One thing that I wasn’t going to miss about being out of the dungeon was the actual safety of the safe room. There was nothing that was here that was going to come after me. It meant that after I spent an hour talking with the old Shaman, I was able to go right to sleep. And it was sleeping in a bed. Not a great one like on earth, but at least this was better than my fur and tree branches.

Another great thing about the safe room was that Dave’s bar had coffee. I hadn’t noticed how much I had missed the stuff until I had the option to get it. It was kind of odd to me how many things from Earth were here, but that didn’t honestly bug me anymore. Why? Because of magic and gods. I guess I should say gods and goddesses since I have faith in two of them.

That was the point that I was mulling over as I woke up in the morning or whatever time it was. I felt like it was the morning, but with all the light being from magic and time in the safe room being different, it made it hard to tell when it truly was.

Yet, the point still remained I had faith in both Order and Chaos. Yet, where did this faith come from, and other than moving the dungeon, what would having this faith do for me. Would it be helpful in other ways, or would it bind me more closely with some? Could I have faith in a god that I hated because I had faith that they would do something evil, or would the interface mark that as something else?

It was all questions that I should have asked the elder. Though I’m not sure if that was something that he was willing to answer or if that was something that was out of bounds. It might be something that I could have Sam if I needed to, but it also led me to worry that he would know I had other sources of help and remove what he was giving me.

Until I could figure out what all the faith and other stuff meant, I would just have to put it on the back burner. I had two primary goals in front of me now. One was learning to read so that I could better protect myself, and the other was tracking down Lannah. Both of these goals hopefully would be solved once I made it south to Essex.

Unless something magical happened to cause the goblins and their captives to move faster, I should be able to find the kingdom of Cloudia in just a few days of travel. Then once I was among people again, travel to Essex would be faster.

I planned on taking the dungeon heart with me when I left the dungeon. I wasn’t sure what all I would use it for but I knew that it would be useful. If for no other reason than to have the safe room as a place that I could get hot food without cooking. Of course there was the other thing to think about. Essex grew up around a dungeon. That meant there was money to be made from having access to one. So If I was able to bring it with me I should be fine as far as resources.

Not long after, I opened my door to head to the tavern below. As I exited my room, I heard laughing. Not from Dave but that of a little girl. It was high pitched and fervent like little tinkling bells.

I was curious and cautious enough to slow my movement and look over the banister. Down below, I saw sitting at a table that was filled with breakfast foods, Dave and a little girl with curly black hair, no more than 6 years old. I watched for a moment as she poured syrup all over a stack of pancakes that already had berries and what looked like powdered sugar on them.

The girl was grinning and giggling as she was finishing with the syrup. Then she looked over at Dave and, in that tremendous high pitched voice that only excited little girls could seem to use, asked, “Do you think he will like it all?”

Dave leaned back in his chair and looked at me as I was rounding the stairs coming down. “Why don’t you ask him?” He said as he pointed over his shoulder at me.

The little girl looked up from the pile of sugar that was masquerading as a breakfast food. Her bright blue eyes caught my attention first as her smile almost made it all the way up to them. Then I noticed from the face-splitting grin that she had large dimples on both sides.

With a squeal that sounded loud enough to be heard across the dungeon and with a pitch that surprisingly didn’t shatter the glasses, she threw herself from her chair and ran towards me with open arms!

“Daddy! Your done with your dumb meeting!”

I was trying to figure out where I had heard this voice before and who this girl was. I bent down slightly as she charged me as I didn’t want to get taken out at the knees. I had seen way too many kids do this charge in the past. I knew that the best thing to do was take the hug up top.

What I wasn’t expecting, however, was to lose my balance as I got hit backward. I tried to catch myself with my foot but was still too close to the stairs, and I went down hard. I couldn’t even get my hand out to brace myself because I was holding this strange little girl. So my head found the steps, and I saw the debuff for a concussion before my vision snapped away.

I came too with Dave using a small bottle of something under my nose. It stunk like bathroom cleaner, and my eyes opened wide. Dave was supporting my back and asked, “Do you remember your name?”

I eyed Dave with a bit of malice and said, “Sure, it’s umm.” My name had slipped from me for just a moment, my mouth wanted to say one thing, but it wouldn’t come out. “It’s Arn, but I still don’t know the rest of it.”

“Right you are, you got clean knocked out when your little girl hugged you.”

“I don’t have a little girl!” I said.

“Daddy, don’t be silly. You have me!” The sweet, almost sugary voice said.

I pushed Dave away and looked at this child. She was in a shin-length blue and white dress with little ruffles all over it. Her smile lit up her whole face, and the dimples she had made it seem even more prominent. Then there were her eyes; they showed both joy and a touch of mischief. Yet, I had never in my life seen this girl.

“Who are you?” I asked even as I was slowly standing.

With a soft lilting voice, she said, “Daddy, your so silly! It’s me, Blink, your daughter.”

I dropped my butt right back to the steps I was sitting on. “How?” I asked as I felt the tug of the bond coming from her.

“When I came through last time I leveled enough that I got an alternative form.” She said as she twirled around and giggled. “Come on and eat! Uncle Dave and I made you a big breakfast. I hope you like it! I tried it all and the best is the syrup and bacon!”

I numbly got up. This was way more than I was expecting. I had missed that she had an alternative form when I looked through it the first time. Honestly, this surprised me more than the mimic we killed, which I forgot I was going to ask the Shaman about.

“So, a little girl is your alternative form?” I asked.

Dave chuckled a little as Blink answered, “Kind of for now it is. I might can do other things with it but this is the one that is best for now. Try the pancakes Daddy!”

There was that word again. She was the pet, or at least the lizard was my pet; I watched her hatch not even a whole year before, but now she is a 6-year-old calling me daddy. I didn’t even know what having a dad was like. I never knew mine, and all the men who tried to fill in never stayed around for long. If it wasn’t for the bond showing me that this was Blink, I wouldn’t believe it at all. However, here I was with a shape-shifting killer lizard girl calling me daddy. To buy time to think, I did as she bid and tried the pancakes.

They were way too sweet for me. A little syrup is great, but cover them with powdered sugar, and everything was wrong. She even somehow got whip cream and ruined my coffee by putting that on top and sugar in it. The bacon was covered with syrup and the eggs too. There wasn’t a single thing on this table that wasn’t somehow covered in something sweet.

After slowly eating, trying not to die from the sugar overload, I got to the question for Blink. “Why a little girl?”

She gave me one of her little dimple smiles and took a bite of syrup bacon. “I wanted to make you happy and I wanted to talk more. When I am normal I have problems talking but like this I, just knew, that I could talk with you. I thought that you would be happy that I looked like you!”

That got my attention, “What do you mean look like me?”

“My hair Daddy is just like yours, though it is also like that stupid female! But that and my nose is your’s just smaller and better. Like all of me. Smaller and better!”

“Smaller and better? So what are your stats like as a little girl?”

With that, she dropped her head low. “I lose most of my access to everything. I still have my stealth, and I have a class. Right now it is child.”

“Wait you get a class like this?”

“Yes, but it is all limited in growth and only when I am in this form can I work on it. The only things that seem to move back and forth are my Alternative form ability and stealth.”

I tried to pull up her stats but was unable to. I got a message on my status screen that just said that she was in her alternative form. “Are your stats different like this?”

“Yes, my intelligence is 5 points higher, my vigor is much lower but it says that it will act in bursts up to 3 times more but will force a nap to recover, my vitality is lower too. It is really odd everything that is going on with this. I did pick up cooking today though!”

“Can you share your screen with me so that I can take a look?”

Current Experience: 200/500

Total Experience: 200

Level:1

——

Name: Blink

Race: Human*

HP:8

SP:12*

MP:65

Defense:1

*burst rate, Stamina pool may lower to 1 but remain active for total vigor hours if enjoying the task. Afterwards a forced nap of 2 hours is required.

—

Titles

Dungeon Raider (Solo) Alt Form granted.

—

Primary Class: Child

Secondary Class: NA

—

Strength: 5

Dexterity: 7

Intelligence: 13

Willpower: 9

Vigor: 4

Vitality: 4

—

Primary Class

Persuasion: 2

Temper tantrum: 0

Stealth: 33

Dish usage: 2

Hygiene: 0

Secondary Class

NA Must reach level 10 for secondary class

Non-Class Skills

Cooking: 2

Charm: 3

Spells:

Fire Strike: 1