“Damn it,” I cursed to myself.

“What’s wrong, Master Rockin?” Ranalaiya wanted to know.

“Nothing. I’ve just wasted another Tarkee skin. Baah…” I exclaimed, throwing my head backwards and almost hitting the tree behind me that I was sitting next to.

I was trying to craft bracers for Ranalaiya from the Tarkee skins that I had for the second time now and it didn’t work again. When I was crafting Rhaki’s Armor, the work flowed and I was able to craft the armor pieces fairly easily, but when I tried crafting a piece of armor using Tarkee skin, it just didn’t work. When I messed up and ruined Tarkee’s skin for the first time, I just thought I was doing it wrong, but after the second failure I had to stop and think why I couldn’t do it.

“Crap, must be because my Crafting skill is not high enough,” it finally dawned on me.

“It’s ok, Master Rockin. I like my Rhaki’s Armor too,” Ranalaiya said, probably wanting to cheer me up.

“Thanks, but… all of us will need to get better equipment going forward. I suppose I have no choice but to craft more stuff that I can craft in order to raise my Crafting skill’s level,” I said, making a grimace.

It’s not that I hated crafting, but I’d rather kill monsters to level up myself instead. Speaking with Lavita again really set my butt on fire to become stronger faster and that’s what we were doing for the past two days, but I had to face reality and admit that I won’t be reaching level one hundred any time soon.

“What kind of items can you craft now, Master Rockin?” Sylfrin became curious.

“What kind of items? Aah… one moment. Show status,” I said, opening my Status Window before navigating to my Crafting skill tab where it showed all the items that I could craft. “So, I can craft Carnabbit Mantle, Carnabbit Shoes, the whole Rhanabbit Armor set, normal Hammock, extra large Hammock and Weak Healing Potions.”

“Wow, that’s a lot of items,” Sylfrin was impressed.

“Yeah, maybe, but… not really,” I mumbled, looking at the whole list. “I suppose I could craft some Rhanabbit armor pieces to level up my Crafting skill.” I scratched my head. The list of the items that I could craft wasn’t big, mostly because I wasn’t really into crafting, but now that I needed to level up my Crafting skill, a few ideas were popping inside my head.

“Maybe you could sell Rhanabbit Armor set on the Auction House again, Master Rockin?” Ranalaiya suggested, adding a motivation to make some money too.

“Ah, yeah, I guess,” I reluctantly agreed with her. “Anyway, is the meat done now?” I changed the topic, not feeling like crafting anything right now, especially after failing twice and ruining two Tarkee skins which were really hard to get.

“I will check, Master,” Ranalaiya jumped to her feet.

It was the morning of the third day and we had woken up not that long ago. I restarted the fire and sat down to try and craft something while waiting for the meat to cook, failing at it miserably and ruining my morning mood as a result of it. I didn’t want to waste much time sitting around, or waste any more Tarkee skins for that matter, so after we ate, we resumed our Tarkee hunting again.

There was something good that happened during the time that we’ve been killing Tarkees since arriving to the sixth floor of the dungeon which has really put my hopes up in regards to me leveling up. Tarkees were giving ten experience points per kill normally which meant we needed to kill sixty of them for Lavita to offer a level up for me. At first, I was grumpy because I thought it would take a long time for me to level up, but when I have received two level up offers while Ranalaiya and Sylfrin haven’t received a single one during the time we had been in the dungeon so far, it just hit me. I then realized that I had a big, if not massive advantage to level up faster in comparison to everyone else.

When someone is starting out as an adventurer, they gain the first couple of levels quite fast. To go from level one to level two the person needs to collect one hundred experience points which is not a lot, really. Going from level two to level three, the person needs to collect two hundred experience points. From level three to level four, three hundred experience points and so on. The thing is, the amount of experience needed to collect increases with each level up and the higher the person’s level is, the longer it takes for them to reach the next level up and it works the same way for everyone, except for me of course. Well, the amount of experience points I need to collect increases with each of my actual level up as well, but so far the increase was only one hundred experience points with each actual level up. In comparison, Ranalaiya and Sylfrin have to collect more than several thousand experience points to reach their next level ups now. Sylfrin needs to collect less compared to Ranalaiya because Ranalaiya is level thirteen and Sylfrin is level ten, but the fact remains, the increase of experience needed to reach their next level up grows by a considerable amount.

The reason that I would always despair that I was gaining levels much slower than everyone else was because before reaching lower floors of the dungeon the experience gain per monster kill was quite small. Lesser Trents give six experience points per kill normally and only three experience points per kill inside the Secret Area. Rhakis give eight experience points which is better, but it was taking longer for me to kill them at the very beginning, especially when I was fighting monsters by myself. Therefor, it was taking ages for me to reach my next Level Up offer even when I was level four at the time. However, all that changed when I had Ranalaiya and Sylfrin join me inside the dungeon, and now that both of them are strong enough, killing Tarkees is a walk in the park for us. As such, my experience gain became so fast that the only thing that slowed it down was the breaks we took and the time we spend by looking for more Tarkees to kill.

“Summon Spiderling,” Sylfrin waved her hand, a green magic circle materializing in front of her and a Halluspider resembling spider popped out from within the green light the next second.

One other cool thing was to see Sylfrin summon a Halluspider that was basically her pet. I got her to learn the Summon Spiderling spell that I have acquired from the Spider Queen boss after she had reached level ten. Her stats were high enough to learn the spell a few levels earlier, but the spell required for the user to be level ten before learning it. The spiderling looked like any other Halluspider monster on the second floor, had all the abilities that a Halluspider had, but was slightly bigger in size and had a green mark on its abdomen, something only the Spider Queen boss had. Sylfrin spiderling could cut, bite and shoot spiderweb as one of its attacks which helped us big time when fighting monsters. And the best part was, the spiderling was gaining experience and levels too which was a real surprise when we had learned of it. In addition, Sylfrin’s pet had a Status Window, with only Sylfrin herself being able to open it before showing it to us.

The spiderling had its own stats too, but only three out of six compared to all of us. The three stats were Stamina, Strength and Agility. Unfortunately, the Halluspider pet wouldn’t receive any stat points after it levels up, but its stats would still grow on their own after each level up. It was level four currently and its Stamina, Strength and Agility were eight, ten and twelve respectively. The spiderling wasn’t particularly strong, but it was helping during the fights mainly by slowing the monsters down by shooting its spiderweb at them or poisoning the monsters each time it bit them, the later being extremely useful in longer fights.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

One other thing we’ve learned about Sylfrin’s spiderling was that it could die too. It wouldn’t die permanently fortunately, and it happened more often at the beginning than now since it gained a few levels and Sylfrin learned how to command it better, but when it did, Sylfrin wouldn’t be able to summon it for a certain amount of time. It sort of made sense. Her spiderling needed to recover after receiving too much damage, and since I didn’t want to waste Healing Potions on it, we’d simply fight on our own until Sylfrin could summon it again.

“Shield,” I finished off another Tarkee with my attack skill, killing the last one out of the four that we’ve encountered yet again.

- “Just wow. You are totally on fire today, hun. Ten experience points for you and twenty for your party members.” – Lavita was happy to tell us about it.

- “Maximum experience points reached. Level up is available. Would you like to level up?” – A bland, mechanical voice announced next.

Huh? A Level Up offer? Must be for Sylfrin. I stopped to check.

“It’s for you, Sylfrin,” I said, feeling good about being right. “It looks like it is safe for me to accept it now. I’ll do it quick and then we can continue.”

- “Level up accepted. Increasing character’s level from level ten to level eleven. Complete. Level up complete.” – Was all the mechanical voice said.

“Humph,” I frowned, although I knew there was a low chance Sylfrin would acquire a new skill or a spell since she had received one on her tenth level up. “You have received five stat points, Sylfrin, so I have increased your Stamina and Spell Power by one point each, and your Magic Energy by two points.”

“Thank you, Master Rockin,” Sylfrin was happy, her and Ranalaiya huddling up to check Sylfrin’s stats.

Right, so… we have enough water to last us two days before we will need to go to that secret area to refill our containers. While Sylfrin and Ranalaiya were checking Sylfrin’s stats, I was checking our supplies. We have enough meat to last us more than a week, but I have only a tiny bit of spices left which will be just enough for one more meal to make it taste better. We could eat roasted meat without additional spices, but I kinda like it tastier now. Ranalaiya and Sylfrin would probably appreciate to have it too even if they don’t complain about the taste. In all honesty, going to that secret area to get water will be a drag too. Meh, maybe we’ll just go back to Hirvant tomorrow? I should gain another Level Up offer by the end of the day too. It’s not gonna get me to an actual level seven most probably yet, though. Well, we would need to have some rest from fighting monsters too. I could use a bath too. With some… additional company and a… rub on the back… Ahem… And I need to raise my Crafting skill’s level too, and working at the inn will be much comfier than here inside the dungeon. Yep, we’ll be going back to Hirvant tomorrow.

“Aah… are you girls ready to move on now?” I asked, mainly wanting to distract myself from one of the reasons I decided to go back to Hirvant tomorrow.

“Yes, Master Rockin,” they told me one after another.

“Ok, great. We have… more than half a day ahead of us, so… let’s not waste the time,” I tried to make it sound I was excited about us going to hunt more Tarkees.

{about at the same time in Hirvant}

“Welcome you two. Grab a table and I will be right there with you,” Savirei greeted Tarrion and Krisel before going to check on another table.

“Thank you, Savirei,” Krisel thanked her while Tarrion walked to sit down at the first available table.

“Hello, may I take your order, please?” A waitress appeared next to Tarrion’s and Krisel’s table almost the instant the of them sat down.

“Yes, I will take… oh, my,” Krisel was about to tell the waitress what she wanted to order but got awestruck by seeing how the person looked.

“Huh? I’ll be damned,” Tarrion exclaimed, his eyebrows shooting up.

“Ah, I… I’m really sorry, but… would you like to order something?” The waitress asked again, looking a little uneasy.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. Is it roasted Carnabbit steak for you, Tarrion?” Krisel apologized to the waitress before turning to Tarrion to double check with him.

“Yes… ghm…” Tarrion said, averting his eyes away from the waitress.

“One Carnabbit steak and one fried vegetables soup, and two mugs of mild ale, please,” Krisel placed the order.

“Preparing food will take a short while, but I will bring your drinks right away. If you excuse me, please,” the waitress showed a timid smile before leaving.

“Thank you,” Krisel smiled back.

“Never expected to see a Red Dragonkin working as a waitress,” Tarrion said after the waitress was gone.

“So, she is of a Red Dragonkin race?” Krisel was curious to know.

“You’ve never seen one?” Tarrion asked.

“No, not really,” Krisel smiled.

“Well, she must be only half-dragonkin, half-human, since pure dragonkins are fully covered in scales and have horns too. Their tails are usually longer and thicker too,” Tarrion explained.

“Thicker, hmm…” Krisel chuckled.

“Ah, sorry. It was… standing out,” said Tarrion, becoming flustered. “I meant her tail… was standing out.”

“It’s ok. I don’t mind you looking at other women,” Krisel added with a smile.

“I… wasn’t,” Tarrion blurted, his face showing something else.

“Hello, lovebirds. So, sorry for leaving you like that. What would you like to order?” Savirei asked, appearing next to their table before they could speak to each other again.

“Hello again, Savirei. Thank you, but we’ve already placed our order,” Krisel told her.

“Is that so? Well, that’s good. In that case, how are you two doing?” Savirei asked inquisitively.

“I’ve been good, thank you,” Krisel said.

“I’m fine,” Tarrion blurted, but his face showed otherwise.

“Oh my. Did something happen?” Savirei asked, looking at Tarrion.

“Nothing,” he said. “Sorry, be right back.” Tarrion stood up and left the table for some reason.

“Was it something I said?” Savirei asked, looking almost sad.

“No, no. I’m sure it wasn’t because of you, Savirei. Tarrion wants to talk to Rockin about something, but we couldn’t find him anywhere, so he’s a little on edge,” Krisel tried to explain.

“I see. Yes, I would like to see Rockin myself as well, but as far as I know, Rockin and his two lovely companions are in the dungeon right now,” Savirei said with a mild sigh, perking up the next second. “On a similar topic, how are things going between you two?”

“It’s going well,” Krisel said, showing a sincere smile. “Well, considering. Tarrion says everything is fine and that he trusts me, but I doubt that what I’ve done could simply be forgiven and forgotten easily. I know it will take some time until Tarrion and the rest of you will trust me again, but I don’t mind waiting. I am sincerely grateful for being granted a second chance and I’ll do everything I can until that day comes… or even if it never comes at all.” Krisel was holding it in, but one single tear still managed to squeeze itself out of the corner of her left eye.

“Oh, you’ll be surprised my dear,” Savirei smiled to Krisel.

“Excuse me. Here are your drinks,” the waitress returned, placing two drinks on the table. “I will go clear the tables now, Miss Savirei.” The waitress bowed her head to the diner’s owner before walking away.

“She’s a hard worker,” Krisel commented after the waitress was gone.

“Indeed. I was surprised to see a half-dragonkin woman offer to work as a waitress at my diner. Can’t complain, though. I have more people visit my diner just so they could be served by her,” Savirei said, adding a chuckle.

“She is an attractive woman if I may say so,” said Krisel.

“Yes, but there might be another reason too,” Savirei showed a sly smile.

“Another reason?” Krisel asked, looking a little puzzled.

“You don’t know much about dragonkins, do you, Krisel?” Savirei noticed her curious facial expression.

“Sorry, but this is the first time I’m seeing one,” Krisel admitted, also showing a smile.

“Oh, so sorry for being so blunt, darling. The thing is, you usually wouldn’t find a dragonkin working at a diner or doing any other menial job for that matter. Dragonkins are a very proud race, you see, so they leave lesser jobs for lesser races for the most part, if I were to put it mildly,” Savirei explained.

“Really? But then…” Krisel wanted to ask a very obvious question.

“Yes, I know what you want to ask, dear, but everyone has their reasons,” Savirei said, showing a smile.

“Right, I understand,” Krisel didn’t pry.

“Thank you, dear. Now then, I think I will go do some work now. I have to set a good example to my employees,” Savirei said with a bit of a laugh before adding. “Enjoy your meal.”

“Thank you, Savirei,” Krisel said.

“Sorry, I’m back,” Tarrion returned to the table a moment later.

“It’s ok. Here you go,” Krisel said, passing him a mug with a drink.

“Thanks,” Tarrion said, picking it up and having a drink right away.