Standing in front of me was a burly orc around my height with black hair, black eyes, and no beard. He was wearing a long leather jacket with the front open, showing off his impressive muscles and battle scars. “I am surprised that you are still alive, Outworlder.”

“Yup. I’m tough!” Replied Teek.

The orc looked down at Teek before pointing to me. “Not you, master Teek. I meant the human. Last I saw him he was getting bullied by some elves.”

“Attempted bullying.” I clarified.

Teek laughed and gave me a playful backhanded slap. “Reigner tough too! Outworlders are strong.”

Falling to my knees I let out a manly yell of endurance. Because Teek was only four foot tall or so, his backhand landed right between my legs. He must have landed a critical hit because my world was filled with nothing but pain.

Once I could start paying attention to the world around me again, I heard the orc laughing. “Yeah, he sure is tough.”

“Khem is a bully.” Teek said flatly.

“I’m the bully?” He continued to laugh. “I was not the one to sac slap a guest in their own home.”

I felt a hand land softly on my shoulder and looked up to see Teek staring at me with a worried expression.

“Sorry.” He held onto my shoulder for a bit long before adding. “You stink!” He stepped back from me, standing next to the orc and waited for me to get to my feet. I had been training for a while so I could understand the sentiment.

The orc seemed familiar to me, but I couldn’t place my finger where from. Pushing myself to my feet I asked, “Have we met?”

The amused look on the orc’s face vanished. His muscles tensed and relaxed a few times before opening his mouth to speak. Before he could reply Teek interrupted him, “This is Khemrok, his family are city bullies.” And slapped the back of his hand against the orc. Khemrok was about the same height as myself, maybe slightly shorter, so when Teek’s friendly gesture landed, he experienced the same fate I just went through. Khemrok let out a pathetic weak sounding painfilled wail and fell to his hands and knees. The burley orc curled into a ball on the floor.

“Ah.. Sorry Khem.” Said Teek, before adding “Whoa, you stink too.”

Stepping closer to the prone orc, I looked down upon him. “Karma’s a bitch.”

Khemrok pulled himself to his feet while asking. “Who’s Karma?” He squatted down to meet Teek’s eyes. “My family are city rulers, not city bullies.”

“Same thing.” Teek turned around and walked down the corridor. “Come I show you to bath.”

The bath turned out to be a large open area that was cut out from behind the waterfall. Water was running into the pool from square holes on each side of the room. The water then flowed into the pool before draining out with the waterfall.

Walking over to the pools edge I tested the water with my hand to find that it felt icy to the touch.

“What’s wrong outworlder, too cold for you?” Khemrok chuckled as he waded into the pool, still wearing his leather jacket.

“Hey!” Teek yelled out “No clothes in the pool!”

Khemrok turned to Teek who was still standing at the edge of the pool. “But master Teek, I never take off my jacket.”

“No clothes in pool.” Teek stated for the second time.

Khemrok gritted his teeth and sank into the water up to his shoulders as his jacket vanished from him.

Carefully taking off and holding my shirt before placing it into my storage I looked back to Teek and asked, “Your home is beautiful, and this bath is incredible. Is there any way to warm the water up a bit?”

Teek nodded and walked over to a rope that dangled from the ceiling against the wall. He pulled on it and the two holes pushing water into the pool stopped. He then walked over to the edge of the pool and conjured a ball of fire before plunging his hand into the water.

Teek’s hand glowed under the water and steam and bubbles started rising to the surface.

Was he using what I thought he was using? Looking closer I asked, “Are you using a fireball spell to heat the water?”

Teek was smiling at the bubbling water. “Fireball very good spell. Good for heating, lighting way, cooking, making fire, very useful. Do you know it? I have spell book. You can learn too.”

Feeling my eye twitch, I clenched my fists and took a breath. “No. I used a fireball spellbook but it turned into this” I pointed to a space outside the pool and cast summon campfire. A warped looking glass rock appeared that emanated heat.

Teek looked over at the rock before turning to me with a frown with sad eyes, an expression I couldn’t quite identify. Was it pity? Was he pitying me right now? In that moment being pitied by a small farming goblin made me feel depressed.

He must have noticed a change from me as he looked back at the rock and said, “Oh, wow. It’s so warm. You did all this yourself? I am very impressed.”

His words sounded familiar, but my thoughts were interrupted by a fast clicking noise. Looking over I saw Khemrok curled up, hugging his legs, his teeth were chattering against each other. “W-what are y-you looking at, Outworlder?”

“I have a name. You can call me Reigner.”

“W-what kind of n-name is that? What do you reign over here?”

I placed my belt and storage pack along with my clothes in a cubbyhole by the entrance of the room. I looked between my campstone and Teek who was still channelling his fireball into the water. I gave the campstone a quick kick, sending it into the water before slipping into the pool myself. The water was cool but not freezing as I picked a spot closer to Teek. My campstone was more or less in the centre of the pool and bubbles could be seen on the surface just above it. Teek grinned at me as he too stripped and jumped into a shallower section of the pool. He let out a contented sigh as he leaned back against the edge.

The water was starting to get warm now and Khemlok was no longer hugging himself in the corner. There was a long window like opening along the back wall that showed the back of the waterfall that I fell out of.

Turning to Khemrok I asked. “What are you doing here anyway?”

He gave a huff. “I was injured. Master Teek found and brought me here to recover.”

Teek chimed in. “Khemrok very tough. When I saw him, I thought he be a pile of charcoal that I could use on farm. Scared me when the pile of coal opened its eyes.”

I suddenly remembered who the orc was. “You were that orc that bumped into me and tripped over. The same one that distracted Zelphar on floor one.”

“Zelphar, that asswood elf. His clan has never respected the authority of the Gorik’tar clan. We were rivals in the tower, constantly butting heads, with me as victor most of the time. Something happened to him on floor thirty. He vanished for months until I heard recent reports of him exiting a floor in the high fifties and entering floor one.”

“Zelphar the fire elf yes? I saw him flying back and forth over this floor. Think maybe he looking to finish you, Khem.” Said Teek.

“Once I am fully recovered, I will head back to my clan and he will pay for almost killing me.”

“You said you saw him flying back and forth on this floor?” I asked. Likely he was looking for some revenge after our last encounter.

Teek nodded “Yes, looks very determined.” Teek swam over to the back of the pool where you could look out at the waterfall. He moved to the corner where Khemrok was and reached behind him to tug on a rope. The waterfall split lightly, giving us a view of the canyon and the still bright sky. Teek swam back to the middle of the back and peered outside. “Look,” he pointed “There.”

Wading over next to the goblin I looked out to where he was pointing. In the distance there appeared to be a large ball of fire flying across the landscape. After a while the fireball would turn and fly back in the direction it came from.

Khemrok moved to the other side of Teek to look out as well.

“I’m going to kill that elf.” Said Khemrok.

“I will kill that fucker.” I said at the same time.

We both turned to look at each other.

“You?” Khemrok laughed. “I bet you have not even reached floor ten. Just how do you think you are going to kill that?” He pointed out the window. “Leave it to us professionals.”

I let out a chuckle “Professional what, garden fertilizer?”

Teek laughed and fell back into the water.

Khemrok looked me over. “You might have some decent muscle but that means nothing in this world. Strength is more than having an impressive body.”

Letting out a sigh I waded to the other side of the pool to get out. “Assumptions make an ass out of you. I have a date with some adventurers in a week and plan to get stronger before then. I don’t have time to waste socialising in a pool.” I grabbed my storage pouch and walked out the bathroom towards the training hall.

The next few days were spent in a cycle of training, eating with Teek and Khemrok, and sleeping. I managed to get all my class spells to rank 7 and most of my combat skills above 30. On occasion Khemrok would spar against me. The first time he asked to spar against me he said he would take it easy on me. After waking up on a bench an hour later he would challenge me with everything he had. Those spars were enjoyable as it pushed my skill numbers up quite quickly. Teek’s home felt strange after staying there for a few days. The place was way too big for just Teek to manage. Every now and then I thought I could sense or hear someone in a room ahead of me only to walk in to see it empty. It was a bit spooky.

The food was great. As much as I did not want to be a farmer, I could appreciate the quality of the food Teek continued to provide for us. I showed him some of my summoned Earth cuisine, but it paled in comparison to what he was able to produce. Teek let me pick a few things from his farm, a few round fruits that were very juicy and sweet that were added to my summon food repertoire.

At the large stone table after enjoying a meal of plant steak from Teek’s farm, Teek said he had a few things for me. Teek moved to another room for a moment before coming back. Khemrok was seated at the head of the table with his hands behind his head. His eyes were closed but I had a feeling he was interested and was peeking through.

Teek placed two spell books on the table and a single skill stone. “I check my supplies and think you would like these.” He placed his hand on the first book. “Loot spell. Very useful.” He moved to the second. “This one is Clean spell. No time for bath or wash equipment? Clean spell is great.” He then picked up the skill stone. “Harvest skill. You find any interesting plants. Use the skill and give me the seeds.” With a huge grin he pushed all the items over towards me.

Looking down at the items I was confused for a moment and went to ask why but he beat me to it.

“For seeds and because we are friend now. You leaving today, yes? You did not train long today.”

“Thank you Teek, and Yes, I will be leaving tonight. I need more levels and promised to meet with some friends.” My thought was to leave at night so I would have an early warning if Zelphar was coming my way. It was hard to miss a large ball of fire flying across the sky at night time. Also he had not appeared for the past day when looking out from the bath or from one of the few hidden balconies Teek had. I was hoping he either gave up or was taken in by the tower knights.

Khemrok gripped the edge of the table and was staring, wide eyed, at the spellbooks Teek was offering me.

“Something wrong, Khem?”

He glanced up at me before crossing his arms and leaning back against his chair. He turned to Teek. “Master Teek, you are giving such a rare spell to… to a…” he gestured towards me with an outstretched arm, “Single digit floor, Outworlder?”

“Back to outworlder again? I thought we moved on from this. Besides, can you really point out my floor number when you have yet to best me in a spar?”

Khemrok slammed his hands against the table and leaned towards me. “You are abnormal! There is no way some level seven other world tourist has the strength to defeat someone over six times their level.”

Grinning I leaned back against the stone chair. “Maybe in another ten years you can reach where I am, big boy.”

Teek was sitting back with a huge grin on his face looking back and forth between us.

Khemrok let out a frustrated yell. “Training hall now. One last time before you leave… and this time I am going all out.” He pushed away from the table and stormed off towards the training hall.

Teek looked at me with a huge smile on his face. “So, fun. Just like the old days.” He pushed the items towards me. “I’ll keep an eye on you, Reigner. Don’t die and come back to visit.”

I grabbed hold of the grey goblin turned friend and gave them a squeeze. “Thank you for your hospitality and your gifts. I’ll be sure to visit often.”

Teek stopped me before I could use the skill books. I thought he had changed his mind for a moment, but he just said. “Use outside. Don’t want dust everywhere.”

We walked to the training hall where Khemrok was waiting in the middle of the room with both his training axes in hand.

“Come, Outworlder. Show me the strength you will use to survive this world.”

A few minutes later I was standing over the orc, offering my hand out to help him back to his feet. He took it with a grimace. Once he got to his feet, he gave me a grin. “You have improved. I’m confident you will survive out there. Goodbye Reigner, maybe we will cross paths again… if you manage to catch up to me in the forties.” He walked to the exit of the hall while hiding a limp on his left leg.

Teek let out a laugh. “Idiot Khem.”

The limping orc stumbled and spun around. “Master Teek how could you say that? My sparing with Reigner was all for him to grow stronger.”

“I believe you… if you won, but you lose every time. Me, Reigner, you lose.” Teek let out a chuckle “You want to look cool? Then train more before such words.”

Khemrok took a few steps forwards, an excited look on his face. “Then you should spar against him before he leaves. What do you say Out- Ahem… Reigner. Do you dare test your might against Master Teek.”

Scratching the back on my head I said “Well, I am more of a spell caster…” Khemrok interrupted me with a laugh. Glancing over to him I asked, “Something wrong?”

“No, keep going. What were you saying?”

“As I was saying… I’m more of a caster, but if Teek wants to have a friendly spar before I set out then I am okay with it.”

Teek nodded to me with a smile on his face and moved to face off against me. Khemrok stumbled his way to one of the benches and counted down. “Three, two, one. Kick his ass, Master Teek!”

Khemrok’s words surprised me enough to look away from Teek for a moment. The glee and joy on his face was scary. Looking back to Teek, I saw that his body was inflating like a balloon, greatly growing in size. After just a second he was as tall as I was and almost twice as wide. Another second past and he was towering over me and it felt like he took up most of the room.

Khemrok was yelling and laughing manically from the side “Yes! Flatten him!” It was distracting. Putting him out of my mind I focused on the giant grey Goblin in front of me. Big normally meant they were slow but that was not the case here.

All I remembered as I woke up on the bench a while later was a blur of movement before everything went black. Pulling myself to a sitting position, I placed my hand on the wall to steady myself as world was still spinning around me.

“Eat this.” Someone placed something into my hands that I shoved into my mouth and swallowed. A rush of energy filled me and my dizziness faded after a moment. Teek was standing in front of me with a small smile on his face. Khemrok was standing behind him but he was not smiling, his eyes were wide and he was looking through me, not at me.

“You call that a friendly spar?” I asked the now regular sized Goblin.

Teek shrugged his shoulders. “You live.” He then patted my shoulder and helped me to my feet. I still felt a bit wobbly. “Come, you should rest tonight and leave tomorrow morning.”

Not in any condition to argue I agreed with Teek and went to go have a lay down.