《Ins and Outs of Nature Magic》


 A Whole New World To Get Used To

    Roge started awake as his alarm goes off, briefly looking around in a panic before settling down as the memories of the last week go through his mind. He sighed and glanced down at his scaled hands, still looking unnatural to him even after a week of waking up to it.


    The world had been normal at first, his job as a programmer letting him work from home after the pandemic started. Normal, everyday Joe with a bit of a paunch to his stomach and his skin looking a bit too greasy from being inside and not showering often enough. At 28, people though he was a bit lonely, but he¡¯d never understood why people looked for a partner, frankly. He¡¯d had enough fulfillment with his job and interesting projects to code.


    But then everything changed when¡­ well no one had a word for the event, it spreading too fast and leaving almost everyone ignorant of its effects. The most Roge had heard was a company had been working on micro machines for medical purposes and there was some kind of breach in the lab. Whatever had happened, the machines took one look at the wider world and changed it. Having some apparent fascination with DND, people now were a range between elves, dwarves, orcs, and various other mythical creatures. The landscape changed to that of medieval times, even magic somehow manifesting in a select few people. Of course, to everyone, it had always been like that, the machines changing memories and perceptions to fit everyone into the world with no fuss.


    All except one odd dragonkin.


    Roge looked himself in the mirror above his dresser, taking in his blue and green scale coloring, long ass tail coming out of his backside, his snout that looked strangely canine to his eyes, and the long white horns curling back over his sapphire blue hair. Some of the modifications had gone through for him, as he piloted his new body almost as well as the old. It felt natural and strangely even more at home than his previous body. He even had almost no fat around his lanky frame, this world¡¯s job keeping him pretty active instead of sitting at a computer all the time. His memories, however, stayed unchanged no matter how hard he tried to fit in, a transparent panel popping up next to his face in the mirror to show why.


    Status Screen


    Name: Roge Youngston


    Age: 28


    Species: Dragonkin


    Class: Novice Gardener


    Strength: Low


    Dexterity: Above Average


    Agility: Below Average


    Constitution: Average


    Intelligence: High


    Charisma: Below Average


    Abilities - [Fold]


    Draconic Breath


    Static Mind


    Nature Magic


    Skills - [Unfold]


    Static Mind: Having a brain so immutable to outside change, no spell or magical effect can change it, keeping memories and thoughts intact, even under extreme mental assault.


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    If he¡¯d any say over the matter, he¡¯d honestly have done without the effect Static Mind had over him. Being able to fit in with the new world and being none the wiser sounded better than trying to fake his way along. He flicked the little screen away from his vision, focusing for a second to pull on his clothes from his inventory. A pretty neat perk, in his opinion, was the little pocket space he could keep his belongings in, changing from the boxer briefs he slept in to a green shirt, jeans, and his well worn boots. The jeans obviously had to have a hole for his tail, which felt odd for the first day too have a hole in his ass, but he¡¯d gotten used to it.


    After making sure everything was on correctly, he headed out of his room, now living in his parents¡¯ inn instead of his own apartment. It was a little humiliating to know at first, Roge being very used to having his own space. He¡¯d found out, though, that with programming no longer being a thing, he¡¯d not had his same job either. He now worked in a small smoke shop, selling various smoking apparatuses and herbs. It had its upsides, but he honestly missed the fast paced creativity of his old job.


    ¡°Roge, my man!¡± a voice called out to him when he reached the ground floor, his friend Fred waving at him from across the tavern space. The wolfkin grinned with his tongue hanging out the side of his maw, looking like a less frightening werewolf from some of the games Roge had played. He walked over and sat down with his friend, thankfully being a carryover from before the change. He didn¡¯t know how he would react if all his friends had been swapped out for other people.


    As Roge sat down, Fred slides over a wooden mug filled with coffee, his friend grinning even wider as the dragonkin takes his first sip. ¡°Sleep better this time man?¡± he asks, the wolfkin¡¯s smile dimming slightly.


    ¡°Yeah. Guess so,¡± Roge stated with a shrug, taking another long pull of his caffeine nectar. Glancing at another part of his stats screen, he saw a Well Rested buff counting down with another hour or so to go, giving him a boost to his stamina. He routinely ignores the Caffeine Addict debuff as he dismissed the screen, glancing back at his friend. ¡°Finally got Well Rested, so that seems like a good sign.¡±


    Fred nodded at this, leaning in to speak softly. ¡°You¡¯re handling all of this better than I could. I wouldn¡¯t have even believed you if it weren¡¯t for that ability you have.¡± The wolfkin made a face, somehow looking sympathetic instead of terrifying. ¡°I can¡¯t imagine not remembering my entire life until now.¡±


    Fred had been instrumental to helping Roge navigate everything, him being the first person Roge told about his memory problems. They¡¯d been close ever since they became friends in high school, leading him to be one of the only people Roge trusts. Well¡­ Roge winces internally, The only people I trust in this world.


    ¡°Let¡¯s see what quests I have for today,¡± Roge murmurs, quickly changing the subject as another screen pulls up.


    Active Quests [Day]:


    Work (8:00AM-4:00PM) [Location]


    Probation Meeting (5:00PM) [Location]


    Nature Experiment - -


    Roge nods at the quests, Fred having filled him in on where he worked and what the Probation Meeting had been about on the first day. He could look at his quests for the next week and month if he wanted to, but nothing had been out of the ordinary the previous day and so he didn¡¯t bother.


    He¡¯d imagined a world of magic before everything, wishing for fantastical things and quests to go slay dangerous creatures. He¡¯d even tried his hand at roleplaying once or twice, but this reality paled in comparison. Every person with any kind of magic ability had to start out training at the church, otherwise they had to make an oath to never use their magic and had monthly sessions with a priest to make sure they weren¡¯t using their powers ¡®incorrectly¡¯. Everyone had a set path on which they could use the magic, the path dictated by the church and apparently hadn¡¯t appealed to ¡®himself¡¯. So he¡¯d woken up on that first day very excited to use his Nature Magic, only to find out he¡¯d be jailed and fined if he ever was caught casting a Spell.


    He¡¯d been limited to only using the raw Mana he had, using it with his Draconic Breath ability to help the plants grow at work. It was tedious and a bit simple, but without Spells, there was no other kind of magic he could do. Supposedly. He¡¯d had an idea on how to do more with his magic, the strange screens agreeing with him when they presented the Nature Experiment quest over the weekend.


    He¡¯d been staring off into space for too long, apparently, Fred starting up a conversation about the tournament coming up in the nearby Holy College. Roge smiled as he drinks in the details, glad that his small college town had stayed that way. Made for more interesting events and a lot more travelers coming through to hawk their wares to the students. The next month had an annual event, apparently, where multiple schools sent their best and brightest to participate in a tournament/test of skills. Combat focused mages would battle it out in the arena, whereas the craft minded ones would compete to find the best breakthrough in their field. Sanctioned breakthroughs of course, each student needing their project approved by the church at large.


    Roge sat there for a good half hour listening and occasionally commenting, keeping an eye on the clock in his status. At 7:00AM, he knew he needed to leave for work, wanting to arrive early to start his experiment.

 Magic

    Saying goodbye to the wolfkin, Roge checked his inventory screen to make sure everything was in order for the day. His inventory wasn¡¯t large, but it had enough room to fit a small closet inside. Nodding to himself after making sure his notebook, pencils, and 2 spare sets of clothing were still there, he headed out of the main door to the main square of the city. The houses had not changed shape all that much, as well as the layout of the town, but gone were all of the modern sidings, sidewalks, etc. In their place was cobble streets, various carriages moving along the middle, and all stone and brick houses and shops. Every half a block or so was the streetlamps, though those were all powered by magic when it got dark.


    Strangely enough, though, it was never the houses and strange streets that hit him the hardest about walking into work, it was the things the carriages were being pulled by. Instead of horses, massive wolves, cats, and other four legged creatures of all shapes carted them. Because of the magic of the world, any type of monster could be physically strong, thus any could be a load-bearing animal. He even had seen one bear the previous week, though he assumed it was rare as the wolves and cats were more common.


    He¡¯d at the very least become used to the various people walking past, though the road wasn¡¯t overly busy that day. Elves, orcs and dwarves mainly looked human, though elves and orcs had their pointed ears, orcs had their slightly bigger fangs, and the dwarves were all half the size of them. They were in the minority, though, as most of the town was taken up by beastkin. Various people would catch his eye, some looking like a human version of a deer, fox, and many other kinds of animals. Some even looked like him, though he was told dragonkin were very rare. Most were crockin or some other kind of reptile, not given the same breath ability he had. His was apparently was specific to dragonkin, which he didn¡¯t see as very fair, but the other species had their own perks, so he guessed it all evened out.


    He decided to head in a straight path to his work today, every other day moving in a more roundabout pattern to see as much of the city as he could. This time though, he passed by a building under construction, something he hadn¡¯t seen before. Even though he was in a bit of a rush, he stopped to stare at the magic at play, watching the various spells fly through the air to manipulate the different materials. With the right crew, he surmised, you could finish a building like that in a day. He made a promise to himself then to see if the city planning had any kind of listing for what was being built when. It had been his first glimpse of spells actively in public after all.


    Roge pulls himself out of the Spellwork, turning back to his path for work and soon arriving through the slightly open back door. The space was somewhat cramped, shelves lining the shop floor with various herbs and smoking paraphernalia. It had some kind of system, but the owner of the shop never let him know exactly what that was. His main job was to help stock the floor and to tend to the plants in the greenhouse out back. Even without being able to use Nature Spells, his Draconic Breath ability gave him a slight edge in that regard that made his workdays boring, but mostly easy. Or so he found.


    ¡°Well you¡¯re here early!¡± a voice sounds, the person it belonged to coming in from the greenhouse. ¡°You look better today son. Finally feeling a bit more at home?¡± Madam Madrid had been the second person Roge had told about his memory problems, though not having told her the cause. It had been pretty obvious when he had no idea what to do on his first day the previous week, causing him to have to explain to a complete stranger. She¡¯d grown on him since, but his previous programming job had no boss like her. She was a bit shorter than him, although not by much. Stocky had been the first word that popped into his head, her girth more muscles than any fat. Of course, being an orc, stockiness came naturally to her, even with the green skin making her look constantly sick.


    ¡°Possibly,¡± he muttered, glancing down at the rug behind the counter. ¡°I never know how you get enough sleep with the night hours you keep. I just now got the Well Rested buff and that was after a week of trying to sleep for 8 hours.¡±


    Madam Madrid scoffs at this, landing a solid pat on the back that almost made Roge fall over. ¡°With how often you talk about my nightly business, I¡¯m shocked you haven¡¯t taken up my offer on one or two of my products. Even for just a¡­¡± She trailed off, giving Roge a smirk to balance his glare. ¡°Just a suggestion son. Now get back to the back. I know you didn¡¯t come here early just for me.¡± With a smack to his ass, Roge complied, grumbling about nosy bosses as the greenhouse door closed behind him.


    Here he could actually relax, taking the time to go around the greenhouse to Inspect the various plants. Madam Madrid mainly specialized in smokables, both cannabis and tobacco taking up a third of the greenhouse, but she also sold various teas and medicinal packs that went over well with the patrons. Making sure everything was in order was paramount to having good products, which made his skill even more important.


    Inspect: See more detail on what you look at.


    Cost: Very Low Mana


    Specialties: Plant-life (Nature Magic)


    Tobacco Rank 2


    Abilities: Smokable(2), Stimulant(1), Toxic(1)


    Status: Healthy Adult


    Tobacco Rank 3


    Abilities: De-Stress(3), Smokable(2), Stimulant(1), Toxic(1)


    Status: Healthy Adult


    Cannabis Rank 2


    Abilities: Mellow(1), Smokable(2)


    Status: Healthy Adult


    Cannabis Rank 3


    Abilities: Anti-Depressant(3), Mellow(1), Smokable(2)


    Status: Healthy Adult


    Roge nodded at the various stats of the plants, some of them varying in Rank, though they had gotten better in slowly breeding the lower ranks out or upgrading them. Obviously they only sold products of the Rank 3 versions, the added effects welcomed by the customers and not costing any more in maintenance. They had not found any other plants that developed the Smokable(2) Trait at a higher Rank, though, which left the other herbs and such only useful in consumables like tea and foods. And this is what he hoped to get in his little experiment.


    Taking a deep breath, Roge took a few seconds to fill his lungs with Nature Magic, saturating the air inside before blowing it out slowly like he would blow through a straw. The Nature Magic ballooned across the greenhouse, Roge turning his head to saturate all of the cannabis and tobacco plants. It helped them to grow stronger and rank up easier, allowing the store to sell more product than they would normally with a greenhouse that small. He couldn¡¯t put that idea on himself though, Madam Madrid having told him that¡¯s why she had hired him after watching him help grow his mother¡¯s garden as a kid. His next idea, though, was all him, though he wasn¡¯t sure the idea would work.


    He then made his way to his own little plot, Madam Madrid having given him one to experiment on. In the last week he had grown several plants to maturity, though having only planted a tobacco plant the previous Friday. It had barely grown and he hoped it would enable a success. After all, young things tended to adapt better than things that were fully grown.


    He stopped at his peppermint plant, grinning as he read the Inspection for it.


    Peppermint Rank 2


    Abilities: Drinkable(1), Detox(2), Stomach Calmer(1)


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    Status: Healthy Adult


    Roge looked at the status for a moment, his grin widening now that it was an adult plant. With the system effecting things, only adult plants could be harvested for materials, as he took advantage of with plucking a leaf off of the stem.


    Peppermint Leaf Rank 2


    Used in teas, this leaf helps keep the stomach calm. Rank 2: Helps the body with lowering toxic levels of harmful chemicals. (Serving: 1 cup)


    Nodding, Roge takes the leaf over to the Rank 3 tobacco plant, taking a moment to check it still had Status: Healthy Sprout while trying to calm his nerves. It may not work the first time after all. He then stares at the peppermint leaf as he takes a small breath, only saturating his lungs with the tiniest amount of Nature Magic and blows it on the leaf, watching it soak up the magic greedily. Good sign there¡­ Roge breathes in again, this time focusing on the leaf and the magic inside of it. At first nothing happens, causing him to somewhat lose hope, but trying a couple more times. Then something happens.


    The magic saturating the leaf peels off, leaving the plant-life to brown and crumple, quickly dying in between his fingers. This takes him so much by surprise that Roge coughs, though no Nature Magic escapes his lungs. On closer inspection, the Magic was no longer in his lungs, some pocket right next to the organs keeping it safe from accidental exposure. Hoping that was a good sign and moving over to the Sprout, it then takes him a few tries to try and release the Magic, finding he had to use long unused muscles to squeeze the tiny pouch. It felt really weird, almost as weird as the new muscles he had for his tail. He aimed it mostly at the tobacco plant, though the magic wafts over it and dissipates in the air instead of being absorbed.


    Trying with another leaf, this one only takes two tries to absorb the magic, though this time he tries saturating the leaf with a bit more Magic than before. After a third try to breathe it out, he finally sees he effect he wanted, the magic absorbing into the plant rather than dissipating. A use of Inspect practically makes him jump for joy, almost missing the notifications that pop up after.


    Magic Tobacco (Non-Toxic) Rank 3


    Abilities: De-Stress(3), Smokable(2), Stimulant(1)


    Status: Healthy Sprout


    Inspect Skill increased in Rank! ¡ú Rank 2


    Draconic Magic Skill Tree Unlocked!


    Draconic Accelerated Growth Skill Unlocked! (Draconic Magic)


    Draconic Magic Plant Destruction Skill Unlocked! (Draconic Magic)


    Draconic Magic Plant Creation Skill Unlocked! (Draconic Magic)


    Detox Rank 2 Magic Trait Added to Magic Trait Library (Draconic Magic)


    Trait Slots Used: 1/10


    New Class Available: Draconic Mage (Plant)


    It was a lot for Roge to take in, especially with some of the skills being very long in length with the Draconic modifier. He pushed that out of his head however, pulling up his Expanded Status to find it now being very crowded.


    Expanded Status Screen


    Name: Roge Youngston


    Age: 28


    Species: Dragonkin


    Class: Novice Gardener (1 available)


    Strength: Low


    Dexterity: Above Average


    Agility: Below Average


    Constitution: Average


    Intelligence: High


    Charisma: Below Average


    Abilities - [Fold]


    Draconic Breath


    Static Mind


    Nature Magic


    Skills - [Fold]


    Gardening Rank 2


    Inspect Rank 2


    Draconic Accelerated Growth Rank 1


    Draconic Magic Plant Destruction Rank 1


    Draconic Magic Plant Creation Rank 1


    Quests ¨C [Unfold]


    Skill Trees -


    Gardening Rank 1


    Draconic Magic Rank 1


    Magic Trait Library (1/10) -


    Detox Rank 2


    Roge had never even heard of Magic Traits before, let alone known that there was an entire Skill Tree relegated to Draconic Magic of all things. Of course, considering he¡¯d never gone to any school past the normal one after age 14, he could be forgiven for that lack of knowledge.


    Draconic Magic Skill Tree -


    Rank 1 -


    Obtained: Draconic Accelerated Growth, Draconic Magic Plant Destruction, Draconic Magic Plant Creation


    Available: Unknown


    Very helpful that¡­


    Draconic Accelerated Growth: Plants will grow faster after absorbing your natural breath.


    Cost: Average Mana


    Uses: Once per day per plant, Seed ¡ú Adult in (7/Rank) Days (7 Days)


    Draconic Magic Plant Destruction: Deconstruct a plant that has absorbed your breath, adding one of its Traits to your Library.


    Cost: Low Mana


    Warning: Destroys plant targeted.


    Draconic Magic Plant Creation: Use a Trait from your library to add to a plant.


    Cost: Low Mana


    Warning: Only usable on a Sprout or younger.


    Roge cocks his head at the descriptions, a wide grin coming back to his face. Normally someone outside of the Church was disallowed from learning magic, but he¡¯d looked up the laws the week prior, hoping to get around that. It only prevented him from learning Spells, lest he be locked up for breaking the law. Skills on the other hand, had no such restrictions in that regard, otherwise that would be a whole other nightmare to try to control. Or something like that, Roge had barely understood the book that tried to explain the history of the Spell ban. What he had read though, specifically mentioned that Skills that were magical in nature were not banned in the slightest.


    ¡°Watcha staring at son?¡± Madam¡¯s voice piped up behind him, causing him to nearly jump out of his skin before glaring at the orc.


    ¡°See for yourself,¡± he stated after a moment, calming his heart down as she used Inspect on his tobacco plant, her eyes widening as she did so. As she stared off into space like he had, Roge quietly used his new skill to Accelerate the plant for the day.


    ¡°You¡­ how did you¡­ please tell me that is not a Spell,¡± she finally sputtered out sharply, Roge quickly giving her access to his Skill list to assuage her worry. ¡°Oh good. For a second there I thought I was going to have to get my favorite employee arrested. Don¡¯t scare me like that son.¡±


    Roge nodded at this, a little relieved after how scary she had sounded. ¡°Nope. Skill usage all the way in that regard. Though once I get this guy fully grown in a few days, we should have a new product. Non-Toxic cigarettes would probably go over pretty well.¡±


    Madam Madrid nods at his comment, clearly not paying attention as her eyes grow sharper on his Skill list. ¡°You have just earned yourself a raise young man. Now,¡± she refocuses, sharp eyes focusing on Roge now, ¡°you go catalog the other plant traits while I send a request to my seed contact. We need more traits from other plants, as well as try and see if you can transfer flavors. No need to just stop at effects my dear.¡± Roge¡¯s eyes widen at that suggestion, remembering his question from earlier in the week as to why she¡¯d not made flavored cigarettes. It turned out that it required a whole new set of processes that she had not been interested in doing, including soaking the processed tobacco. Even then, most didn¡¯t work as the flavor instantly burnt up after lighting it, making the process almost worse than useless.


    Nodding to himself as Madam Madrid races off to the front, Roge pulls out the notebook and pencil to start cataloging the various traits of the plants, idly wondering if he could effect wood just the same. Maybe a pencil that didn¡¯t need lead, but wrote on its own? Focus.

 Not Vines That Grapple To Me!!

    ¡°Despite the memory loss, me hiring you was the best decision I think I¡¯ve made, son,¡± Madam Madrid commented, having waited for the last customer to leave. ¡°I assume you¡¯re done with the cataloging?¡± A Nod. ¡°Good. Give me that list and I¡¯ll come up with a decision on what we want to add.¡± Roge grinned at this, handing over the piece of paper before looking around the shop.


    ¡°Leave the stocking to me today son, you¡¯ve deserved a bit of a break.¡± Checking the time, Roge nodded at the statement, it having taken him a good hour to list all of the traits.


    ¡°Works for me, I have another experiment I wanted to work on.¡± Madam Madrid only raised an eyebrow at that and waved him to go back. He grinned back and quickly headed to his experimental plot, eyes focusing on the vines he had set up off to the one side, as well as the venus flytraps he¡¯d set up next to them.


    Creeper Vine Rank 2


    Abilities: Cling(1), Strangle(2)


    Status: Healthy Sprout (10/10)


    Venus Flytrap Rank 2


    Abilities: Munch(1), Sensing(2)


    Status: Healthy Sprout (9/10)


    Roge noded at both descriptions, his eyes snagging on the new addition to the Status but decided to ignore it. He blew out his customary cloud of Magic at the venus flytrap, not having to go through the rigmarole of funneling his Magic as he lets the skill do the work. No need to focus anymore to do it, which had interesting combat applications, in his opinion. He then focused on the task at hand, wanting to do something more complex than just adding a trait from one plant to another, rather fusing the two plants. He wasn¡¯t sure it was possible, but that didn¡¯t stop him from trying.


    Focusing on the venus flytrap, he sucked the magic out of it, the whole thing withering in a matter of seconds. No trait notifications popped up, which Roge hoped was a good sign. Next he looked at the creeper vine, visualizing exactly what he wanted. Thicker vines, ones with grabbers on the end that could stick to any surface. Growing, shrinking, and launching at will. Grappling Vine is the name that instantly springs to mind, the idea flowing out of his muzzle along with the Magic and saturating the creeper vines.


    Nothing seems to happen for almost a minute, Roge feeling more and more disappointed as not even the Status changed to anything different. With a sigh, he blew more growing magic on the vines and hoped they would at least look nice enough that he could sell them as decorations. I also need to buy more flytraps. At least I can upgrade them for pest cont¡­


    His musing cut off instantly as the vines shot out at him, the dragon reflexively shielding his chest with his arms. A pained cry escaped his maw as the vines dig deep into the scales, drawing blood that strangely doesn¡¯t fall to the floor. Instead the vines look like they drink it, Roge¡¯s nausea growing as the vines almost Slurp into his arms, dropping to the floor and puking as they wriggle under his skin.


    He laid on the floor breathing heavily for what felt like hours, feeling the vines shifting more under his skin as Madam Madrid finally arrives. Probably not more than a minute then, his panicking mind thought, his breathing slowing as he feels the vines stop. They¡¯re not gone though¡­ He looked at his arms carefully, ignoring Madam Madrid¡¯s voice in favor of feeling his arms with his hands. Claws? Whatever¡­ They looked normal on the outside, minus the not bleeding holes in his skin and the almost magical rate of healing. On the inside though, he could feel the vines creeping inside his muscles, one more bit of pain as they grow through his wrist and wrap around it.


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    Magic Grappling Vine Rank 2


    Abilities: Rapid Extension (1), Grapple(1), Parasitic(2)


    Status: Sickly Sprout (5/10)


    Parasitic Rank 2: This plant sustains itself off of the flesh of a host, gaining energy from the host¡¯s metabolism. If low on energy, it will instead eat fat, followed by muscle, draining its host of life if they cannot feed it. Doubles number of calories needed per day.


    Never alone. Got it,¡± he muttered, the vines finally stopping their creepy movement in his arms long enough for him to focus on the room. At that he flinched again, finding that Madam Madrid was not the only person in the room.


    Of course that goes without saying that if you used a Spell to make that, you¡¯re going right to jail,¡± the cleric stated, giving Roge the stink eye. Standing just over sex foot, the hawk-like face always gave him the chills, looking like someone took a bird¡¯s head and smashed it on a mostly human body. The red and black feathers somehow clashed with his white and gold robe, Roge always unsure how he always looked like a walking fashion disaster.


    Of course Paul is here¡­ he silently fumed, taking a second to share his Extended Status with the avian. He took the time to change his Class to Draconic Mage (Plant), knowing he¡¯d have access to more Magic and control over the plants. Paul clicked through his Status silently, his feather hands looking almost unnatural as they bend around. ¡°Everything above board officer?¡± Roge asked as he tried to keep his voice innocent instead of snarky.


    Paul had no problem being snarky himself however, sneering down at the dragon. ¡°For now.¡± He then cocked his head to the side and Roge has to fight another flinch at the broken looking neck. ¡°You¡¯re going to need to pay if you want to get rid of that infection though. Just because you¡¯re my charge does not mean I do shit for free.¡± He then briskly walked back out of the greenhouse, leaving Roge to look up at the orc.


    Status being the main contributors to that feeling. He was glad Paul had found no problems with his Skill, having half expected to be arrested on the spot for the Spell-like Skills. The only good thing was him mentioning the infection, Roge glad to know he could simply pay for a healing to get rid of the grappling vines.


    Early lunch for the win¡­?

 Fruits of His Labor

    After lunch Roge finally took at look at his new Status, specifically what effects his class change had.


    Status Screen


    Name: Roge Youngston


    Age: 28


    Species: Dragonkin


    Class: Novice  (1 available)


    Strength: Low


    Dexterity: Above Average


    Agility: Average


    Constitution: Above Average


    Intelligence: Very High


    Charisma: Below Average


    Draconic Magic Skill Tree


    Rank 1 -


    Obtained: Draconic Accelerated Growth, Draconic Magic Plant Destruction, Draconic Magic Plant Creation


    Available:


    Defense (Choose 2): Leaf Armor, Plant Infection (Defense), Vine Wall, Root In Place


    Mobility (Choose 1): Plant Infection (Mobility), Nature Walk


    Utility (Choose 3): Nature Senses, Familiar (Plant), Plant Infection (Utility), Flower Sentries


    Roge blinked at the various options, having only pulled up the parts of his Status that had changed. The changes to his physical and mental stats were not much of a surprise, though, Fred having told him additional Classes and Ranking them up had a rare chance of shifting them. The Skill Tree however, had way more options than he expected. Having no combat options made sense, that apparently being in the purview of Spells for the most part, though it still rankled him. It meant he would have to rely on weapons or hand-to-hand combat for most of his damage output. He did pull up the descriptions of the skills just to see what each did.


    Leaf Armor: Pushes Plant Magic to the surface of your body to create a lattice of leaves, acting like scale mail armor of the same rank.


    Cost: Low Mana


    Duration: 1 hour per Rank


    Plant Infection (Defense): Using Plants designed to live in the body, you can instruct them to reinforce your body¡¯s defenses.


    Effect: +1 Defense & +1 Resistance per Rank


    Cost: Very Low Mana, -1 Plant Health


    Duration: 1 hour per Rank


    Vine Wall: Grow temporary vines right in front of you, creating a wall of Plant Magic to block physical and magical attacks.


    Cost: High Mana


    Duration: 50 Health per Rank in Damage taken or 10 minutes


    Root In Place: Grow magic roots into the ground to strengthen yourself.


    Cost: Average Mana


    Duration: 1 minute per Rank


    Plant Infection (Mobility): Using Plants designed to live in the body, you can instruct them to reinforce your body¡¯s mobility.


    Effect: +1 Speed & +1 Flexibility per Rank


    Cost: Very Low Mana, -1 Plant Health


    Duration: 1 hour per Rank


    Nature Walk: Filling your body with Plant Magic, the flora around you will mistake you as one of their own.


    Effect: +2 Speed Per Rank


    Cost: Very Low Mana


    Duration: 1 hour per Rank


    Nature Senses: Use the Nature around you to experience more.


    Cost (Focused): Very Low Mana


    Familiar (Plant): Made of pure Nature Mana, your familiar helps with Spells and Skills as it grows up.


    Plant Infection (Utility): Using Plants designed to live in the body, you can instruct them to reinforce your body¡¯s perceptions.


    Effect: +2 Perception per Rank


    Cost: Very Low Mana, -1 Plant Health


    Duration: 1 hour per Rank


    Flower Sentries: Grow sentries made of pure mana, attacking any hostile in its surroundings.


    Effect: 10 Damage per Rank


    Cost: Average Mana


    Duration: 50 Health per Rank in Damage taken or 10 minutes


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    Roge sighed as he read through the different skill description, knowing he wasn¡¯t getting the full picture of what all they could do. Like when he¡¯d absorbed the entire venus flytrap, the messages couldn¡¯t account for every edge case, only giving what the Skill or Spell was generally used for. For all he knew, the Flower Sentries were almost as tall as him and could physically punt enemies. He did like that he could use the skills for any edge case that fit in their purview, he just wished the descriptions were longer.


    He dismissed the Skill Tree from his view, deciding to handle the skills after his grappling vines were done growing. He wouldn¡¯t need the Plant Infection (Mobility) Skill after all if he could do the same thing with his plants, just custom designing them to fit certain tasks.


    Roge spent the rest of his day doing his job, stocking shelves and occasionally doting over the plants in the greenhouse to make sure their growth went okay. During down times he took out his notebook, writing down different ideas for what he could combine and mix plant wise. Getting drunk after work was a favorite pastime of his, drinking enough to feel relaxed without getting blackout drunk and drinking enough water to not get a hangover the next morning.


    As he woke up, Roge finally feels himself not panic. The draconic face in the mirror finally looked somewhat normal. Things were looking up in that regard. Maybe it was the experimenting with plants? I always did like solving problems with code¡­ He pushed those thoughts out of his head for the moment, giving his infested plants an Accelerate and heading downstairs, not seeing Fred that morning, which was odd, but his friend didn¡¯t tell him everything.


    As he sat drinking his coffee.. er caufee¡­ after an over-sized breakfast, Roge Inspected the grappling vines, excitement rushing through him at the Status.


    Magic Grappling Vine Rank 2


    Abilities: Rapid Extension (1), Grapple(1), Parasitic(2)


    Status: Healthy Adult (7/10)


    It had apparently healed up 2 points of health overnight, bringing it into the upper third of its health and into healthy range. As an adult, he could now use the plant, excited to see if it was all he imagined. He shook his head at that, trying to dispell the images of Spiderman swinging around from his mind. It would never be like that, but he hoped he could at least get up to roof height by swinging.


    Heading out even earlier than the previous day, Roge looked up at the top of the buildings, now a bit nervous at the prospect while looking at the 2-3 story heights. He wasn¡¯t scared of heights like a lot of people were, but a fall from up there could seriously hurt him. Or would it? He had a magic body now. Maybe it was as dangerous as falling off a porch?


    Taking a deep breath, Roge snapped his arm out, a mere thought with the action firing the vine at speed into the lip of the roof of the Inn. The flytrap portion of it instantly sticks to the material perfectly, Roge pulling with his whole body weight not enough to even strain the vine. Acting almost like an extension of his arm, he could feel the entire way up the vine, which looked more like a rope with no leaves. Right. It¡¯s feeding off of me, not the sun.


    Introspection over, Roge pulled the vine back in, launching himself forcefully off the ground and, in his surprise, swinging him roughly into the wall. That¡¯s going to bruise, he grunted, dangling halfway up the wall with several passerby looking at him in fascination. Shaking off the stun, Roge snaps out the vine in his left arm, feeling a slight tug in his chest as it grabs onto the edge of the building next to the Inn, keeping his swinging arc in the street rather than at a wall. Letting go of the Inn, he pulls in the vine to keep himself from smacking into the ground, managing to swing almost horizontally until the middle where he shoots into the air and lets go of the second building. He narrowly missed smashing into the overhang, shooting a vine into the middle of the roof and dragging himself onto it before flopping down from shaky legs.


    The roofs were all mostly flat, allowing foot traffic for people who could get up there. Of course they were made of waterproof and soundproof materials, Roge causing no disturbance with his graceless fall. He always envied the lighter traffic on the roofs and now, with some practice, he could finally do it. A lot of practice he amended, groaning as he gets up from from the roof. Shake it off. You¡¯ve got this.


    ~---~


    With a huff, Roge dropped back down to the street level, his vine retracting mostly back into his arm and wrapping once around his wrist. Almost as long as how much time it normally takes, he thought, checking the time out of the corner of his eye. It¡¯ll get better once I can handle the intersections better. He¡¯d thankfully not smashed that hard into any of the buildings trying to cross streets, getting the hang of it somewhat near the end.


    As he headed into the smoke shop, he spots Madam Madrid behind the counter, prepping some leaves with her magical equipment. He was never sure how one box could dry, cure and shred the tobacco all in the span of 5 minutes, but even her simple explanations started giving him a headache within moments.


    Ah, you¡¯re here son! Almost done rolling your new tobacco. It¡¯ll be a minute before I¡¯m done.¡± He modded at that, sitting down on one of the stools to cool off his sore muscles. He watched her deft hand move through the motions of making the cigarettes, filling up a wooden pack with another box rolling 5-10 all at once. She¡¯d never said what she did to make then before she got the magic boxes, Roge suspecting she had enough money from her nightly work to fun them from the start.


    Once the pack was done, snapped shut, and given Madam Madrid¡¯s nod of approval, she handed it over, Roge feeling another pang of glee at the Status, comparing it to one of the boxes on the shelf.


    Pack of Magic Cigarettes (Non-Toxic) Rank 3


    A favorite break time smokable, these cigarettes help with stress and curbs hunger, all while being relatively harmless to the body.


    Pack of Cigarettes Rank 3


    A favorite break time smokable, these cigarettes help with stress and curbs hunger. Causes a buildup of tar in the lungs and weakens breathing over time.


    Awesome!¡± Roge crowed, returning Madam Madrid¡¯s soft smile with a wide one of his own. ¡°Now that we know it works I can use the seeds from that plant or marinate new plants in the trait, right?¡± Getting up at her nod, Roge rushed into the back with the sound of Madam Madrid¡¯s laughter following him. He had a lot of work to do that day and no other quests to get in his way.

 Unfamiliar Friends

    Swinging across the last intersection, Roge huffed out a breath and dropped down to the work door at the side of the smoke shop. It had taken him almost a week, but he now could swing and run nonstop to his work and shaved the trip down to a quarter of what it used to take. Marching inside, the dragon headed straight to the greenhouse to check on the plants, finding them all healthy and fully grown. After the successful sale of the first carton of nontoxic cigarettes, Madam Madrid had him replant the tobacco with the magic version, all of their cigarette stock going to be replaced in the upcoming days.


    They wanted to slowly bring in other effects, so Madam Madrid had set up the cannabis areas to be one part regular cannabis, one part cannabis to be altered, and another for magic tobacco to be given an additional effect. If the added effects started taking off, including flavored cigarettes, then she said she would expand the greenhouse, allowing for more varieties to be planted without effecting their normal stock.


    For now though, Roge gave the magic tobacco and regular cannabis a bit of Accelerate, transforming them all to Adult status, ready to be harvested. That done with, he noticed a notification off to the side of his vision and pulled it up.


    Draconic Accelerated Growth Skill increased in Rank! ¡ú Rank 2 (7 ¡ú 4 Days)


    Now having cut off nearly half of the time it would normally take to grow plants, Roge was in even more of a good mood, heading out to the front of the store before stopping at a few people standing and chatting with Madam Madrid. A group of 3 people stood there, the first a rather buff and tall tiger, body mostly covered with shining silver armor so the muscular bit was honestly a guess from the rather large paws on the fellow. The second person was an equally as tall elf, the guy skinny as a twig with almost no fat and barely any muscle. He did have a book hooked to his belt, however, Roge recognizing a spellbook, meaning the guy had to be pretty smart to be able to cast most spells. High Intelligence was a need rather than want for book spellcasting. The third person was a deer, draped in tan robes, with no antler nubs so obviously a woman. Sometimes Roge had a hard time telling gender with the more exotic species. He wasn¡¯t exactly sure what class they were, knowing using Inspect on a person was rude without their permission, and their robe gave no clue either. Their casual conversation also did not answer one important question for him.


    Aren¡¯t we closed..? The last thought was cut off, though, as soon as the larger of the group spotted him.


    Roge! Buddy!¡± the tiger practically roared, his deep, resonant voice startling the dragon before he was subsumed in a rather crushing hug. The touch, even muted by the armor the tiger wore, sent unpleasant tingles through Roge¡¯s body, the contact instantly overstimulating his scales.


    Uh.. hey..¡± he muttered, tapping and pushing for the tiger to let him go, which he thankfully did, though he kept close. ¡°How¡¯ve... you been?¡± he asked awkwardly, his nerves sparking at the obvious familiarity.


    Doing great now that we¡¯re home! Even got that Class rank up we were looking for,¡± the tiger said with a grin, Roge strangely finding the grin looking endearing. ¡°Anything interesting with you?¡±


    Well¡­¡± Roge drawls out, looking to Madam Madrid for some assistance.


    Oh come on! You finally did something exciting right? You were always saying you were going to learn Magic. You find any good Skills that could help you?¡±


    Sean,¡± Madam Madrid¡¯s voice rang out, the tiger, Shawn apparently, flinching at the tone and looking hurt to the orc. ¡°We need to have a bit of a discussion. Maybe you should let Roge get to some work while I explain.¡±


    Roge takes the opportunity to flee, rushing back into the greenhouse where he could have a panic attack in peace. More people I was close to? But I don¡¯t remember a Shawn from my life¡­ Someone new? And why did he look so charming¡­?


    ~---~


    What¡¯s wrong with Roge today?¡± Marge the deer asked, her high pitched voice having mostly confusion in it.


    Yeah he never acts that obviously nervous around Sean.¡± The elven Hops tilted his head to the side as he studied Madam Madrid, the orc having a strange look of pity in her eyes as she stares at Sean.


    The tiger just looked at the door that led to the greenhouse as they conversed, a somewhat lost expression on his face. His best friend never acted like that, looking almost scared of the Knight. Sure, Sean was away for brief periods of time on missions for the Guild, but he¡¯d always made time for his friend. To be looked at like a stranger, now that he recognized the look on the dragon, felt like a stab of claws through the chest.


    Who was that?¡± he asked softly, interrupting whatever conversation his teammates were having as he turned to the orc matron.


    Roge the dragon,¡± she replied, looking sure but also defensive of the tiger¡¯s tone.


    Then why did he not know who I am?¡± She sighed at that, giving Sean a regretful look.


    Around 2 weeks ago, right after you all left mind, Roge came into my store like he hadn¡¯t been coming in for work for the last decade. Fred followed along, the two explaining that Roge no longer remembered any of his life.¡± The three adventurers recoiled back at this, horror dawning on the wizard and healer.


    Sure, he remembered some people¡¯s names or personalities,¡± Madam Madrid explained, flicking her hand like that detail wasn¡¯t important, ¡°like recognizing Fred¡¯s name enough to know they were friends, but otherwise it¡¯s like he woke up with a clear slate. I had to spend the first week teaching him how to do his job again, acting exactly like he had when I first hired him at 18. He even didn¡¯t know how to use his Draconic Breath properly, though he picked it up fast enough with the help of muscle memory.¡± Sean covered his mouth at this, thinking of every time Roge had been excited at the Draconic Breath ability. ¡°It¡¯s a good thing that he didn¡¯t know very many people, almost no one noticing that he¡¯s had any change. Even his parents are unaware, and they live under the same roof.¡±


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    His parents never really did care about him after he rejected the church,¡± Sean muttered, Madam Madrid nodding at him.


    Still seems to reject it, which shows how much he¡¯s not really changed. The only thing I noticed is his drive. It took him all of a day to get Draconic Mage as his class.¡± That snapped Sean out of his melancholic thoughts, having never heard of the class but knowing how much Roge had wanted a magical class from the beginning. ¡°A Skill based class as far as I¡¯ve seen, most of the Skills even looking remarkably like Spells. Enough that if he doesn¡¯t register with the Guild soon, I suspect his probation officer might lock him up after his appointment tomorrow.¡±


    We¡¯ll take him today,¡± Sean firmly stated, his two teammates nodding at his decision. ¡°Even if it¡¯s a support class, he still can join our team to keep the heat off of him.¡±


    Even I know he¡¯d be eaten alive in the training of the church, and I usually support Magic classes going there for training.¡± Hops nods his head once, his long ears twitching at the idea of Roge being pummeled with the church¡¯s rules for not fitting in with them.


    You let me on the team with no church training,¡± Marge teased, nudging the elf with her hoof. ¡°We all know you don¡¯t care for some of the rules.¡±


    Madam Madrid looks on with a gentle smile on her face, Sean guessing she¡¯d expected these exact responses. ¡°You¡¯ll need to give him time, though. He doesn¡¯t remember you all, so any familiarity will feel strange to him. Keep that in mind.¡±


    ~---~


    Roge spent the time in the greenhouse mostly staring off into space, his emotions roiling as he picked them apart one by one.


    Anger. The usual fare. Why was he the only person that remembered? He wished he¡¯d been brainwashed like everyone else, just so his life could contain a bit of normal.


    Sadness. He missed his previous job, working on projects of his own design instead of a smoke shop while being hounded by the church for not following their directive.


    Fear. Less recognizable until after he¡¯d acknowledged the other two emotions. It felt like the amnesia Madam Madrid believed, not knowing the people in his life was scary to him. He¡¯d always been afraid of the various mind control stories he found online, enough that the one time he went to a hypnosis show, he couldn¡¯t go under a trance for the life of him. Trust issues didn¡¯t even cover the amount of fear he had over losing control.


    No matter how he looked at the situation, though, he had to let those emotions go for the sake of himself and his ¡®new¡¯ friends. He had Magic now after all, something he had desired since he was a kid reading about wizards flying on broomsticks. His experiments felt close to the thrill of having a program work right and his job now revolved around the problem solving again.


    He¡¯d mostly calmed himself down when the three people strolled into the back, Roge squashing the spike of fear in favor of giving them a small smile. ¡°Madam Madrid tell you¡­?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. She did,¡± the tiger stated softly, mirroring Roge¡¯s smile. ¡°We understand though. Right guys?¡± The deer nodded her head, the small smirk on her face not giving Roge much confidence.


    ¡°Still wondering how it even happened,¡± said the elf, the dragon recognizing the researcher¡¯s focused look. ¡°Anything change in your Status¡­? that Madam Madrid noticed of course.¡±


    ¡°Nothing new except the Skill Static Mind, which seems to prevent any more memory loss in the future.¡±


    ¡°Oof. Yeah. I can see a strong telepathic attack giving you that. Name¡¯s Wizard


    Healer


    Knight


    Healer


    ClassSkills


    Healer


    GuildMagicClassGuildNature Magic


    MobilityDefenseUtility


    Wizard


    Magic

 Familiar Familiar

    ¡±You know, I¡¯ve almost tempted you in the past with Sean,¡± Madam Madrid began with no preamble, stopping Roge short as he came out from the back. ¡°He¡¯s using the pay for his retirement fund, when he¡¯s too old to go out killing monsters.¡±


    ¡°I¡­¡± Roge stuttered, his scales heating up at his embarrassment. ¡°I don¡¯t¡­ I¡¯m not going to now.¡±


    ¡°Oh I know son,¡± Madam Madrid drawled out, giving the dragon an eye roll. ¡°You had valid reasons before as you do now. But once you go on adventures with that tiger, you might find that he¡¯s not disagreeable to an advance. Get to know him a bit. If you have needs, one of my other night boys can help you in that regard. They¡¯ve always been free for you, son, as you¡¯ve gone above and beyond for this store.¡±


    ¡°Thank you¡­¡± he mumbled, shaking the anxiety away so he could ask his question. ¡°It okay if we go to the Guild now¡­?¡± At her smile and nod he smiled back before rushing out the front of the store, missing Madam Madrid¡¯s parting words.


    ¡°Oh those boys¡¯ll be the death of me¡­¡±


    ~---~


    Roge was able to show off his movement with the vines on the way to the Guild building, Marge and Hops very interested for different reasons while Sean laughed at some of the moves Roge needed to not run into anything. They caught a few glances doing so, though not much as other adventuring parties got up to a lot more on the streets before.


    They finally got to the building after Roge had agreed to stay on the ground, the dragon looking up at the massive, ornate structure. Many different designs with different parties battling various monsters. One such monster was even a feral dragon, the fire looking almost alive in the sculpture with the way it had been painted. Once inside the main lobby, Sean took them to a table next to the food and drink bar, giving Roge an assessing look. ¡°So, what skills do you have lined up for your new class?¡±


    Right down to business it is, Roge thought, bringing up the Skill Tree for everyone to see.


    Draconic Magic Skill Tree


    Rank 1 -


    Obtained: Draconic Accelerated Growth, Draconic Magic Plant Destruction, Draconic Magic Plant Creation


    Available:


    Defense (Choose 2): Leaf Armor, Plant Infection (Defense), Vine Wall, Root In Place


    Mobility (Choose 1): Plant Infection (Mobility), Nature Walk


    Utility (Choose 3): Nature Senses, Familiar (Plant), Plant Infection (Utility), Flower Sentries


    Hops whistled as he looked over the list, even bringing up the descriptions for most of them. ¡°Pretty nice options to choose and all Skills? Now I see why Madam Madrid had suggested we get you signed up.¡±


    ¡°You know any you want to take?¡± Sean asked, only glancing over the skills before looking over to the dragon.


    ¡°Well I¡¯m tempted to take all but the Flower Sentries in Utility. It would be a nice thing to drop against an enemy, but the others look too versatile to give up. Mobility I¡¯m looking at Nature Walk due to all the tings I can do with my grappling vine, and I have no idea what I want from the Defense options.¡± Sean nodded at this, none of the three giving any disagreements to what he said.


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    ¡°Leaf Armor is a must,¡± Marge stated, tapping her hoof fingers on the table with audible clacks. ¡°A light armor that is tied to a Skill is always preferred over any kind of normal armor. You have not near enough money to get enchanted armor, and even then you¡¯ll get extra abilities for it as you Rank up.¡± Roge looked a bit shocked at the deer, not expecting her to sound so sensible despite only knowing her for under an hour.


    ¡°Vine Wall would be a good option too,¡± Sean chimes in, grinning at Roge¡¯s look. ¡°Could potentially be used to lock up enemies or funnel then into a specific path.¡±


    ¡°All reasonable suggestions,¡± Hops pipes up, still looking over the Skill descriptions. ¡°Also can make you a good lookout, which we sorely need. Too many times we¡¯ve been ambushed on the road, and having the trees tell us, metaphorically speaking, where they are would be very helpful.¡±


    Roge nodded at all this, waiting for the go ahead from Sean before selecting the Skills mentioned. He immediately activated the Familiar (Plant) Skill, feeling a large chunk of his Magic flow out of him and coalesce into a ball on the table. It takes a few moments to decide on a form, stems and branches appearing out of the ball before settling on a familiar sight. Green scales glisten in the light of the Guild Hall, the small dragon flapping its wings a couple of times before it scampered up onto Roge¡¯s shoulders. It was the size of a large cat, giving off a faint tree smell as it wrapped its tail around Roge¡¯s neck.


    ¡°Well that¡¯s something,¡± Hops commented, peering intensely at the draconic familiar. ¡°Never seen a Plant Familiar take on the shape of anything other than a plant.¡± Roge frowned at this comment, looking worriedly at his Familiar as it settled down to take a nap.


    ¡°Nothing to worry about too much,¡± Sean commented, giving Roge a reassuring smile. ¡°You won¡¯t be the first with an exotic Familiar and you won¡¯t be the last. You look at his Status yet?¡± Roge takes the moment to pull that up, frowning at the description that explained nothing he couldn¡¯t already assume.


    Unnamed Plant Familiar Rank 1


    Abilities:


    Status: Healthy (20/20)


    ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± he grumbled, dismissing the window with a sigh. ¡°It has the same Skill I have to grow plants faster, just in Ability form at least. Could help me with growing plants, but not much else.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll see,¡± Marge murmured as she waved down a passing server. ¡°For now let¡¯s catch you up on what we¡¯ve been doing over some drinks.¡± Roge agreed with the others¡¯ nods at that decision, pulling out one of his packs of magic cigarettes and lighting one up for himself.


    ¡°Oh dude, you trying to kill yourself with that?¡± Marge objected, giving the smoke a disgusted look.


    ¡°Nope,¡± he stated, handing her the box to Inspect. ¡°Made these last week to help Madam Madrid sell more. And maybe get a raise. Mostly, though, to see if I could.¡± Sean chuckled at that, placing his drink order first as Marge sat frozen looking at the pack. Hops knew her usual order and Roge ordered himself a wine, the other three all ordering some kind of ale. ¡°So what kind of Quest did you all so the past few weeks? I hope not all of them are that long.¡±


    ¡°Nope. This one was a bit of a cluster fuck with finding a particularly speedy wolf that had threatened the town over,¡± Sean reported, shaking Marge¡¯s shoulder to get her out of her stupor. ¡°You know¡­¡± The tiger stopped himself, taking a deep breath as Roge shrunk in on himself. ¡°Usually the Quests take an afternoon a couple times a week. Not too stressful.¡± He gave Roge an apologetic smile, the dragon nodding before snatching the pack of cigarettes back.


    ¡°Reasonable. Just means I can¡¯t work certain days with Madam Madrid,¡± Roge stated somewhat blandly, refocusing on the familiar on his shoulders. ¡°What to name you..¡±


    ¡°Pot,¡± the healer added unhelpfully, even this world knowing cannabis by that name. ¡°Otherwise I got nothing.¡± Roge could tell Sean had to restrain himself from shaking her again, chuckling softly at the frustration on the tiger¡¯s face.


    ¡°I think you should go with Courage,¡± Hops suggested, Roge puffing on the cigarette as he thought the name over.


    ¡°I like it,¡± he eventually mumbled, noting the notification of the name update. ¡°So what¡¯s the first step to sign up?¡± Roge asked, frowning as he looked at the long lines to the various counters. ¡°I assume we¡¯re starting me up as a support role? Or do they not sign up via function?¡±


    Sean grimaced at that, shaking his head. ¡°You need a baseline success in each category and have one step above that for at least one role to sign up. Testing you today, I see no problem with that, as the vines should do enough damage to get offensive, the leaf armor and mobility might even make you good at defense, you have several mobility options, and utility is where you¡¯ll shine. Having a familiar means that you can see through its eyes, and you have the extra perception Skill.¡±


    Roge nodded at this, feeling a bit of trepidation creeping in at the expectations. ¡°If you think I can do it, then let¡¯s see how I do¡­¡±

 Guild Hall Testing

    The receptionist at the desk had no problem accepting Roge¡¯s application, the grizzly dwarf looking over his Status with a fine tooth comb before giving them all a nod. ¡°Status recorded. The application manager will be with you shortly.¡± He then waved them all off to the waiting area, Roge getting a bit grumpy at all of the waiting, but glad Sean¡¯s vouching had fast tracked the application to the testing phase.


    ¡°I don¡¯t have any training for defense or attack. You sure I¡¯ll do okay?¡± he asked quietly, Sean giving him a wide grin and a pat on the back.


    ¡°You¡¯ll do fine. It¡¯s basically just making sure a stray arrow isn¡¯t going to kill you and you can keep a goblin off your back. Both of which I¡¯m comfortable you¡¯ll do fine¡­ with¡­¡± Sean trailed off, the tiger¡¯s face hardening at something behind the dragon. Roge turned around at the look to freeze in place as he spots Guild Hall


    MageSpellsSkills


    Mage ClassSkillMagicSkillsSpellsSpellsMagicWizardMagic


    MageSkillsMagicWizardSkillsOracles


    Guild


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    snap


    Maybe I should add thorns to the next ones¡­snapping


    wooshFamiliarDragon BreathDragon Breath


    Leaf ArmorMagicMagicSkillSkillMagic pool, letting the spell go for longer without him having to re-invoke it. At first when he tried to Accelerate the plants, he¡¯d only been able to do one at a time, but letting it pull from his Magic pool allowed it to refill itself when it ran dry.


    He glanced over the Leaf Armor, frowning at the shiny dark green color. It looked too much like his mid-green scales, making his look naked in places. Focusing down the line from his Magic pool, he tried to change the color to a matte black, surprising himself as the leaves quickly followed his mental command.


    ¡°I¡¯ll give you extra points for that in stealth,¡± Kim stated, making Roge jump as he almost had forgotten where he was. He nodded at the foxkin before getting into a running stance and preparing to start. Once he took one step into the area, the arrows started flying, Roge wincing as he¡¯d been hit by two of the right off the bat. He didn¡¯t pay attention to that though, the armor blocking some of the hits as he flicks both hands forward and vines stuck to the wall behind the finish line. He didn¡¯t exactly think the move through all that well, flying far ahead of the rest of the arrows but smacking front first into the wall at full speed. He hazily looked up at the sky, the voices around him a blur as he swiftly fell unconscious.


    ~---~


    ¡°Of course he did,¡± Sean mumbled, fretting behind Marge as she used her Healing Skill on Roge, his body quite still on the ground with blood dripping along his maw from a broken snout. His familiar sat nearby, apparently having the sense to jump off when the dragon had flung himself. ¡°He has a tendency to get tunnel vision¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh don¡¯t worry Sean, that won¡¯t effect his test scores,¡± the manager stated, the foxkin mostly focused on her notes. ¡°It actually showed his mobility and utility off quite nicely if I do say so myself. Especially his utility considering the vines aren¡¯t an active part of his Skills and can be given to other people. We might even get requests for people to purchase some from him after this stunt and the swinging he¡¯s been doing all week.¡±


    Sean sighed in relief at that, watching Roge¡¯s face slowly reconstruct itself. Knowing his close friend would be okay, he could then focus on the uninvited guests in the courtyard, the clergy watching the events and whispering to each other.

 Passing With Flying Dragons

    Roge groaned as he slowly woke up, his brain a bit blurry as someone helped him sit up. ¡°You¡¯re okay now Roge,¡± a voice murmured to him, it taking a second before the dragon recognized it.


    Marge. Right the test¡­ his head clears at this, a new groan coming out as he realized what just happened. ¡°I failed didn¡¯t I?¡± he asked, looking at Marge as she grinned at him.


    ¡°Not at all,¡± a new voice interjected, Roge looking up at the manager who was testing him. ¡°In fact, we don¡¯t really need to go through the other physical tests. While that stunt was foolhardy, it showed how fast you can move with those vines, your armor protected you enough that you weren¡¯t seriously hurt, and the vines can be given to other people, so you can outfit your team with them. Checks off all the right boxes and makes your utility Skill usage just high enough to pass.¡± Roge looked at the foxkin stunned, completely unsure if he believed her or not. ¡°All you need to do is sign some paperwork, sign up with a team, and you become an official Copper Guild Member.¡± He then looks at the bearkin behind her, slowly accepting the statements as he had nodding along with every single one.


    ¡°Now hold it right there!¡± an outraged voice sounded, Roge flinching as a bit of discomfort ran through his head at the loud noise. He then noticed Paul and some of his clergymen standing off to the side, Paul holding a feather finger up in protest. ¡°You can¡¯t just ignore protocol! All Magic based¡­¡±


    ¡°...Classes that use Spells must sign up for the college,¡± the foxkin finished, the clergy looking miffed at the interruption. ¡°Which he clearly does not have. Unless you want to extend the terms to Skills, in which case the Guild would have a very large problem with that considering over half of the members fit that criteria.¡± Paul flinched back at that statement, Roge imagining the overwhelming wave of new students if that were to happen.


    ¡°He is clearly using spells. He has a Magic class! He is coming with us.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Roge grinds out, getting up from his sitting position to glare at the hawkman. ¡°The Guild has accepted my application. You¡¯ve seen my Status with no Spells to speak of. And attendance is not mandatory, otherwise you would have thrown me in the Holy College a long time ago. I am becoming an adventurer, and there is nothing you can do to stop it.¡±


    Paul looked aghast at Roge, the dragon even growling at the clergyman. The other clergymen looked around at the equally hostile faces on the others present, Sean looking especially angry at them. They grabbed Paul¡¯s shoulder, dragging him back to head out of the Guild building, seeming to know a lost cause when they saw one. ¡°This isn¡¯t the end of this,¡± Paul threatened lowly, pushing the hand off of his shoulder to walk out ahead of the rest.


    ~---~


    ¡°There you go young¡¯in,¡± the dwarf at the front desk grunted, handing Roge some papers and a shining copper badge. ¡°Fresh Copper Member. As you Rank up, remember to come back to get reassessed. Don¡¯t want a stronger adventurer taking on the easy tasks.¡±


    Roge nodded at the dwarf, though felt like he would forget half of the advice he had been given. It had been a long day after all, and it was only mid-afternoon. ¡°Thanks,¡± he mumbled as he walked away, getting a surprising notification as he put the badge in his inventory.


    Guild tab now available in Status! You are now Copper Status in the local Guild!


    Warning! Tracking enchantment insufficient to overcome Static Mind! The Guild will not be able to find you if you get lost!


    Multi-classing tab now available!


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    Roge stopped his walk back to his group¡¯s table with a frown, feeling like a cold bucket of water got splashed on him. Guild tracking is¡­ mental? he questioned, not liking the implications of that. He decided to ignore that warning for the moment, pulling up both the Guild and Multi-class tabs.


    Guild Home Branch: Lowerton Branch


    Status: Copper


    Rank required for Status advancement: Any Class Student Rank


    Standing: Neutral


    Party: Shining Heralds (Current members: 4)


    More Stats available at Silver Status


    Multi-class options:


    None


    Roge nodded at the two tabs, his Familiar moving on his shoulders for a better perch. Made sense to have that as a tab to keep track of certain things with the Guild. The Multi-class one made no sense though. Why offer it if it was going to give no options?


    He arrived at the table of his Party members to find Sean and Marge already halfway through a pint, glancing at the time to find he¡¯d only been gone for a half hour. Both of them hugged Roge immediately after spotting him, making his Familiar squeak as the tigerkin, without his armor on, and deerkin practically squish him to death.


    ¡°Congrats man!¡± Sean slurs out, taking a large swig of his mug. ¡°First time someone went through the defense trial with a concussion and still pass.¡± Roge leaned away from the smelly breath, only to lean right into Marge with equally bad breath.


    ¡°Right? Took up a good fifth of my Magic to get him back to health..¡± she slurred, sticking her tongue out as Courage hissed at her. ¡°Oh you¡¯re fine little guy.¡± One missed bite disabused her of the notion she could pet him, Marge grumbling as she got back to her seat.


    Sean, however, had somehow shifted his seat over so he could continue hugging the dragon, Roge feeling his scales heat up at the rather large feline¡¯s close presence. ¡°Hey can we have some wine for the new Guild member?¡± Sean called out, the bartender chuckling at his over-exuberance. ¡°No more sulking over the fact you couldn¡¯t join, bud.¡± That last one he whispered into Roge¡¯s ear, the ear flicking at the hot breath running over it.


    ¡°Ooookay, getting a little too warm here,¡± Roge blurted out as he unsuccessfully tried to push Sean¡¯s chair away.


    ¡°Oh just let him be Roge,¡± Hops chuckled, the elf apparently having gone through his alcohol at lot slower. ¡°He¡¯s much more of a hugger when he gets drunk, so it¡¯s best to just let him be.¡± Sean casually gave him a middle finger at that, Hops chuckling as the tiger descended into giggles.


    ¡°How strong is that stuff?¡± he growled lowly, grabbing his wine as the waiter set it down and just then noticing how hungry he was. ¡°What you guys serving for food today?¡±


    They spent the next long while tolerating the two wasted party members and eating, Roge learning about enhanced alcohol and how it could cut through the high Constitution and Skills the two had that would normally not allow them to get drunk. Roge didn¡¯t get drunk himself, however, not trusting himself with Sean practically hanging off of him and periodically giving him hugs. Looking past the feline features, Roge could see why Madam Madrid had temped him before. Hefty and strong were definitely his types and with how touchy Sean had gotten during the chatting, he¡¯d definitely hit one more button.


    ~---~


    Paul almost snapped at his fellow clergymen to hurry up, fury going straight through his body at how the day had gone. No new student, pliable enough to follow his orders and get him even higher in the church. No, the weak dragon had to all of a sudden grow a spine, challenging him right in front of the Guild members and making a fool out of him.


    In fact¡­ why is he so bold now? he thought to himself, scratching his beak with a feather as he thought on the problem. He seems so different than a few weeks ago¡­ That thought brought up something Paul had only noticed in hindsight, pulling up the snapshot he¡¯d taken of Roge¡¯s Status the previous week and looking at his Abilities. Static Mind¡­ Where did he get that from? Only a powerful psychic attack¡­ He then froze his mindless walking, the other clergymen not even noticing.


    It¡¯s not possible¡­ nothing else on his Status shows anything out of the ordinary. His eyes then caught on the Skill Tree Tab, noting the Gardening one was only at Rank 1. It showed as Rank 2 the last time, he pondered as he checked back on his logs. I¡¯ll have to keep a close eye on him. If we have infiltrators in our midst who can disguise themselves that well¡­ He then continues on walking, planning to bring it up with his superior once he had reached the Holy College.

 Family Problems

    Sean woke up with a grumble, having enough mental facilities to check how long he¡¯d been asleep. Only an hour, but it had been enough for his high Constitution to go through the alcohol and start a hangover. Apparently.


    It only lasted for a few minutes thankfully, helped a bit by the gallon of water that had been placed on his bedside table. Most likely Hops had done the deed, though another thought ran through his head as he stared down at the empty pitcher. Also could have been Roge.


    A part of him broke at interacting with the new dragon, him being so much like the old Roge that Sean couldn¡¯t tell at first. He liked the new assertiveness, as well as Roge seeming to strangely have a fountain of creativity to engineer the grappling vines. He always loved that spark in Roge¡¯s eyes, though that spark had dimmed in the recent years. Sean had gotten more busy at the Guild when they had reached Silver and thus had less time to spend with his friends outside of his Party. Roge had grown more distant then, and Sean had hated that. He knew his feelings were slowly encroaching on a crush, but he¡¯d not cared. He¡¯d seen the lingerings of want in the dragon and was prepared to ask for more.


    And now Roge had no memory of him. He also was now a part of their Party, though having lower Status members in a team had been frowned upon. Too much room for exploitation. Sean had not cared. Roge needed him and there was no way he was going to let the dragon down, even if he had to break his own heart along the way.


    Getting up from his bed, Sean quickly cleaned himself up, knowing he had promised Madam Madrid a shift tonight. It was only a means to an end on his part and he always woke up safe and sound the next day. Didn¡¯t matter to him if he didn''t remember the encounters, as long as he saved up more money for him and his team, the means would justify the end.


    ~---~


    Roge woke up the next morning with a bit of a headache, apparently a leftover from his jaunt into a wall the previous day. Either that or a small hangover from the wine he¡¯d drank the previous night before sleeping for twelve hours. Either way, he mused his morning coffee should help, trundling down the stairs after getting ready for the day. He¡¯d been given a new set of adventuring clothes at the Guild, a sturdier tan shirt, baggy, black leather pants and snakeskin boots that felt more comfortable than any he¡¯d previously worn. He¡¯d also opted for a blue cloak after finding his Armor would go over any clothing he wore to disguise it, the color perfectly matching the sapphire scales on his belly and neck.


    He didn¡¯t don his Leaf Armor quite yet, however, wanting to preserve his Magic stores for the training they were going to do that day. He also looked over his stores of coin, debating with himself on whether or not to buy an Alchemy lesson. It would be a great fit for his magical plants, sidestepping some of the process to get magical effects out of normal plants. His musing was interrupted however, when a familiar voice sprang up from across the ground floor.


    ¡°Yo Roge! Nice gear you got there!¡± Fred cried out, his wolf-like face looking almost identical to an excited puppy. As he got closer, the wolfkin¡¯s eyes widened at the shape nestled in the hood of his cloak. ¡°New Class I take it?¡±


    ¡°Yup. You¡¯re now looking at one of the newer members of the Guild,¡± he stated, sitting down and chuckling at Fred¡¯s stunned expression. ¡°Didn¡¯t you recognize the Guild gear?¡±


    ¡°Now that you mention it, yeah.¡± Fred gloomily looked at his food, feinting a pout at that news. ¡°Now you¡¯ll have less time to spend with me.¡±


    Roge raised his eyeridges at that, the expression still feeling odd with how it pulled his face differently. ¡°I¡¯ll still be here almost every morning, barring a long trip every once in a while. Stop pouting, it looks too cute.¡± Fred started pouting more at that, if that were even possible, Roge grabbing the coffee cup that had been delivered without even looking up. ¡°And besides, I still need some team training before we can¡­¡±


    ¡°Roge,¡± a quiet voice gruffed beside him, causing the dragonkin to flinch at the hurt he could hear in that one syllable. Looking up at the other dragonkin standing beside him, Roge, could barely meet his eyes before looking to the side.


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    ¡°Hey Dad,¡± he muttered, taking a sip of his coffee to avoid saying anything more.


    His dad sighed at this, sitting down at the third chair at the table as Fred looked awkwardly between them. ¡°First your sister and now you? Are all of my kids going to turn into adventurers at some point?¡± he asked rhetorically, Arthur Youngston giving Roge a sad smile. ¡°Couldn¡¯t you have told me this before you actually signed up?¡±


    ¡°I¡­ I knew you were going to object to it if I did,¡± Roge stated quietly.


    ¡°Better to ask for forgiveness huh?¡± his father chuckled, his wings rustling on his back. ¡°Could have at least waited until after you were thirty. I¡¯d feel better if your wings had grown in before you were sent off into dangerous situations.¡± Roge almost started at that, but kept his reactions mostly under control. He thought it had been a quirk of genetics that he hadn¡¯t grown any wings. Apparently he just wasn¡¯t done growing yet.


    ¡°I do have a few tricks up my sleeve along with a new Class. Plus Sean¡¯s team is all Silver, so I should be safer with them.¡± The look of exasperation on his dad¡¯s face hinted at his thoughts to that. ¡°We¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    ¡°Alright. But you have to be the one to tell your mother.¡± Roge flinched at that, not looking forward to that moment. ¡°She¡¯s busy in the kitchen with that catering order today, but she should have time tonight.¡± He didn¡¯t need to see the notification pop up to know that¡¯d be a quest, Roge sighing as he nodded. ¡°Alright. I need to get back to work. Have fun training today son.¡± His dad patted him on the back, jostling Courage who gave out an irritated squeak. ¡°I¡¯ll have Tan send out an extra large helping for your Familiar.¡±


    As the large dragonkin walked away, Roge slumped onto the table, sliding his coffee so as to not face-plant on it. ¡°That¡¯s going to be fun. Is there any way I can bribe you to tell her?¡± he asked Fred, peeking an eye open to see the vigorous head shake.


    ¡°I¡¯m not taking that fireball for you dude,¡± he muttered quietly, obviously trying to make sure his voice didn¡¯t carry. ¡°Your mom would gather up her fellow churchgoers just to curse me if I did that.¡± He then got up from the table, leaving a few coppers on the table for the tip. ¡°See ya later buddy, if you¡¯re not ash by then.¡±


    ~---~


    Roge grunted as he swung another fist at the punching bag, having gotten to the Guild building early after visiting the smoke shop and deciding to try some training on his own. He¡¯d stripped down to just his pants and boots, steam misting off of his scales as he overheated. He kept calm though, breathing in and out at a steady pace and trying to cycle his Magic through his body. After asking briefly on what physical Class he could potentially pick up, and finding out he could use any skill he wanted from either Class without penalties, he decided to try and get the Monk Class for himself to help with using his grapple vines in combat. Apparently the class didn¡¯t care what you used to attack, as long as it was a part of the body, Roge chuckling at the disgusted look on the dwarf¡¯s face when he¡¯d said that.


    He hadn¡¯t known that picking an active class only changed what was displayed when someone used Inspect, though now that he knew he was tempted to try out all of the basic Classes to see what kinds of Multi-classing options he could get from them. Maybe he could even try for a plant sword to swing at his enemies.


    He¡¯d been so distracted by the rhythm of his punches and his own thoughts that he jumped when he heard a ¡°Hey,¡± behind him, twirling around and nearly decking Sean while the tiger dodged out of the way.


    ¡°What the fuck man?¡± Roge gasped, consciously trying to get his body to relax as his tail thumped against the punching bag in irritation. ¡°Come into my view first or something.¡±


    ¡°Sorry,¡± the tigerkin chuckled, looking not even the least bit apologetic. ¡°I didn¡¯t think you were that far into it. Why the sudden interest in physical training?¡±


    Roge huffed out a breath at the question, slowly unwrapping his hands so he could start to get dressed. ¡°Trying to get the Monk Class so my vines can be used as better weapons,¡± he muttered distractedly, wincing at the cracked and darkened scales, having obviously bruised himself with the training. ¡°I was told to meditate while training in unarmed combat, though they did mention that I shouldn¡¯t use my vines at first. Could potentially get me a Fighter or Whip Master Class instead, neither of which I plan to get right now as Monk has dodging Skills I want to grab.¡± He¡¯d barely gotten the first wrap off of his left hand when he noticed Sean nodding and unstrapping his sword from the belt.


    ¡°I can help with that,¡± the tigerkin stated, shucking his shirt off to the distraction of the dragon. He somehow looked larger without the baggy shirt than with it, his fur turning from orange and black to cream at his chest. ¡°Let¡¯s get to the ring.¡± He then turned around to head towards the fighting ring the gym had, allowing Roge to start and follow him after a brief gaze at the tiger¡¯s wide shoulders. They both grabbed some boxing gloves the Guild had for use before stepping in, Roge with a bit more wariness than Sean.


    ¡°I feel like I¡¯m going to get knocked out again,¡± he commented as he watched Sean get into position, trying to not get distracted again.


    ¡°You¡¯ll be fine. No Skill use for either of us and I won¡¯t attack much. We¡¯ll get you into a meditative combat mentality and focus on getting a punch past my gloves.¡±

 Taking the Training Wheels Off

    Roge collapsed on the bench, having not expected for them to go at it for almost an hour. He¡¯d been swinging place to place with his vines, yes, but he¡¯d never really tested his endurance in his new body and he¡¯d been surprised at how long he could go. Even more shocking was a new popup, the dragon grabbing a water jug out of his inventory as he read it.


    Combat Focus Unlocked!


    Unarmed Fighting Unlocked!


    New Class Available: Monk


    Roge spit out his water at that, catching Sean¡¯s attention as he coughed it out of his lungs. ¡°Everything okay?¡± the tiger asked, Roge wordlessly allowing him to see the popup he¡¯d just received. At his stunned reaction, Roge confirmed what he¡¯d suspected when he saw the notification.


    The receptionist who¡¯d given him the advice had said it generally took about a week to unlock a basic Class, though most people had more problems with Monk than anything. Learning the meditative technique for Combat Focus took time and most people needed a teacher to learn how to do it.


    But you¡¯d meditated before, so you already knew the basics, a thought popped up, Roge rubbing his head as he looked at the still stunned tiger. ¡°So that was quick. I was expecting to practice for that all week.¡±


    ¡°Was looking forward to it,¡± Sean grumbled, the irritation quickly giving way to a fond smile. ¡°Just to see if it¡¯s a fluke, let¡¯s try to get you the Fighter Class, as it¡¯ll give you bonuses for your Leaf Armor Skill.¡± Roge groaned at that, still steaming from their previous training. ¡°After we take a break. I¡¯m not that bad of a task master.¡± Roge rolled his eyes at that, putting on his shirt instantly from his inventory as he follows the tiger out of the gym.


    Roge checked his Status then, frowning at the lack of Skill Tree for the new Class. ¡°Do combat Classes not get a Skill Tree?¡± he asked Sean, the tiger chuckling softly before answering.


    ¡°It¡¯s because you have too many skills from your other Class. Your stats should show you that¡­? Right. Your screen probably defaulted back to the child settings. Here, may I?¡± he asked, Roge shrugging as he gave Sean access to his Extended Status. His stats then changed before his eyes, the dragon letting out a sigh at how much better the numbers were.


    Status Screen


    Name: Roge Youngston


    Age: 28


    Species: Dragonkin


    Class: Novice  (2 available)


    Strength: 7 (1/0 Skill Slots Used)


    Dexterity: 35 (0/3 Skill Slots Used)


    Agility: 21 (1/2 Skill Slots Used)


    Constitution: 33 (3/3 Skill Slots Used)


    Intelligence: 55 (5/5 Skill Slots Used)


    Charisma: 16 (1/1 Skill Slots Used)


    Abilities ¨C [Unfold]


    Skills ¨C [Fold]


    Gardening (-) Rank 2


    Inspect (-) Rank 2


    Draconic Accelerated Growth (Int) Rank 1


    Draconic Magic Plant Destruction (Int) Rank 1


    Draconic Magic Plant Creation (Int) Rank 1


    Leaf Armor (Con) Rank 1


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    Vine Wall (Con) Rank 1


    Nature Walk (Agi) Rank 1


    Nature Senses (Cha) Rank 1


    Familiar (Plant) (Int) Rank 1


    Plant Infection (Utility) (Int) Rank 1


    Combat Focus (Con) Rank 1


    Unarmed Fighting (Str) Rank 1


    Quests ¨C [Unfold]


    Skill Trees -


    Gardening Rank 1


    Draconic Magic Rank 1


    Magic Trait Library (1/10) -


    Detox Rank 2


    Draconic Magic Skill Tree, it just giving him a ¡®No Skills available until next Rank.¡¯ error. ¡°Wait I had open Agility slots, why didn¡¯t it let me get both mobility Skills?¡±


    Classes do that unfortunately. Not sure why,¡± Sean commented, Roge barely noticing having sit down at their usual table near the bar. ¡°Something to do with not wanting to give all of the Skills from one section to anyone is what¡¯s assumed. Now, back to your original question, you have too many Strength Skills over what you would normally be allowed, so until that is rectified, it¡¯s not going to give you access to another Skill Tree. So we just need to get you trained up in Strength until you reach 21 and you¡¯ll gain access to it. Should only take about a week training and we should do that before getting you any other Classes.¡± Sean sighed at this, waving over the waitress while giving Roge a small smile. ¡°I was planning on helping you train your Strength to avoid this problem, but you had to be a speedy learner like always.¡±


    Skills, flinching at several parts in particular.


    Combat Focus: Get into the calm of combat, your combat prowess is increased.


    Effect: Increased Dodge and Hit Chance per Rank during combat.


    Warning! Due to Static Mind, this Skill Ranks up with expertise instead of experience. No speed learning for mental abilities.


    Unarmed Fighting: Increases combat skill with anything considered to be part of your body.


    Effect: Increased Damage and Hit Chance per Rank.


    Warning! Due to Static Mind, this Skill Ranks up with expertise instead of experience. No speed learning for mental abilities, though muscle memory behaves as normal.


    Skill ups for him apparently. Has to earn the training.¡± Even Hops looked aghast at that, the elf blanching as he gave Roge a pitying look.


    Skills.¡± All of them nodded at that, falling silent as the other two ordered and everyone ate. Roge, of course, had to get a bigger portion due to eating for two, barely stopping himself from chuckling at that thought.


    Quest. Roge needed it as a new party member and they needed it to see how well the dragon fit into their party. Meanwhile Roge never even noticed the church members stopping by the guild building all throughout the day, each one giving him a piercing look that would have sent shivers down his spine if he¡¯d noticed.


    Paul sorted through the paperwork on his desk, the hawk cocking his head at the different pieces of information. He read the reports on the dragon¡¯s Inspection, the higher levels giving more information than a lot of people knew. He¡¯d gained the Monk Class in one day, and had shown odd behaviors like not knowing anything about how the Skill system worked from bits of conversation overheard. True, it didn¡¯t necessarily confirm the hawk¡¯s theories, but it fit into a certain narrative he had in his head.


    Changelings. A blight on their perfect society, the monsters could disguise themselves almost perfectly after consuming a target. Even strange behaviors could be overlooked, as most believed the monsters were a myth or fairy tail. The church knew the truth however, that they were very much real and only had one weakness that made them stand out.


    Memories were not something that could be copied, thus the creatures had to come up with a plausible excuse to not remember things, and he had never heard of a changeling going about it in this manner. Purposefully gaining the Static Mind Ability from a strong telepathic monster would make memory loss seem normal. Of course a person would forget most things after a strong enough mental attack and it would make them fit even even more with no suspicion. But he was on to the monster, and would do his best to gather paperwork to expose it.

 Journey Away From Home

    Roge got back home from a day of training, smiling at the gains he¡¯d gotten to his Strength stat. In just one day he¡¯d received three whole points, leaving him one point away from unlocking his Monk Skill Tree, which he was told would have very juicy Skills he could take advantage of. He¡¯d almost stayed some more, but was reminded by his Status that he needed to be home that night. And tell Mom about his new career.


    He already spotted her sitting at one of the tables, the wolfkin¡¯s sharp eyes moving to Roge and making the dragon freeze. He¡¯d been somewhat confused during that first week, not understanding why a dragonkin and wolfkin would just make more dragonkin, but he¡¯d found out from the local library that it was mostly up to random chance and mixed breeds were not a thing. His family had two wolfkin and two dragonkin, him and his middle sister inheriting the dragon genes whole his eldest sister and little brother had come out wolven. It didn¡¯t matter too much, as his family composition stayed mostly the same, and so he¡¯d gotten somewhat used to it by then.


    What he had not gotten used to was staying around his mother¡¯s extreme religious beliefs again, having escaped her clutched when he¡¯d turned eighteen. Now he lived in the same building as her again, having almost completely avoided her until that moment. He could tell from her piercing stare at his clothes and snarl coming to her face that she was not pleased. Not pleased at all.


    ¡°What have you done child?¡± she asked sharply as Roge sat down, his gaze firmly on the table as he pulled a wine glass out of his inventory. ¡°You¡¯ve gone and joined the Guild when I had specifically set up a nice slot for you at the Holy College this coming spring. I can see it in your Status,¡± she barked at his questioning glance, the dragon taking a small sip of his glass to hide his flinch. ¡°After all this family has done for you. What the Divine has done for you. You go throw it away to play with your stupid frie¡­¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t,¡± he growled, cutting her off without even looking up at her. ¡°Don¡¯t insult my friends. They routinely go out¡­¡±


    It was his turn to be interrupted by, ¡°Oh don¡¯t you talk back to me. Yes they go kill monsters, but even the church bred elf never even goes to sermons. Let alone all of the other filth¡­¡± She continued on and on at this, Roge slowly tuning her out as he looked at his glass. Church this and Divine that, acting all high and mighty when she was there spewing hatred at someone she didn¡¯t like. She hadn¡¯t changed at all from how she was before, even with the religion change. She was exactly like that day he¡¯d left¡­


    He then got up at that thought, turning away from his mother and her ¡°How dare you turn your back on me!¡± to start heading towards the stairs. She continued her tirade as he packed his things, Courage hopping up onto the windowsill to gaze up at the night sky. He was only stopped at the exit to the inn after he¡¯d headed downstairs by his father¡¯s hand on his shoulder, finally looking up at his dad¡¯s sad face as his mother continued screeching.


    ¡°I¡¯ll come back every once in a while. Just not while she¡¯s here.¡± His dad nodded at that, the dragonkin sighing at his wife¡¯s scandalized gasp. ¡°This is why Jenny never comes home Mom. Neither one of us can stand you.¡± He then left with the final word, his Familiar lifting off of the inn to land softly on his shoulders.


    Turns out leaving his mother had been much easier the second time around.


    ~---~


    ¡°Don¡¯t just stand there Arthur! Go after him!¡± Anne screeched at her husband, the dragonkin sighing at the crowd she had gathered. It would benefit their business in the end, as each of her tantrums had done, but he still hated each and every one of them. And now two had left him with two less children in their house, Arthur feeling the emptiness in his chest expanding at that thought.


    ¡°That¡¯s enough hun. Go cool off,¡± he stated tiredly, hearing several groans as she growled and walked to the back staircase. He then went back to the office, trying to calm himself by handling some of the mind numbing paperwork for a few minutes.


    ¡°Now I guess I have to wait a little longer to leave,¡± a voice popped up from the door, Arthur smiling as he sees his youngest child.


    ¡°Do all my children truly plan to leave and never come back?¡± Arthur asked quietly, Aaron quickly enveloping the older dragon in a hug. ¡°I can¡¯t run this place without her¡­¡±


    ¡°Not that I¡¯m pushing to break up with Mom, but I do have the Chef Class. I can take over in the kitchen with some practice and Big Sis already handles all of the cleaning anyway.¡± His littlest whines a little, always having hated the conflicts in the family. ¡°I don¡¯t like how unhappy she makes you.¡±


    Arthur sighs at the suggestion, giving his son a smile and quick kiss to the forehead. ¡°I know you aren¡¯t pushing son. I¡¯ll join you in the kitchen in a bit, but I need some time.¡± Aaron nodded at that, giving the dragon a wolfy smile before heading out. As soon as the door closed Arthur let the hurt show on his face, glancing down at his papers and wondering what to do.


    ~---~


    For the rest of the week, Roge stayed in the Guild dorms, finding his commute to the smoke shop a little longer, but not minding it too much as he swung back and forth. He continued training each day, having unlocked the Monk Skill Tree the day after he¡¯d left home.


    Draconic Magic Skill Tree


    Rank 1 -


    Obtained: Combat Focus (Con), Unarmed Fighting (Str)


    Available:


    Attack (Choose 2): Unarmed Blow (Str), Fury of Bros (Cha), Magic Punch (Int)


    Defense (Choose 2): Dodge (Dex), Thick Skin (Con), Bare Handed Parry (Dex), Glistening Muscles (Cha)


    Mobility (Choose 1): Fast Travel (Agi), Swift Foot (Agi), Matching Steps (Agi)


    Strength: 22 (1/2 Skill Slots Used)


    Dexterity: 40 (0/3 Skill Slots Used)


    Agility: 26 (1/2 Skill Slots Used)


    Constitution: 41 (3/4 Skill Slots Used)


    Intelligence: 55 (5/5 Skill Slots Used)


    Charisma: 16 (1/1 Skill Slots Used)


    Roge nodded at the different options, noting he couldn¡¯t choose certain options due to those stat slots being full. No matter, he¡¯d decided to select some, but not all, just to increase his combat effectiveness after that week.


    Unarmed Blow (Str): Unarmed strikes now count as metal weapon strikes in terms of combat effectiveness.


    Effect: Changed unarmed damage type from skin to metal.


    Dodge (Dex): Your body automatically moves to dodge some blows.


    Effect: +1 Dodge per Rank


    Thick Skin (Con): Your skin is better able to resist damage.


    Effect: +1 Defense per Rank


    The ones he was having trouble with was the movement options, having had no chance to even test the first mobility skill he¡¯d gotten the week prior.


    Nature Walk (Agi): Filling your body with Plant Magic, the flora around you will mistake you as one of their own.


    Effect: +2 Speed Per Rank


    Cost: Very Low Magic


    Duration: 1 hour per Rank


    Turns out almost nothing had been known about his Draconic Mage Class other than it had existed, so most of the skills had to be tested to find out what they did. He¡¯d activated Nature Walk before, but never felt it actually do anything other than take a bit of Magic from him every once in a while. Until he could properly test it in the woods outside of town, he¡¯d decided to not take any of the mobility options so as to not cause any overlap.


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    He¡¯d left his last offensive point to try and get the Magic Punch Skill, having been excited to get another Magic option, and one for offense as well. It rarely appeared in the Skill Tree, as you needed some kind of Magic Class to take it and people generally didn¡¯t go hybrid like he had.


    The team had finally decided that Roge was ready for a short mission, Madam Madrid giving the okay to skip one day due to the backlog he¡¯d given her after his Accelerate had Ranked up. They met up that morning at the job listing board, Roge eager to get a decent job as his savings were starting to get too lean for his tastes.


    ¡°We could do this goblin village? Looks like an easy Quest¡­¡± Sean muttered, the others giving a bored look before Hops pointed at another listing.


    ¡°There¡¯s also this herb gathering one in the same area. Should be pretty simple with Roge being able to sense the plants around him.¡± Roge nodded at that, his Nature Senses skill having let him sense through any plant that was within a specific range of him. He could somewhat see and feel around them, but it was easy enough to recognize a plant and what it was from Identify. They found a total of three quests in the same general area that were herb gathering quests, the group deciding to take all of them for after the goblin village was taken out. They were all listed for copper adventurers, but with the amount they were taking, it seemed reasonable for a silver team to do them all in one day. Some of the Quests were pretty old, the younger adventurers having passed them up for combat listings.


    After copying down the description of each plant from the receptionist and marking a spot on their parchment map well outside the city, they all decided to head out, Roge pulling them up to the roofs to have a faster time through the city.


    ¡°You really need to make more of those,¡± Marge complained, the dragon shrugging and smiling at her.


    ¡°Not my fault the Guild wanted to study it first. They¡¯ll let me know tomorrow if I can sell them through the Guild and once it¡¯s approved for that, they said I can give it to you guys. Just remember the eating downside. Food costs will go up for everyone then.¡±


    ¡°Oh I doubt that,¡± Sean grunted, picking himself up after having launched himself over a street. ¡°I can tell you already have plans to get rid of that side effect, as not a lot of people will want the extra food cost.¡± Roge ducked his head at this, indeed having been thinking of temporary versions or ones that needed water or dirt in a backpack to feed. Like a pet.


    They finally made it to the outskirts of the town, Roge gasping as he saw the landscape from atop the wall. It was almost the same as he¡¯d remembered, mostly forests with winding roads through the hills. The stark difference was in the noise, the wild sounds of the forest coming out with the car sounds missing. With no headphones or car to dampen his hearing, the forest was a different experience as they headed out.


    Turning on his Nature Senses took some time to get used to as well, Roge finding himself aware of everything going on around him, even the small creatures flitting through the underbrush. He could even sense some burrows through the roots of some plants, not to mention how strange everything looked and felt through everything. After about an hour of walking and getting used to the sensation, his party suggested he try out Nature Walking to see if it needed to work in the woods.


    He activated it with a nod, not feeling anything at first until he stepped onto the grass off the side of the road. He instantly felt himself move several yards into the forest, not even having touched the intervening space, much to the outcry of his party. He could see about ten yards in each direction with his Senses, so he tried moving to the edge of the path instead of just a random direction, finding himself at the road within one step.


    ¡°That¡­¡± Sean muttered, having stepped off the path himself to presumably find Roge in the packed forest.


    ¡°Okay if it¡¯s going to be teleportation, the skill could at least tell me that!¡± Roge ended up shrieking, several birds nearby flying off at the noise. He growled at the Skill description with ample frustration, Marge nearly bursting out laughing at his expression. ¡°Testing time.¡± He moved back onto the dirt road and felt the Skill deactivate once more, ready to go as soon as he stepped onto the grass. ¡°What about contact¡­¡± he muttered, moving forward along the road to touch a tree that he could reach from the dirt. He still felt nothing, the Skill only activating once his feet were on the grass.


    ¡°Can you take me with you?¡± asked Hops, the elf moving up next to Roge as Roge grabbed his shoulder. With one step, both of them were several yards in the woods again, Roge not detecting any difference in the Magic taken but assuming it would escalate with each person he took.


    With both of them back on the road, Marge had the idea of all of them grabbing onto Roge¡¯s extended vines, trying to see if it could be used as a faster method of travel. Within five steps and 25 yards down the side of the road in only a few seconds, Roge ground to a halt, finding that it had already taken up almost a quarter of his overall Magic to do that one stunt. All of them cringed at that information, Roge sighing in exasperation.


    ¡°Guess it¡¯s just a personal teleportation Skill designed for me to move short distances,¡± he summarized, all of them starting back up down the road. ¡°So my Monk movement option should compliment that.¡±


    Fast Travel (Agi): Takes one step and turns it into three!


    Effect: +1 Speed per Rank


    Cost: Very Low Stamina


    Duration: 1 Hour per Rank


    Swift Foot (Agi): Your feet move faster across the ground, making you appear like a blur to most.


    Effect: +1 Speed per Rank


    Cost: Very Low Stamina


    Duration: 1 Hour per Rank


    Matching Steps (Agi): Follow the steps of your enemies and never lose track of them in battle.


    Effect: Keep the same distance from a target, even through teleportation effects.


    Cost: Very Low Stamina (Increases with teleportation effects)


    Duration: 1 Hour per Rank


    Roge frowned at all of the descriptions, having been given the lowdown by the Guild for these ones and once again feeling irritated. He pulled out his notebook to confirm.


    Fast Travel: Increases the distance of your stride.


    Swift Foot: Increases the speed of your stride.


    Matching Steps: Really weird. Forces you to move exactly the same as your opponent. Only good against teleporting enemies.


    ¡°Who comes up with these¡­?¡± he distractedly muttered, the other three part members too distracted by their own conversation to hear him. He then frowned at the last description, feeling tempted but needing clarification.


    ¡°Hey Sean?¡± he called out, the tigerkin turning away from their previous conversation. ¡°Oh sorry. So um¡­ can the definition of an enemy extend to a training partner with other Skills?¡±


    Sean thought about it for a moment, nodding his head as the other two gave Roge questioning looks. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ve never seen a Skill not work in training. Why?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m thinking of getting the Matching Steps Skill to help with training and learning fighting moves.¡± All three looked surprised at that, Hops, especially as they considered the idea. ¡°I also may help with stat training if I can get it to latch onto a training partner, but this Skill may get around my block towards no mental effects.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ actually not a half bad idea,¡± Hops admitted, pulling out a notebook to write ideas on. ¡°It can only be used for the first part of learning the moves, as you need to train them until they become habit, but it would definitely make up for that shortcoming. Very interesting.¡± He muttered the last part, Roge looking a bit amazed at how fast the elf was writing.


    ¡°I¡¯d say take it just for that and then only use it for follow teleports,¡± Marge added, a grin slowly stretching across her muzzle as she likely thought of other applications Roge didn¡¯t want to know about.


    ¡°Yeah, go ahead and take it,¡± Sean agreed, Roge tapping the screen to select that Skill from the list. ¡°All that¡¯s left is increasing your intelligence for that Magical Skill right?¡± Roge nodded. ¡°Then once we get back into town, we¡¯ll start you up on Intelligence training at the library.¡± Hops stopped his note taking at that, giving Roge a grin.

 Goblin Time

    They decided to head to the suspected location of the goblin village first, the search area being a mile wide of uninhabited forest. This is where Roge excelled, being able to search through the bushes and trees up to ten yards away from the party, finding that his natural Magic regeneration outpaced the cost of the Skill. Looking back at his other Skills, he also found out that his Nature Walk Skill showed the same cost, so he tried using both to cover a wider area. It used a little more than he could gain back, but he didn¡¯t mind the cost as after an hour of searching one tiny part, he could now search almost the entire area in that same time.


    He¡¯d been given a paired compass to travel around with, the party members having the other compass which both pointed at the other. That way he could head out as far as he wanted and still find his way back to his team. He soon found the goblin village, having been alerted to it before he could run right in. It felt like a giant hole in his senses, and he soon fund out why when he¡¯d put his eyes on it. No plant survived being around the small creatures, Roge even seeing one giggling as it lit one on fire.


    The village itself had only a few dozen goblins by his count and was mostly sparse. The only things of note were the fire pit, a large pile of manure (Ew¡­), and a spot where they¡¯d tied up what looked like wolf mounts. The rest of the space was just dirt and ash, the goblins frolicking through all of it as they giggled to each other. He even saw one making an ash angel.


    Having seen enough after one goblin threw part of the manure pile at another, he dug a small hole next to the tree he was hiding behind, stowing the paired compass in it before Walking back where it pointed. It took him a little while to find his team, but he¡¯d eventually shouted to get their attention before appearing before their makeshift campsite.


    Paired compass is buried at the village,¡± he grunted, accepting a bowl of stew that Hops had made while Roge was out.


    Good. Means we don¡¯t have to find them all over again,¡± Sean replied, obviously falling into the leader role right before Marge started snorting at Roge¡¯s expression.


    Saw how disgusting those things are I see?¡± she giggled, Sean giving her a sour expression. Roge responded by giving a middle finger, the deerkin rolling over laughing.


    If I can finish our planning of attack¡­¡±


    Don¡¯t bother,¡± Hops interjected, Sean turning his glare to the other teammate. ¡°Finding them was always the hard part. I¡¯ll Ice Rain the entire village and you¡¯ll only need to pick up the stragglers.¡± Roge nodded at that, liking that every disgusting detail would be frozen so he didn¡¯t have to smell it.


    Fine fine,¡± the party leader grumbled, sending Marge into another laughing fit at his pouting face. ¡°Not going to be very good experience for Roge, but I guess he can join me on finishing off whatever is left.¡±


    There were also some wolf mounts,¡± Roge muttered, taking another big spoonful of the stew into his maw. ¡°Tied up though so shouldn¡¯t be too hard.¡± The other three froze at that, giving concerned looks that instantly put Roge on edge. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±


    Might be a bit tougher then. Wolf mounts means elite goblins, which are a bit harder and only recommended for Silver teams to hunt down.¡± Hops tapped his wooden bowl thoughtfully after dropping that fact, looking off into the distance. ¡°May need to use Blizzard, which would leave me low on Magic for the rest of our run.¡±


    We¡¯ll have to play that part by ear, but that means you¡¯ll have to stay back Roge,¡± Sean ordered, getting up off the log and stretching. ¡°No reason for you to get seriously hurt by those things.¡±


    I can also get some of the weaker guys that survive at least,¡± he counterpointed, getting the tigerkin¡¯s grudging nod of approval. After finishing off the rest of the food, they all headed out to where the paired compass pointed, mostly keeping quiet as to not alert the goblins of their whereabouts. It let Roge get used to his new senses some more, even leading to a notification popping up halfway there.


    Nature Senses Skill increased in Rank! ¡ú Rank 2


    He could actually feel the Skill level up since he was using it, it reaching out another yard and more efficiently using his Magic. It also meant that his Leaf Armor no longer dipped away at his pool, both Skills roughly equaling his regeneration.


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    Once they got near the village they could hear the sounds of the goblins, Roge shivering at some of the more squelchy sounds. Beside Roge, the others stood out a little more, so Hops put a neutral green cloak on to hide himself and followed the dragonkin to the location of the compass. After counting them all out while he unburied it, Hops nodded and they soon regrouped with the other.


    Thirty goblins at my count. Two showed up as elite, so it¡¯s not going to be as hard as I thought. Should be okay with Ice Rain to conserve my Magic and Sean going in to finish the elites off.¡± The others nodded at his statement, Sean still frowning at Roge as they all crept up on the village.


    Roge and Hops appeared first, the elf having asked to be Walked to a different spot after casting so as to not become a target. The dragonkin then got his first very up close look at Spellwork, the elf pulling up the book from his waist and flipping to a bookmarked page. Even with a near whisper, some of the goblins looked in their direction as Hops started his incantation, Roge holding in his laughter as he noticed some familiar Latin words. Because of course it¡¯s Latin, he thought, Hops finishing his words as a shout rose up from the goblins who¡¯d noticed them.


    The whole village then was obscured by a downpour of water, Roge shocked into momentary stillness at the amount and the cold air gust coming from the area. Snapped out of it by Hops grabbing his shoulder, the dragonkin Walked them along the edge a few steps, feeling his Skill getting a boost as he did so.


    Nature Walk Skill increased in Rank! ¡ú Rank 2


    He¡¯d expected that one to be next, having used that particular Skill a lot over the past few hours. The Rain soon stopped, revealing any frozen goblins as well as a group near the wolves who looked frostbitten, but alive. Apparently they had dove towards the canines during the initial downpour, leading the larger bodies with fur to protect them from the Ice and Rain. The wolves did not look as lucky however, their bodies frozen solid like the other goblins. Inspecting the ones who were left gave Roge only the names, the two elites having survived as well as four of the regular goblins.


    While the goblins were looking around at the carnage, Sean used one of his Skills to blur into one of the elites, nearly cleaving it in half as the other goblins shouted in alarm. Looks like it¡¯s my turn, Roge thought, Walking a bit away from Hops and lashing out with his vines at two of the regular creatures.


    What he did not expect was for his sneak attack to cleave both of them in half, both of the elites snarling even as they were pummeled by the tigerkin. One of the two remaining regular goblins even got a throwing knife off while Roge was stunned at the damage, his reflexes and Dodge helping him to Walk away to avoid it. Another surprise as his Familiar blasted out some of it¡¯s Magic, hitting both of them square in the chest and wrapping them in constricting plant life. Roge¡¯s eyes flashed at that as he tried to Walk to the Magically created plants, finding himself right next to the two goblins before knocking them both out with one punch each.


    The plants very quickly shriveled and died as the Magic vented out of them, Roge looking over to see the last elite fall to Sean¡¯s sword.


    Unarmed Blow Skill increased in Rank! ¡ú Rank 2


    Dodge Skill increased in Rank! ¡ú Rank 2


    That was¡­ whoa,¡± Roge muttered, looking around at the carnage with his eyes soon landing on the two goblins who¡¯d been bisected by his vines. ¡°Guess Unarmed Blow applies to the vines¡­ that¡¯s good to know.¡±


    Good job,¡± Sean huffed out, cleaning his sword and sheathing it with a conflicted expression.


    He did a great job!¡± Hops called out, him and Marge walking towards the other two. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯d have the reflexes to capitalize on Walking to plants Courage made.¡±


    The little dragon chirped and preened at the attention, Marge coming in with a chuckle. ¡°Plus it¡¯s awesome that those vines have a combat use other than moving around. Only need to heal minor injuries out of that whole fight. Very well done.¡± Roge felt himself blush as she patted Sean on the shoulder, the tigerkin perking up as a golden, healing glow surrounded his body.


    Fine fine. He did really well for his first combat encounter,¡± Sean grumbled, everyone else chuckling at his expression. ¡°We¡¯ll take a rest away from here and continue on then to find the herbs.¡± He then stalked off, Roge¡¯s chuckling dying as he pondered on Sean¡¯s attitude.

 Leveling Up Montage

    The party quickly moved on to the other areas in the forest where they could find the plants they needed for the other quests. Roge¡¯s skills came even more in handy than before, able to find the plants quickly and even growing the younger ones to full maturity to be harvested. It almost felt like a call, as once the plants they were searching for came within his range, his focus would instantly fixate on them. It took them the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon to find all of the required plants, but they soon located the road back to town with high spirits.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯ve knocked out this many quests in one day before. You really are a cheat Roge,¡± Marge commented, slapping the dragon on the back.


    ¡°I mean¡­ if we¡¯d needed to go out into the desert, I¡¯d be useless. The terrain just worked in my favor.¡± He scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment, slowing down a bit from the group so he could avoid more praise and look over his notifications.


    He was slightly surprised by the two


    It took a while, but they eventually reached the city and all headed to the


    Roge nodded at that as he pushed the bag into his inventory, sitting back as the waiter came around for drink and food orders. The rest of the day was spent relaxing as all four got severely wasted, toasting to their overall superiority in the woods.


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    ~---~


    The next few days were filled with mostly filled with training and more training, Roge having been told to stop showing up at the smoke shop as often due to the plants having grown too fast. Sean had moved Roge over to the training field out the back of the Guild building to train with his vines and teleports some more. ¡°You need to develop a style of fighting with the Skills so you don¡¯t freeze up in combat. Last time it didn¡¯t effect things, but next time you could be in serious danger.¡± That was the mentality Sean put the dragonkin under as he fought the various combat dummies. Some could move around and others would stay still, so Roge had to pay attention so he could hit and teleport without bumping into them. Most of the time he failed, finding it good to train up a lot of his stats at once.


    That was only half of the days of course, the other half consisted of joining Hops in the library. Intelligence training wasn¡¯t all about knowledge or memorizing, but mostly about problem solving. They stuck to nonfiction books, puzzling out the lore of the world and figuring out how they could use it in their future situations. Roge¡¯s brain hurt by the end of it, but it was worth it by the time they were all ready to head out for another mission.


    Strength: 25 (2/2 Skill Slots Used)


    Dexterity: 42 (1/3 Skill Slots Used)


    Agility: 28 (2/2 Skill Slots Used)


    Constitution: 43 (4/4 Skill Slots Used)


    Intelligence: 61 (5/6 Skill Slots Used)


    Charisma: 16 (1/1 Skill Slots Used)


    Skills ¨C [Fold]


    Gardening (-) Rank 2


    Inspect (-) Rank 2


    Draconic Magic Plant Destruction (Int) Rank 1


    Draconic Magic Plant Creation (Int) Rank 1


    Leaf Armor (Con) Rank 2


    Vine Wall (Con) Rank 1


    Nature Walk (Agi) Rank 3


    Nature Senses (Cha) Rank 4


    Familiar (Plant) (Int) Rank 2


    Plant Infection (Utility) (Int) Rank 1


    Combat Focus (Con) Rank 3


    Unarmed Fighting (Str) Rank 2


    HIntelligenceMatching StepsGuild


    He was excited, of course, to snatch up the Magic PunchSkillQuestQuest Guild Quest


    Quest


    The three seemed to enjoy Roge¡¯s confused look, the dragonkin trying to parse that arrangement out. ¡°Are they just¡­ shy?¡±


    GuildGuild


    Quest


    Roge sighed at Sean and Marge¡¯s chuckles, shaking his head and looking around the forest. ¡°I¡¯ll go do some scouting if you all don¡¯t mind.¡± They all nodded at that and handed over the paired compass followed by Roge stepping off the path, Walking

 The Benefits to a Strong Mind

    Once they got within a few minutes of the hut, Roge understood first hand why it was out so far. He had to wrap a shirt around his maw, making sure to dunk it in some water from his waterskin before doing so, to keep some of the smell away. Once they reached the hut, Roge frowned however. It looked like a cabin more than anything and immaculately made at that. It had perfectly straight, clean walls, a shingled roof that looked straight out of a fantasy movie he¡¯d seen, and flowers growing inside flower pots below the windows. The windows even had glass, which Roge was not sure how the witch had gotten ahold of.


    They quickly dropped off the items once they reached the hut, the smell worsening the more they¡¯d gotten close. Retreating back into the woods, Hops immediately sat down to start reading a book, Marge flopped over for a quick nap, and Sean started some of his sword poses to train some more. The dragonkin wasn¡¯t sure what to do at first, but soon shrugged his shoulders and grabbed the paired compass again to go and train his [Senses] and [Walking] while exploring that part of the forest.


    It didn¡¯t take him very long to get slightly bored of his surroundings, finding no dangerous monsters or interesting plants, the area seeming to be picked clean until it looked just like a natural forest from before. He decided to swing up one of the taller trees, finding his [Nature Walk Skill] worked vertically up the branches, very quickly getting to the top and holding onto the small trunk to keep him steady on a thin branch. He was worried for a moment his weight would unbalance it, but he calmed when it just gently swayed with his added weight. I guess even trees got an upgrade¡­ he mused, taking the moment to look out across the landscape of trees cut off by hills and a few mountains.


    His musing was cut off a few minutes later when a figure suddenly appeared in front of him, Roge nearly jumping out of his skin and falling off the tree. He just barely managed to grab onto the trunk for dear life, not keeping his eyes off the figure that literally floated in midair a foot away from him. They were overly muscular, easily beating Sean in size and height, and it was not helping that they only wore a pair of jean shorts and nothing else. Roge¡¯s brain helpfully pointed out that they had no body hair whatsoever to distract him from the fact that the person was blue. A dark, almost sapphire blue, matching their piercing eyes.


    ¡°Well aren¡¯t you interesting,¡± a melodic voice mused, Roge blinking at how they almost sounded like they were singing without even trying at first. He then frowned as he noticed that he could hear a different sounding voice below the first, like those videos he¡¯d watched before of people using voice changers to have multiple voices on top of each other. Focusing on the hidden voice, it was as though something shattered in his mind and he could only hear a deep, but starkly normal voice as the person continued to speak.


    ¡°Usually people don¡¯t notice me at all,¡± the figure mused, rubbing a hand across his beard. ¡°How can you see me young one?¡±


    ¡°I uh¡­ I¡¯m not sure if I should answer that,¡± Roge blurted out, growing more concerned as he realized what most likely happened. He¡¯d resisted an auditory illusion with the voice, though he wasn¡¯t sure how he could be fooled at all with his [Static Mind Ability], but that would be pondered on later. There was also apparently a visual illusion that he¡¯d not even noticed that hid the figure from view. I guess that¡¯s why people don¡¯t see them¡­ he mused, figuring this was the ¡®witch¡¯ that lived in the hut.


    Roge gripped the tree tighter as he noticed the person¡¯s expression, one of interest and confusion. ¡°Tell me how you can see me,¡± he practically growled, Roge flinching at the more serious tone.


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    ¡°Uh¡­ no?¡± he stated hesitantly, the person¡¯s eyes widening even more at that right before a brilliant smile crossed his face.


    ¡°You¡­ you can resist me?¡± Now the person sounded hesitant, unsure if to believe the conversation they were having. ¡°That¡¯s fantastic! It has to be an [Ability] right?¡± Suddenly the figure was behind the dragonkin, Roge trying not to fall off the tree as he turned to face them. ¡°I¡¯ve met other dragonkin before and they could not resist my [Charm], so it can¡¯t be that.¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­ that¡¯s a little creepy¡­¡± Roge mumbled, the figure¡¯s grin widening at that.


    ¡°Oh you don¡¯t know how long I¡¯ve waited to hear someone say that. It¡¯s all ¡®Say something more¡¯ or ¡®Do you know how to sing¡¯ or ¡®You¡¯d want to knock boots¡¯.¡± His smile dimmed at those statements, having sounded like a valley girl during the impersonations. ¡°I¡¯ve had to seclude myself so much after gaining that [Ability], you wouldn¡¯t even know.¡± He cocked his head to the side at that. ¡°Actually you wouldn¡¯t know, would you.¡±


    Roge looked down at the ground in contemplation, wondering if he could make it with a few steps to get away from this person. He was about to try it when the figure grabbed the dragonkin and quite easily yanked him from the tree, holding him in a bridal carry position. ¡°Oh where are my manors. I¡¯m Carmon, the djinn of this forest. Let¡¯s take you to my home so we can have more of a comfortable chat.¡±


    They both then started gently floating away from the tree and directly towards a clearing in the forest, Roge immediately recognizing the perfect log cabin and confirming his suspicions. ¡°I thought you¡¯d be a witch,¡± he muttered, cringing as he realized he¡¯d said that out loud.


    ¡°Oh don¡¯t be silly. That¡¯s just the moniker the town gives me because I won¡¯t let anyone see me. Wouldn¡¯t do to become so popular. I like my privacy enough that I don¡¯t mind the loneliness.¡± His tone at the end there contradicted that statement, but Roge decided to let it go as Carmon floated gently to the ground in front of the cabin. ¡°Ah. I see. You¡¯re part of the delivery group this week. How quaint,¡± the djinn cheerfully stated, waving a hand at the supplies and money at the door. They all floated carefully into the air at that, Roge adding telekinesis to the djinn¡¯s powerset in his head, and flowed neatly through the now open door.


    ¡°Can I uh¡­ get down now?¡± Roge asked awkwardly, getting a little uncomfortable with being carried while on the ground. Carmon frowned at that but very gently let him down, Courage squeaking as he climbed out of Roge¡¯s hood. He¡¯d apparently been jostled deeper than he¡¯d wanted when they¡¯d been grabbed, shaking himself out before giving Carmon a tiny draconic glare.


    ¡°Ooo¡­¡± the djinn cooed, suddenly appearing at Roge¡¯s shoulder to stare at the [Familiar]. ¡°This one is also not scared of me. Due to your connection I assume.¡± Carmon snapped his fingers as his face lit up, Roge flinching back as he was reminded of the classic genie trope. ¡°Now, let¡¯s go inside. It always smells awful outside.¡±


    ¡°I hadn¡¯t really noticed,¡± the dragonkin muttered, having honestly been so caught off guard by Carmon that he didn¡¯t recognize the smell at first. ¡°I uh¡­ I¡¯m going to be allowed to leave though¡­ right? Not like I¡¯m going to get trapped in your house forever right?¡±


    ¡°Of course not! I would never be so rude to a guest.¡± His grin agreed with that statement, but his eyes were hard as they stared at the dragonkin, Carmon waving him to go ahead first.


    Roge entered the cabin reluctantly, finding the awful smell ended at the door to be replaced with what he could only describe as a Christmas candle smell. The inside was a mix of a comfy living room arranged around a fireplace off to the left and what Roge could only describe as a workshop off to the right. Various herbs dried along the right wall with a bubbling cauldron and desk setup that looked exactly like a potion making setup. The left was filled with a few comfy chairs and a giant couch with an end table in front of it. The couch even had the corner look that made it so one person could lie down on it without going sideways, something Roge had not seen since the world had changed. There was even a lit candle sitting on the table, probably being the source of the Christmas-y smell.


    ¡°Sit sit, I¡¯ll be with you in a moment. Just need to make the potions they requested,¡± Carmon cheered, urging Roge to the couch as he waved forward the list of requests the [Guild] had sent. Roge sat down on the comfiest couch he¡¯d ever experienced, even Courage hopping off his shoulders and curling up into a ball on the soft surface. Maybe this won¡¯t be so bad...

 Djinn Contract

    Roge¡¯s eyes bugged out more and more as he watched Carmon work, keeping all of his questions to himself. It started out with all of the herbs and gems sorting themselves in midair, the gems all turning to dust with a loud crack. He then waved almost all of them into the cauldron, not seeming to care about turning it all into a sludge and simply stirring the concoction with a giant spoon. Every minute or so a crack of [Magic] would eject into the air, being caught by a glass vial and stoppered before being gently placed on the desk.


    [Lesser Healing Potion]


    [Medium Magic Potion]


    [Lesser Stamina Potion]


    [Lesser Cure Potion]


    ¡­


    [Inspect Skill increased in Rank! ¡ú Rank 3]


    More and more potions stacked up on the bench, so many that Roge had received a level in [Inspect] by the time the djinn was done. Most of them were on the lesser end of quality, but the fact that he¡¯d brewed that many potions in one go astounded Roge. He¡¯d never been interested in potion making, but he respected the craft nonetheless.


    ¡°There we go! Should be enough potions for the [Guild] this week,¡± Carmon exclaimed, the potions filing out the door as he walked over to sit next to the dragonkin on the couch. ¡°Can only use that [Skill] once a week, but it¡¯s so worth it so I can work on my other projects in the meantime.¡± The door slamming made Roge slightly nervous, Carmon having noticed his frown. ¡°So what do you do you specialize in? With the green and blue scales I¡¯d say it¡¯s probably [Water] or [Earth Magic] right?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ uh¡­ [Plant Magic] actually,¡± Roge muttered, shaking himself so as to not get nervous by Carmon¡¯s manic energy again. In a louder tone of voice, he continued, ¡°So I know it¡¯s nice for you an-¡±


    ¡°Oh that¡¯s awesome! You think you¡¯d be able to help me with my herbs? Maybe-¡±


    ¡°I think I need to go now!¡± Roge blurted out, cutting the djinn off before he could carry the conversation away again. ¡°You seem like a nice guy and all, but my friends are going to be looking for me after they find the potions. And I need to go back to the city for more training¡­¡± He trailed off this time at the piercing look the djinn was giving him, unnerved all over again.


    ¡°Okay,¡± Carmon stated neutrally, causing Roge to grow confused. ¡°I¡¯ll just become another of your [Familiars] then.¡± He nodded at that, blatantly ignoring Roge¡¯s shocked expression. ¡°You accept?¡±


    [Carmon the Djinn had requested to become your Familiar. Accept? Y/N]


    ¡°Now hold on a second! We only just met!¡± Roge scrambled up out of the couch, Carmon elegantly getting up and not giving Roge any space. ¡°Besides wouldn¡¯t you have the same problem with your [Charm] or whatever?¡±


    ¡°Oh, that.¡± Carmon waved away the thought. ¡°If you are immune to it, I can use a [Familiar Ability] I gain to make it so we can nullify it for other people. Not a problem.¡±


    ¡°Still! Only just met. I don¡¯t want to be tied to you forever if we find out we annoy the crap out of each other!¡±


    Carmon gave the dragonkin a confused look for a moment before he let out a sigh. ¡°You don¡¯t know how [Familiars] work? And you have one?¡± He shook his head. ¡°[Familiar] contracts are voluntary from both sides, not a Master/Slave relationship.¡± Roge frowned at that, having not known that tidbit as he generally forgot his [Familiar] was around. ¡°So if I annoy you, you can annul it and I¡¯ll come back to my hut out in the woods. Simple as that. And I highly doubt you want to get to know each other while trapped in here and it¡¯s the best option for me to go see the populated world again.¡±


    Grimacing at that last sentence, Roge gave a sigh as he thought it over. ¡°I need to go confer with my party first. Make sure you¡¯re not lying about the [Familiar] contract and all.¡± Also to make sure I wouldn¡¯t be doing something potentially dangerous.


    ¡°Ugh. Fine. But after five minutes I¡¯m coming out and they won¡¯t be able to pay attention then. So you have that amount of time to talk to them.¡± The door swung open at the last word, Courage getting up from the couch and flying out as Roge sprinted out as well. I hate this world sometimes¡­


    ~---~


    Within seconds Roge skid to a stop in front of his party members, Sean being the first to notice and raise an eyebrow. ¡°Don¡¯t have time. Five minutes. How dangerous is a djinn and can [Familiar] contracts be broken at any time?¡± All three gave him wide eyed looks and he immediately spoke again before they could ask any questions. ¡°Again, don¡¯t have time. Go.¡±


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    ¡°Djinn are very dangerous,¡± Hops quickly spoke, getting to his feet with a bit of a panicked look on his face. ¡°Very powerful in their chosen field and master of their domain. Combat focused and you¡¯re screwed.¡±


    ¡°Alchemy as far as I can tell.¡±


    Marge of all people cut in at that point, her perpetual smirk wiped off her face. ¡°[Familiars] are bound by the contract. If you want it to be temporary or only consensual, you can agree to those terms beforehand.¡± Roge nodded, not happy that he¡¯d gotten Carmon in a lie already.


    ¡°Why does the witch want a [Familiar] contract anyway?¡± Sean finally asked, Roge cringing at how quickly he put that together.


    ¡°Complicated. Need to think,¡± he said shortly, pacing back and forth as he thinks over the situation.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t accept, the djinn may try to force the issue,¡± Hops stated, causing Roge to groan at his words. ¡°We are still within their sphere of influence and if they have any mind powers, they may try to hostage us¡­¡± Hops trailed off at that, all three looking behind Roge as he felt a sinking feeling in his gut.


    ¡°It has not been five minutes!¡± he complained looking back towards the hut to see Carmon leaning against a nearby tree. His party mates were all staring at the djinn entranced, all vacant smiles and relaxed stances.


    ¡°Too bad. What¡¯s your answer?¡± Carmon asked, the three enthralled sighing in unison at his enhanced voice.


    ¡°Fine! Temporary contract where either one of us can break it at any time, unless you¡¯re under mind control.¡± Roge tried to think of any other conditions, Carmon actually giving him time with a raised eyebrow. ¡°No [Charm] without my permission or unless my life is in danger. You try to the best of your ability to follow my lead. Deal?¡± He couldn¡¯t think of anything else to offer, hoping something he forgot wouldn¡¯t come to bite him in the tail.


    ¡°Deal!¡± Carmon abruptly appeared in front of the dragonkin and shook his hand, Roge feeling a connection form between the two.


    [New Familiar Bond accepted. Contract can be seen in the Status menu.]


    [New Ability Gained: Djinn Familiar]


    Roge grunted under the exchange of energy, feeling his [Magic] leaking out and Carmon¡¯s [Magic] rushing in from the bond. He almost passed out from the process, feeling his body nearby exploding with energy before the process stopped. Roge immediately let go as steam came off of him in waves, his breath coming out a mixture of green and blue.


    [Water Affinity Unlocked! Use Water with Magic based Abilities to unlock new Skills!]


    [New Class Available:


    Exposing a changeling and getting that idiotic dragonkin off my record? Today will be my lucky day.


    Charges should take a day to file after that. Maybe a day or two before he can be brought in if he¡¯s on a mission. Four more days at most and my biggest annoyance is gone.

 Rewrite?

    I uh... so this is awkward.


    I haven''t looked at my page in a long while. Lost a lot of motivation over the years to continue publically writing and thought it was a dead end for me. Imagine my shock when I looked back at my stats and saw 19 of you, at one point or another, wanted updates on this story. Even bigger, over 200 people read through my story to the end of where I wrote it! That is... humbling to say the least.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Its been so long since I''ve touched this story, and I hope that in the years since my writing has improved, in private. I''ve certainly read enough crafting stories to know what I do and don''t like in them. So! My roommates told me to ask you all.


    Would you be interested in a rewrite of this story? The pacing makes me cringe, so I''d want to improve that, along with the characters. It''d be a slower burn than before and focus a bit more on the magical crafting. What do you all think?