Sam could smell food in the kitchen as he came back from shopping. He had a shit-eating grin on his face, but then looked surprised at the plated food on the table sitting ready for him, and said, “How did you know I would be back right at this moment?”

Jen smiled, “I have you and Tamako set up with my psych skill on auto-ping. It’s like a real-time gps tracker. Obviously, I’m not really worried about where Tamako goes because she can take care of herself, but you have been letting your combat training slide. Also, get your head out of the enchanted clouds and start paying attention boomer!” and she threw a chicken bone at his head. “Tamako followed you while you were shopping, and she intercepted two gamblers that had been targeting you. You didn’t notice Tamako, and you didn’t notice the gamblers.”

Sam was embarrassed and felt like an idiot. He knew Jen’s assessment was spot on, and replied, “Shit! you’re right. That’s just damn embarrassing. I’ll make a point to have my situational awareness back in place when I’m out. About combat training though, I’ve got to get through all these enchantments before the auction Crapshoot is sending all our stuff to. After that, I can get back into the swing of things.”

“Fair enough, but then no more excuses.”

“So you’re tracking everywhere Tamako and I go now, huh? You sound like some sort of crazy girlfriend stalker. Don’t make Tamako go get a restraining order against you!”

“Ha, ha!” replied Jen with a sarcastic laugh.

Sam continued to tease her and said, “You should call it your Clingy girlfriend skill.”

Just as Jen was about to throw another chicken bone at Sam, they heard Tamako coming in the front door.

Tamako had watched Sam go into numerous weapon shops, but she didn’t follow him in, and as she entered the kitchen, asked. “What weapons did you buy today?”

Sam glanced cautiously over at Jen, and hesitantly said, “about that, there are two things I feel need mentioning. First, I purchased this high-adept ultra-light mana-imbued steel shield for Tamako.” Sam then pulled the shield out of his ring, passing it over to her Tamako.

Tamako was speechless, but finally said, “A shield of this size and quality must have cost a small fortune! How did you get it?”

Sam glanced at Jen and said, “that’s the second issue I need to bring up. I’m out of money, completely out of money.”

Jen looked like her head was about to explode, but said with a scary-calm voice, “please explain how you spent ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY gold in a single day of shopping.”

Sam laughed nervously and replied, “well… it was actually more like 230 gold, but tomato, tamahto, Tamako!” Sam laughed at his own stupid joke, but then hurried to explain, “anyway, I already had 30 gold in my ring when you gave me the 150 gold. As you know, I spent 120 gold on the mana-carving skillbook, which I immediately used. I then went to several shops where I purchased some basic weapons. I used my forgetme charm and took everything to our safehouse, where in addition to setting up a few enchanted wards on the house…well more like a shed I noticed.”

Jen was feeling the stress of managing everything for their little family, and defended her choice for the safe house, retorting, “It’s all we need, and if you want something better, you go set up a different one!”

“No, no… that’s not what I meant. Thank you for setting it up. I just meant it was a small space for what I did next. I laid out all the basic weapons I’d just purchased, and with my new mana-carving skill, I carved some simple durability enhancing runes into the weapons right there on the floor. I then went to several other weapons shops and sold the weapons for a profit, until I had the 110 gold I needed to purchase this shield.”

Tamako finally chimed in and said, “You did fantastic today, Sam!” as she moved the shield around, testing its balance and handling.

Jen cut in and said, “Sam I don’t disagree with the purchase, but we are a team, and we should discuss things like spending 110 GOLD on a shield! Tamako has several shields already.”

Tamako raised an eyebrow at Jen, but didn’t reply knowing that she did indeed have several quality shields…just not this high a quality.

Sam held up his hands and said, “You’re right again, but I got excited when I thought about how detailed I could carve enchantments into the mana-imbued steal with my new mana-carving skill. I knew I could finally make the shield I’ve been thinking about for Tamako.” Sam gestured towards Tamako “please hand me the shield back so I can explain.”

Tamako looked like she was going to tell Sam to go to hell, but she reluctantly handed the shield back to him, saying, “It’s mine now, don’t mess it up!”

Sam laughed and threw the shield into his ring as he ran into his workshop, slamming and locking the door. He hollered out to them, “It’s a surprise. Tomorrow morning it will be ready.” Sam’s Stamina had risen to a level where he could skip a night of sleep without too much fatigue.

Tamako banged on his door. She could have easily broken it down if she wanted, but only said, “It better be amazing or you are going to regret this little trick!”

Jen could hear Sam laughing maniacally to himself in his workshop.