, tucking her papers away into her folder before flipping it closed. ¡°I want to hear about this artist of yours. The moth girl? I saw the System generated mission log that you were summoned for a certain type of study to help her with her art?¡±

    Snapping my eyes up, I saw a wicked smile on Cariad¡¯s features as she teased me. Though there was something else in those eyes as she stared at me, but it slipped away, hidden behind merriment, before I could pin it down.

 Chapter 109

    I spent most of the next few days relaxing and getting caught up on my orders. While the Bitsy storefront wasn¡¯t going to allow me to just retire, it was at least something that would keep the lights on. If things got better and I got even more content up and selling, then it might improve to the point where I wasn¡¯t always feeling tense when I was back on Earth.

    It is amusing that I don¡¯t even think about these problems while I¡¯m on Cortha. My entire focus is on the girls, whether it¡¯s protecting them or just being around them, I thought with a smirk while I sat at the kitchen table and molded a hunk of landscaping granite into a statue.

    The statue was one for just me, though I¡¯d debated putting similar ones up on Bitsy to sell. I¡¯d already finished three others like it but with different subject matter and they turned out well.

    A tug here with the magic, smoothing there with a finger, and impressing on the Manipulate Element ability what I wanted, and the thick mass began to take on the striations and texture of hair.

    Tugging on a portion of the back, the nub I had left there flowed outwards to make a long and slender length that wound around the figure before terminating above the head. Another thought gave the right texture, and I set the statue down next to the others.

    My four primary contracted companions¡ªI had to think of them like that as I couldn¡¯t really call them ¡®my girls¡¯ anymore since the queen had contracted with me too so I could help her communicate with her daughter¡ªsat before me in granite. They lacked color and a lot of features, but the simple statues did an adequate job of capturing each of their personalities.

    Kassandra was perched on her coiled length, her serpentine lower half carefully gathered underneath her to support her. One arm was held over her tummy to shelve her breasts on even though she didn¡¯t need it with how her underbust corset supported her. Meanwhile, her other arm was up, delicate fingers adjusting her glasses while she smirked wickedly from underneath her mass of bombshell curls.

    Rieka half-stood, half-leaned forward with her hands behind her back. One ear poked up from her long mane of straight hair like the tip of an exclamation mark, while her tail had the feeling of motion behind her, giving the impression of it sweeping back and forth. My wolfish princess looked like she was about to say something teasing, with a gentle smile curving her lips to soften it.

    Just to one side of them, Shayla stood with her shoulders slumped, but her wings spread wide. My moth-girl¡¯s enormous eyes peeked out from under the bobbing tips of her fluffy antennae, clearly studying her surroundings curiously while trying to tug her wings back out of the way. Her loose dress clung to her curves, but I¡¯d swayed out the bottom to give it the appearance of floating in the wind.

    And to round out the set was the last one that I¡¯d just finished. Jane was caught mid bounce, a broad smile on her face while her staid, almost librarian outfit flared with the motion. The little mouse-girl¡¯s rounded ears were up and out in excitement while her long, tuff-tipped tail waved over her head. Jane had both hands up as if she was excitedly explaining something to whoever was in front of her.

    Smiling down at them, I scooted the statues around so they all sat in a circle facing each other, and it reminded me of a few times that I¡¯d seen my girls¡ªI meant my primary summoners talking.

    Then again, they are my girls. Rieka¡¯s mother, the queen, is just another contracted. These are my girls though, I thought, after having to correct myself once more.

    It wasn¡¯t any slight on the queen, but these four were my primary concern and the source of most of my contracts. The queen hadn¡¯t summoned me except for the one time necessary to make the bond.

    Idly, I reached up to thumb the fifth tattoo that sat on the upper part of my forearm. Queen Gemma¡¯s symbol had taken on the shape of a seven pointed snowflake. Touching it gave me a general sense of the contracted person¡¯s emotional state, and what I got from it was a sense of amusement that melded into a grim determination. As there was no worry flowing with it, I left it alone.

    I¡¯ll need to talk to Rieka to make sure she explains this to her mother. The last thing I need is to have it cause problems for them, I thought while standing from the kitchen table and striding over to the kitchen, where I opened my refrigerator to grab a cold bottle of water out.

    I¡¯d just started twisting the cap when the edges of my vision flashed and a message cruised through my sight.

    Rieka Coldeye has sent a non-urgent request for your presence regarding planning with her.

    Transit? View summoning?

    Cracking the lid of the bottle, I took a deep drink while selecting the View Summoning option. The image that floated into being next was of my four girls all arrayed around in a room I recognized as Rieka¡¯s, with Kassandra having taken over an entire couch for herself in the absence of one of the large pillows that she liked to use.

    Not seeing anything to concern me, I was about to hit the Transit option when my eyes landed on the statues of the girls sitting on the kitchen table and I was reminded of the treat I¡¯d picked up to share with them.

    ¡°Dimensional Pocket, go!¡± I laughed, flipping the fridge open and prodding the item to send it to storage before I accepted the summon.

    Being summoned to another world was just as strange the first time as it was now. The sensation was something I¡¯d gotten used to, but since it was never the same sounds, sights, or smells with each subsequent trip, it still felt so odd.

    This time, I was tugged downwards through the floor, phasing out of existence between heartbeats before racing off with the speed of an open-top bullet train. The color of a laughing child filled my mouth as the sound of a baby¡¯s smile echoed through my head.

    Colors I barely recognized zipped past like I¡¯d been strapped to the mixing tip of a paint machine before everything parted and I was treated to the sight of a trio of people riding on the back of what looked like a grizzly bear the size of a small bus. They crashed through a field of waving grass while being chased by a whole tide of screeching horrors.

    I barely had the time to wish luck to whoever that group was before I was engulfed in colors once more.

    Should ask Cariad if what I see between dimensions is real or not. For all I know these are nothing more than vivid hallucinations like a dream or a nightmare, I had time to think before the taste of lemon Jello filled my lungs and I was deposited in the cozy center of Rieka¡¯s dorm room.

    ¡°Hello ladies,¡± I said as Rieka was the first to throw herself into my arms, beating out Kassandra for once. Though I think that was more to do with the fact my dwarf lamia was still wrapped around her couch by the fire and hadn¡¯t been expecting me.

    ¡°Liam! How are you doing? Sorry that none of us summoned you after the matches finished. I think we all believed you needed a few days off,¡± Rieka said happily as she hopped into my arms.

    Not content with just a simple hug from my favorite wolf girl, I scooped her up and spun with her, eliciting a happy laugh from the platinum blonde even while Kassandra grumbled in annoyance from her spot nearby.

    ¡°Rieka! You didn¡¯t tell me you¡¯d summoned Liam yet. I wasn¡¯t ready to greet him!¡±

    ¡°I thought you said you were always ready for time with Liam?¡± teased Jane, the grinning mouse girl already bouncing out of her chair to hop over and hold her arms out for a hug.

    Since I wasn¡¯t ready to let go of Rieka yet, I just bent and scooped the much smaller Jane up into a hug as well, getting a happy giggle from her, too.

    ¡°We all missed you, Liam,¡± Shayla said gently, rising from her chair to stride over with her colorful red, brown, and cream moth wings pumping behind her.

    Kassandra continued to grumble while unwrapping her coils from the couch. Normally, my dwarf lamia was the first to greet me with an attempt to tackle me off of my feet and hug me half to death, but it was clear that Rieka had planned around that outcome this time.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Yes, we did!¡± Jane exclaimed. The normally timid mouse girl had been getting better lately, and she threw her arms around my shoulder and hugged me tightly. Jane was short, almost as short as Kassandra was when my dwarf lamia slithered about, so there was a level of adorableness to the hug.

    Rieka gave a wiggle, clearly asking to be let down but not verbalizing it yet. Her tail whipped back and forth, the fuzzy appendage beating a happy tune against my side. Knowing my wolf princess, she was being thoughtful, so I gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and allowed her from my grasp.

    Jane wiggled free next, smirking up at Shayla as the large moth woman continued her slow and steady approach with her arms open wide and antennae bobbing and wiggling happily.

    Since Jane was just a summoner and not one of my lovers, she didn¡¯t demand a kiss, but she did rub her face into my shoulder before hopping down to scamper out of the way.

    ¡°Hello again, Shayla,¡± I said to the over six foot tall moth woman as I enfolded her plush form in my arms carefully.

    Her wings flicked behind her as I said Shayla¡¯s name, a gesture of happiness and contentedness that was further accented by the soft kiss she laid on my lips while her antennae stroked over my face like a second set of fluffy hands. The fuzzy fur that lined her neck and wrists naturally was cloud-soft against my skin and I hummed happily as the two of us shared a gentle kiss.

    Shayla was normally the most reserved of my girls, but she purred contentedly while she molded herself to my chest for a long moment and I enjoyed every soft curve that she pressed into me at that moment.

    ¡°Glad to see you are doing well, Liam,¡± Shayla murmured, nuzzling into my neck for a moment. I felt a soft sensation there as she kissed the side of my jaw before my beautiful moth woman gently disengaged. I knew that Shayla would happily cling to me as long as I would let her, but she also knew exactly what was about to happen next.

    ¡°Liam!¡± Kassandra yelled as she threw herself at me.

    My dwarf lamia had managed to unwrap herself from the couch closest to the fire and coil herself on top of the red-and-brown-scaled length of her long tail. As soon as she had a clear shot at me, Kassandra launched herself into a flying tackle like a red-haired comet with her long tail trailing behind her.

    With the ease of long practice, I caught Kassandra about the waist, pulling her human torso to mine and turning in place, letting her weight and momentum carry us in a spin that left her giggling happily and me with a cuddly snake-skin belt wrapped low around my hips.

    Kassandra proceeded to use the coil wrapped around me to climb higher, so that she pressed her waist into my hip with one arm wrapped around my back and the other across my chest to my shoulder.

    ¡°Hello Kass, missed you too, love,¡± I said, leaning down to give Kassandra a light kiss.

    Clearly, my mischief macaroni had plans otherwise, though. Kassandra gave a happy squeal and used her grip on my waist and shoulder to haul me down and hold me in place while she locked lips with me.

    Our tongues danced together for several long minutes, with the other three watching in amusement for a bit before Rieka decided to intervene when it became clear Kassandra wasn¡¯t planning to stop anytime soon.

    My wolfish princess snuck up behind Kassandra and did something. I couldn¡¯t tell exactly what it was she did because of the angle, but Kassandra squealed into the kiss and her slitted brown eyes popped open behind her silver-rimmed glasses. Kassandra disengaged from my lips a moment later, swatting furiously at Rieka with one hand while she turned to glare at her friend.

    ¡°No hogging the guy, Kass,¡± Rieka said haughtily, shooting me a wink before nodding towards the couch that Kassandra had abandoned.

    It was clear that, despite Rieka¡¯s words, the wolf-eared woman had no problems with Kassandra clinging to me like usual, but she had something she wanted to talk about, so we had to focus.

    ¡°Fiiiine,¡± Kassandra grumbled, though she didn¡¯t disengage just yet. Instead, she just snuggled into my side, so I got an arm tucked around her to support the dwarf lamia and sidled over to plop down on her couch.

    Despite her shorter stature and status as a ¡®dwarf¡¯ or miniature breed of lamia, Kassandra was still quite large. At a bit over fourteen feet long, she easily weighed nearly five hundred pounds. It was why I had learned that trick of catching her and turning with the momentum to bleed off some of it, otherwise she¡¯d take me off my feet regardless of my System-enhanced strength.

    Kassandra¡¯s weight was directly proportional to the length of her serpentine tail, and she had quite a bit of it. As a tradeoff, it was rare that her body was entirely off the ground unless she was actively clinging to me. When she was, Kassandra did her best to help manage the weight so it wouldn¡¯t overbalance and knock me over.

    Shifting around, I settled onto the long couch and Kassandra wiggled about to unwind some of her coils, but obstinately remained tucked into my left side. This resulted in my right side being open and both Rieka and Shayla moving to take it.

    ¡°You go ahead,¡± Shayla demurred when she noticed the other woman going for it.

    ¡°No, be my guest, Shayla,¡± Rieka replied, though I could see her disappointment in the way her tail slumped and her ears fell to either side.

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t,¡± Shayla replied, blushing and knotting her fingers in front of her.

    ¡°I insist,¡± Rieka said, stamping one foot lightly on the wooden floor.

    ¡°You realize that whoever doesn¡¯t get his side can just sit on his lap, right?¡± Jane¡¯s suggestion made both of them start in surprise. Kassandra¡¯s amused giggle broke them out of their surprise and both my wolf princess and my artistic moth shared a blush.

    The rest of their conversation was held with a handful of gestures and meaningful looks, which ended with Shayla snuggling into my right side and Rieka plumping herself down on my lap.

    ¡°You look so smug like that, Liam,¡± Jane giggled from her spot in a puffy armchair nearby. The short mouse kin woman was beaming as she watched Shayla lean into me, her fluffy antennae bopping the side of my face while Rieka¡¯s tail bounced in the moth woman¡¯s lap.

    ¡°You¡¯d be smug if you were in my spot too, Jane,¡± I teased her back.

    ¡°No, I¡¯d be squished is what I would be. I¡¯m still astonished you can handle Kassandra¡¯s exuberance.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s got plenty to spare. I¡¯m sure we could find a spot for you too, Jane,¡± Kassandra teased the smaller woman back, smiling joyously as she ran her fingers up and down my left thigh meaningfully.

    Rieka snorted in amusement and poked Kassandra right in the boob where they threatened to spill over the redhead¡¯s corset-top, getting an eep from the dwarf lamia and a brief slap fight in my lap as the two batted at each other.

    It is good to be back here with them, I thought with a sigh, leaning over to lightly kiss the base of one of Shayla¡¯s antennae, making the curvy woman shiver into my side as she rubbed her head on my shoulder happily.

    ¡°I¡¯ll keep it in mind,¡± Jane replied before she turned her attention back to Rieka. ¡°You brought him here to plan, right?¡±

    Rieka stiffened slightly, and she got a guilty look on her face with her ears laying back, the black-tipped appendages giving her the look of a scolded puppy for a long moment. It was obvious Rieka had promptly forgotten about that when presented with my lap.

    I fixed her embarrassment by shifting to bring the arm that was around Shayla up so I could lightly stroke those fuzzy triangles, digging my fingers into their bases and eliciting a low moan from my princess as she slumped into me.

    Yup. Headpats and ear scratches are king and queen to my girl, I thought with a grin, while Shayla smothered a laugh as well.

    ¡°What kind of plans did you need to make?¡± I asked instead, tilting my head to look around Rieka at the mouse girl.

    ¡°Oh, just wanted to make sure you were open to the idea of another camping trip this weekend. We talked about it yesterday at dinner that we all want to go and have another look at that facility you showed Shayla and me back before the competition. And with that being over, we have a week off while the scores are tabulated and we can make the trip out.¡±

    Jane¡¯s explanation made sense, and I knew that both Cariad and Cerebaton would like it if I could confirm the ancient human research facility was clear of threats or hints at the kind of magic necessary to entrap entropic creatures.

    Especially good for me to know and confirm, since I might start counting as one of those soon given my powers, I thought before pressing a kiss to the jaw of a very distracted Rieka. My wolfish princess let out a surprised meep before turning to bury her blushing face in my neck when she realized everyone had seen her melt into my affection.

    ¡°That sounds like a good idea. Plus, it¡¯ll give you all a chance to practice away from Juneau and there is a lot of interesting stuff in the ruins that might be useful. Kass, do you think Shayla might have a use for some of the tools and chemicals we saw in the storeroom? I know we saw a bunch of metallic ingots there but¡­¡± I trailed off as I considered it myself.

    There had been stacks and stacks of iron ingots there, as well as other base metals. I knew that my Dimensional Pocket was far too small to carry much of it, but I could actually put some of those metals to use with my crafting.

    Thinking about the Dimensional Pocket reminded me of the treat I had stashed in there, and I gave the back of Rieka¡¯s head a pat.

    ¡°Actually, hold that thought. I brought you all something from my world.¡±

    My statement made Rieka perk up and peek out from her hiding spot, one sky-blue eye glimmering amongst the myriad blonde hairs hiding her face, while Kassandra bounced excitedly on my other side.

    ¡°Oh, what is it?!¡± Jane demanded, shifting forward on her cushion to stare at me in wonder.

    A quick glance confirmed what I had remembered, that Rieka had a tea service set, and that there was steam rising from the pot. Every time I¡¯d visited, they¡¯d always had a hot drink ready, so I¡¯d gotten them something to go with it.

    Previously, while I¡¯d been camping with just Rieka and Kassandra, I¡¯d treated them to stories of sweets and other things from my world, and they¡¯d made me promise to bring some to share when I¡¯d had the time. I knew Kassandra was fascinated with the idea of a corn-dog, but that would have to wait for another time.

    I let my right arm shift and lengthen, using Shape-Shifting to be able to do it without moving from my spot buried in women. A moment later, a clear plastic container appeared on my palm and I set it on the low table in front of the seats.

    ¡°What are these? They are pretty!¡± Kassandra asked, leaning forward to peer at the colorful shapes.

    ¡°Some of my favorite treats from back home, handmade sugar cookies,¡± I said with a grin as Jane joined Kassandra in poking at the package to try to figure out how to open it.

 Chapter 110

    The girls absolutely loved the sugar cookies to go with their tea. I was glad I¡¯d only brought one of the small packages, because a dozen cookies split between four people was more than enough sugar to get each of them wired, given that processed sugar was not something they were used to.

    It was absolutely adorable watching each of them sample the sweets and then dive in a moment later with gusto.

    Kassandra took a bite without hesitation, then proceeded to cram the entire frosted cookie into her mouth, leaving a mustache of yellow frosting on her lip. Rieka nibbled and dipped her cookie in the tea delicately, but never slowed down on it. Shayla sampled it hesitantly, then licked the frosting off first, then dipped the cookie herself. Jane¡¯s impression of a mouse was accurate and adorable at the same time, with her furiously munching away in tiny little bites before washing it down with a sip of tea.

    Within five minutes, all the cookies were gone and the last of the colorful frosting was removed from the plastic container. Only once the snacks were gone did the girls settle in for some serious planning.

    After making sure I¡¯d bring more of the cookies with me next time.

    <><><>

    Since Rieka had a dimensional bag to store all the camping equipment in, it was easy enough for the girls to summon me back the next day for our fourth trip out to the abandoned human facility and just head out early that morning.

    I¡¯d spent part of the night with Rieka, my wolf princess claiming my time once we finished with the planning session. She did so in spite of the teasing that came from Kassandra and envious glances from Shayla, but neither did more than tease her lightly, as it had been Rieka who summoned me initially for the planning and made the outlay of mana to actually get me there.

    Rieka was content to just snuggle until my summoning elapsed, allowing me to spoil her with lots of gentle head rubs and ear scratches. The fact that she got them while laying in on my chest and completely naked was entirely beside the point.

    I was more than happy to dote on her as much as Rieka wanted, not just because the task she set me to earn my SP this time was ¡®spoil me,¡¯ though.

    It was something I was happy to do, anyway.

    Once I went back to Earth, I made sure to stock my Dimensional Pouch with other treats for the girls, and not just more of the frosted sugar cookies.

    I¡¯ll admit that I felt a bit like a drug dealer preparing my stash of illicit goods, but rather than harmful drugs, it was processed sugar. Which might as well have been a drug with how the girls reacted when they summoned me back the next day.

    I wasn¡¯t worried about the sugar being too much for them though, as we had a long walk out to the campsite in the mountains. With our larger group as well, we had not a single sign of trouble along the way, being passed by a pair of merchant caravans as they headed for the coast.

    While we walked, Kassandra and Jane discussed their notes about the complex and what else they would be looking for this time. Shayla stuck close to me, clinging to the back of my shirt, while Rieka was content to walk at my side with an arm tucked into mine.

    ¡°I¡¯m just not sure what I should make the subject of my next painting,¡± Shayla was saying to Rieka as we made our way off the road and into the foothills after ensuring there was no one watching us.

    ¡°Liam!¡± Kassandra interjected into the conversation with a grin. ¡°He¡¯s already volunteered to sit for you. Might as well make use of that. Plus, how often would you expect to have an extinct race able to actually sit for you to paint?¡±

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯ve already¡­¡± Shayla started to say before blushing and letting her words trail off.

    ¡°Already painted him? Have you been able to paint all of him?¡± Kassandra accented her question with a rapid wiggle of her eyebrows, which only made Shayla blush harder. ¡°Oh, you have! You definitely have to let us see that when you finish it up! I would love for you to do a painting of Liam for me. Might keep my parents from trying to do something dumb, like trying to arrange a marriage because they don¡¯t believe that I have someone.¡±

    Kassandra¡¯s words surprised me enough that I nearly tripped on the ground, and not just because of her excitement about asking for a painting of me, but specifically to show to her parents.

    It is fair, I thought as I turned a questioning look to my grinning dwarf lamia. While things may not work out like a normal relationship, she and I are intimate. And I¡¯ve got no plans to go anywhere anytime soon. So we will figure something out if it comes to that. Both she and Rieka seemed rather enthralled with the idea of getting pregnant, eventually. Though I have to wonder how that might complicate things like inheritance if it doesn¡¯t include a marriage.

    Confronted with the idea of marriage brought my already smoking brain to a screaming halt. Not because I was against it, but actually how much the idea of marrying any of my girls¡ªor potentially all of them if I was really lucky¡ªexcited the hell out of me.

    ¡°That¡¯s actually a good point,¡± Rieka piped up from beside me, her words drawing my attention to the grinning wolf woman hanging off my arm. I¡¯d spent a bit of time brushing Rieka¡¯s long platinum blonde hair the previous night and it hung in a loose braid at her back while her pointed ears bounced happily behind her head. ¡°I¡¯m sure that my mother would like a painting of him as well. Even if it¡¯s not her priority to get me married off, so I¡¯m not that worried.¡±

    Another lurch came as my heart thumped against the inside of my chest. I must have done something, because Rieka shifted slightly to shoot me a gentle smile, her eyebrows rising up questioningly while her tail danced happily behind her, flicking out to one side before coming back to smack against the back of my thighs.

    I patted the hand that was tucked into my elbow lightly and returned her smile with one of my own. Softly, I felt the movement of her tail increase behind me. The gentle thump reassuring and made my heart swell with happiness.

    ¡°I¡¯ll do what I can. I was mostly just sketching, but I¡¯m sure that I have enough sketches that I can come up with pieces that you all can have. I want to keep most of them though¡­¡±

    ¡°Of course! You need to have a few of your own, so that you can show him off to your family too,¡± Kassandra chirped happily, and I turned just far enough to catch sight of Shayla who was blushing furiously, her fluffy antennae balled in close to her head in shyness.

    I leaned over and pressed a kiss to one of those fuzzy appendages, making Shayla squeak in surprise and shoot me a startled look that melted into a smile a moment later.

    ¡°You do what you think is best, Shayla. If you need me to pose for you again, I¡¯m happy to do it.¡± I added a wink to go with the statement and she smiled back, her antennae uncurling to bop me in the face lightly.

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll keep that in mind.¡±

    We continued to chat quietly about different things while climbing the hills, making our way along the stream that led up to the waterfall-fed lake and the field that we had been camping in.

    This time, there was no sign of the ruumo, the most fantastical of the animals that I¡¯d run into on Cortha.

    After dealing with kobolds, fire-breathing snakes, lamia, and animal people, you¡¯d think that I¡¯d be used to it. But it was the honest-to-god flying whale that finally convinced me and got my mind settled that this was a fantasy world.

    On the trip up, we¡¯d discussed it and decided that, rather than camping in the field on the far side of the lake from the entrance to the ruins, we¡¯d instead keep pushing into the mountain and camp inside the tunnel.

    While it wasn¡¯t ideal, as the creepy tunnel wasn¡¯t going to be the most comfortable location, we had a limited amount of time to get as much done as possible.

    So, as the sun continued its downward angle towards the horizon, we hurried around the lake, past the fountain that held the ancient remains of a statue, and up into the strange meadow at the base of the cliff to where the concealed entrance to the facility lay.

    ¡°I¡¯m glad that we have Liam around to help us with this part,¡± Jane said as she watched me carefully open up the earthen plug that I¡¯d set in place to block the entrance to the facility. When we¡¯d first found it, the cave had been a den for a large predator known as a crag hunter, and it had done its absolute best to kill me and my girls.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure you all would have figured something else out if you had to,¡± I replied, shooting Jane a wink and getting a roll of the eyes from the energetic mouse girl.

    ¡°Sure, we would have figured something out. But the odds that someone else might have discovered this would have been rather high. And considering what we¡¯ve learned from that copper map, I¡¯m glad that we were able to find this first. Who knows what sort of damage someone else raiding the facility might have done? At least with us, we know that it¡¯s going to be treated with the proper reverence.¡±A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    I shared a glance with Rieka and my princess rolled her eyes at me.

    ¡°We were reverent,¡± Rieka said a moment later, when I continued to grin at her.

    ¡°We pillaged the hell out of that place,¡± I shot back.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t that bad!¡± Rieka huffed, crossing her arms and pouting.

    ¡°Okay, maybe it was a conservative pillage. I mean, we weren¡¯t prying up floorboards after all,¡± I agreed, my grin growing more as I enjoyed the reference. Rieka just huffed again. But I couldn¡¯t really expect her to appreciate the joke, considering that it wasn¡¯t something she¡¯d be familiar with after all.

    ¡°So, we got to see the first part of the ruins before. And Kass has been telling us what to expect further in. What can you tell us about it, Liam?¡± Shayla shot Kassandra a suspicious look as she said that, getting a pout from my troublemaker of a dwarf lamia.

    ¡°You say that like you don¡¯t believe what I said!¡± Kassandra grumbled before holding aloft the light stone, leading the way down the earthen slope into the subterranean cave.

    The change from the open air of the plateau and its field into the cool darkness of the cave was abrupt. The air was a bit stifling down underground, but not to where it was actually difficult to breathe, just thick. Below, the space that the earthen ramp led to was wider, made of dark stone with the occasional patch of rust or debris from the ceiling caving in, and the old nest of the crag hunter set to one side.

    ¡°It¡¯s going to be dark, dank, and pretty oppressive. But I am sure it¡¯s going to be a lot more comfortable this time through with the four of us together. Add in your outstanding light magic, and we have nothing to worry about,¡± I said in answer to Shayla¡¯s question, turning to grin at the moth woman who still clung to the back of my left arm.

    Since I was wearing a shirt this time, Shayla just had hold of the back of my sleeve, but she walked close enough that I could feel the warmth emanating from her body even through our clothes.

    Not hesitating at all, Shayla gave me a shy smile and nodded, her antennae stretching out slightly before relaxing once more to waft in front of her head, the nearest one to me flexing at the end like it was making tiny grabby-hand motions in my direction.

    ¡°Yep! Shayla is going to make this much safer for us,¡± chirped Kassandra happily. My mischief macaroni twisted to grin over her shoulder at Shayla, though Kass did shoot me a wink as well. ¡°I don¡¯t think we are going to make it the whole way through the tunnel, but if we can get most of the way there, then we can spend the majority of the weekend searching through the facility and then head back on the first day of the week.¡±

    If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that the girls had already set up my assignment for the weekend, I was sure her words would have tripped the System to assign me one. As it was, I didn¡¯t see my current mission as any real imposition on my time.

    Assist your contracted companions, Kassandra Silverscale, Rieka Coldeye, Shayla Valo, and Jane Carsan, with their inspection of the ancient human research site and ensure they are returned to Juneau Academy safely.

    Reward - 2400 SP

    It was not only simple enough to do, it was something I had already planned to ensure happened. If it wasn¡¯t for the extended timeline of the mission¡ªsince we had headed out on Friday with the intent of returning on Monday¡ªI¡¯d have been worried at the potential difficulty presented by the reward amount. But knowing that it was taking that into account, I wasn¡¯t too worried.

    ¡°As long as you girls pace yourselves,¡± I said as we strode across the open area that I was almost positive was an ancient parking garage. ¡°I don¡¯t want any of you hurting yourselves because you are pushing too hard.¡±

    ¡°If we do, does that mean you¡¯ll carry us back?¡± Jane teased, but from the way that Kassandra¡¯s eyes gleamed behind her spectacles, I knew that my lamia was plotting something.

    ¡°Only if you are actually hurt. And I know that none of you would pretend to be hurt just to be doted on. You all already know that you don¡¯t have to intentionally get hurt or fake it just to get attention,¡± I replied, saying it while looking pointedly at Kassandra, who returned my stare with a faux pout.

    She opened her mouth to protest again, and I just raised an eyebrow. Kassandra rolled her eyes again, but her look of pretended offense melted into a more general smirk and she just nodded instead.

    I didn¡¯t actually think that my lamia would do something as irresponsible as pretending to be hurt, at least not for long. Kassandra might be a bit flighty and willing to do just about anything in order to get some attention from me, but when push came to shove, she never hesitated to pull her weight.

    All my girls do, I thought with a proud smile as Kassandra and Jane hurried forward to disable the runic locks on the enormous set of doors that lay on the far side of the cave.

    At this point, Kassandra had it down to a science. She¡¯d left most of the formulas in place before, and had the completed diagrams recorded in a small, leather-bound journal that she kept with her. So it took only a handful of minutes with some of the enchanted chalk she had before it was ready to go, and the glowing runes on the doors faded away.

    While the two of them handled that, I reached out my senses through Manipulate Element in order to feel the surroundings. I was trying to find any changes that might have occurred since the last time we came through here. Everything from a burrowing animal that might have found its way into the cave, on to the shadow monsters that lurked deeper in the cave system, possibly getting up from down deep to cause problems.

    Nothing came back as suspicious to my senses, though I was able to detect that there was a faint aura of mana running through the doors as well as the floor and walls. As Kassandra and Jane finished disabling it, the sense of energy faded away.

    Grouping up, we headed into the downward sloping tunnel.

    ¡°Lights,¡± I called ahead of us into the darkness.

    A moment later, following a distant clunk of something engaging, the hallway glowed with dim illumination. When nothing squealed or screamed in pain and anger at the increase in light, I led the way down.

    While I¡¯d been more than happy to let the girls cling to me on the walk up, now that we were actually inside this complex, I was on guard.

    The floor underfoot was the same smooth stone as before in the garage, but the dusty tunnel was far better illuminated, enough so that Kassandra tucked away the orange-sized glowing stone for now.

    ¡°Did you all have a chance to study that map from before?¡± I asked, referring to a metallic map we¡¯d discovered the last time we came through that was copper heavily coated in verdigris. To the point that the girls had taken it down off the wall and we¡¯d transported it back to the Juneau campus for them to clean and study.

    ¡°Yep!¡± Jane was the one to answer, bouncing up to walk just a step behind me and right next to Kassandra. ¡°We found signs that indicate three more facilities in the country, as well as indications that there might be more outside the Coldeye Queendom. Kass and I are working to figure out where we could look to potentially find entrances.¡±

    ¡°While some of them are like this, just somewhere in an undeveloped region, there is one that is problematic. It appears to be at the bottom of a lake. Given the reaction of your¡­ ¡®friends¡¯ to what we found here, I have to wonder if that facility survived or not, as there are some legends about that lake, added with the fact it isn¡¯t recorded on the map as a lake,¡± Kassandra jumped in to add.

    ¡°Fair. Any close by that you think might be worth checking out? We also have the other tunnels for that tram leading off the facility,¡± I asked as we reached the bottom of the ramp.

    Gesturing for the girls to stop and wait, I eased the door open and scanned the ancient station that sat on the other side.

    It was much the same as it had been the last time we were there. A myriad of footprints marked the dust and dirt, all of them matching my girls in one way or another. The only trail that threw me for a moment was the long and wiggly one like someone had dragged something through the dust, until I reminded myself that, since Kassandra didn¡¯t have feet, she didn¡¯t leave normal footsteps.

    ¡°Looks good, ladies. Come on through,¡± I called and the girls poured out of the door to join me.

    The station honestly reminded me somewhat of a steampunk take on a subway station. There were benches, ancient stone and metallic planters full of dry earth, and various art decorations on the walls and stationed around the platform. Overhead, hanging light globes illuminated the space and allowed us to navigate easily enough, though the ceiling of the room soared away into the blackness above.

    Along one side of the platform, the ground abruptly dropped away. I knew that along there was a section that was instead covered in gravel and bore the long metallic rails that the trams would have ridden on in centuries past to transport the humans here. I didn¡¯t know exactly how far along the technological curve the humans of Cortha had gotten, as the machines seemed to run on the same mana-infused metal that all the spell-casting of the girls used.

    Beyond the edge of the platform was a dark tunnel that yawned open like a great mouth. I knew that a few dozen yards into the darkness, the ceiling had collapsed and buried this end of the tunnel, along with one of the trams that had transported people before. I¡¯d used my Manipulate Element ability to carve us out a tunnel to get through, and then sealed it with a stone plug. So a quick pass with my senses was enough to confirm that nothing had burrowed through the blockage.

    ¡°I still need to look at that door over there,¡± Kassandra grumbled, interrupting my introspection and directing my attention to one wall of the platform.

    A door sat against the wall, unassuming and unremarkable, save for the fact it was sealed tight and Kassandra had done what she could to remove the magical locks from it and been stymied during her last attempt.

    ¡°Looks like your guess was correct. Whatever is locking it has shifted again. Some kind of pattern that we would need to study to learn enough to open it up,¡± Jane sighed, squinting at the faintly glowing runes on the door, an effect left behind from their last attempt to get through it.

    ¡°Something we can hit up on the way out if we have time. Let¡¯s keep moving to get as much ground covered as possible.¡± I urged, leading the way across the platform and down into the gravel area.

    By this point, I was very familiar with the path to take around the rusty iron rails into the tunnel. The overhead lights didn¡¯t extend into the tunnel, but as soon as we got to an area where it began to dim, Shayla pulled her spell rod from her belt and made a few gestures.

    A moment later, the tip of her spell rod glowed with a steady white light, like an unshielded flashlight. As soon as she¡¯d started, I had immediately turned away to avoid being blinded, as she¡¯d shown us before.

    Shayla was a light mage. Meaning that all of her spells operated in relation to light in one fashion or another. It was considered a primal school of magic, much like the little bit of entropy magic I was able to use, and rather powerful when used properly.

    The trip through the low tunnel was easy enough, and I used Manipulate Element to widen our tunnel out to make passage easier.

    ¡°Well then, into the darkness we go,¡± I muttered once I was sure that the girls had gotten clear, and I had sealed up the tunnel once more to ensure that we had our route back properly protected.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Liam. I¡¯ll protect you,¡± Shayla teased, the moth woman leaning over to plant a kiss on my cheek while she brandished her spell rod overhead. I grinned at her, hooking the large woman with an arm around the waist to pull her into a light hug, being treated to a few bonks on the head by her fluffy antennae, before releasing her once more to turn and lead our group into the darkness.

 Chapter 111

    Our first time passing through this darkened tunnel was intimidating. Despite the fact that it had a very limited route of possible attacks from threats, and really only extended out of sight ahead or behind us, it still was eerie.

    The unsettling sensation might have been due to the ruins of the station and the train, as well as the deadly threat¡¯s we¡¯d dealt with on our way down here. Or it might have just been as basic as a fear of the dark.

    Having Shayla along with us handily banished that darkness and the creeping fear that accompanied it. And that wasn¡¯t just because of how comforting it felt to have the beautiful moth woman pressed into my side.

    The light that Shayla¡¯s spell rod cast handily built out the temporary light stones that Kassandra had created with a few runes the last time we¡¯d come here. While the light stones served the purpose and shed enough light to see by, they were only about the size of a lemon on average and would only cast good light out about twenty to thirty feet in either direction.

    Shayla quadrupled that.

    The glowing orb on the tip of her spell rod glared with all the ferocity of a burning magnesium flame and it washed some colors out of the environment with how bright it was. The only places that there were shadows for something to hide in were spaces that had something solid to block the light, like the narrow strips behind the support pillars that held up the roof overhead.

    Before we made it more than ten feet, I made sure to put one of my lesser-used powers into play, just because it made no sense to ignore it.

    Ward Companion (Minor) was exactly as the name suggested, a minor ward that would alert me if something threatened the target. I had high hopes that it would eventually develop into some kind of defensive measure, but before that I needed to train it and see if it would unlock a higher order tier at a later date.

    Since they¡¯d been down this route before and actually encountered the scuttling horrors that existed in the permanent darkness of the tunnel, Rieka and Kassandra kept close to me while I walked with Shayla. The glow of the light spell made the moth woman a target, so I wanted to ensure I was ready to defend her at all times. Jane was the only one who I had to keep reminding to stay close, as the excitable mouse woman wanted to roam around and inspect everything that she could lay her little hands on.

    ¡°I am astonished that these metal rails lasted this long. Even in a closed environment like this one, you would expect iron to be far more corroded, but if you disregarded the cave in, you could potentially ride whatever contraption had taken to them originally,¡± Jane chirped happily, bouncing along slightly ahead of us before bending over to inspect the metal rails again.

    The mouse kin¡¯s tail twitched inquisitively, dancing behind her like a rather fuzzy snake that was trying to catch a bird.

    ¡°Don¡¯t get too far off, Jane,¡± Rieka warned her for me. My princess kept pace to our right at the center of the tunnel with her spell rod held ready, covering Shayla¡¯s other side. ¡°I know Shayla destroyed a lot of the shadow monsters before, but we have no idea how they breed or if there are more down here.¡±

    ¡°We should try and exterminate them. If we are going to turn over this site to the queen for her study once we give it a last check for Liam, then we should try our best to ensure it¡¯s safe. It would be horrible if a scholar was hurt while down here if the guards weren¡¯t very attentive,¡± Jane said, standing upright once more, holding a small iron bar as long as her hand up to look at it.

    I recognized the object in her hand as a rail-road spike, or something similar enough to fulfill the same duty here. It was triangular in shape rather than square, and the top third was pitted with rust but the bottom section was entirely clear of the corrosion, though it looked very old.

    ¡°Yes, but we never know what we might encounter, so be vigilant,¡± Kassandra insisted firmly from my left where she slithered along. As one of the shortest present, she chose to hug the wall as it would impede her the least of our group.

    ¡°I am vigilant! Trust me, mouse kin are born of a prey species, so we are always aware of our surroundings for our own safety,¡± Jane said, waving off the concern with a smile, using the rail-road spike as a baton.

    I shared a silent look with Shayla, who nodded and we picked up our pace slightly to ensure we stayed plenty close to the energetic mouse woman as she bounced back and forth, inspecting everything curiously.

    We didn¡¯t encounter any of the shadow creatures until we¡¯d been walking for a good few hours.

    The fact that the track led so deep into the mountains, always sloping down slightly, made me wonder what had prompted the extreme level of security for this sort of thing. While it took us almost half a day to travel down the tunnel, the train would have likely made the trip in half an hour at most. And I was pondering the implications of that when Jane, who had been studying a section of wall that was scraped in an odd pattern, stiffened.

    The mouse-eared woman¡¯s sudden change in posture and mood was easily enough to catch my attention and I turned to check on her.

    Jane¡¯s tail, normally mobile with the fuzzy tuft on the tip, was sticking out behind her and the tuft was puffed out like a downy fluff of cotton.

    ¡°Jane?¡±

    ¡°Scraping,¡± she answered my question without hesitation, her voice in a low hiss. ¡°I can hear something scratching over the stone and coming towards us from further up the tunnel.¡± Jane pointed in the direction we were moving.

    Since we hadn¡¯t yet found the burrows built into the side wall of the tunnel, I figured I knew what it was that she was hearing. This was also close to the area that had the burrows set into the wall at the midpoint of the tunnel, the ones that I¡¯d sealed up as best as I could when we were here last.

    ¡°Be ready if something attacks us,¡± I warned. ¡°Hoping that Shayla¡¯s light will keep them at bay, but who knows how the minds of creatures made of shadow work?¡±

    There was a chorus of nods that circled our group, with Jane scampering back to take up a position at my rear. It had been her spot the entire time, but she¡¯d been too busy inquisitively studying the tunnel thus far to actually assume it.

    All four of my girls had their spell rods out now, and I gently unhooked my arm from Shayla¡¯s to be able to move easily. I¡¯d opted for a set of old jeans and a cheap t-shirt, since I didn¡¯t want to hesitate to shift if I needed to and just tear out of the thing.

    I had a change of clothes in my Dimensional Pocket ability, the only thing in that place besides the gold I¡¯d recovered from ¡®panning¡¯ to use in my jewelry crafting, and the abundant sweet bribes for my girls.

    It was barely five seconds after Jane got to her spot that the scraping and scratching noises grew loud enough for me to recognize them.

    ¡°That¡¯s them all right,¡± I grumbled, shaking my arms out and playing my mind over the different forms of Shape-Shifting that I could use in order to properly deal with them.

    While I had the major rank of the ability now and far more mass to work with, I didn¡¯t want to risk the girls with something that wasn¡¯t tried and true unless I absolutely had to.

    A low hissing noise echoed in the tunnel as we continued forward at a steady pace. A flicker of night-black chitin caught the light and smoked briefly before a storm of scampering noises raced in the darkness ahead of us. They clicked and clacked like a hundred crabs storming over top of each other.

    ¡°Shayla?¡± I asked.

    The lushly-figured moth woman nodded from her spot to my right and back. The gesture sent her antennae bobbing slightly and that cast a thin shadow over the ground in front of us as they swayed in front of her light source.

    A racing, skittering noise immediately broke out as the darkness boiled and a half-dozen scuttling monsters that looked like someone had taken a scaled-down version of the Xenomorph and crossbred it with a giant ant, raced out of the darkness along that thread of shadow, using it as shelter to try and get closer to us.

    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Before they made it ten feet, their carapaces began to smoke and dissolve. Shayla leaning back moved her antennae out of the way of the light and all six of the monsters immediately began flailing about. Two turned to reverse, the other four scrambled directly at us, probably in some vain attempt to destroy the light source hurting them.

    Before any made it more than five or six feet, Shayla gave a shooing gesture with her spell rod, and the glowing mote of light on the tip flicked forward to splash down and explode in a brilliant flare of light about a hundred yards down the tunnel.

    What the flaring mote of light revealed was an entire carpet of the scuttling monsters waiting just beyond the line of shadows. There had to be hundreds of the little monsters.

    The six that had tried to charge us evaporated into puffs of black smoke, degrading into raw shadow stuff in mere seconds under the close passage of the brilliant ball of light. Those that the light passed over and anything within about five feet of it did the same. When the spell hit the ground, it flared brightly and stuck there, destroying a ripple of more than a hundred of the little monsters and illuminating the width of the tunnel.

    A scrambling mass of scraping claws came as those trapped on our side of the light turned to charge us, but Shayla was already conjuring another of the light spells.

    ¡°Radiance,¡± I heard Shayla mumble quietly, only really hearing it due to her proximity to me.

    The light sphere popped into life again on the tip of her rod. And the wave of scuttling monsters that had been charging us faltered and then wilted under the storm of spells from my girls. I barely had to do anything to keep the dozens of night-black monsters from them.

    Shayla kept her light spell up, flicking her rod back and forth to flicker the light and lure some closer before directing it at them to stun or burn the monsters. Kassandra sent blasts of sharp ice shards into the creatures, shredding whole swathes of them and slowing those that she did not kill. Rieka had the other side of the group, bouncing small bolts of lightning between the scuttling monsters like she was tossing rubber balls at them. And Jane would direct cutting blasts of wind into the group to drive them back or rip legs off the scrambling monsters.

    Only three of the several dozen made it within range for me to strike, and I just shifted my right arm into a segmented and armored approximation of a scorpion¡¯s tail before using the sharp spike at the end to ruthlessly smash the monsters to pieces.

    Walking forward, Shayla flicked the light spell currently attached to her rod forward once more, driving back the scuttling horde and thinning them out further. Another flick allowed her to collect the burning orb of light that was her first spell as we passed it.

    ¡°This is going to be so much easier with Shayla,¡± Kassandra laughed, bouncing happily as she wound her way along next to me.

    ¡°Damn straight. Easy mode is something I can definitely embrace considering how tense the last time was that we were in here,¡± I replied, shifting my right arm back to normal and slinging it around Shayla¡¯s waist to pull her against my hip.

    My beautiful moth girl just blushed as the others all heaped more compliments on her as well, but I could tell from the small smile and the way her antennae flicked out like little fists that she was proud despite her embarrassment.

    <><><>

    While I wasn¡¯t sure if we eliminated the scuttling shadow monsters entirely, we only had to repeat the light-leapfrog maneuver three more times before we didn¡¯t catch any of them. Jane said she could still hear scratching, but it was distant and moving away from us.

    When we got to the area with the burrows in the wall, the much greater illumination of Shayla¡¯s spell showed me the burrows in the ceiling that I¡¯d missed when I initially sealed this area up.

    We paused there long enough for me to use my Manipulate Element ability to seal those others as well, with Shayla leaving one of her two light spells in that area to act as a further marker and to deal with any of the monsters that came through when we were gone.

    After sealing those burrows up, we remained unmolested for the rest of the trip down the tunnel.

    All of us were dragging pretty heavily when we made it to the massive iron door sealing the entrance to the station on the far side of the tunnel. Like before, I made use of Manipulate Element to shift stone out of the way. Since I¡¯d done it before and left most of that tunnel open behind me, I didn¡¯t need to tap into some of the earth mana crystals that the girls still had on hand.

    The station on this end of the tunnel was more elaborate, and also in worse condition, than the one we¡¯d originated at.

    While the first station we¡¯d started at was worn with time and marked with age, this one showed signs of the combat that had shut down the entire complex. With the additional context of the sack-like monster we¡¯d found deep within the complex, I now had an idea of what had caused some of the damage as well as the deep gouges in the floor and walls.

    While Jane and Shayla peered about curiously, Rieka, Kassandra, and I hurried our tired group up onto the platform and to one side into what I guessed had been a lounge or restaurant at some time. We¡¯d previously prepared the area to serve as an impromptu camp by clearing away the debris of the wrecked furniture and the like. It was a decent little bolt hole, as it only had the one door leading into it and a few small vents for moving air through the complex, and the door could be barricaded shut.

    While Jane was immediately drawn to the small vents, the rest of us set out bedding and discussed who¡¯d be on watch first. Even with us barricaded in a room like this, I insisted that one of us at least be awake to warn the others if something weird happened.

    Since Jane was so curious about the vents and how the complex was able to maintain enough breathable air this far below the mountain, she volunteered to be our first member on watch rotation.

    Rather than bother to set up the tent, the girls all just laid out their bedding in one large pile while I shifted some of the old benches into position to block the door closed and wedged them with my earth magic.

    While I could have just sealed the doors by merging the metal, I was still running short on the mana necessary since I¡¯d burrowed through the rock around the large door on the tracks earlier.

    Shayla asked me to shape a small hollow in the wall by the door, so I created a little cup-like depression and she deposited her light spell in the hollow. The rock lip shaded it enough that none of us would be blinded by looking that way directly, but it still provided fairly bright light to the rest of the room for now.

    ¡°The spell will run for another several hours,¡± Shayla explained. ¡°Whoever is on watch when it goes out, just wake me and I¡¯ll put another one up.¡±

    ¡°They aren¡¯t too expensive, are they?¡± Rieka asked from her spot smoothing out the bedrolls.

    I glanced over to check on my wolf princess and did a double take. She was currently kneeling in the middle of what looked like a large bed made of everyone¡¯s bedrolls with her back to me. Rieka¡¯s fluffy platinum blonde tail was erect and dancing back and forth slowly, the black marks on the tip of her tail accenting it perfectly. But what was more mesmerizing than her tail was the fact her riding pants were clinging tightly to her firm butt as said butt danced back and forth slowly in counterpoint to her tail.

    ¡°No, not really. I¡¯m happy to contribute my share to this venture. I can make up whatever it costs rather easily with what I¡¯ve seen here already,¡± Shayla was quick to answer, but the moth woman immediately had to muffle a yawn as soon as she was done talking. ¡°Oh my, I apologize. I¡¯m just dead on my feet now.¡±

    ¡°Bed time then,¡± I said with a grin, and when Shayla gave a sleepy nod and turned to head towards the pile of bedding, I struck.

    Shayla let out a rather undignified shriek of surprise when I scooped her up off the ground and into a princess carry. Her wings beat furiously behind her for a moment before she stilled when she realized what I was doing, and instead pouted up at me while her antennae bopped me on the cheek lightly.

    ¡°Don¡¯t surprise me like that, Liam,¡± Shayla grumbled while the other girls giggled at her.

    ¡°Apologies,¡± I said with a small smile for her. ¡°I just thought you¡¯d appreciate getting off your feet a little sooner was all.¡±

    Shayla¡¯s grumbling and her frown faded after a moment and she just pouted before turning to rub her face into my chest with a sigh, her arms folded over her tummy and shelving her generous breasts while she let me carry her.

    I settled Shayla onto her bedroll carefully, and she pulled me into a quick kiss before letting me go again. I¡¯d intended to get up and help finish setting things up, but Kassandra was quick to catch me with her muscled serpentine tail and pull me into the bed.

    Normally, my dwarf lamia wouldn¡¯t have had the strength to do so, but I hadn¡¯t been expecting it. So when she acted, I was caught by surprise and then she had me falling onto my side between her and Shayla.

    ¡°Nope. You are just as tired as we are, Liam. Sleep time for you too,¡± Kassandra giggled, winding her tail around and between my legs.

    ¡°If you insist, Kass,¡± I laughed quietly, leaning over to nuzzle the top of her head as she wrapped herself around my right arm and wedged said limb between her breasts.

    ¡°Oh I do indeed. Help me pin him down, Shayla. Otherwise he¡¯s going to try and wiggle free to go do something productive,¡± Kassandra demanded, and Shayla shifted to do just that, blushing furiously as she snuggled into my side and used my left arm as a pillow.

    ¡°Little help here?¡± I asked Rieka, who was still kneeling at the foot of the pile of bedding, but had straightened to smirk down at us.

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m happy to help,¡± Rieka said with a devious grin and grabbed one of the blankets at the bottom of the pile by our feet.

    Before I could specify how I wanted her to help, Rieka wriggled over to drape herself across my chest, tugging the blanket over top of herself and the others and effectively sandwiching me in soft flesh on all sides possible.

    ¡°You four look adorable and ridiculous,¡± Jane giggled from her spot by the wall. ¡°Are you sure that you just want to sleep already and not eat something?¡±

    ¡°I have a snack in mind, but I¡¯ll wait a bit to enjoy it,¡± Kassandra murmured deviously, and I felt her wiggle one hand between me and Rieka to cup my crotch through my clothes, making me jump and getting a giggle out of the other two pressed into me.

 Chapter 112

    While sleeping on the hard stone floor with only a few blankets as padding had made for a rough night, the sheer adorableness that greeted me when I woke up was worth it.

    I¡¯d taken the opportunity of the changing watches the previous night to wiggle free of my trap, taking the middle shift after Rieka to take over for her and Rieka¡¯s approach had woken me.

    The two of us had silently agreed to let Shayla sleep the whole night through without waking her, as the moth woman had put quite a bit of work into her spells the previous day in maintaining that light spell as long as she did. Add that to the fact that she didn¡¯t stir even once when we shifted, just kept sleeping with a cute little wheezy snore, and we could tell she was tired.

    After I finished my shift, having spent it using my earth magic to build out a rough map in the floor of what I remembered from our last trip and smoothing it out to practice, I woke Kassandra for the last shift.

    My loving little mischief macaroni had initially resisted my attempts to wake her, but a couple of kisses was enough to pull her out of sleep and into my arms.

    Kassandra insisted on making good on retrieving her ¡®snack¡¯ just out of sight of the sleeping pile of women by the door. And I¡¯d never tell my girls no to something as simple as a bit of affection.

    Once I¡¯d returned the favor to her, I curled back up in the pile with Shayla tucked into my chest and Rieka tucked into hers. No sooner had I laid down than the moth girl wiggled about and pressed herself into my chest, her folded wings snuggling between us even as her soft bottom rubbed into my crotch.

    Shayla calmed when I kissed the back of her neck lightly and pulled her into me. A moment later, Rieka wiggled into place on Shayla¡¯s other side, still mostly asleep and chasing the warmth of the other woman.

    Jane was once again at the head of the impromptu ¡®bed¡¯ and curled up in a little ball to sleep. She didn¡¯t move at all as we got comfortable and fell asleep.

    Waking up was when I discovered the adorableness I had previously mentioned.

    The girls in my arms hadn¡¯t stirred at all, and though I was stiff from laying on my side on the hard stone, I let myself wake up slowly and acclimate to the world without moving, savoring the feeling of Shayla¡¯s soft curves pressed to my chest, and the feeling of Rieka¡¯s hips in my hands where I held her against Shayla on the other side.

    From the slow breathing of the women, I could tell that I was the first one awake. A quiet scratch of something sounded and I carefully angled my head to look at where the noise was coming from.

    Kassandra was curled up at the foot of the bed, her tail lay half-stuffed under the blankets to keep her warm while she made another mark in her notebook with a charcoal pencil. There was a smudge of the drawing medium on her cheek under her right eye, and another smear on top of her nose, darkening the freckles that danced over her fair skin.

    I shifted slightly, about to call out to Kassandra quietly at the beautiful sight when I felt something slide in my hair. A quiet, sleepy mumble sounded in my ear and then something fluffy landed on my face.

    Huffing, I blew at the object to make it move. The fluffy object flicked away a moment later, and I realized what it was.

    Jane¡¯s tail.

    While I was trying to figure out how the mouse kin¡¯s tail ended up on my head, I felt something shift in my hair again. That sleepy mumble came once more before a grip tightened on my head and I glanced upwards to see the underside of Jane¡¯s jaw as she shifted again and pulled my head tighter to her chest.

    ¡°She looks adorable doing that.¡±

    Kassandra¡¯s soft words drew my attention back to my dwarf lamia, and she was watching me with a loving smile. When I quirked my eyebrow at her questioningly, Kassandra elaborated.

    ¡°Jane is hugging your head from behind like a teddy bear. When you laid back down, she slowly wiggled down to cuddle your head in her sleep. I think she was cold and followed your warmth.¡±

    ¡°Ah,¡± I murmured and blinked tiredly. I knew I could probably get back to sleep if I really wanted to, but that also felt like a mistake at this point. I¡¯d gotten enough sleep that I could get back to work, and from how stiff I was, I¡¯d definitely slept long enough that it was time to wake the others.

    ¡°Time?¡± I asked quietly and Kassandra nodded, her smile growing a bit wider.

    ¡°Time to get up. It¡¯s been a few hours since you laid down.¡±

    ¡°Got it, gonna have to wake the girls up somehow,¡± I replied, my voice scratchy from sleep.

    ¡°Dontwannagetupyet,¡± slurred Jane from above me. Her statement was followed by a sleepy giggle from the moth woman in my arms who¡ªrealizing she was caught out as awake¡ªground her butt into my crotch.

    ¡°I think they are already awake, Liam,¡± Kassandra teased while wiggling her eyebrows. ¡°You gonna give them breakfast like you did¡ª¡±

    ¡°And time to get up, yes,¡± I interrupted Kassandra, making the redheaded troublemaker giggle again.

    <><><>

    ¡°These carvings are fascinating!¡± Jane cooed as we inspected the entryway to the deeper complex.

    Shayla had created another of her light spells and, at my suggestion, attached it to my left hand, which I¡¯d transformed into one of my scorpion-tail morphs with Shape-Shifting. This allowed her to dig out her sketchbook and the moth woman was busily scribbling away, drafting down everything that she could see in a series of sketches while her antennae bobbled excitedly.

    ¡°Yeah, I wanted to look at them closer before, but with the golems attacking us, it just didn¡¯t seem like a good idea to get distracted back then,¡± Kassandra replied, slithering up to sit next to the mouse kin woman while the two studied the intricate carvings on the wall and railing.

    The main room that came after the station was at the end of a hallway. It opened up into a two-floor space with halls leading off to either side. The second floor was set up as a balcony overlooking the first, and the back half of the second had collapsed on top of the first, blocking another tunnel that we hadn¡¯t explored the last time we were here.

    Gray stone and metallic accents made up most of the remaining structure down here. Even with it being preserved from the passage of time, paints had decayed and flaked off the walls, falling into pastel piles before fading into smears and dust. The strange overhead lights still worked, responding to verbal cues from me but not the girls. Which made me wonder if they were somehow linked to humans to activate them.

    Which makes me wonder why I, a human from an entirely different world and evolutionary path, is able to trigger whatever overrides are in place if that is true, I thought silently while covering the girls while they studied the large anteroom.

    Then there is that ¡®Traveler Override¡¯ that the golems guarding the high value room mentioned before too. I had forgotten about that until we got in here. Way too many questions and not enough answers.

    I couldn¡¯t really fault myself for forgetting, considering the fighting for our lives and the amazing discoveries that we¡¯d made while in here, as well as the fact we¡¯d run into something inimical to life as we knew it.

    Even though I was certain that Cariad and Cerebaton¡¯s teams had found and removed any others like that creature when the DSR had swept the facility, I still didn¡¯t want to take chances.

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ve got all that I can with sketches,¡± Shayla said, her antennae fluttering and flicking happily as she carefully flipped to a fresh page in the leather bound folio that held her sketch work. ¡°I¡¯d say we should take these statues with us if we could, but there¡¯s no way to safely transport something that heavy.¡± Shayla gestured to the handful of intact decorative statues of humans along the walls.

    ¡°We need to leave something of value for the queen and her people to study,¡± I reminded her, getting a playful pout from Shayla before the moth woman got a thoughtful look.

    ¡°Liam, your earth magic is pretty well controlled at this point. Do you think you could use it to replicate these statues?¡±

    ¡°Probably,¡± I replied with a shrug. ¡°I¡¯ve done some statue work back home to sell. It¡¯s mostly very simple stuff though. I¡¯m going to need a lot of practice before I¡¯m anywhere near the level of someone who would really consider themselves accomplished.¡±

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    ¡°Oh really?¡± Kassandra, clearly smelling an opportunity to tease, slithered around to grin up at me, mischief dancing in her slitted brown eyes behind those glimmering spectacles of hers. ¡°Have you done a statue of one of us yet? I¡¯d be happy to pose for you, my Liam.¡±

    The dwarf lamia swayed her hips slowly, rocking back and forth alluringly on her serpentine lower half while tangling one hand in her mass of bombshell curls and propping the other on her hip. A twist and a thrust of her torso sent a delicate ripple through her bounteous flesh where it sat proudly on her chest above the support of her underbust corset.

    ¡°Hold that pose, Kass,¡± Shayla ordered sharply, her black eyes going wide in interest as the charcoal in her hand began to fly over the page in front of her.

    Kassandra choked at first, her eyes bugging in surprise at the assertive demand from the normally shy moth woman, but she composed herself and held her position while Shayla worked.

    My artistic moth was quick, and had a rough sketch in place on her page of Kassandra against the background of the ruins in minutes. I did note that Shayla didn¡¯t bother to block in clothing for Kassandra, simply curving in her bust and hips, then turning her attention to the sultry facial expression and more. I had my suspicions about her plans for that image, given Kassandra¡¯s normally teasing and sexy nature.

    ¡°I think I¡¯ll want a copy of that one if you do a full-sized piece, Shayla,¡± I said after leaning in to murmur in her ear. ¡°I think I¡¯d like a portrait of each of my girls, whether a normal one or an¡­ artistic interpretation of them.¡±

    Shayla¡¯s sudden blush confirmed my suspicions and I kissed her on the cheek before leaning away to give her space.

    ¡°I¡­ I mean¡­ If you¡­¡± Shayla stuttered before composing herself. ¡°I¡¯d be happy to, Liam. I just have to work them in between my commissions to cover my tuition and supplies.¡±

    ¡°Oh I fully plan to pay for them, so slot me in whenever,¡± I said with a grin at Shayla. ¡°I¡¯m sure I can shake loose some of the coin that Kassandra is investing for me.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to shake anything loose from me,¡± Kassandra protested petulantly, crossing her arms over her chest now that Shayla gave her the okay to move.

    ¡°No, you happily shake whatever he wants whenever he wants it, don¡¯t you?¡± Rieka teased her friend. ¡°Now come on, let''s go and inspect the supply area to see if there is anything else the rest of us want. This whole trip is to confirm this area is safe for Liam¡¯s contacts and then we can turn it over to Mother. She¡¯ll then likely send scholars to study it, so we won¡¯t get access again.¡±

    ¡°What about those other tunnels that led off from the station?¡± Jane asked, bouncing over to join us as we made our way past the ruined stone golems that we¡¯d fought the last time we were here. There wasn¡¯t even a sign of the undead we¡¯d had to destroy, only the fragments of the combat statues.

    ¡°No idea, but they could lead anywhere. While I want to explore them too, we don¡¯t know where they go or how far they extend. They might be blocked by ancient cave-ins too, so I¡¯m of the opinion we leave that to Mother and her historians,¡± Rieka said with a shrug. ¡°Also, we have that copper map, so we can go and check out the areas on it too. No telling if those complexes are connected to this one by the rails or not.¡±

    ¡°Fair point. Now, if you see a pair of stout-looking statues of men in armor with weapons, don¡¯t approach them,¡± I said the last part to Shayla and Jane. ¡°There was a high-value vault in here that still had guardian golems. While we could destroy them, I¡¯d rather mark them out so that Queen Coldeye can have functional ones studied and so no one stumbles onto them.¡±

    The two girls nodded in understanding and we headed out.

    I led the group with my stinger-arm and it¡¯s attached light spell over my head. The route to the storage rooms was just an offshoot along the hallway, and it opened up into a long, high-ceilinged room with stacks of ancient supplies piled on either side of the central walkway.

    Jane let out a surprised whistle at the sight that echoed along the hall, bouncing back and forth from the stone walls before hitting the end and rebounding back towards us.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± Jane said with a wince, ducking her head when the four of us turned to stare at her in surprise. The mouse kin woman grabbed her tail and was rolling the fluffy tip between her hands nervously.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. Just¡­ be more careful in the future. We don¡¯t know what might be living down here or may have been missed by our last pass, okay? No reason to let them know that we are here, right?¡± I teased her gently, patting Jane on the head lightly.

    She twitched in surprise at the action and I fought the urge to jerk my hand back and apologize. I knew doing that would just make the moment even more awkward, so I held back.

    Shit, you got too used to rewarding and reassuring Rieka that way, I chastised myself before Jane shifted again and rubbed her head up into my hand once more with a small smile.

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll keep it in mind,¡± Jane said quietly once I reclaimed my hand after reassuring her.

    I filed away her affection for headpats again in my mind before leading the girls down the hall to inspect the various crates of ancient supplies.

    Shayla was able to find and put a name to several useful things, most of them various kinds of metallic or specialized inks. The bottles were glass and sealed tight with either wax or lead, but apparently she¡¯d caught sight of the telltale glimmer of something at the bottom. A quick shake stirred up the separated pigments and revealed what they were. She took as many of them as she could, storing them inside the dimensional pouch that Rieka had to ensure the glass wouldn¡¯t be damaged.

    Jane didn¡¯t find anything that caught her attention, though she repeated several times how astonishing it was that there was so much down here and that it was in such good condition.

    ¡°There has to be some kind of preservative effect here. These bars should be badly corroded or at least should be discolored more,¡± the mouse woman said in wonder, inspecting a bar of copper that was around the size of her hand and weighed about five pounds.

    I loaded a dozen of those into the girl¡¯s pouch as well, and when asked I explained that I wanted to use them for sculpting. That got some odd looks from Rieka, but she didn¡¯t complain and even offered to look after them for me when I promised to trade them for more sugar cookies. Which of course set off a round of complaints from the other girls who hadn¡¯t had the chance to sneak in on the deal either.

    Thankfully, I had bribes in the form of chocolate croissants stashed away to mollify my girls.

    We made a quick check through the disused barracks that sat opposite of the storage room on that main anteroom, but discovered nothing new in the space. Though it was far more disorganized than when we¡¯d come through the first time, showing evidence of the DSR personnel having searched it.

    Kassandra and Rieka were hesitant to check the upper room again as well, and I couldn¡¯t fault them. It was where we¡¯d found both the summoning circles for different elemental types as well as cages and what looked disturbingly like dissection tables to me.

    Seeing those tables again, especially in the brighter light of Shayla¡¯s spell, brought home more of just how dark this entire environment was. Jane¡ªwho had been happily jabbering along about how she was excited to see what sort of mysteries that the ancient humans had been studying¡ªwas probably the most disturbed by the sight.

    The little mouse kin woman ended up sliding in between Rieka and I without looking up at either of us, and remained there as we cased the rest of the area. Shayla had hold of my shirt and didn¡¯t let go either, clinging close on the side that I had the light attached to my shifted arm.

    Our brief survey of the surgery and the summoning rooms showed that there were a lot more things missing here. Everything from odd tools that had been on racks that looked like operating equipment, to the diagrams that had been cut into the floor in some of the rooms.

    Anything that referenced the entropic creatures, summoning, or controlling them had been meticulously wiped clean and evidence of its existence had been removed too.

    Even the room where we¡¯d fought the sack-like entropy monster had the floor scraped clean and then leveled to hide the shapes present. Rather than mending the floor, someone had come along and simply melted the stone down another inch or two in there, removing many of the shallower scratches in the process and completely eliminating the summoning pattern.

    ¡°That¡­ was really creepy, maybe even worse the second time,¡± Kassandra mumbled as we emerged back into the large anteroom.

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe it. How could that be worse the second time through?¡± Jane shot back, doubt thick in her voice.

    ¡°Before, with the dimmer lights it was easier to just ignore stuff. But those stains on that surgery table¡­¡± A full body shiver ran through Kassandra and I shifted to bring my right hand around and cup her cheek lightly.

    Kassandra gave me a haunted smile and nuzzled into the hand anyway.

    ¡°Yeah¡­ I don¡¯t want to think about how much¡­ use that table saw to still have stains on it after all these years,¡± Rieka said and shivered lightly. She firmed up when Jane leaned into her comfortingly and the mouse kin woman¡¯s tail wound around Rieka¡¯s hips comfortingly.

    ¡°Well, that was hopefully the worst of it. Nothing really changed and we didn¡¯t see anything that might have been missed so far. Just have to clear this out now,¡± I said with a sigh, gesturing towards the collapsed mezzanine that blocked the lower floor.

    ¡°Well, hop to it, Liam,¡± Kassandra prodded weakly, her words lacking the normal pep that she had when she was harassing me, but it was clear she was trying to bounce back so I took it with a smile.

    ¡°While you work on that, do you mind if I do some more sketches?¡± Shayla asked shyly. The moth woman¡¯s sketchbook had been tucked away once we got into the surgery, and I wondered if she was wanting to record what she¡¯d just seen, now that she wasn¡¯t surrounded by the gruesome sights.

    ¡°Sure, just make sure none of you are alone or out of sight of the others. While we did check the place to make sure there aren¡¯t any other threats, it¡¯s possible we missed something,¡± I insisted and got a nod from Shayla, who promptly hooked Kassandra and dragged the surprised dwarf lamia off.

    There were some furtive whispers between the two and then Kassandra got a wicked smile on her face. A wicked smile that honestly made me worry when she began shooting me devious looks as Shayla continued to murmur. It made her look more like she usually did, but also was concerning.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I like that look,¡± I said quietly, which got a snicker from Rieka and a ¡®huh?¡¯ from Jane, who remained close to me.

    ¡°Trust me, if Kass wasn¡¯t up to something¡ªespecially something salacious or mischievous regarding you Liam¡ªthen I¡¯d be really worried,¡± Rieka laughed before pressing herself to my side. ¡°Now, why don¡¯t you show us how powerful our Traveler is by unburying this long-hidden section of an ancient, forgotten human ruins so we can pillage it properly before telling my mother, the queen, about it so she can have this place studied?¡±

    I stared at Rieka in awe for several long seconds as she continued to grin up at me, her ears flicking in amusement while her fluffy tail swished behind her.

    ¡°Damn¡­ she¡¯s good,¡± Jane muttered behind me, and the mouse kin¡¯s words broke me out of my distraction.

    ¡°My life is so weird,¡± I muttered, turning to the collapsed masonry.

    ¡°But you love it,¡± Rieka countered in a sunny tone.

    ¡°But I love you, and all my girls,¡± I said, returning my attention to the wolf-eared princess hanging off my arm and kissing her on the tip of the nose.

    Her tail whipping faster was her only answer.

 Chapter 113

    Some people might laugh at me for being so willing to cave to hard labor after a bit of ego stroking from a beautiful woman.

    Some folks are idiots.

    I¡¯d challenge any guy I know to not immediately start working when someone as beautiful and earnest as Rieka whispers encouragement into your ear in that loving tone while giving you the most endearing set of puppy-dog eyes that have ever been known to exist.

    My girls did help where they could, they didn¡¯t just stand around and look pretty. Not that I expected any of them to try and pull that either.

    Jane helped with some of her wind magic, using it to keep the dust and grit down when I shifted stones and sent sand or other particulates into the air. Shayla kept a bright light on me so I was always able to see well while I worked. Rieka and Kassandra took turns helping me actually lift or move smaller items they could manage, while also ensuring that I didn¡¯t end up dehydrated by what amounted to heavy labor.

    It was honestly not that difficult to move the ancient, collapsed stone.

    Between having eighty points in strength and more than that in endurance, it was simple enough to wrestle most of the larger blocks of stone around and shift them out of the way.

    Anything too big for me to move as it sat, I would sink my earth magic into and find the tiny fissures that had formed over time. Then, when I had my targets located, I¡¯d agitate the stone and either press on the fractures without softening it, or simply force fine grains of dust into the cracks to cause them to split on natural fault lines.

    Since the application of the Manipulate Earth ability was so simple, it didn¡¯t really cost me a whole lot of mana to do so. And we were so deep beneath the earth that the air was thick with the mana. This meant that my natural reservoir was filling relatively quickly to ensure I never ran out.

    After about an hour of lifting, moving, shifting, and struggling, I¡¯d cleared enough of the collapsed upper level to reveal the top four feet of the doorway that lead deeper into the lower levels of the complex. I spent another twenty minutes or so making sure the rubble wouldn¡¯t shift and wedging everything into place properly before we headed deeper.

    Our formation was a loose group with me at the front, my left arm shifted into a thick carapace-covered claw like a fiddler crab and my right arm I shifted into the coiling length of a scorpion¡¯s striking tail without the poison. Behind me, the girls moved in a pack with Shayla in the middle, Jane on her right, Rieka on her left, and then Kassandra on the far left.

    All four of my girls were quiet and focused now that we were delving into the darkness of undiscovered tunnels once more. They¡¯d rotated through resting and helping earlier, but now they were all on point and watchful as we strode deeper into the shadows. Spell rods and weapons held ready depending on the person.

    Shayla¡¯s bright light hovered above her, set right between the moth woman¡¯s fluffy antennae and positioned so she could use those downy appendages to create shadows if needed so as not to blind one of us, but also so she could direct the ball of light into an attack with a single gesture.

    Because the source of light was behind me, it cast a long shadow directly ahead of me, which I kept a close watch on in case something that disdained the light might try and use the shadow as a means to get close. But it was hard, considering what we found decorating the walls here.

    While above in the main complex, there was lots of damage and signs of the battle that had claimed the lives of many if not all of the people working here, down in this section the walls were intact and showed no signs of the major scars, welts, burns, or melted spots that the upper halls had.

    ¡°Did the collapse prevent that monster from getting down here?¡± Kassandra asked in a whisper, her voice echoing down the length of the tunnel loudly enough that she winced.

    ¡°Probably,¡± I responded, not wanting her to beat herself up about breaking the odd silence that still hung in the air. It wasn¡¯t as stifling as the sensation of pressure in the complex had once been, but there was still a sense of ancient patience in the air right now.

    ¡°I wonder if there were any people trapped down here.¡± This time it was Jane who spoke, the mouse kin woman¡¯s voice was thin and quavering, and I heard someone shuffle behind me.

    I could easily imagine that the sound was Shayla laying a reassuring hand on Jane¡¯s shoulder. The gentle moth woman was very empathetic and it was easy to see she¡¯d have been the one to reach out to reassure Jane.

    ¡°Be sharp then. Don¡¯t trust any corpses if you see a body. Remember we found undead last time we were here, and those dissolved into dust when we destroyed the animating force. So if it¡¯s left a body, it¡¯s probably got enough magic to animate,¡± Rieka reminded firmly, and we all made noises of assent.

    Since they were free of damage and had plenty of light, it was easy to see how elaborately decorated the walls along this corridor were. Carved out of the same gray stone as the rest of the complex, the molding of the walls were all clearly shaped to form knotted vines or elaborate patterns, and also divided the walls every ten feet or so. They¡¯d go from completely smooth, to elaborate patterns done in ancient tiles in varying shades of white and gray to form abstract pictures.

    The tunnel we were in was about sixty or so feet long, and I estimated we were getting close to being directly below the area where the surgery theater was on the upper floor when doors finally began opening off either side of the tunnel. Like the outer doors, these were simple, metallic ones with a crude pull-handle set into one side. A tarnished brass plaque was set at roughly eye level on each of them.

    Pausing at the first set of doors, one on either side of me, I counted them off down the tunnel. There were a total of eight doors here, while I could see a ninth further down on the left and then the tunnel turned to the right past it.

    ¡°Do you want to scout the whole hall out first, or check the doors out?¡± I asked, shifting to glance over my shoulder.

    Shayla shrugged, her attention fixed on the nearest tile fresco while her antennae bobbed questioningly towards it, looking as if they wanted to trace over the tiles in an attempt to memorize the pattern there. Jane glanced towards Rieka, clearly deferring to my wolf-eared princess.

    ¡°Let''s check these two first. I¡¯d rather not leave questions or potential threats behind us,¡± Rieka said after a moment of thought. ¡°Liam, check the left door first. I¡¯ll cover the right-hand one in case something comes out. Kass, you and Jane cover the front while Shayla goes in with Liam to scout the room out. Shayla, can you leave another of your lights out here?¡±

    Rather than answering, the shy moth girl made a gesture with her spell rod and the ball of light zipped from between her antennae to fasten on the ceiling in the middle of the section of doors.

    I heard her mumbling her spell chant to summon another one, so I dug into my own Manipulate Element ability and used my earth magic to banish the tarnish and stains from the plaque in front of me.

    ¡°Lab 1,¡± I muttered, studying the odd runes that were revealed beneath the hundreds of years of tarnish and buildup.

    ¡°Probably means these are all labs. But we need to make sure nothing is hiding in them,¡± Rieka reiterated and I nodded before pulling the door open. The brilliant flare of light from behind me was enough indication that Shayla had her new spell in place, so I ducked into the room, holding the door open with my shell-covered left hand as I stepped through, allowing Shayla to edge in behind me.

    The lab was carefully and neatly organized, and reminded me somewhat of the old chemistry lab that I had used when I was in highschool. There were waist-high benches of stone that looked to have been carved out of the stone of the floor, with metal-fronted cabinets set into the underside of them. Glassware sat on top of the tables, stained with time and age as well as the dregs of whatever concoctions had existed within them.

    Some of the pieces of glassware still had liquid in them, others had crystallized concentrates, and others just had faint stains. It was clear that whatever had been in these before had long since decayed, dried, or expired.

    Straight out from the door was a clear path with a table on each side, and another path on the other side of them. Each table was easily ten feet long and maybe eight feet across, and they marched in sets of two into the depths of the room for a good eighty feet before stopping at a smooth stone wall. There was about three feet between each table to slip past, so I guessed there were about six or seven sets of tables.

    I wonder if these were carved or shaped? I thought curiously as I paused to inspect a table, peering closely at its dusty but smooth surface. If it had been carved, it had been done with some extreme skill. My own experiments with shaping stone and making the statues had taught me quite a bit about the work needed to ensure such things were well done.

    ¡°Liam?¡± Shayla asked and I glanced back to find that my winged lover was still standing by the doorway, peering into the room with her light muffled behind her antennae to soften its glare. This had the effect of giving her a look like a fuzzy halo hovered over her head and I smiled.

    ¡°What¡¯s up, Shayla?¡±

    ¡°You were just really quiet there, worried me for a moment,¡± she said, giving me a shy smile while her wings fluttered behind her. ¡°This whole place is making my nerves dance, so I¡¯m a little anxious. Sorry.¡±

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    ¡°Nothing to be sorry about. Better to be wary after all,¡± I reassured her before gesturing for Shayla to follow me.

    We quickly scanned the room, checking under and behind each set of tables as we went. It wasn¡¯t until we got to almost the end of the room that I felt a sudden surge of energy shoot through me. Out in the hallway, I heard Rieka give a yell of surprise followed by a sharp zot of electricity that I knew heralded a spell.

    I didn¡¯t hesitate, and I didn¡¯t leave Shayla behind. Turning about, I bodily scooped the moth woman into my arms, pulling her lush figure tight to me as I raced down the clear center of the lab back towards the door with long strides.

    If it wasn¡¯t for my greatly improved strength balanced with my agility to not lose my footing, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to do the maneuver without tipping over. As it was, Shayla flailed a bit in surprise as she was suddenly airborne and then pulled to my side. Even after our lovemaking a week previous, Shayla still wasn¡¯t used to the sheer strength I had or my ability to bodily swing her about.

    Which, to be fair, I couldn¡¯t really fault her on. Given that she was only a bit shorter than me, I know it would have freaked me out too, having someone my size or smaller just pick me up so easily.

    But I wasn¡¯t focused on that at the moment. The only thing I was focused on was my girls and making sure they were okay. The surge of power earlier was my Ward Companion ability going off, telling me that something was threatening Rieka, and before I could make it to the door, I felt another pair of surges come racing through me from Kassandra and Jane.

    I ripped the door open as quickly as possible, flowing the armored spike on the end of my right arm into a hand again long enough to snatch the latch and yank on it before reclaiming my weapon in time to strike out at the withered head of the creature I saw flailing halfway out of the door directly across from me.

    The armored spike punched through ancient bones with a crunch and the form collapsed, rapidly decaying into dust as it went.

    Rieka was about five feet further down the hallway from the door, having retreated back the way we came with her spell rod out. Kassandra and Jane were on the other side, trapped in the middle of the group as four of the six remaining doors were hanging open, or beginning to open as more undead pushed through them.

    Unlike the ones that we had run into during our previous raid on this place, these undead wore only clothing and carried no armor or weapons. The clothing was faded and tattered enough that I had no idea what they had once been, but given their location, I had a decent guess.

    That guess could be handled later. Two of the four doors were behind Jane and Kassandra, so I released Shayla and darted forward, my right arm striking out with the speed of a furious cobra as it speared into the bodies of the undead.

    One took a shot to the spine, just below the bottom edge of the skull, and collapsed. The other door had two undead struggling to get out of it, so I slammed the door shut by bum-rushing it, using my massive left arm claw like a pad and the door crashed closed. I heard a forest of cracks as ancient bones gave under the impact of the heavy metal door crashing into unyielding stone.

    One of the two undead went limp, while the other flailed at me with a withered arm wielding a piece of tarnished metal like a dagger. The still-moving of the two ceased its scrabbling a moment later when my spike-hand crashed through its chest, pulping the other half of it, then ripped upwards to smash the head into the wall.

    On my right, I could hear the crackle and whoosh of Kassandra¡¯s ice magic and Jane¡¯s wind magic while the two of them worked to eliminate their threats now that they weren¡¯t being pressed from both sides.

    A flash of light raced past me as Shayla threw in as well, the beam of incandescent, focused light racing over my shoulder like a laser-blast and zipped past my girls. When I glanced after it, I saw one of the undead that had managed to escape its room and make it to the center of the hallway collapse with a smoking crater on its neck where its head used to be.

    ¡°Everyone okay?¡± I called, and the girls responded a moment later with a mixture of affirmatives. Though Rieka¡¯s had a bit more crass language to it than I was used to with my wolfish princess.

    ¡°Shit gargling ratsack slammed into the door hard enough it hit me,¡± Rieka swore, glaring down at what I now realized was enough of the ancient clothes and dusted undead to have been at least two of them. ¡°Got the first one, but you nailed the second before I could finish the spell.¡±

    ¡°You okay? Let me have a look,¡± I quickly pulled Rieka into my arms, peering at the spot on her head where she was rubbing ruefully.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, Liam¡­¡± Rieka replied with a huff, but she didn¡¯t fight or push me away, instead leaning into me while her pointed ears wiggled back and forth.

    She had a red spot on her head that looked tender, but no blood oozed from beneath her platinum blonde mass of hair. The impact had left a few fragments of rust tangled in those fine, light strands so I brushed them out of her hair gently before giving Rieka a squeeze.

    The other three all fell back to stand in a group around us, my girls leaning into or laying a hand on me reassuringly as we all caught our breath in the wake of the short fight.

    ¡°Those weren¡¯t soldiers,¡± Kassandra mumbled from where she was leaning her forehead into my stomach.

    I could tell my dwarf lamia was shaken up by the fight because she was just pressing into me with her tail loosely coiled about mine and Rieka¡¯s legs. If she was normal, she¡¯d have figured out some way to cop a feel by now, subtly or not.

    ¡°No, they weren¡¯t,¡± I agreed. ¡°Given these are labs, I bet these were researchers that got trapped down here. The fact that their bodies were animated and preserved makes me think they were studying something dangerous down here.¡±

    ¡°Do you think the threat is still here?¡± Jane asked from my left where she leaned her back against my thigh while keeping a watch on the tunnel ahead of us. The mouse kin¡¯s long tail was wrapped around my thigh a few times, the tufty tip bouncing idly as she anchored herself there.

    ¡°I doubt it,¡± I sighed. ¡°The chemicals were all dried up in the one lab we got a chance to check thoroughly. For all we know, it¡¯s simply the presence of the mana concentrations and something left over from the entropic creature¡¯s presence that animated them. Hell, might even have been something built into the place.¡±

    ¡°How so?¡± Shayla asked, the moth woman had her back pressed to mine while she kept watch back down the way we had come, having reclaimed her light spell from the ceiling to have it rest between her antennae like the other she had turned into a beam attack.

    I thought about it carefully before explaining the thought that had come to me at random. I didn¡¯t want to give the wrong impression to my girls, but it was a legitimate idea that would likely horrify them if I didn¡¯t put it right.

    ¡°Given how¡­ callous the people here appeared from the summoning chamber that links directly to dissection and study, I wouldn¡¯t have been surprised if it was some kind of ¡®last line of defense¡¯ thing they put into place. If the staff was somehow spelled to rise to defend the place, it might disincentivize someone from attacking it outright.¡±

    The expected silent horror came, but my girls didn¡¯t shy away from me. Instead, they crowded closer in together for comfort, and I felt Jane¡¯s tail tighten even more on my left thigh.

    ¡°That is horrible, and if it¡¯s true, we need to figure out how to disable it so that it doesn¡¯t continue to happen. That sort of thing would be catastrophic for researchers if someone had an accident,¡± Rieka said at last, to nods of agreement from the other girls.

    ¡°Okay, let''s make sure the lab rooms are all empty. Rather than three of you staying in the hall, I¡¯d prefer if you simply stood in the doorway so you could fall back easily,¡± I suggested and after some discussion, they agreed.

    The other seven rooms were much like the first, though what exactly was on the stone tables varied somewhat. Three of the eight rooms had glassware and various chemistry pieces. Four of them held ancient sample jars and racks of containers that I guessed were specimens being studied, with only rotten scraps of labels still attached to them. No ink remained in the stained labels though, so I had no way of knowing what they were.

    The last room was simultaneously the most sad and least horrifying one. When I banished the tarnish from the plaque on the door, it read ¡®Break Room.¡¯

    Inside, the room held a number of tables of ancient stone and the crumbling remnants of chairs. A collapsed shelf nearby had once held metal mugs and plates, but these lay in a heap against the wall now when the shelf had given out.

    Piled against the back wall were what looked like ten rough pallets made of crumbling cloth that looked like uniforms or lab coats. The cloths were stained and worn, just like all the fabric we¡¯d come across, but from the way they were arranged, I knew what had happened down here.

    ¡°They were trapped down here,¡± I muttered, staring at the pallets, unable to look away. ¡°Trapped and without food or supplies. They knew that there was no way out, they had to wait and hope for rescue, so they made themselves comfortable and just waited for someone to save them.¡±

    ¡°And they died down here,¡± Rieka finished grimly before stepping around me and towards the pallets. Because of the far sparser furniture in this room, it was much easier to see and confirm there were no occupants to the room.

    ¡°Why weren¡¯t they all waiting in here then?¡± Jane asked, sticking close to me while we slowly proceeded into the room and began checking the mounds of cloth and shelves for anything of value.

    ¡°Habit.¡± It was surprisingly Shayla who answered. ¡°The restless dead often repeat habits they had in life until something to feed on comes within range. They likely moved to their different labs or to storage spaces they frequented for supplies. They might have even came and laid here to pretend to sleep.¡±

    When she realized the others were looking at her in surprise, the winged woman shrugged and gestured around at the mess with her free hand.

    ¡°After you all told me about the undead, I did some research during our downtime before the competition.¡±

    ¡°I did the same after our first time here,¡± Kassandra grumbled quietly. ¡°But I don¡¯t remember finding anything about that. There wasn¡¯t much information on the restless dead at all.¡±

    Shayla just shrugged helplessly.

    ¡°I asked the librarian for information and she directed me to a few books. It¡¯s possible some of them were out when you looked?¡±

    Before the argument could continue, Rieka, who had been bending over one of the pallets, snatched something up from the folded cloth.

    ¡°Found something?¡± I asked, stepping past my dwarf lamia and the moth girl to check on my princess.

    ¡°Yes. I did some research on human ruins and I remembered reading about them having strangely shaped keys. Not like ones we were used to, and this reminded me of that,¡± Rieka said, offering me the object she¡¯d grabbed.

    It was a flat plate of metal, maybe half the size of my palm and made of tarnished and dirty brass with more than a dozen thin lines carved into it. A tug with my Manipulate Element ability and the tarnish fell away, revealing a shimmering plate of brass that had thin threads of iron running through it at the bottom of each of the channels. I could feel that it wasn¡¯t regular iron either, but magnetized iron. There was a rough thumb-shape at one end of the strip of metal, as if to indicate where to grip the thing. It was maybe three or four times as thick as a playing card.

    ¡°This looks like a key to me, though not a normal one,¡± I said.

    It looks like those old pass-keys from some video games, honestly, I thought, though I didn¡¯t voice it aloud. While I¡¯d told my girls a lot about Earth to amuse them, gaming was something I doubted they¡¯d really understand or appreciate.

    ¡°Well, if we have the key,¡± Kassandra said, dragging the sentence out. ¡°Now we need to find the lock!¡±

 Chapter 114

    When we confirmed there were no other undead hiding in the eight closest rooms, we went back and checked the cabinets in the labs. They were mostly full of other types of glassware, tools, and other assorted odds and ends.

    Seeing the metallic tools reminded me of the thing that the one zombie had tried to stab me with and I went back to check it. The hunk of metal was just an angled bit of iron that came to a rounded point on one side about as long as a bookmark and half as wide.

    Scoopula. The word came to my mind unbidden and I blinked, staring at the tarnished and ancient object. I was sure that was it¡¯s name for some reason, and I could only guess that it was one of the random bits of knowledge that stuck around from that chemistry class I had to take before I finished school.

    Since it was a basic tool and not something that was of any use or value, I set it onto a table in the nearest room that we had been studying before going back to examining things with the girls.

    When we finished checking the labs, we continued down the hallway to the lone door before the turn. This one was locked shut, and the slab-key that we had found did not fit the lock. It took a bit of effort, but since I¡¯d been judicious in my use of mana earlier, I had more than enough to use Manipulate Element to sense the layout of the lock.

    The mechanism was extremely simple, just a flat slab of iron about four inches tall and two wide that extended into the wall another five inches. It was easy enough to shape the stone into a trench to allow the door to swing free, which it did under severe protest.

    Squealing loudly from the accumulated rust and lack of grease, the door opened to a narrow room overlooking a pit that compressed down from about ten feet across to just shy of six feet before vanishing into darkness. I could faintly hear the sound of moving water from the pit as well.

    Glancing upwards, I saw several corroded and ancient spouts that looked like drains in the ceiling which I bet would be the exits for the drains in the autopsy theater above us.

    ¡°Waste disposal,¡± I muttered, glancing back down at the pit. The hole below was large enough that a body would fit through it, to vanish into whatever underground river raced beneath us.

    ¡°Ew,¡± Kassandra said eloquently, and I just snorted and rolled my eyes.

    A quick scan of the room confirmed that it was nothing more than an access room, probably to toss out failed experiments or even rotten food. Maybe the remains of the dissected subjects from above as well, once anything useful was taken out of them. But nothing beyond that. So we hurried back into the hallway and I resealed the door again.

    At Rieka¡¯s suggestion, I used Manipulate Element to put raised letters in the language of the Queendom that explained what lay behind the door, to save the researchers time in the future.

    ¡°I¡¯m just glad that it¡¯s been long enough that place no longer stinks. I bet it was rank when everything was fresh,¡± Jane said with a shiver of disgust.

    ¡°Agreed,¡± Shayla murmured as we turned to head along the tunnel to the turn.

    Making that right-hand turn, the tunnel continued for about thirty feet before terminating in a set of double doors that screamed ¡®SECURE¡¯ at the top of their lungs.

    While the doors in the rest of the complex had simply been flat, metal doors without much to accent them, these were solidly built of iron. They were much like the massive security doors back at the entrance, the ones with warding built into them which Kassandra had to remove in order to access the facility. Runes marked the edges of the doors and a large iron ring sat in the middle towards the inner edge of each door to serve as the handle.

    In between the two rings, just below them at about belly-button height was a slot in the right-hand door, outlined with a ring of tarnished copper against the dull iron of the door.

    ¡°There¡¯s your lock, Kass,¡± Jane said, elbowing my dwarf lamia lightly and shooting her a grin. ¡°I¡¯m glad we found it already. Was half-worried that we¡¯d have to take that key to some other facility or hang on to it for months before we found the lock it goes to.¡±

    ¡°You aren¡¯t living in some kind of storybook, Jane,¡± Kassandra shot back with a wicked smirk that just got a raised eyebrow and a defiant grin from the mouse kin. ¡°If you were, you¡¯d have already been seduced by my Liam.¡±

    That statement got a more vehement response out of Jane, the mouse-kin woman sputtering in surprise and flailing her arms around in denial. From the blush that rose up on her cheeks though, I had a feeling that Jane was protesting a bit much.

    Especially given the clues that the others have dropped at me for her, I thought with a sigh. I feel greedy for even considering adding someone else to our little group though. Or is it a harem? Might as well call it one. I¡¯m already a dimension-traveling fairytale creature to them. I didn¡¯t suppress the snort of amusement at the thought, but my girls were too busy teasing Jane to notice it.

    ¡°Who wants to do the honors?¡± Shayla asked once the spat had calmed down.

    ¡°I hate to ruin your fun, but as the one who is supposed to be protecting you all, I should probably do it. Just in case it sets off some kind of booby trap.¡±

    ¡°Aww, but I thought those were your favorite. I know I love having you trapped in my boobies,¡± Kassandra teased, her brown eyes dancing in amusement behind her glasses even as the other girls groaned at the bad pun.

    ¡°I¡¯ve half a mind to make you do it, Kass. Especially after that bad joke,¡± Rieka grumbled before tossing me the metallic card. ¡°You do have a point, Liam. Just be careful, okay?¡±

    ¡°All of you stand back then,¡± I ordered, and the girls complied, falling back to the corner of the hallway as I studied the door again carefully.

    The keyhole was obvious, and it almost felt too obvious to me. Like it in and of itself was a trap, but despite the fact that we were in what amounted to an ancient dungeon hidden deep under a mountain, I didn¡¯t actually think that the original owners of this place would have put traps around.

    Closest we had to a trap anywhere else was the war-golems that animated when we got too close, I thought before carefully matching the key-card up to the door and sliding it in.

    There was a rasping noise then a sharp click as the card slotted into place, stopping with about half an inch beyond my grip still protruding from the door. Giving it a jiggle, I didn¡¯t feel like there was anything that would let me turn it, so I gripped the ring-handle on the door and gave it a yank.

    At first, the door resisted the pull, and then there was a quiet pop sensation that ran through the door, a feeling that reminded me of the ancient freezer my father used to keep in the garage for storing meat and other things. The door would fight you some to break the initial seal, but once the seal popped, it was easy to open the door. These did the same thing.

    There was a quiet hiss of moving air and I felt a faint pressure wash past me as air escaped the room in the wake of the seal giving out, but it faded a moment later.

    I paused and waited, the door only open an inch or two, for something to happen. When I counted to twenty and had nothing occur, I turned and waved the girls closer.

    All four of them hurried down the hallway to me, with Kassandra leading the charge to press herself against my back and wrap her arms around my waist in a hug as if it had been weeks since she¡¯d seen me rather than mere moments.

    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Ah, and there it is, I thought as I felt a small hand squeeze my butt before Kassandra released me.

    I shot the dwarf lamia a questioning look and she just blew me a kiss with a grin. I rolled my eyes and turned my attention back to the door.

    ¡°Shayla, counting on you for light. I don¡¯t know what¡¯s beyond here, but it was sealed tight, whatever it was,¡± I said, getting back onto track, ignoring a second pinch to my butt that felt like it came from a slightly larger hand.

    ¡°Of course, Liam!¡± Shayla said with such feigned innocence that I wondered if the second pinch might have come from her.

    Whatever, if it helps them calm down, I thought. I knew my girls would focus when push came to shove, and if playing a bit of grabass down here in the dark was what they needed to keep from freaking out, then fine.

    I pulled the door open further and Shayla sent her light orb into the room, keeping it close to the ceiling to prevent from blinding us. The four girls stood at the ready behind me while I studied the room and what the light revealed.

    The room on the other side of the heavy doors was moderately sized, about twenty feet by thirty feet. Unlike the halls leading up to it, this room''s walls were done in large plates of white marble with gray threads running through it. With the addition of Shayla¡¯s light to the room, it felt like stepping into a warm summer cloud.

    There were two large tables in the room made of a honey-colored wood with a pair of chairs each. Both tables had stacks of loose sheets of parchment on one side along with a jar full of quill pens. Behind each of the tables was a rack that held more pens, sealed jars full of a dark substance I guessed was ink, and other writing implements.

    On the right side of the room were dozens of small cabinets that looked like they had been designed to hold scrolls, loose sheets, and books as well as a bookshelf that was half full of large books.

    ¡°A records room?¡± Jane murmured, and I felt her gripping the side of my leg. I glanced down to see her peering around me, her ears twitching curiously while she studied the room.

    ¡°Yep. Looks like it. Spread out and have a look, but be careful. If anything feels off or gives off an aura, don¡¯t touch it,¡± I said after giving the room another look over. Between the cabinets and the tables, there wasn¡¯t much in the room besides a pair of hanging globes that I guessed would be lights if they still functioned.

    ¡°Everything feels like it¡¯s giving off an aura, Liam,¡± Kassandra said before poking me in the side. ¡°We¡¯ll be careful.¡±

    Taking the promise as the best I was going to get, I stepped aside and let my four charges into the room. Something about the whole place felt odd to me, but I couldn¡¯t quite place it. It wasn¡¯t until Shayla said something that it finally clicked to me.

    ¡°The ink is still good in these bottles.¡± The moth woman had gone around the room to give it a quick inspection, stopping to study the carvings on the shelves or lettering on the bindings of books but not pausing for long.

    ¡°It is?¡± I asked in surprise, and got a nod from her. ¡°That is weird. You found other inks that had long since dried out.¡±

    ¡°Right? And the paper isn¡¯t dried out. Given how old the rest of this place is, and the weight of time on it, I wouldn¡¯t have expected any of these to be preserved.¡± Shayla gestured to the tables with the loose sheets of blank paper on them.

    ¡°Preservation spells?¡± Kassandra suggested from where she was studying the half-full shelf of books before pulling one down and opening it to look. ¡°I can¡¯t read any of these. I recognize the script as ancient human writing, but I¡¯d need time to translate them to even know what they are about.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m betting,¡± I said while glancing around the room. ¡°That this is where they stored the records of their research. It explains why they were so heavily locked down. Even the rare supplies room only had the two golem guards on it, but wasn¡¯t actually locked.¡±

    ¡°But you¡¯ve used your earth magic to shape through locks and closed doors a bunch here, how does a plain lock make this more secure? Humans had magic too,¡± Jane asked from where she was studying a scroll she¡¯d taken down. It was tied with a bright, vibrant blue ribbon in a neat bow.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t try it on the door, but I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if I tried that and set off a trap. So I¡¯m glad I didn¡¯t try,¡± I said dryly, getting nods from the others in agreement before I turned my attention back to the desks and papers there. ¡°Something kept this room preserved¡­¡±

    ¡°Hey Liam, come read these titles so I can figure out if there are any worth keeping?¡± Kassandra asked.

    I pushed aside my concerns to do as she requested. I could wonder about the room later, for now we needed to see what was all here and if anything was too dangerous to leave behind.

    <><><>

    Most of the books were simply anatomy studies on different types of creatures, as well as experiments on what different parts of them could be used for. Each book was a loosely bound collection of notes regarding a different type of creature, with each shelf being dedicated to a different element. I figured that the top two shelves had been for storing things relating to time and entropy aligned creatures, but they were totally empty.

    Either the first of those two they caught was the downfall here, which I believe, or the DSR folks managed to ghost their way in here somehow. It blows my mind that they could possibly do something like that, I thought before focusing on what was in front of me.

    Kassandra had opened up her notebook and was taking notes as I read the titles off to her. While I didn¡¯t recognize the script itself, it didn¡¯t match anything that I recognized from Earth, the benefits of being a Traveler was paying dividends right now.

    Specifically, the ability to read and speak any language that I encountered.

    It had been explained to me by Cariad that the adaptation was a default power awarded to all Travelers as part of their initiation to allow them to treat with and understand any being that might summon them. Something that would further the goals of the System itself, which were a side effect of successfully being summoned and completing the tasks set before them. So it behooved the System to ensure that Travelers could understand what was going on.

    We sorted the books into two piles. The anatomy study ones we set to one side on the shelves, while the others were research into the summoning process or spell constructs. The girls claimed the books for spell constructs, saying those would be worth it to study or to give to someone who would need them or a friend.

    ¡°I still don¡¯t get why we don¡¯t just take everything,¡± Jane whined as she stared up at the masses of scrolls that we were sorting through next.

    ¡°Because, we need to leave some stuff behind for the queen,¡± I reminded her. ¡°If we take everything, then it¡¯s going to be obvious. As it is, we¡¯ve already taken the best stuff. Not to mention, her scholars will be able to put them to good use as well as properly translate them. I¡¯m still not sure if taking the books we have is a good idea.¡±

    ¡°It just feels wrong to be abandoning knowledge in the hopes that whoever gets it next is going to be willing to share,¡± Jane grumbled and I couldn¡¯t help but smile down at the mouse-eared woman.

    Remembering her positive reaction to it before, I gently patted her on the head, rubbing the back of her rounded ears lightly.

    Jane tensed for a moment before relaxing into the touch and leaning into my leg. She continued to mutter imprecations and complaints, but didn¡¯t go beyond that while we sorted through the scrolls next.

    We soon figured out the organization strategy for the scrolls. The color of ribbon they were tied with denoted the element of the creatures they were related to, and each of the cubbies were a specific creature. Which led me to believe that they would accumulate the reports and notes in a cubby until there was enough to form one of the books, then they¡¯d bind it together.

    All in all, it felt like any other sort of research library. Nothing strange beyond the fact there were rather visceral drawings of the different dissections done of the creatures that they¡¯d worked on.

    I was working my way along those, opening them up to read what it was about so we could note it down and then putting the scroll back, when Rieka squeaked in surprise from behind me.

    The noise startled me enough that I whirled in place and immediately used my Shape-Shifting to alter my arms and turn my left into a scorpion tail while the right shifted into an oversized dactyl club before I even realized what had happened.

    Rieka had been studying the desks and writing supply racks themselves, since there was only so much space near the documents, and had apparently done something as a section of wall in front of her had shifted, revealing an opening that was about a foot square recessed into the wall.

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Kassandra asked, immediately turning to slither over to her friend and push herself up taller on her coils to peek into the opening.

    ¡°I was studying the patterns in the marble, trying to figure out if I knew what quarry area it might have come from, when I saw what I thought was a line of gold in the marble. I picked at it and then there was a click and this swung open,¡± Rieka explained as the rest of us came to stand behind her.

    My princess pointed to the thin thread of gold that she¡¯d found and I nodded. It was almost as thin as a hair, and would have been just slightly recessed into the wall. Reaching past her, I tapped the thread again, and with a whirring noise, the opening sealed once more. The panel of marble swung back to cover the opening before merging seamlessly with the wall. The only indicator of its presence was the hair-thin thread of gold that was just recessed enough that it barely caught the overhead light.

    ¡°I¡¯d have missed that,¡± I murmured, shifting my arms back and wiggling a fingernail into the thin slit to depress what I was now realizing was a hidden button.

    The panel slid back once more and we all leaned in to see what was hidden in the concealed space.

    It was another book, this one smaller, about half the size of a normal sheet of notebook paper. It was about an inch thick and had the title stamped into the front, which I read aloud for the girls.

    ¡°Facility Logbook.¡±

 Chapter 115

    ¡°I¡¯m still astonished at how well these papers were preserved,¡± Shayla muttered as she examined a sheet of blank parchment. The thin material rustled happily as she handled it, examining the finely cut edges and studying the tone of the paper by holding it up to one of her glowing light spells.

    I looked up from where I¡¯d been sitting behind the desk, reading out the contents of the logbook. Kassandra, who was coiled up around me for the most part and drafting what I was reading aloud to her onto fresh paper, took the opportunity to massage her hand and groan.

    ¡°Remind me to bring you calligraphy pens when I come back next, Nugget,¡± I murmured into her hair before kissing her temple. ¡°They are a lot more comfortable than quills or charcoal and not as messy.¡±

    ¡°Anything to spare me from quill-cramp,¡± Kassandra grumbled cutely, rubbing at her nose and leaving a small streak of ink amongst the freckles there while she adjusted her glasses. She continued to grumble under her breath but snuggled into my side, so I turned my eyes back to Shayla.

    ¡°Why is the paper¡¯s condition so amazing, Shayla?¡± I asked the moth girl and her wings fluttered slightly in response before she turned to look at me, her night-black eyes glittering in the light.

    ¡°This parchment isn¡¯t even yellowed or dried out. Normally, the weight of time would turn this to dust, or even make it break like a dried cracker.¡± Shayla waved the sheet of parchment in the air in front of her and it made a rustling wobbling noise. ¡°But these are fine.¡±

    I gave it some thought and remembered when I had opened the door it had given a brief push of air. Glancing around, I checked the room and found a pair of small vents near the ceiling.

    ¡°This whole place has been in surprisingly good condition though. I figured there was some kind of preservation spell at work that we haven¡¯t discovered yet,¡± Jane suggested from where she was sorting through a pile of scrolls.

    The nimble mouse-eared woman had her own notebook out and was painstakingly copying over the contents of each scroll, noting down where we¡¯d found it and what the organizational code of it was. When we¡¯d all agreed that we couldn¡¯t take most of the research with us, since this trip was an ¡®off the books¡¯ type one that would be our last to this particular facility, Jane had protested. She loathed the idea of leaving information behind, so had settled in to copy as much as she could while the other four of us worked to review the logbook.

    ¡°Possible, but I don¡¯t know.¡± Shayla¡¯s antenna thrashed in the air over her head, the fluffy appendages gesturing like two little arms in their frustration. ¡°How could it endure this long without additional input? Even the air down here is fresh and breathable, though somewhat stale. And the humans have been gone for thousands of years.¡±

    ¡°Unless this facility was one that lasted past their disappearance in the world above,¡± Rieka suggested from her spot on my other side. While Kassandra was noting down everything that I read aloud, Rieka was making abbreviated notes of important things.

    ¡°That would make sense,¡± I agreed, shifting so that I could wrap an arm around Rieka from behind and pull her hip against mine on the bench we were sitting on. ¡°But her point is still valid. One thing that I¡¯ve seen repeated here on Cortha is that magic is expensive.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not¡­¡± Kassandra let her protest die off after a moment and then sighed. ¡°You are right. If it wasn¡¯t for Rieka and my families being able to grant us an income, we wouldn¡¯t have been able to summon you nearly as often as we have.¡±

    ¡°I know that I could only afford to summon my previous partner maybe once or twice a week for a few hours,¡± Jane added in, not slowing down on her transcribing. ¡°The costs for summoning Liam have gone up a little bit, but they are stabilizing. You are an expensive date, Liam.¡± Jane glanced up from her work to wiggle her eyebrows at me and giggle.

    ¡°I promise to make it worth your time,¡± I replied automatically before I remembered I wasn¡¯t talking to Kassandra. But luckily the mouse kin just blushed faintly and nodded before going back to her work.

    ¡°She¡¯s interested, I promise,¡± Kassandra whispered to me.

    ¡°And she also has very good hearing,¡± Jane prodded back in mock annoyance.

    ¡°Also that tail is super soft,¡± Kassandra added at regular volume, which made the blush coloring Jane¡¯s cheeks rise up to begin tinging her large mouse ears on top of her head.

    ¡°Okay you,¡± I dug my hand into the hair at the back of Kassandra¡¯s head and tugged lightly, getting a contented groan from my mischief-macaroni. ¡°Ease up on her. Let¡¯s get this finished. Most of what''s in here is just facility-wide notes about subjects they were studying, but we need to make sure there aren¡¯t references to the entropic creatures here. If there are, I¡¯ll have to turn this over to the DSR.¡±

    ¡°Got it, Liam,¡± Kassandra cooed happily, turning to nuzzle into my chest for a moment before picking up her pen and dipping it in the inkwell in front of her.

    ¡°And I¡¯ve got some more sweets to share to perk us back up. We finish this and give the place one last look over to make sure we didn¡¯t miss anything, then we can head out to the surface and spend a bit of time in the mountains.¡±

    ¡°Cookies?¡± Shayla¡¯s antennae stood up in excitement.

    ¡°Sweets?¡± Jane¡¯s tail joined the antennae in their perked state.

    Rieka didn¡¯t say anything, but I felt her fluffy tail swatting back and forth quicker in excitement.

    ¡°We¡¯ll work hard for you, Liam,¡± Kassandra said in a husky tone. ¡°Now, get back to reading.¡±

    <><><>

    The facility logbook didn¡¯t have any references to the entropic creatures. Only some suggestions that they were looking at trying to expand their access to the ¡®primal elements¡¯ after the initial success with light and dark aligned creatures.

    What it did have though was references to a sister facility ¡®to the south-west¡¯ that might have had additional breakthroughs, but they hadn¡¯t gotten any news from them in a while.

    Both Jane and Kassandra had perked up at that, since the two of them had been the ones working with that odd copper map from before. After a bit of discussion between the girls, we all agreed that we¡¯d need to look into it and see if there were any records of another human ruin in that area and maybe go look for information.

    I fired off a quick message to Cariad, letting her know that we¡¯d checked out the last parts of the facility as well as given the previously examined spaces another look, but found no more compromising information. True to her form, Cariad was quick to respond to my message.

    Cariad

    Thank you for doing that, Liam. The news that one of the local species not only was experimenting with basically kidnapping entropic creatures but was actually successful was causing quite a ruckus on our side. I know that it sounds like we don¡¯t care about any of the other summoned beings that were captured, but with the DSR¡¯s ¡®hands off¡¯ policy there isn¡¯t much we can do about it. The only reason we were able to intervene to secure that location is the danger that it would present to that universe if a predator went wild and started chewing holes in the fabric of reality.

    Liam

    So no worries that I¡¯m going to do that? Am I not considered a predator? Just kidding, Cari. I¡¯m happy to help out. There was some information about other facilities that were studying similar things, but nothing direct on what they were doing. The girls are excited to go and check those places out as well, so I¡¯ll naturally be going with them. If anything comes up, I¡¯ll let you know so that the DSR can secure it.

    Out of curiosity¡­ I know that entropic beings such as yourself have a corrosive effect on reality here. What would have happened if something from the other end of the spectrum appeared? Entropy and Time were both offered to me by the Manipulate Element (Primal) power.

    Cariad

    Can I just say ¡®thank you¡¯ again for not picking time? Polar opposites like that are extremely dangerous. Sure, it could have protected you from contact with a daemon, but it would have hurt. Both parties would have been hurt, truthfully.

    Shrouding yourself in entropy allows contact with a daemon without danger, but shrouding yourself with time mana would cause a reaction where your protection would fight a daemon¡¯s nature and likely kill both of you. Time is a chief manifestation of order after all, just as entropy is chaos. They do not mix, not without violence.

    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    As to your question about if a time-aligned being had been called there rather than the dimensional predator that you fought¡­ Well it would depend on what level of power that it had. It¡¯s entirely likely that the facility would have been pristine and untouched by the passage of time, with the living beings having been broken down into their component elements. They are not friendly creatures and their nature drives them to ¡®fix¡¯ that which does not appeal to their sensibilities.

    Liam

    Good to know. Okay, so with no further signs then the girls are going to turn this place over to the queen for her to study as an archeology site. Did any DSR folks check the other tunnels out by the main landing?

    Cariad

    Yes. The right-hand one as you come out of the facility leads to a subterranean lake, but is blocked by a rock fall as well. The left-hand one leads to what looked like an iron mine, which I think the local queen will really be happy with as it has several veins of mana-infused metal in it. Give your girls my thanks for agreeing to help with this.

    Liam

    Sure. Gotta go, we are heading out and I need to do my protective thing.

    I opened my eyes as the girls settled in around me once more. We¡¯d been taking a break on the ruined station just outside the research facility to eat before we made the push back outside. We still had some time, but everyone agreed that they¡¯d rather sleep outside given the choice. The oppressive feeling of the mountains crouched over top of us was stifling.

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s an additional treat for your mum then, Rieka,¡± I said with a snort.

    My princess turned to look at me, her sky-blue eyes twinkling questioningly in the bright light of Shayla¡¯s spell. I relayed what Cariad had told me about the other tunnels as well as her thanks and Rieka¡¯s curious look melted into surprise then excitement.

    ¡°Really?! She said it has imbued veins already exposed? That¡¯s wonderful! I wonder if¡­ no we shouldn¡¯t go check it out. The last thing we need is a cave-in to happen because we are messing around where we shouldn¡¯t be.¡± Rieka¡¯s tail whipped back and forth excitedly as she barraged me with questions before answering them herself.

    ¡°What do you call where we are right now?¡± Kassandra asked dryly and Rieka blinked at her in surprise. ¡°If not somewhere that we aren¡¯t supposed to be?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s different. This area is already reinforced and we know what to look for in regards to an unstable ceiling or the like,¡± Rieka protested vehemently and Kassandra grinned up at her.

    ¡°It¡¯s a cave, Rieka. But I¡¯ll give you that we don¡¯t know much about mining facilities. The question is, are you going to tell the queen about it, and if so how did we know?¡±

    That question clearly stumped my wolfish princess, but it was Jane who answered it.

    ¡°Liam found a note about it, but it got destroyed in the fighting. The fact that we secured the area for them will earn forgiveness about a memo being destroyed.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t like making Liam take the fall on this, though,¡± Rieka protested.

    I let the girls talk, allowing them to work back and forth how they wanted to handle it. Me taking the ¡®blame¡¯ on something like this was easy to accept, as I was already well outside the reach of consequences with the fact I wasn¡¯t local. I helped each of my girls drop down from the platform onto the crushed rock of the track before leading them back to the massive iron door that blocked our route back.

    ¡°Logically, it makes the most sense. He can¡¯t talk about his contacts after all. Or you could just say that he was told by a fellow Traveler? No, then they¡¯d want to ask that Traveler more¡­ hmm,¡± Shayla said with a thoughtful hum and buzz of her wings. The brightly-colored appendages stirred up a bit of dust as I laid a hand on the thin stone barrier I¡¯d left in place to seal our route back.

    ¡°It¡¯s better to not get caught up in complicated lies,¡± Rieka said after a moment of thought. ¡°I need to tell her about it though, otherwise it might be missed. And the sooner we can get that imbued iron out and refined, the better. The more mana-infused currency a kingdom has in circulation, the stronger their economy is considered.¡±

    Kassandra began to say something to Rieka, but I had just shaped an opening into the wall, revealing the darkness beyond when one of the shadow-monsters leaped through at me.

    Reacting on instinct, I jammed my left arm into the scissoring maw of the creature as scales flashed into place over my skin. It wasn¡¯t quick enough to stop all of the creature¡¯s teeth, but the few that managed to actually dig into my skin were easy to dismiss.

    My right hand¡¯s fingers sprouted sharp claws that I quickly hooked into the joints of the creature¡¯s carapace and I tore it open with one quick move even as shadows boiled off the creature when exposed to Shayla¡¯s light.

    Shrieks of fury raced out of the opening in the wall. Before I could close the torso-sized hole I¡¯d made in the stone, half a dozen more of the critters surged through. Three of them darted at me while the other three went around me to either side. I felt my Ward Companion ability go off on Shayla and Rieka, so I knew what their targets were.

    Turning and throwing the body off my arm now that its jaws had relaxed in death, I sent the corpse spinning at the one heading for Shayla as my moth winged woman stepped back quickly, her spell rod already in hand.

    My right arm split at the elbow, the two bones of my forearm forming the base of a pair of thinner, segmented scorpion tails that slapped out quickly at the two angling for Rieka. One of the two dodged out of the way, but the other was caught on the crown of its head with the armored spike and it punched clean through the creature¡¯s head with a sharp crunch.

    ¡°Lightning Net!¡± Rieka barked, casting before any of the others could.

    My brilliant wolfish princess produced a sparking cloud of lightning that swept over the dodging monster and picked it up to carry the shrieking beast into its three fellows that had come at me and were preparing to leap.

    ¡°Glacial Shards!¡±

    Kassandra¡¯s spell joined Rieka¡¯s as the lightning caused all four to lock up, holding them in one position as the storm of sharp ice crashed into them like a shotgun blast at close range.

    I continued into my turn, splitting my left arm at the elbow as well and sent those two whip-like tails with four inch spikes at the sole survivor who was now trying to scramble back away from the glaring moth girl as she raised her spell rod to finish the creature off.

    My attack took it first, punching through the side of its head and into its abdomen with a pair of sharp cracks before the two tails pulled and tore it in half.

    ¡°Shayla, through the crack,¡± I barked, and my moth-girl did just as I asked. Instead of sending a concentrated beam of light into a single opponent, she tossed her orb through the hole with a brief chant while her antennae thrashed in anger.

    Angry moth noises! I thought with a mental laugh before turning away from the hole and pushing my Manipulate Element power to seal it once more.

    I wasn¡¯t able to get the hole closed up entirely before Shayla¡¯s spell went off like a flashbang without the bang, though the pained screams from the shadow creatures that gathered on the other side was enough to get the effect.

    Shayla was already conjuring another light spell, and then a second, and a third. The three brilliant orbs orbited her head like a lumpy halo as she glared at the small hole that remained.

    I reversed my manipulation of the stone and pushed through to check on the other side.

    Judging from the smears of darkness staining the walls and floor, there had to have been a good two or three dozen of the little creatures on this side waiting to ambush us. None of them had escaped the brilliant flare of light that had burnt right through most of their armor to erode the flesh beneath.

    Shayla was the first through the hole, a few gestures of her spell rod sent the orbs spiraling out to form a triangle that fully illuminated the tunnel in bright light.

    ¡°I¡¯ll sweep the tunnel on the way back,¡± she said with a scowl. ¡°I should have done it on the way in, but this will leave no place for them to hide. I¡¯m tired of their little attacks.¡±

    ¡°Good call, Shayla,¡± Rieka said while she came through to join us. ¡°I¡¯ll cover the cost of the mana myself. I can get reimbursed from my mother for it. We don¡¯t know what caused the infestation to show up the first time, whether it was just sitting in darkness for so long or if it was something else, but we can at least stamp them out for now.

    The other girls followed soon after and I quickly sealed the way behind us. None of the shadow monsters had made it into the facility for whatever reason, and I didn¡¯t want to give them a bolt hole to hide in.

    Consulting with the girls on what to write¡ªsince my power to understand things didn¡¯t tell me how to write them¡ªI engraved directions in the wall to explain what I¡¯d done so an earth mage could open the way back up when the queen¡¯s forces came back. I¡¯d do the same thing when we got out of the tunnel.

    Setting out, we walked in wary silence for a short while until Jane spoke up.

    ¡°That happened¡­ really fast.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Prolonged fighting only occurs when the fight is even, and with Liam here there isn¡¯t really an even fight to be had,¡± Kassandra said, shooting me a toothy grin while the light shone off the glass in her spectacles.

    I just rolled my eyes down at my dwarf lamia, which made her smile widen.

    ¡°I need to get better at my reactions then,¡± Jane muttered quietly. ¡°I barely had a chance to react before you all had that wrapped up and done.¡±

    ¡°This isn¡¯t the best space for you either though, Jane,¡± Rieka said reassuringly. ¡°Heck, it''s harder for me too. Lightning doesn¡¯t form naturally in caves, and the air isn¡¯t moving down here so your wind has to work harder to form.¡±

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t seem to be affecting Shayla though, and it¡¯s dark as the inside of a pot down here,¡± Jane grumbled, her arms crossing cutely while her tail swayed in annoyance.

    ¡°I¡¯m muscling it too. It¡¯s why I¡¯ve been focusing on the orbs. They are self-contained once I get them going,¡± Shayla answered while guiding her spells along the corridor ahead of us. ¡°It¡¯s not efficient, but it is important.¡±

    ¡°And we appreciate it,¡± I interjected. ¡°I really do like being able to see.¡± The complement got me a shy blush from the winged woman, but her antennae balled up and bobbed happily.

    ¡°Still. I need to work harder. I¡¯m not going to slow you all down,¡± Jane resolved again, her voice firm.

    I had shifted my left arm back to normal, so I gently patted her on the head with that hand. She let out an undignified squeak of surprise and batted at my hand for a moment before realizing it was me and shooting me a scowl.

    ¡°Don¡¯t scare me like that!¡±

    ¡°Sorry, Jane. Couldn¡¯t help it,¡± I laughed and her scowl turned into a pout.

    ¡°Liam, when did you figure out how to do that?¡± Kassandra asked to turn attention away from Jane¡¯s surprise and let the smaller girl collect herself.

    I glanced at my right arm, which was human to the elbow but it split into a pair of segmented tails that stretched a good six feet before ending in the armored spikes. With a thought, the two curled and moved in sync. I struggled to command them to do something different from each other, but they¡¯d flowed without a problem during the brief fight.

    ¡°I dunno. I just ordered Shape-Shifting to give me a weapon to use that could stop both enemies going for Rieka,¡± I said with a shrug. ¡°I¡¯ll have to practice with this too¡­ having extra limbs is too useful not to.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll say it is.¡± Kassandra¡¯s tone turned salacious and I rolled my eyes at my grinning lover.

 Chapter 116

    We encountered two more small groups of the shadow monsters in the tunnel on our way out. Neither of which lasted for longer than a few seconds, as Shayla had quickly surrounded and burned them away with her trio of light spells.

    I honestly thought it was cute watching her work, as the fluffy antennae that sprouted from Shayla¡¯s head flicked and mirrored the gestures of her spell rod, as if they each commanded one of the orbs themselves. I just couldn¡¯t figure out a way to tell her that without the shy girl losing it.

    When we got back to the ruined station, I widened out the narrow tunnel through the rockfall further. I took the time to spread my earth mana through it to ensure that the tunnel was sturdy. At the far end I created another stone cap for it along with instructions on the other side for the researchers that we knew would come after us.

    We paused on the station platform for Kassandra to study that last sealed doorway that remained there. We¡¯d passed it multiple times but the runes that sealed it continued to shift and change each time we came by.

    ¡°We are spending the night outside. I want to take one last shot at it before we head back,¡± Kassandra had said insistently, writing down the runes in her book before following the rest of us back up to the surface.

    It was late afternoon, with maybe three or so hours left before the sun vanished behind the horizon. We would have to head back before midday tomorrow, so we had a bit of time to relax now.

    Rather than tramping all the way back around to the waterfall to camp, we just went down the hill to camp in the trees near the spring and its included statue. My Manipulate Element made getting a flat campsite easy enough. I did most of the set up, with the four girls conspiring together with Kassandra to solve this one last mystery before we left.

    Getting the tent set up was easy enough, since I could shift my bodily proportions to pin things in place and my strength had no problems moving the bundles of cloth around on my own. I¡¯d gotten it set and collected firewood in the nearby woods to prepare for that night.

    I was just about to start that going when Jane bounced over to me, her tufty tail flicking back and forth above her head in excitement.

    ¡°Hey Jane, what¡¯s up?¡± I asked as she approached.

    I¡¯d been in the process of tamping down a pit for the fire, figuring I might as well make this spot comfortable since we¡¯d be leaving the site behind for the researchers the queen would be sending eventually.

    ¡°The sky?¡± she said blandly, glancing upwards and I snorted at her unintended joke. I was still finding little idioms that didn¡¯t translate properly between worlds, so her confusion was honestly cute because I knew it was earnest.

    ¡°I was meaning ¡®what did you need?¡¯ I suppose its a thing from my world,¡± I explained again as the bouncy mouse girl stopped in front of me, her head tilting cutely which sent her rounded ears swaying.

    ¡°Odd term, but I think I get it. Kass sent me over to help you get dinner ready since it¡¯s getting late. We figured out the seal on the door mostly, Kassandra is just checking her notes to make sure.¡±

    ¡°Got it. Any preferences for food?¡± I asked, finishing smoothing out the fire pit so that the low bowl of packed soil was ready, then I started setting up the wood from the pile I¡¯d collected.

    ¡°Something sweet. You did promise us treats,¡± Jane said accusingly and I shot her a grin over my shoulder. ¡°What? You did! And I distinctly don¡¯t remember you sharing any down in the log room.¡±

    ¡°Because I didn¡¯t want to make a mess. Plus, I figured you wouldn¡¯t want to leave stains or crumbs on the documents down there.¡± I shrugged before looking back at the fire pit.

    A quiet, repeated thump of a small foot stomping came for a moment, then Jane grumped her way around to help me set the fire up.

    ¡°I¡¯ll share after dinner,¡± I promised and the scowl immediately lifted from the mouse kin¡¯s face, leaving behind a bright smile.

    ¡°Okay, that I can accept. Then something hot¡­ Stew?¡±

    The two of us puttered around pulling various bits out of the dimensional bag that Rieka had left with me to get the tent set up.

    I learned a bit more about Jane while we did. She¡¯d apparently always been passionate about learning and books, which explained a lot to me about why she was upset leaving behind the ones that we did. It also made a lot of sense why she was as interested in the historic aspects of these structures too.

    ¡°The ancient humans have so many mysteries around them,¡± Jane was saying as we sat next to the fire in the growing darkness. The stew bubbled away in the squat pot nearby, and I was expecting Kassandra and the others to come over and join us any minute now from the clear spot that she¡¯d been drawing runes on the ground in.

    ¡°Like what? I might be able to help shed some light on them, but I can¡¯t guarantee that the humans here on Cortha are anything like the ones from my homeworld.¡± I¡¯d used a touch of the Manipulate Element ability to pull seats up out of the ground so we weren¡¯t just sitting on grass. Jane bounced on hers in excitement.

    ¡°Most of what information we have of the humans comes from pictographs and murals. The issue is that there is a lot of conflicting information. Some images show the humans as being great tool makers, and others as wizards of renown with thunderous powers. I know that you are a Traveler and that your powers stem from that, Liam. But what about back home? What is more true on your world?¡±

    That was an easy enough question to answer, but I gave it some thought first just to get my mind in order.

    ¡°Back home¡­ Well there is mana and we have legends of wizards and the like, those who can use mana. But as for people who could actually do stuff like throw fireballs or conjure lightning?¡± I shook my head with a sigh. Jane tilted her head the other direction, her tail still flicking animatedly behind her as she waited for me to elaborate.

    ¡°They don¡¯t really exist. Not that we can find at least. Science has expanded leaps and bounds to the point where we have tools that can shoot jets of flame or propel bits of metal at ridiculous speeds. I mean¡­¡± I trailed off and then accessed my Dimensional Pocket ability. A moment later I had my .357 revolver in my hand.

    Jane watched with rapt attention as I checked the weapon over, gave the cylinder a spin and then emptied out the rounds into my hand. I checked the cylinder again before offering her the weapon.

    ¡°That¡¯s a gun. It fires these,¡± I held up one of the rounds in my palm. ¡°If you think of it like a¡­ crossbow is probably the closest to be honest. If you think of it like a crossbow that reloads itself then you are close.¡±

    ¡°How fast can it fire?¡± Jane accepted the large weapon with a grunt, surprised at the weight of the weapon and began inspecting it.

    ¡°As fast as you can pull the trigger. Each shot uses up one of the rounds though,¡± I held up the cartridges again. ¡°And when you use them all, the weapon stops working until you reload it again. We have guns like that which fire everything from a bullet the size of a pebble to ones that fire rounds as big as my head or larger, but those are used on ships.¡±

    ¡°Fascinating. And how quick do they fire?¡±

    ¡°I can show you if you want. Honestly, the advent of guns in the human world changed so many things that had stagnated for so long.¡±

    I accepted the pistol back and loaded a single cartridge into it, carefully lining it up so it was the chamber that was next to fire.

    Taking careful aim at a branch protruding high off of a tree, I was about to squeeze the trigger when I remembered the other girls and stopped.

    Before Jane could ask why I had hesitated, I turned to look at the other three who were picking up their things. I then glanced back at the mouse eared girl and explained.

    ¡°It makes a very loud noise. And it wouldn¡¯t be nice to scare the others. It¡¯s the other reason I haven¡¯t used it much yet.¡±

    Jane pouted but nodded in understanding.

    ¡°What¡¯s that, Liam?¡± Rieka asked as the other trio wandered past to tuck their things into the tent.

    ¡°A gun, it''s a weapon from back home. Jane had questions about humans on Earth and I was going to demonstrate it for her. But it¡¯s really loud and I didn¡¯t want to scare you all,¡± I explained.

    ¡°Ooh, I want to see. One second!¡± Kassandra chirped and slithered faster back to the tent.

    Shayla rolled her eyes, her antennae bopping back and forth in amusement, as she followed Kassandra. Rieka paused though, studying the weapon in my hand.

    ¡°How come you¡¯ve never mentioned guns to us before, Liam?¡± Rieka asked gently. ¡°For that matter, why not use one?¡±

    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°I only got the Dimensional Pocket recently. Before that, I couldn¡¯t even bring anything with me,¡± I answered slowly. ¡°And as to why¡­ well I have reservations about showing it off and maybe throwing off the development timeline of your world. Guns caused a massive amount of chaos in my world. Ended a lot of royal lines and empires.¡±

    ¡°But it¡¯s so small¡­¡± Rieka muttered as she continued to study the pistol in my hand from a respectful distance.

    ¡°No it¡¯s not! Liam is hu¡ªoh you were talking about something else,¡± Kassandra interjected as she slithered up behind me and threw her arms over my shoulders to pull me back into her. The little dwarf lamia didn¡¯t put her mass into it, so the gesture only tugged me about a little bit rather than pulling me right off my seat.

    ¡°Okay, let him demonstrate. I¡¯m really curious what it does!¡± Jane protested, her left foot tapping on the ground in irritation.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be really loud. Please, all of you, cover or plug your ears for me?¡± I asked and waited for the girls to comply. Since I couldn¡¯t cover my own ears with my hands, I just used Shape-Shifting to put a scale barrier over them instead.

    In the muffled silence that followed, I took aim at the branch I had earlier and carefully pulled the trigger.

    The roar of the weapon firing was more of a rumble I felt up my arm. The vastly increased strength I had meant that the recoil was negligible and the weapon never strayed off target. My target, the wrist-thick branch, exploded into broken shards and the end tumbled free.

    I restored my hearing a moment later to hear the boom of the weapon firing echoing down the mountainside and winced.

    Remembered my girls, but I bet that scared the hell out of anyone else on the mountain or nearby. Oh well, it¡¯s just one shot. I doubt anyone could use it to find us anyway.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t even see what happened. There was just a flash from the tip there and the branch broke free,¡± Rieka muttered in wonder and I shrugged. I flicked open the cylinder and pulled out the spent casing, showing it to Rieka.

    ¡°The bullet, that¡¯s this part at the tip, is all that came out. But it was moving at hundreds of feet per second. Bullets like this can punch right through plate armor and fly thousands of feet.¡±

    My explanation didn¡¯t need to go further, as Rieka¡¯s already light skin paled to a chalky white color. I could tell she had recognized the implications.

    The other three girls just stared in surprise as I quickly loaded the other rounds back into the gun and then flipped it into my Dimensional Pocket.

    ¡°I have it just in case, but I hope I never need to use it. The only reason I¡¯d bring more with me would be if Rieka¡¯s mum¡ª¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Rieka cut me off sharply, her pointed ears flicking upright from where she¡¯d had them laid flat to her skull. Her expression of fear had hardened into one of determination. ¡°Do not tell my mother about these, do not show them to her. Just don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Rieka, if it was between seeing you and your family getting hurt and unleashing the hell that is modern firearms on the world?¡± I replied, meeting her icy blue eyes calmly and making it clear that I wouldn¡¯t hesitate to abuse the power if needed.

    My princess grimaced and her ears laid back again in frustration.

    ¡°It would change the face of warfare as we know it. If the designs or even one of them was captured by the wrong people, then they would likely roll right over top of many other kingdoms in an unstoppable wave if they could make enough of these guns,¡± Kassandra muttered in horror.

    I turned in place and wrapped my arm around Kassandra¡¯s waist, pulling her around me and into my lap. The dwarf lamia didn¡¯t resist the gesture, wriggling forward on her scaled tail to settle in and then wrap herself around me, seeking comfort at the horrors she was imagining now.

    ¡°And I¡¯d do it if it was necessary to protect any of you,¡± I muttered into Kassandra¡¯s curls, drawing in a deep breath of the musky, cinnamon scent of her hair. I felt Kassandra¡¯s coils tense to give me a squeezing hug from my calves to my hips while her arms wrapped around my chest.

    ¡°Then it¡¯ll be up to us to not ever put you in a position to need to do that,¡± Rieka said firmly and I glanced back to my blonde lover. She was staring intently at me with an odd look on her face, but it melted into an affectionate smile.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know about the rest of you, but I could do with some dinner,¡± Jane said after the silence stretched on for a few more moments. ¡°Liam and I made stew, and he promised me sweets afterwards.¡±

    At the mention of sweets, all the girls grew more animated and talk resumed on more general topics for the day.

    Kassandra remained draped over my lap the whole time, while the other girls made it a point to sit as close as they could. There were a lot of affectionate and casual touches, even from Jane who looked torn between asking more questions to satiate her curiosity and regretting having brought it up.

    <><><>

    Waking up buried in women was as amusing this time as it was when it happened previously. This time, it was Shayla who lay on top of me, the lushly figured moth woman draped on my chest and using it as a pillow while her wings spread to each side under the blankets to keep the others warm. Rieka on my left and Kassandra on my right kept me pinned. Jane was still pretending to be my helmet though, which was adorable in its own way.

    Since we had to get moving though, we weren¡¯t able to linger as much as I would have liked. It took a bit of prodding, but the cake donuts that I had set aside for breakfast helped salve any morning grumps, even from Kassandra who was not normally a morning person due to the cold.

    Packing up the tent was even quicker with all five of us working to do it before we made one last trip down into the ruins to check that sealed door.

    ¡°Should we leave the entrance open for the queen¡¯s people?¡± Jane asked as we strode down the long hallway to the ancient station.

    ¡°No,¡± Rieka was quick to assert. ¡°I¡¯ll leave a marker in the grass, like a few stones strategically placed, but I don¡¯t want to risk someone else stumbling in here before my mother¡¯s people can reach it.¡±

    ¡°Do you think she¡¯ll want us to show her folk the way here?¡± Shayla asked distractedly.

    The moth woman had her charcoal and notebook out again, carefully sketching as she walked along. It looked like she was drafting an image of the hallway right now.

    ¡°It¡¯s possible, but unlikely. I intend to give them extensive directions so that she can keep things under wraps. If needed though, I can come out here on horseback to show them during the week,¡± Rieka said with a shrug.

    ¡°Not without me,¡± I said pointedly and Rieka shot me a smile.

    ¡°Like I¡¯d go anywhere without my guardian.¡± Her answer was so smooth that it immediately neutralized any irritation I¡¯d had and I just nodded to her while my heart swelled with affection for the wolfish princess.

    Arriving on the station platform, I gave the room another pointed scan to ensure it was safe before the girls came onto it. We made a beeline for the sealed door to the side of the platform and Kassandra set to work with Jane and Rieka¡¯s help. Shayla flipped back to her sketch of the station and went about filling in as many details as she could while I stood watch over everyone.

    Kassandra spent a good thirty minutes setting up the runic effects that would neutralize the protections on the door. She double and triple checked her notes and then had both Jane and Rieka check it as well before the three women empowered different parts of the array.

    The shimmering on the door faded as if someone had poured oil over it abruptly and all three of the girls gave sighs of relief.

    ¡°With reactions like that, I am a little concerned that you weren¡¯t sure it would work,¡± I said warily as I stepped past the girls to check the door.

    ¡°We weren¡¯t,¡± Shayla answered after I had already pressed a hand to the door and gave it a push. It swung slightly then clicked against the jamb, refusing to go further. ¡°But it¡¯s impossible to be really sure. We were mostly sure that it would work fine.¡±

    ¡°How sure?¡± I asked, suppressing a growl before wiggling a finger into the crack and giving the door a tug.

    ¡°Mostly,¡± Kassandra repeated with a cheeky grin when I turned my unimpressed look on her. ¡°If it didn¡¯t work, the door would have kept glowing. We were sure enough that it wouldn¡¯t backfire, which is why we risked it.¡±

    ¡°Warn me next time, okay?¡± I got the door open far enough to get hold of it and then pulled it back, allowing the overhead lights from the station to fill the hallway.

    Like most of the rest of the underground structure, it was made of smooth stone with the inset lights set high on the wall to either side. The passage turned after only four feet and vanished off to the left and out of sight.

    I led the way in silently, peeking around the corner to ensure that there wasn¡¯t anything threatening, but the tunnel only went for another ten or so feet before terminating at another metal door, this one with a heavily tarnished metal sign set in the middle with raised lettering on it.

    I snorted in amusement and relaxed, the girls responding similarly to me at my actions.

    ¡°Well, what does it say?¡± Kassandra demanded after a long moment of waiting and I turned to smile down at my dwarf lamia.

    ¡°Potentially something really useful. I get why it was so heavily locked up though,¡± I said.

    Kassandra pouted up at me, her slitted eyes squinting in irritation while her bottom lip stuck out in annoyance.

    ¡°What does the sign say, Liam?¡± my dwarf lamia demanded.

    I debated teasing her more, but decided it would be better not to wind her up too much. No knowing what she might do as revenge.

    ¡° ¡®Parts Storage.¡¯ Come on, let''s have a look inside.¡± My words triggered thoughtful expressions on all four, but Rieka¡¯s eyebrows went up a moment later as she likely came to the same idea as I did.

    The door was locked, but it gave in to pressure from my Manipulate Element ability shaping the lock out of the way when Kassandra confirmed the door wasn¡¯t locked.

    Inside the door was another large room that had tools hanging from pegs on the walls. Plates of preformed iron rusted quietly in the corner while bins of gizmos sat beside buckets of waldos and trays of dohickies. I had no idea what any of them were for, but there was a good supply of them in here.

    ¡°I bet this is where they stored everything needed to maintain the trains. Though I¡¯m surprised that they had it out here and not at the complex,¡± I muttered, poking through the tools that hung on the wall. Wrenches looked the same no matter where you went, but these were made of corroded iron and it was clear that this place had not been as well shielded from the passage of time as other locations.

    ¡°I¡¯m not. If they dug into the mountain from here, they¡¯d need to store supplies close at hand to run the trains back and forth. Mines work on the same purpose. You keep a set deep inside for quick repairs, but why transport everything deep if you don¡¯t have to?¡± Kassandra answered from where she inspected rusty bolts in a crate by the wall.

    ¡°How do you know that?¡± Jane asked curiously.

    ¡°I¡¯ve helped my parents set up operations for a few,¡± Kassandra responded with a shrug.

    A squeal of metal on metal made us all jump and spin to look at its source.

    ¡°Found them!¡± Rieka crowed from one corner and all of us hurried to see what it was that the princess was talking about.

    Set into the underside of one large counter was a thick, armored box. Time and rust had warped the box enough that she¡¯d been able to force it open using one of the wrenches from the wall.

    While most of the other metal in the room had been corroded by time and moisture, what lay within the locked panel glittered in the light with high polish and the oil-spill sheen of mana. Five of the strange, misshapen bars sat in slots on a faded wooden rack.

    ¡°What were those called again?¡± Kassandra asked and I reached in to fish out one of the silver objects and inspected it carefully. Unlike the first one I¡¯d held, it was only lightly tarnished, so it was easy to make out the inscription on the side. I snickered and tapped the countertop with it. The mana infusion to the metal making it shimmer like a soap bubble.

    ¡°Samoflange.¡±