I finally woke up the next morning with my muscles burning, and my eyes feeling just a bit dry. I was probably going to need two or three days to completely recover, but I felt myself getting giddy with excitement.

I had levelled up again, I had managed to score a few good hits during the last fight despite being outmatched and ambushed, and to top it all off my minions had just gotten a big boost. I sighed happily and stretched out my arms.

I felt a shift on the bed and mumbled a good morning to them. A soft hand shook my shoulder and made a sound, but my tired head decided it didn’t want to decipher words yet. I reached over and felt a soft pair of ears. I gave each fuzzy ear a quick pat and dragged their owner into my chest to cuddle.

“Is that you Lin? Roalda?” I asked tiredly.

A pop up appeared despite my eyes being closed.

Scout 1 requests to be released!

I cracked open an eye and found Scout 1 leaning away from me, with his hat shielding him from me.

“Merp!” Scout 1 hissed, and he wiggled in my arms trying to free himself. “Murr, le, grrroo!”

“Sorry buddy,” I apologized. “I thought you were one of the girls.”

Scout 1 hopped off the bed and put his hands on his hips, taking a sassy pose and wagged a finger at me. For some odd reason I thought he was trying to mimic someone.

“Did Lin send you?” I asked. When the minion bobbed his head excitedly he held out a hand and scooped another at it, before moving it to his mouth. “Lin wants me to go for breakfast?”

“Yeeeeee,” Scout 1 grinned. He shot out all four arms and gave me a bunch of thumbs up. “S-s-smort.”

“Yeah I’ll get dressed and head over. Thanks Scout one,” I said around a yawn.

Scout 1 took off, probably on another task or heading up to keep a lookout. I rolled out of bed and struggled into my clothes. The air was a bit cold and I filed that thought away for later. Maybe to take an easy day off I could get Rolada to help me make more heating crystals, and make some kind of space heaters.

I laughed and shook my head. Back home if I felt like this I would have just bought a space heater at work. Never in my life would I have thought I would be in another world trying to recreate the creature comforts of home. Certainly everyone here would be happy for the added warmth. We might be living in a dungeon, but I would be damned if it wasn’t going to end up a comfortable one. An oxymoron if I had ever heard of one.

The nearly silent tread of my boots took me to the mess hall, and I was so focused on what new skills or talents I was gonna choose I almost didn’t hear my name.

“...-ith you two and Josh?” Yara asked bluntly.

I halted an arm's length from the door to the mess hall. Suddenly I was very awake and keen to learn exactly what they were talking about. I crept back from the door, trying to listen out and to lower the chance of my detection.

Stealth : Success!

Perception : Success!

+2 XP gained.

Perfect.

“What do you mean Yara?” Rolada’s muffled voice asked. I heard the sound of sizzling, and her shout. “Damn it, I need more butter or better pans so stuff doesn’t stick as much.”

“I know beastkin are often pretty friendly with close friends, but I can’t place how he fits in with you two.” Yara said.

“Us two?” Lin asked.

“You barely keep your eyes off her,” Yara shot back.

I heard Lin’s tail happily thump her chair. The cat girl sounded a bit shy as she responded. “What can I say? Rolada is really cute from behind.”

“Lin, I’m cooking! What did I say about distracting me,” Rolada laughed.

“What about my charge?” Yara asked sternly.

“That’s… a bit more complex. At the start I figured he would be easy to flirt with so I could get a free meal and a safe place to stay.” Lin sighed heavily, as if the memories were a sore wound. “I was almost out of food, been on the run and when I found a level one wizard on his own I thought I found the easiest sucker in the world. Turns out he is more loyal and kinder than my entire old crew, excluding one person of course.”

“How so?” Yara asked.

“Well firstly I was freezing my ass off, and he didn’t reek of ale or sweat. He smelled really nice actually so I chanced sleeping in the same bed together nude.” Lin had a chuckle before continuing. “Guy didn’t even try to touch me when I slept, just content to be my personal furnace.”

“I don’t know if it’s because of a hidden talent or because he has fire magic,” Rolada cut in, “but he is so warm. It’s also great because just as he falls asleep you can scratch at his chin and he cuddles right up, it’s so adorable.”

I subconsciously scratched my chin as I heard the girls share a laugh, with Yara barking out loudly before breaking down into a rack of coughs. I felt my ears get hot, but I fought against marching in there to say I was supposed to be inspiring, or brave, not adorable.

“Did I actually just hear you call a keeper of all people, adorable?” Yara managed to ask between fits of laughter.

“That’s the weird part, he’s not like any keeper I’ve heard of. You have seen the place, he shares his spaces with us, makes sure everyone has some comforts and everyone is cared for, even the minions,” Rolada said, her voice a ray of sunshine.

“Will this old crew of yours be an issue?” Yara asked.

“Nah. When I first joined the guild it was all built up so your captain was like an older sibling, looking out behind you and covering if you slipped up. When the old guard retired and my mentor left things went to shit, fast. Now it was all personal gains, back stabbing and more. I took one last job, which would have paid enough for me to skip town and get a ticket to warmer, sandier shores,” Lin said.

“Bet that worked out,” Yara scoffed.

“You wouldn’t believe half of it. The damn mayor must have had ten divination mages kicking around to be able to track me and send his goons after me like he did. I managed to give them the slip, hit a few emergency caches and the rest is history,” Lin said.

“Then why do you get all gooey eyed at Josh like you do Rolada?” Yara pressed.

“That’s… complicated,” Lin said. She paused for a long moment before continuing. “I’ve never had good experiences with guys, but right away he was like an old pal with the way we joked around. He took jabs as well as he could deal then, and next thing I knew I messed up and nearly caught a spell to the face. Absolute idiot barely knew me, didn’t get a single thing from me, I even took half his dinner, yet he threw himself right in the way to take the hit-”

I heard Yara spit out her drink. She slammed her fist into something and coughed. “A level one mage… what?”

She sounded stunned and almost impressed, but just as I started to smile I heard her hissed between her teeth. “So he is an idiot who walks into trouble.”

“They are both idiots who walk into trouble, they set off a trap that let loose all the undead!” Rolada piped up. I heard her squeal and giggle, and her trying to slap someone away. “Lin stop tickling me, you two are idiots, but very lovable ones.”

“Alright sunshine, what about you?” Yara asked.

“Mine is way more boring. When things went down hill I took a job with another student at random to get out. It was a research gig, finding out about some of the local religions in the area, hoping to find some hidden knowledge, the usual. Well, it turns out I got Sten, and while he is a really awesome friend, and a great drinking pal… he’s not really my type.” Rolada made a muffled snickering sound and after a chair was kicked over she continued. “So after a while on the road by ourselves we stumbled into a weird lab, and I got caught in a trap.”

“Strapped to a table if I remember,” Lin said.

“Ugh, not even the fun way either. But I got freed and the next thing I knew I had a gorgeous cat who seemed interested in me and her cute wizard boy at her side. I will admit I had some rather… fanciful thoughts about the three of us at the moment and was all too happy to join up,” Rolada said, ending with a happy sigh. “Once we got over the little hiccup with Josh being a keeper it has been rather pleasant.”

“Do you use spells on him, Roalda?” Yara asked in a bored voice.

Rolada’s giggles were muffled for a moment before she spoke. “Only to spice things up, but if you are worried about charms then no.”

“I think you will find the only charm she needs is that ass of hers, she doesn’t hesitate to shake her tail at Josh to get his attention,” Lin said.

“I’m not some cheap tail floozy Lin! I’ll have you know I did get some priestess training so I am a professional, high class religious courtesan,” Rolada said, putting on a stage voice.

“Isn’t that the word for… a fancy whore?” Lin asked.

“Yup, you're sleeping with a super slut,” Yara barked.

“You're an actual Ishaka priestess, Yara!” Roalda protested. “You're a slut.”

“I crack heads with my weapons, not my thighs,” Yara huffed. “Hey, don’t blush at that. Stop being weird!”

There was a sudden mood change in the air around me and I felt like someone was watching me. I turned around to see Sten lean against the wall with his arms crossed and a stern look on his face. He pointed to the door and motioned with his fingers for me to walk in and I sighed in defeat.

I walked in triumphantly, acting like I had just won a great battle, which to be fair we kind of did last night. “Sorry I was sleeping in so late, how is everyone this morning?”

There was a sudden pause in the room's conversation. Lin was mid grappling with Rolada, Yara was trying not to choke on her morning pancakes and all of them shared a glance with each other before smiling at me like nothing was up.

“Sleep well?” Lin asked, with a smile that was a mile wide.

“Hmm,” I grunted, and went to sit in my chair. I tried to play up being sleepy and ignore Sten’s hard glare from across the table. “Morning everyone.”

Lin returned to her seat and Rolada fetched me a plate full of thick pancakes drizzled with honey and jam, a few chopped veggies and an apple. I heard my stomach groan and I thanked her before digging into the hearty meal.

“Figure out what you want to take for your level up?” Lin asked.

“More magic I bet!” Rolada chirped.

“Give the lad a bit of breathing room ladies,” Sten grumbled. “A man needs to choose his skills and talents carefully.”

As I went to open up my skills page I saw everyone look at me over their plates. I narrowed my eyes, trying to block out everything as I read over what my options were. I could always ask for help or opinions afterwards.

Unallocated skill points : 3

Currently available to you.

Some options have requirements that are not met.

Purchase a skill rank

Ranks I-V requires 1 skill point per rank

???

Strength requirement 10

Martial talent

Requires 2 skill points

This talent provides the immediate knowledge of how to effectively use armour and weapons. In addition you get one free novice level martial ability of your choice. Martial talent can be purchased again for one skill point to gain one novice level martial ability.

Constitution requirement 11

Toughness II

Requires 1 skill point (Cost reduction based on training)

This talent grants a minor damage reduction from physical attacks and improves stun resistance.

Intelligence requirement 13

Spell casting rank II

Requires 3 skill points

Further improvement of spell casting potency, and the ability to cast tier II spells. Choosing this talent grants the knowledge of two tier 2 spells from your benefactor.

Requires level 4 of a spell casting class.

Spell casting pool rank II

Requires 2 skill points

Further improves the amount of mana points a spell caster has. Current mana points is 5, the purchase of this talent raises total mana points to 7.

Requires level 3 of a spell casting class.

Efficient Casting rank 1

Requires 1 skill point (Cost reduction based on tier 0 spell usage)

Tier 0 spells no longer require 1 mana point to cast, instead costing a small amount of stamina. Mana blight can still affect the user with excessive magic use.

Requires spell casting rank II.

Knowledge of the keepers

Requires 1 skill point

Improve your knowledge skill bonus from your keeper crystal by increasing the bonus to +2. Additional crafting recipes will be added to you and your minions. New minion recipes will be unlocked and the cost of drones and scouts will become halved.

Mantle of Ancient Power - Channelling talent

Requires 2 skill points

Improve the combat effectiveness for all minions and creatures under your command within a small area of effect around the keeper. All physical stats are improved by +2 while you are channelling this effect.

Further Keeper talents are obscured because of low keeper crystal level.

“Hey, my toughness only needs one skill point to rank up,” I said. I scratched at my chin in thought. “That’s not too bad.”

“No,” Yara said, tapping me in the head with her spoon. “If it’s only costing one it means it's about to go up on its own. Don’t waste your points.”

Lin’s tail became a flurry of motion, and she slapped her palm on the table in frustration. “Come on Josh, let me see. I can help!”

The curious cat couldn’t sit still and I looked at Rolada with a big smile. “Want to help me choose how to spend my points?”

“Sure!” Rolada said, she bit into her apple and sent me a request to see my character sheet. “Those keeper talents are something else. I’ve never seen a channelling talent on such a low level person before.”

“Rolada, show me,” Lin said, shaking Rolada’s shoulder. After the cat girl put on her best pouting face I rolled my eyes and sent it to her too. Instantly Lin perked up and put on a serious face. “Some good options here, but I think you need to do some more spell slinging.”

“You think so?” I asked.

“You do tend to sit around the back like a kitten unsure if he can make a jump. With some more room to toss spells out I bet you will be a bit more proactive,” Lin said.

“Could save a point for later. Not a bad idea in case something else comes up. I’ve been saving up points, and doing quests for the past while that gave skill points instead of experience,” Sten said, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair. “You young races are all the same, trying to throw out all your points instead of saving for a rainy day. Just need to earn your skills the hard way, the way the gods intended.”

“How many do you have, Sten?” I asked.

“Twelve.”

Lin spat out her drink and I saw Yara put her hands on her temples as she seemed to struggle to comprehend what Sten had just said. I was more shocked you could earn so much outside of levelling up. I needed a few of these quests sent my way.

“I think…I’ll save a point for now. I’ll grab the better spell pool for when we are out on a long adventure,” I said.

Spell casting pool has increased to rank II!

Maybe by the end of the day I would think of something to grab. The boost to knowledge could be a godsend, plus I was curious about what other kinds of minions were options.

The rest of breakfast flew by as Lin and Rolada drilled question after question into Sten, trying to see what options he had. Yet the dwarf was stone faced about it, and only mentioned thinking of taking extra talents for brewing so we didn’t all go crazy during the winter. He made it out to seem like some grand poetic and heroic act, and no one really corrected him, instead thinking about the wine or ale we could make.

As the last bite of food went to my stomach I heard Yara get up, pace behind me and plant her hands on my shoulders. There was a tenseness to her grip and I heard her make a soft growling noise.

“Keeper, I must discuss something with you in private,” Yara said discreetly.

Her sudden approach made me uneasy, yet it was probably best to not ask any questions and just play along. Whatever it was, I hoped to get on her good side as she still seemed wary of me.

“S-sure thing Yara, lead the way,” I said.

As the conversation in the mess hall died down behind us I followed Yara downstairs. I expected us to go to the shrine, but got worried when we instead marched straight to her bedroom. I glanced around the room nervously, taking note of a Josh shaped imprint still in the wall.

“Since I can see you still haven't meditated to straighten out your spell lines I have to fix them myself.” I heard the door lock behind us, and I expected the worst.

“Then why lock the door? Is this the type of massage where you beat me back in shape?” I asked.

She looked at me dumbfounded. “Heavens, no. It’s just something I haven’t done in ages. Frankly it’s not my style and rather embarrassing, so I prefer if we don’t get distrubed.”

Her statement broke my tension and I started to relax a bit.

“Now if you look beside my bed you will find a soft bed mat, bring it by the fire,” Yara said, while moving things around to make space.

I did as asked, and saw a bundle out on her bed, but didn’t look it over to pry. I grabbed the thick rolled up padding and opened it beside the fire seeing it was a big soft mattress. Yara had gone to the side and removed her armour, placing it onto the stand or into storage.

I saw her remove her thick padded purple pants and toss them onto a shelf, leaving Yara dressed in a get up for heading to the gym. She wore a top that was similar to a sports bra and loose shorts, with a thin strap poking out just over top of them hinting at her skimpy undergarments.

Yara strutted across the room nervously and picked up the bundle on her bed. It was a priestess outfit just like Sliva had worn, but of course it was less fanciful. Yara seemed a bit unsure of herself as she looked at the outfit and I thought I picked up what was holding her up.

Insight : Success!

+1 XP gained.

“If it makes you uncomfortable you don’t need to wear that,” I said. Yara spun around and clutched the outfit to her chest as she jumped at the sound of my voice.

Yara held it out in front of her and frowned. “Yeah, but that dumb book-”

“I thought the book didn’t matter to you,” I said.

Yara seemed to have an inner battle with herself, and in the end she tossed it back onto the bed. “Yeah, fuck the book.”

I got to sit back and watch her collect a bundle of jars and candles. I couldn’t help but let my eyes drift down to see the firm muscular build of her back, and her legs. She looked like she could probably bench an ox, or bend steel between her powerful legs.

Yara came back with her arms loaded and looked at me, then the mat. “Shirt off, face down. We don’t have all day.”

I did as asked and got settled into position. As Yara lit the candles around me I closed my eyes and tried to reach out to my magic. It looked pretty smooth and organized ever since Sliva had massaged me, but when I looked closer I could see a few ends were becoming tangled or pinched.

The sweet smell of honey and citrus filled my nose and the fireplace had a few more logs tossed onto it to warm up my shirtless body. Just as I was feeling like I might fall asleep I felt pressure on either side of me as Yara straddled my hips from behind.

“Uh, Yara?” I asked.

“It’s so I don’t have to move much and we can do this in one go,” Yara said.

“Sure, sure, I’m down for this,” I mumbled.

I felt my head get shoved into the padding and heard a displeased growl from Yara. I mumbled a quick apology and kept myself quiet as I heard Yara begin to open up the jars.

Once I was back in position she began rubbing oil into my shoulders and down to my wrists. Every few inches I felt her pause and mumble something. There was a little flare of magic that touched my magical lines, tapping them back into place or unbending the kinks. As Yara leaned into me to rub my neck I felt a satisfied pop and felt myself lightly moan.

“Hey, don’t make this weird,” Yara said. She slapped my ass and scolded me. “I’m doing this as a favour, otherwise you would only be able to ask this at the shrine and with a proper tithe.”

“Sorry,” I hissed between my teeth.

I could feel my cheeks throb from the slap, and blinked in amazement. For Yara that was probably only a light love tap, and I began to wonder, just how hard could she actually hit? In the corner of my eye I saw my outline on the wall. Oh right, about that hard.

It took Yara another fifteen minutes of calm peaceful silence to work the oil into my back and sides. She rolled me over to my back and sat on the edge of the bed to do my front, and when she reached my belly she hummed in amusement.

“Jealous of Lin and trying to copy her? Congrats, you're the only trim mage I know,” Yara said.

Looking down I could see she was right. I was never unfit in my life per say, but modern living and grabbing fast food a few times a week for lunch did do some damage over the years. Now however I looked like a runner, with a trim form and taut muscles around my sides. My abs were finally showing themselves off and I had to flex to check myself out.

“Hey, not bad,” I said to myself. One look at Yara did make me a little shy however. “Why are yours so much bigger?”

“Well for one I’m a woman, so my tits are bigger,” Yara said, breathing out a puff of smoke into my face. “I outclass you in strength and constitution.”

Yara put an arm around my shoulders and faced us towards her mirror. She flexed her free arm and showed off the softball sized muscles that popped up. I tried to do the same and went a bit pale to see my arms only managed to produce half that size.

“Eh, we can fix that over the winter at the gym,” Yara said. She patted my back and actually smiled. “Don’t need to toss you around the training area either, you weren’t too bad in that fight.”

I smiled proudly, and felt rather confident. “Thanks, I think I’ve been improving a lot-”

“Except for your form. It was like I had given a toddler a sword and told them to pretend to fight. You over swing constantly and while that might work with an axe to sever zombies apart that wight had you out classed in every regard.” Yara smirked and ruffled my hair. “However, that fire strike thing was a good call. It put you into the danger zone which was idiotic, but you cancelled that wight’s aura and talents for a few seconds letting you run.”

I was a bit torn, the clearly powerful warrior woman was praising me, but she was also pretty harsh in her criticism. As I thought about it I realized she was completely right, this was the kind of stuff I needed. After all, if I kept messing up I would only wind up dead.

“You were pretty awesome back there, every time I looked you were killing scores of them,” I said. “Think you can show me how to fight like that?”

“Keeper Josh,” Yara said sternly.

“Yeah?”

“Quit trying to flirt with me,” Yara smirked, she thrust my shirt in my chest nearly winding me. “Now, don’t breathe a word about this to anyone.”

Constitution : Partial success!

“Yes ma’am,” I wheezed.