Kilniara took a deep shuddering breath while accepting his retreat, taking his warning seriously but not offended by it, “Maybe I should banish you to Garnedell.”
“Works for me,” Joe immediately replied.
Kilniara pouted in response, swishing her tail a lot more violently than Joe had ever seen it before. Huh… shows her emotion in her tail, I guess. Did I push it too hard? She’s…
“You always know how to get me! It’s not fair.”
Joe’s worry melted with his smile, “I’m pretty sure… it’s going to be hard for you to get me. I’ve had the snark of an entire world at my fingertips the entire time I grew up.”
Kilniara continued to pout as Joe turned away, snagging another goblin to continue their fight. She settled in by his side, her pout proven fake as it dropped away, replaced by preparation for the fight and a hint of curiosity, “How do you mean you had an entire world’s wit? Are you a royal?”
“A royal? Hah! No. The internet is the cesspool of our entire species… and one of its greatest achievements.”
Kilniara seemed a bit shocked at that, speaking quietly under her breath while fighting the goblin that Joe had pulled, “A cesspool, yet a great achievement? How?”
Joe smiled at that before laughing back, a spear stabbing forward to thrust at the goblin’s left shoulder courtesy of Kilniara’s block, “Something great isn’t always used in the best way.”
Kilniara nodded, taking advantage of Joe’s strike debilitating the goblin’s left arm to swing a haymaker at the goblin’s head. The strike downed the goblin and Joe’s final strike killed it. Kilniara turned to face him.
“Yes, that would be true.”
Joe grinned and shrugged, “Humans… well, I guess all sapients? All sapients can always find a way to make anything great just… disgusting. Or am I wrong. Are there some sapients who don’t.”
Kilniara grinned at that and smiled, “I have not found any who have not been able to turn beauty into disgust.”
Joe snorted at that.
“Yup. Didn’t think it was uniquely my people,” Joe replied, glancing at her before turning to fling another piece of detritus at another goblin.
The goblin scampered in and the two sliced through the goblin like a hot knife through butter, their coordination so phenomenal that they Joe felt himself in shock. He’d, of course, felt this level of coordination with others, but they’d been classmates and fellow martial artists practicing in combat together for years. He didn’t understand where this flow was coming from but the moment was so pure he didn’t wish to question it so much as to disrupt it and dismissed the thought for later when the moment had ended.
Their banter continued even as they cut their way through dozens of goblins for almost two hours. The entire time, Kilniara didn’t flag, although both began to sweat quite profusely. Joe found himself very much enjoying the time, subtle caresses and shoulder and hip bumps liberally shared with one another. By the time the hours had passed, even Joe found himself tiring and he took break in the corner with Kilniara to rest, the two boys also taking the time to rest.
When all four sat down, they began joking with one another, but soon were back up, this time Joe went with Garnedell; the first time for that day. Joe felt that Kilniara had improved significantly, and while Zilnek was still slower, he’d actually made another level this morning, reaching level eleven as a thief. With this, Joe hoped that he would be doing well enough to fight with Kilniara’s help. His intelligence was still a bit low, but he was getting much better and well-rounded physical stats from his thief job. Maybe he’ll be OK?
Despite Joe’s relative certainty, he decided to be a bit cautious.
“Garnedell, I’ll go ahead and get a goblin for you, but do you mind taking it on? I’m going to watch them carefully for a bit to make sure Zilnek’s OK, alright?”
Garnedell nodded excitedly, “Sure!”
“Yell right away if you need help, quickly, OK? Don’t wait for the last moment.”
“Yes, Joe.”
Joe smiled in response and flicked a pebble at a goblin close by with the poorest weapon choices, and it came in quickly, but Garnedell was able to easily take control of it. The next hour went that way, with Joe helping out with the kills a bit but leaving the most of it to Garnedell, but regularly jumping in to kill the goblin quickly to keep their kill speed up. Joe would spend most of the time keeping his eye on the other two and Garnedell, who he spared several quick flickers of concentration every dozen seconds or so to keep track of him.
The hour proved uneventful and soon Zilnek was by his side once more, fighting for the last bit before lunch. Another two hours in the afternoon, the majority spent with Kiliniara as she proved once again to be very motivated or somehow had higher endurance stat? How does that work? Why is she lasting so much longer than the other two? And so much longer than yesterday? Joe wasn’t sure what to make of it, but ultimately was so busy he decided to leave it to another time, after a long list of dozens of other things he needed to do, explore, and understand.
After Kilniara, Garnedell joined him once again and Joe focused on keeping all three under watchful eye and leaving Garnedell to his own, which he did quite well. During that time, Joe spent time trying to get a grip on his mana and mana points once again and was annoyed to find the ease of this morning was once again gone. His control of mana points proved still skillful enough, although not as easy as what he’d done this morning, that he was still able to do almost everything he’d done this morning. It was a much greater struggle to create simple three dimensional shapes with moving points and utterly failed when he tried to make the complex flower. Huh… that mana point assistance skill really made a difference! So did the mana assistance skill. I can’t do ANYTHING again with mana!
He continued his practice, then frowned and turned to look at the goblins. Huh... I wonder... he made a stream of mana, then paused... a spear.. right? then shaped it a bit more to be weapon like or something like a mana arrow and just shot it at the nearest goblin. The mana arrow was an arrow only in the imagination of blind child, but it shot unerringly at the goblin, more like a laser beam with a blob at the head than an arrow. He shut off his mana once it was moving, but it didn't seem to do much at all, fraying rather badly and then just sort of drifting, at quite high speed, true, but still drifting and evaporating into the space around it. It'd maintained its form until it hit the goblin, pierced right through it, and continued on.
The goblin seemed to react to the mana arrow, pausing to look around, but Joe was uncertain. All he was certain of was that the whole thing was rather useless. The mana arrow seemed to have disrupted slightly in passing through the goblin, like it'd been smoke ring hitting turbulent air, but then drifted on. It fell apart very quickly the further it got from Joe and soon was just a wave of mana that also quickly evaporated into the ambient. Joe frowned. What's mana supposed to do? I can't... interact with anything... this seems... He frowned and considered carefully but then sighed.
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He continued practicing, struggling to release various shaped mana constructs flying around the dungeon floor smacking into goblins and sometimes people. He even attached mana points to some of the constructs before pulling them back with some ease, especially in comparison to the mana constructs but certainly not as easy as when he had mana-ologist. Huh... mana points... easy... well, easier... mana... not so easy. The people reacted strongly, sometimes twitching or glancing around a bit, none of the goblins seemed to even notice, and all of the mana proved rather useless, seeming to exist on a plane that did not interact with the material. Heh... a true metaphysical reality... ha! He did make sure to keep the mana away from the people after seeing their reaction, but Joe found himself growing frustrated.
Joe found himself unable to release mana, having to resort to his whole body tense to force it out, followed by a time of utter exhaustion that let him release mana due to his utter exhaustion. He did this once, to make sure he still could, but an almost scare with Garnedell made him unwilling to utterly exhaust himself and kept a bit of reserve so he could step in and help people. It was simultaneously tiring, and disappointing, but Joe persevered throughout the afternoon for another hour until he’d reach his level thirty. No point for more. Joe thought, as he called an end to their day.
“Right. Let’s go ahead and head home. We’ll do forms back at the house, OK?”
Garnedell and Kilniara said nothing, although they did sigh slightly, but Zilnek groaned a bit after he’d had enough time to think on it, “Really? We did it this morning!”
Joe shrugged, “OK. You don’t have to. Those who want to can meet me in the courtyard for a quick lesson.”
Joe looked pointedly at all three before leaving them behind to exit the dungeon, all three scampering after them. When they made it back to the inn, Joe didn’t say anything, simply going to the back courtyard alone, but all three came with him, and he spent a good thirty or so minutes teaching them carefully.
After that, he took the twenty minute walk to the local baths, Garnedell and Zilnek opting out. Joe watched them run off, wondering if he needed to have another talk about hygiene and try to hide the growing upset in his stomach. He sighed and headed to the baths, Kilniara joining him. The warmth and the relief from his aching muscles had him drifting to sleep almost immediately. He didn’t know how long he stayed, but when he came to, he felt exhaustedly wondrous.
The rest of the day proved average, in all respects, with their evening ablutions, meal, and careful debate with Kukurnal unsurprising in any way. They enjoyed one another’s company and as the day came to a close, Joe felt exhaustion setting upon him rather quickly. He sighed and then bid Kukurnal farewell before all headed up to their room.
When they made it up to their room, Kilniara and Joe sat down to go over their share of what had been won within the dungeon that day. Joe was happy to divide it up in the bedroom, not wishing to flash this level of wealth in the common room, especially as Kilniara would soon be leaving. Joe had made sure to take a few more cores in their dungeon run than usual so that Kilniara would be well set up from this day.
Pulling out the day’s loot, he set aside the winnings into two piles, pushing Kilniara hers. She smiled brightly at that, excitedly accepting hers before she stood and dithered a bit in front of Joe. Garnedell and Zilnek had been watching the whole event, and Joe was acutely aware of their intense observation. Kilniara seemed more concerned with the other two watching and Joe watched on with some confusion. Finally, Kilniara spoke.
“Joe. Could you come with me?”
She turned to the door of the room and Joe walked out to the hallway. She closed the door behind them then quickly leapt up to plaster a small kiss on his cheek before fleeing down the stairs. Joe raised a hand to call out to her but she was already down the stairs and he let her go. He frowned with worry then quickly walked back into his room.
“Do one of you mind walking with Kilniara until she finds her new place?”
Zilnek quickly leapt to his feet, “I can do that, Joe.”
Joe nodded, “Thank you, Zilnek.”
Zilnek fled out of the room rather rapidly and Joe turned back to Garnedell.
“Now for you two. I saw how you were looking at these cores.”
Garnedell quickly began dissembling and Joe laughed, “No. It’s fine. It’s only fair. Although I would recommend that you set aside some for savings… and do not use them to level. Please, trust me on this.”
Joe said this as he separated the rest of the cores out into three equal piles, dividing the entire thing into quarters. Garnedell gaped to see Joe hand one pile of cores to him and then grinned wildly.
“Now. Take Zilnek his and make sure he gets the warning. Do not use these to level. It’s a very bad idea.”
Garnedell grinned happily and yelled loudly as he took the two piles of cores, dropping one in his pouch before fleeing out of the room at high speed. Joe laughed to see him go then began to quickly unwind.
With no one else in the room, Joe felt his eyes growing heavy really quickly, and so immediately turned towards the dresser chair to drop his clothes on it before he collapsed. The night came quickly that day, as Joe found himself quite a bit more exhausted than he’d realized, sleeping easily that night. He didn’t even look at his final spell caster stats and skills.
* * *
“What have you done to me!?” Muonooan barked out in anger as she slammed the door open, stepping into the office of a woman she once trusted.
“Why are you shouting?”
“I’m ruined! I have been…”
“Muonooan, I treat you as friend, but it would be wise to remember who I am.”
“Cradle’s ass! I could care less of who you are! Why would you set me in conflict with that…”
The woman interrupted again with a sigh, hiding her shock by dropping her head. She had never seen Muonooan so angry and willing to dismiss her, “OK. What happened?”
“What happened? What happened!?” Muonoan shouted, angry, beginning her tirade. It lasted for quite a long time.
* * *
The spy master returned to Duke Grugtrim heavy in heart, with the scout mirroring his own thoughts. Despite the fact that they were lucky to have escaped the esteemed one without any harm, they still greatly regretted the lost chance of gaining a master of such great power.
The two talked little on the way home, neither one being very friendly with one another before the trip, but the ending added a damper to any form of friendship that had been developing. When they made it back to the clan holdings of Duke Grugtrim, the spy master was called to report immediately, just as the spymaster expected.
“Report!”
“Yes, Patriarch. As the life seer reported, the being Joe McConnell, was the last to see the goo… the knight Toogarn.”
The Patriarch narrowed his eyes at the obvious reticence to name the Good Knight Toogarn. He considered for a bit but then simply elected for expedience, “Explain.”
“Knight Toogarn met Joe McConnell on the road just outside of Lakeside. He saw Joe McConnell defeat several slimes with ease, one a great slime. Joe McConnell was able to retrieve the great slimes core and the Knight Toogarn demanded he relinquish it. Joe McConnell refused. Knight Toogarn then left to Lakeside, but only went about one hundred paces before turning to charge Joe McConnell.
“Joe McConnell easily defeated the Knight and left him to his defeat on the road. That is the last he saw of Knight Toogarn, lying on the road.”
“Did he harm the knight?”
“He did no harm to the Knight, defeating him in fair combat with overwhelming ease and no harm.”
“And this is why you did not return him to my presence?”
“He refused because of how long the journey was.”
The Patriarch considered this for a bit before grudgingly accepting it, but still felt rebuffed, “Did you press?”
“He ignored the scout’s Presence, completely unaffected by it.”
The Patriarch arched an eye at that, as all his scouts could still cause some minor pressure upon him, enough to show a small visible response, “He revealed nothing.”
“He was… amused and frustrated.”
The Patriarch’s worry spiked at that but said nothing, nodding for the spymaster to continue.
The spymaster bowed in response and continued, “He is… very powerful. He spoke of conquering all the dungeons in the region.”
This shot straight through the Patriarch, as the man made to stagger to his feet but then resolved himself to rise slowly with dignity and began walking towards the spymaster, “Your opinion?”
The spymaster shrugged slightly, but then spoke honestly, “He had a priest of Knowledge helping him to find all local dungeons. The priest of Knowledge was not shocked to hear of his plans, and his apprentices were completely without fear when he mentioned his plan to take them with him… as training.”
“He was taking them with him?” the patriarch stepped forward with a bit more excitement. The spymaster was quite certain as to the reason why as his eldest daughter, heir to the dukedom, was of age for apprenticeship.
“No. He was doing the dungeons for them.”
This note gave the Duke pause, excitement coursing through him, “For his apprentices?”
“Yes.”
The Patriarch turned away from the spymaster, “Yes… yes!” he muttered excitedly to himself as his thoughts obviously whirled through his mind.
The spymaster did not move, remaining at attention for his master. He knew he had been dismissed, but as he’d not been asked to leave, he remained at the ready.
His Patriarch wandered the room, thoughtful and muttering until finally turning excitedly, “Call for the steward, and my daughter Telnia! She is to prepare to leave immediately! Also… Oh, spymaster! You may go! Tell the steward to bring records of my treasury! We must…”
The last of the Patriarch’s words were lost as the spymaster slipped from the room and the door closed. He held his forlorn sigh until well after the door closed; it was never unwise to be too careful.