Darten stared at the deer corpses suspended from tendrils of blood, floating behind Kay as he walked back into the base area. “That is so creepy.”

Kay glanced up behind himself. “Well… sorry? I wasn’t going to leave them behind, and I didn’t have a way to carry all five by myself.”

“Sure, just… Keep it in mind. Carrying bodies around like that is very off-putting.” Darten stared at the floating deer bodies for a moment more, then turned away, shuddering.

Devon poked his head out of the nearby building. “Hey, Darten have you finished making those hinges- Oh fuck!” He stumbled back out of view, shouting in the harsh language Kay was working hard not to call “Dwarvish”.

Darten gave him a pointed look. “See?”

“Again, I didn’t really have much of a choice unless you wanted me to just leave the bodies behind and waste the meat.”

“You could have left the deer alone. We don’t really need more meat right now.”

Kay threw up his arms. “They attacked me!” He exclaimed.

“What?”

Kay sighed and rubbed at his face. “Can you make me a table to set these on? I’m not going to try and float them through the doorway.”

“Sure.” Darten gestured with his hands, and a flat surface of dirt raised up from the ground.

“Thanks.” Kay plopped the bodies down onto it and drew the blood back into his canteen. “You’re getting faster at that.”

“I know, right?” Darten grinned. “Once you showed me how to think about it differently, I’ve been trying a lot of new things and getting lots of good practice. I’ve gained six levels in Earth Manipulation!”

“Damn! You’re already that close to tier four?”

“Yeah! I need to work on my spells some more to keep Earth Mage at around the same level, but I’m so excited.” He stepped closer and leaned towards Kay, “I’m trying to decide if I should aim for a non-combat Earth Manipulation class. I’m starting to like making buildings and digging into the cliff a lot.”

Kay looked over at the hallway headed inside the cliff face, which was larger every time he saw it now. “Why wouldn’t you? If you have the slots, I say go for it. Your uncle was just telling me that I don’t have to have all my classes synergize into one tier five class. You can get more than one, so why not do it? Plus, multiple classes based on magically shifting dirt and rock around should merge, so you don’t even have to worry about that.”

Darten stared ahead of him, obviously looking at his status. “It would be my first non-combat class, and I’d have two more left.”

“Take it,” Kay told him. “I just took my second this morning, and I’m about to take my third once I level the right skill again. That’ll leave me with two slots left for non-combat too. If Meten told me to take two classes that will definitely merge with each other, but maybe not anything else, he’d one hundred percent tell you it’s okay to take a class that will leave you with the same number of slots and synergizes with classes you already have.”

Darten nodded, “Got it! I’ll work on trying to get a class like that. Maybe I should try and get the Architecture Skill too?”

“Uh, maybe? If you get an Architect Class, that would probably merge with some kind of building with earth magic based class, but would it merge if you ended up with a class that’s entirely earth magic based?” Kay scratched his chin as he thought about it. “I’d talk to your Uncle and Eleniah. They know way more than either of us.”

“Good idea. Now, tell me about your new class!”

Kay opened his mouth, only to get interrupted by Leya rushing out of nowhere, an axe in her hand as she ran up.

“Darten!” She shouted, brandishing her weapon, “Are you alright!? Devon was saying something about floating blood tentacle monsters? Are they still here?” She glanced around the area wildly.

“Um.” Kay raised his hands. “That was me.” He pointed at the dead deer with his hands. “I was carrying those with my magic.”

“Oh.” Her shoulders slumped as she looked at the bodies. “So, no monsters? Everyone’s good?”

“I’m pretty sure they were monsters, but I killed them earlier.” Kay looked over towards the large building Devon had run into. Kay was mentally calling it “the eating hall”, but it’d probably get a better name later. “How did you run into Devon? It’s been like five minutes since he ran in there, and there’s only one way out.”

“Oh, there’s more than one way now.” Darten announced, “I was talking it over with Senik, and we decided I should add a passage to the lower section of the building from the hall I was making, so people could get around easier.”

Kay frowned a little. “In the future, don’t make any big changes like that without talking with everyone, please. We need to plan things like that out, not just add on stuff as we think about it. That’s how you end up with problems later on.”

Darten nodded in agreement, “Sorry about that.”

Kay waved him off, “Nothing to apologize for, just something to think of in the future. What if we wanted to put something else there once we know more about what we’re making? Things to consider for the future.” He looked back at Leya. “So, what took so long?”

“I only ran into Devon shouting about tentacle monsters a few seconds before I ran over.”

“What was he doing, then?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Kay grunted. “We’ll talk about it later, I guess.”

“Now that this little scene is over tell me about your new class!” Darten insisted.

“Oh right.”

Leya moved closer to listen as Kay talked about the Novice Cartographer Class and showed them the maps and sketches he’d been making. He set some of the pages next to each other to show how they lined up and made a bigger map. He also explained the choice between the Cartographer Line Class and the Mapmaker Line Class and what Meten and Eleniah had told him about Classes like that.

“And once I level Cartography to six and get Novice Mapmaker, I’ll make that big map I’ve been planning on. I’ve seen enough of the valley to make an alright map of it, and I can add more details or update it to a new one once we discover more.” Kay told them as he put away his papers.

“That’s awesome!” Leya cheered.

Kay glanced down to see her clutching her axe tight in both hands, her knuckles white from the pressure. He paused for a moment, then mentally shrugged. He’d already made his decision; he’d best start acting like it. “Want me to talk to Eleniah? Ahthia told me you wanted to be a warrior, and Eleniah could help you learn. She’s a good teacher.”

“I don’t want to be a Warrior!” She snapped angrily, then flushed and looked away.”

“Uh, I meant someone who fights, not a Warrior class.”

“Oh, sorry.” Her blush seemed to rise higher on her face. “Um, please? I’d love to get some training.”

“Totally. I need to have a talk with her now that I’m back from my trip, so I’ll bring it up then.” Kay looked down at her, then mentally shrugged for a second time. “What Class do you want to be? Seemed like you’re pretty passionate about it.”

“A Spellblade!” She exclaimed. “I want to get a Spellblade Class!”

“Oh, there are Spellblade Classes?” Kay grinned. “That’s awesome.”

Leya fidgeted, “Well, there are Spellblade Classes at tier five, but before then, it’s really more of a fighting style since you need multiple classes to do it.”

“Like my uncle.” Darten added, “His Ashblade Painter is considered a Spellblade Class, but he had to combine four or five classes at tier five to get it.”

“Do I have a Spellblade style, then? Since I use magic and weapons to fight?” Kay asked.

“Exactly! I want to do that, but with Stone Magic and axes! Or hammers. I’d really like to have both, but everyone tells me dual-wielding isn’t worth it since I’d have to get a combat class just for that skill and that it isn’t worth the trouble. But the versatility of a smashing weapon and a slashing weapon is too good! Then I combine the stone magic in, which would give me lots of durability and good attack and defense options since you almost always have rocks around!” She went on for a full five minutes, describing her perfect class and everything she wanted to do with it. When she was done, she looked up at Darten and Kay and blushed again. “Sorry, I get really excited about it sometimes. I didn’t mean to talk too much, sorry.”

“No!” Darten half-shouted, “That was so interesting!”

She glanced up shyly, “Really?” She asked him.

Darten nodded furiously.

Kay nodded. “He’s totally right. You’ve really planned things out and put a lot of thought into what you want.”

“Oh, well, thanks.”

Kay pondered on what she’d said while Darten continued reassuring her that he’d wanted to hear what she’d said.

“Is there dirt magic?” Kay asked suddenly.

Darten scrunched his face a little bit. “Yeah? Why?”

“What’s the difference between dirt magic and earth magic?”

“Earth magic lets you do stuff to rocks too. And it takes more concentration and mana since it’s not as streamlined as rock magic or dirt magic.”

Kay nodded a few times as his thoughts coalesced. “Leya, what’s your combat class right now?”

“Apprentice Axe Wielder.”

“How many combat slots do you have left?”

She glanced at Darten with a frown. He shrugged at her, a look of confusion on his face. She stared at Kay for a moment. “Three.”

Kay looked over at her with a grin.” Perfect!”

“What?”

“One slot for axes, one for hammers, a slot for dual-wielding, and then one for earth magic.” He pointed at Darten. “Darten’s high enough in Earth Mage to teach you the skill, and it adds even more versatility to your build. You could do everything you wanted with rock magic, but more!”

She stared at him with wide eyes, gaping in surprise. “That’s… that’s a great idea!” She whirled towards Darten, her face lit with excitement, “Will you teach me?”

“Of course.” He nodded seriously. “I’d be happy to help.”

A massive grin covered her face. “Oh, it was such a great idea to go with Senik! I’d never have found someone to teach me magic this soon if I’d stayed at home!”

Darten tried to stay calm as the dwarven woman grabbed him and dragged him down for a hug.

Kay smiled at them and started to walk off. “I’ll talk to you guys later; I’ve got to go talk to Eleniah now.”

Darten waved goodbye, but Leya didn’t even notice him leave as she profusely thanked Darten over and over.

Kay found Eleniah in their “house,” talking with Meten and Ahthia again. “Hey.”

“You’re back!” Eleniah greeted him with a grin. “How’d it go?”

“Well, the cliff wraps all the way around the valley until it hits the mountain again, so the only two ways in or out are the way we came in to the south and the pass I found between the plateau and the mountain. I can’t be sure it’s actually a pass and not just a dead-end, but it went on for a long time, so I stopped and came back.” Kay pointed over his shoulder towards where he’d left the deer carcasses. “Also, some kind of predatory deer with really sharp antlers and pointy hooves attacked me, and I brought back the bodies so we could see if they’re edible.”

“Oh, fang deer.” Meten smiled at him, “They taste great.”

“Well, they could be a threat if they decide to attack us.”

“Nah, cut a few of them down enough times, and they learn to stay away from settlements. They’ll definitely attack small groups, though, so we should warn everyone.”

Eleniah took a few steps closer, “You found the end of the valley and a pass, right? What’s the terrain look like?”

Kay opened his mouth to reply, then paused. “You know what, we can go over that in a minute. While I was out there, I thought about it for a bit, and I kept coming back to the fact that I didn’t feel like I was a good choice. And then I thought about it some more, and I realized that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. I’ve been wrong before. So I’m running on some “why not?” energy, and I’ve decided to do it.”

“Really now?” Meten smiled as he leaned back against the wall, “That’s good to hear.”

“Is it?” Kay looked at him, “Honestly, you’re the biggest blank I’m pulling on this whole thing. What’s up with you and Darten?”

Meten glanced over at Eleniah as he replied. “Since you’ve already made your decision to found a new place and lead it, then I guess what I have to say won’t affect that decision anymore. Let me tell you a little about me and my hometown.”