That night, or morning if someone was keeping track, had been the most satisfying sleep Myles Chase had ever experienced.

The bed was beyond perfect, firm yet soft enough to mold to his very soul with enough blankets to be warm but not uncomfortably so. It made the bed back in the holding area, his former greatest mattress ever, seem like it was full of pointy rocks and broken glass.

It was what he imagined sleeping on a warm, friendly slime might feel like.

By the time he stirred from the blessed sleep, the sun was already shining in the window. It was a while after that before the pragmatic part of him told him he had to get up, but even then, it was by protest.

No bed can be that comfortable. You are wasting the day.

Myles groaned, and everything he had done yesterday came back in a painful reminder of sore muscles and tender spots of flesh. He’d pushed himself further than he ever had before, been stabbed, healed, bunched, threatened, stabbed again, and everything else under the sun short of being set on fire. Despite the pain, Myles still felt refreshed and ready for the voice inside his head.

“Ashra, you’ve clearly never been in a bed before after an exhaustion day,” Myles explained, speaking just to hear the sound of his own voice.

No.

He paused when he didn’t sense a joke. That didn’t seem right. “You should try it then before you say it’s wasting a day.”

She hesitated but sent the impression of a nod. If it is not an inconvenience.

After a few moments to sit up, stretch, and otherwise rub the soreness from his limbs, Myles took her stone from his pocket and released her.

In a moment, he’d regretted his decision as her form sunk into the mattress, and her mind cut out again.

Ashra body was still dealing with the shock she’d experienced and was still unconscious when she wasn’t in her stone — unconscious and covered in what blood hadn’t been put back in her body. Well, he’d done the same, but that was just one more color he’d have to figure out how to clean.

The last time he’d seen her status, Ashra had been concussed. He wasn’t a doctor, but he did remember the time the pan rank fell off the wall, onto his head, and made his head swim in and out of concussions. The [Healer] has said it was a concussion and that he shouldn’t sleep.

Should he wake her?

Remember the status window, Myles spoke the word and navigated to her information.

#

Name: Ashra Snowpelt

Age: Adolescence

Sex: Female

Race: Ambush Rabbitkin

Patron: Rani, Goddess of the Moon

Primary Class:

Ambush Rabbit

Skilled

Secondary Class:

Pugilist

Skilled

Brawn - 18

Dexterity - 21 (19+2)

Will - 11 (10+1)

Influence - 14 (12+2)

Soul Energy: 80/80

Elemental Alignment:

Air

Title: Princess

Skills:

Lesser Force Kick

Stealth

High Jump

Traits:

Soul Link (Myles Chase)

Warrior’s Resolve

Perfect Balance

Quick Feet

Condition:

Exhaustion (Overheal)

Inventory:

1 - Steel Knuckles (Equipped)

1 - Pugilist Robes (Equipped)

1 - Belt pouch (Equipped)

#

The worst of her injuries and the concussion were gone, but it seemed the healing had exhausted her.

Well, it could have been worse, Myles considered. He watched her for a moment, almost snickering as she hugged the blankets tighter. He knew it was a good bed. He thought about moving her to the living room but reconsidered the thought almost instantly. He doubted he had the strength at the moment, and the damage was already done anyways. Her deep blue blood had already stained the fabric. Thankfully, Myles did know how to do laundry.

But… did he have a laundry room?

Well, he had a bathroom if not a laundry so he could just…

Wait…

He had a bathroom!

Leaving her and the sheets to the bed, Myles went out of the bedroom, across the living room, and found himself in the single most luxurious bathroom he’d ever been in. There was a bath, a shower, and a sink! All of them connected to rechargeable mana stones that, after a quick test, could produce hot and cold water at will! Clean hot and cold water without waiting! To his greater surprise, using the toilet actually obliterated the waste!

He’d never need to clean or plunge a toilet again!

He wasn't in the dungeon anymore, was he?

No, he couldn’t be. He had to have died last night and gone to whatever heaven Runners went to.

Near the bathtub, there was another door, a closet filled with fluffy, blue towels that matched the house and bathroom.

With a new task in mind, Myles ran the hot water into the tub and mixed in the cold with another knob until he could just tolerate the heat. He stripped his clothing, setting it next to the tub and soaked. There was soap sitting around the ring, and with that, he cleaned the rainbow of gore from himself. When the tub was as a deep, disgusting red-purple like a bruised rose, he drained it, rinsed the entire tub until the water ran clear, and filled it again.

When it was full this time, he stayed in it until the water was long past warm, enjoying the way it loosened his aching muscles.

An hour later, he reluctantly got out of the bathtub, dried off, threw the disgusting towel away, and looked at his clothes. They looked as bad as he had felt, so instead of draining the water, he worked and washed the shirt, pants, underclothes, socks, and even his shoes.

The soapy bubbles and water were almost a darker murky red this time by the time he was done, leaves and blades of grass joined the bubbles as the caked blood let them loose in layers. His clothes were a dark shade of their former glory by the time he was done, but they were clean enough to be considered clothing again.

Opening the window, he put them on a rack to dry next to the towel he’d used and sighed, slumping down on the floor as the full weight of yesterday hit home.

He’d survived.

He had a home, and he was now sitting naked on the bathroom floor.

It had been a morning, and with that thought, Myles drifted back off into a peaceful nap.

He deserved that much.

***

A prodding in his side awoke the young [Monster Tamer] before his time. He was still groggy and didn’t register what or who was talking to him. Wiping sleep from his eyes, the voice repeated itself.

“I’m hungry.”

“What?”

“I’m hungry. I need food, Tamer Myles.”

Ashra? Why did she need food?

She nudged him again with her foot, less gently this time, and repeated her query before adding. “Your clothes are dry. I folded them before covering you with the fluffy sheet next to them. You were shivering.”

Then it all came back to him, and he groaned.

Stupid, warm bath betraying him.

He muttered a thank you, got dressed without a second thought, and felt immediately better about the entire situation. At least until he realized a kitchen was not listed on the ranch’s amenities. How much would that cost him?

Thankfully, there was a small oven, a table, and a pantry in the living room… but they were all as bare as he had been.

“I still have some steaks and haunches I could cook up,” Myles offered.

Ashra cocked her head, her ears twitching in irritation. “I cannot eat meat, Tamer. I am a rabbit monsterkin. We are vegetarians.”

If Myles had been thinking, he’d have realized that already.

Despite her humanoid appearance, she was still a dungeon monster. Even knowing that, he couldn’t help but compare her to the Beastkin he knew of. Despite their species, most were omnivores, and they could eat as they pleased. They did prefer some foods over others, but for tastes and textures rather than need. It was just another way that the dungeon monsterkin were different from the other.

With a sigh, he apologized and looked out the window as he hung the towel back on the rack. He’d explore the rest of the house later.

“Are you up for a little walking?”

***

Together, the tamer and the Ambush Rabbitkin passed from the back door of the main house and moved into the covered walkway. It still smelled of fresh pine, and the warm air of the late morning blew their hair as they walked. The dungeon even had birds singing in the forest beyond despite the terrors that waited in the underbrush.

It was the little things that they left out of the coverage for the dungeon. It was like a whole other world. Granted, it was bigger on the inside, time moved faster, and there were only five or six different terrains depending on what you considered the ruined city, but even on that small of a scale, it was a world unto its own.

Walking into the barn was about what he expected. There were four stalls lined on all sides by white stone and separated from each other with full walls on either side, a walkway between, and gates, but much to both their dismay, there was no food or bedding as promised and little else. Ashra looked around as well, but confirmed his findings.

That’s when Myles noticed the metal clips at the back of each pen. They almost looked like… what were those things on a ring called…

Bah.

It didn’t matter. He recognized what they were used for, took out Ashra’s stasis gem, and set it into the waiting impression. With a faint click, the gem held fast in place, and a blue window appeared before him.

—

Set Pen to the preferences of minion: Ashra Snowpelt, Ambush Rabbit Princess?

Cost: 20 SE from Ashra Snowpelt, Ambush Rabbit Princess.

Warning: This Soul Energy will be allocated until canceled or dead and be unavailable for use.

Tamer: Yes/No

—

Myles called her over and showed her the window’s prompt. She eyed it curiously, as if unsure what to make of it but nodded.

So he accepted for her.

A moment later, the pen had completely changed. The stone underfoot became soft earth covered in just as soft, warm grass. A small garden sprouted at the end furthest from the door with at least three different kinds of plant next to a small flowering creek. Across from that, a hole opened up in the ground with a perfectly round door blocking its entrance into the hillside. Overhead, the sky expanded forever as if the ceiling never existed.

It was almost beautiful.

—

Pen Preferences Set:

Pen: Ashra Snowpelt, Ambush Rabbit Princess

Maintenance Cost: 20 SE

Environment: Rolling Hills, Warm (Late Spring), Day/Night Cycle

Modular Setup: Herbivore Garden, Running Water, Burrow

Current Upgrades: None

Current Need: None

Current Expansions in Progress: None

Bonuses: Recovery (+)

—

When he heard a click, Myles carefully took the stasis gem from the wall and slipped it back in his pocket. In awe of the magic he witnessed, he tested the missing walls next. From where he stood, it looked as though he could see for miles until it reached the edges of a forest beyond, but it was all just an illusion. He found his hand still stopped where they’d been. Despite the larger look, the room was still about the size of his new bathroom.

Ashra looked at her new accommodation with wonder her her large, solid black eyes. She muttered something to herself before a smile twisted her inhuman lips for just a moment. Then, she walked to the garden and didn’t even bother to wash her food as she devoured a head of what looked like blue lettuce, followed quickly by a small stalk of broccoli, and then some sort of purplish-white root vegetable as big as her fist. She ate and ate as if there were no tomorrow.

Her tamer nearly choked at the speed. Only growing more surprised as the plants she’d eaten already began to sprout back.

“Don’t eat so fast, or you’ll get sick” Myles warned, wondering when the last time she ate was. Not for the first time wondering about where she’d come from.

As if remembering he were there for the first time, she snapped back and chattered something before sighing and setting down what she was about to shove into her mouth. “I apologize.”

Moving to the garden, Myles took a look at what was growing and reached for a piece of the broccoli. His hand passed right through it, much to his own annoyance. He did the same with the others, finding that none of them could be used by anyone other than Ashra. No abusing that system then. He’d have to find his own food like everyone else.

He did have the steaks left to cook, so he’d be find for a day or two, but he wished for some flour, sugar, yeast… it would have been a comfort to bake again.

Ashra had already explored the pen. There was a clear frown in her lapin features as she approached Myles. “There is no bed.”

That didn’t seem right. The pen was supposed to be set to her preferences, and if her people slept in beds, there should be a bed.

“Can you show me? Maybe you missed it?”

Her ears twitched with the whiskers on her cheek, and she nodded. “Come.”

Inside the small hillside, it was more spacious than it looked from the outside. There were only two rooms, the large first room and a small… he wanted to call it a bathroom, if the hole in the floor leading to a black void could be called that. In the first room, there was a clearly visible bed frame and mattress on a small carpet against the wall. He was about to point it out before he caught her gaze and approached it.

His hand fell on it, and he could feel the individual fibers of dried grass, soft leaves, and other materials. It was a rabbit’s bed, wasn’t it?

“It is not a bed.”

“No?” Myles asked.

She nodded curtly. “You have a bed. This is not a bed. There is no comfort to it.”

Then, it clicked.

By the Pantheon, he’d already spoiled her.

***

By his word, he looked into the pen and did in fact find an upgrade system for it too. However…

—

Comfort Upgrades and Additions By Pen-

Pen: Ashra Snowpelt, Ambush Rabbit Princess

Bathroom (20 Comfort Vouchers, replaces Waste Room. Fitness (+), Recovery (+))

Garden (30 Comfort Vouchers. Fitness (+), Variety (+))

Upgraded Bed (20 Comfort Vouchers, replaces Basic Bed. Recover (+))

King-sized Bed (20 Comfort Vouchers, replaces Upgraded Bed. Recover (++))

—

He couldn’t afford any of it.

All the upgrades gave bonuses of some kind, which was probably what made them require comfort vouchers, the rarest of all he’d come across, but why’d they have to cost nearly double his own upgrades?

Ashra was a princess, royalty among her people, so Myles expected the worst when he told her that. To his surprise, she simply nodded as if it were the way of the world and excused herself to the back room.

Leaving her to her… business, Myles left the barn and returned to his home to begin soaking his bedsheets so he could have them for the night.

Home…

It was a lovely word — even if it was in the middle of a dungeon.