“Ok, fine. But first, I’ll remove Lilfira from the party,” I finally said before opening my Status Window.

“What? No…” Lilfira exclaimed with the saddest expression on her face.

“Eh? What do you mean ‘no’?” I frowned in a weird manner.

“Master Rockin, you can’t remove Lilfira from the party,” Ranalaiya protested.

“Yes, she should stay in the party too,” Sylfrin joined in.

“Whaaat?” I gasped, making a sour facial expression. I was becoming not only confused, but worried too.

“Please, let me stay in the party, Master Rockin. I want to hear… Lavita too,” Lilfira told me, her eyes sparkling with passion.

I knew it. You two have told her about Lavita’s lewd performance when I decline my level up, haven’t you? The realization of why Ranalaiya and Sylfrin became so excited about me reaching a level up finally hit. Like, come on! Lilfira and I just barely know each other, and I feel awkward enough with the two of you hearing Lavita pleasure herself as it is already!

“Sorry, but no,” I said, removing Lilfira from the party.

“But Master Rockin!” Ranalaiya cried out.

“Please, Master Rockin,” Sylfrin begged me.

“You two stay where you are,” I ordered them before declining my Level Up offer next.

“Yes, Master Rockin,” Ranalaiya and Sylfrin obeyed after seeing my angry facial expression.

Tch, seriously. Anyway, now to survive the hard part. I mumbled in my head before turning away and crossing my arms in front of me. Huh? What gives? But Lavita was silent for some reason.

- “Maximum level sixth stats have been reached. Cannot increase stats anymore.” – A lifeless, mechanical voice announce suddenly.

“Aha, yes!” I declared loudly, flexing my both arms too.

“What? Master Rockin,” Ranalaiya exclaimed, pouting her cheeks.

“Unexpected reaction,” Sylfrin said, tilting her head to the side while looking at me with a puzzled expression on her face.

– “Maximum experience points reached. Overgrowth skill is activated. Increasing character’s level from level six to level seven. Complete. Increasing maximum limit of all character stats. Complete. Increasing Growth skill by one. Complete. New skill acquired. Defense Skill: Shield Guard, acquired. Level up complete.” -

“Huh? A new skill?” I instantly perked up upon hearing I’ve acquired a new skill.

“Huh?” Ranalaiya and Sylfrin reacted to the message as well.

“Let’s take a look. Let’s take a look. Let’s take a look,” I was rushing to navigate to my Skills tab to see what my new skill was all about. “Here it is… Wow, a Legendary Rarity skill?! Nice!” I let out a whistle after seeing the skill was written in orange.

“Wow, a Legendary Rarity skill,” Ranalaiya exclaimed excitedly.

“Congratulations, Master Rockin,” Sylfrin said.

“Huh? Did Master Rockin acquire a Legendary skill?” Lilfira asked. She was out of the party when I declined my level up, so she couldn’t hear the announcement.

“Ah, yes. I’ve acquired a new skill upon leveling up,” I said, feeling just a tiny bit awkward when I spoke to Lilfira.

“You shouldn’t have removed Lilfira from our party, Master Rockin,” Ranalaiya scolded me, pouting her lips.

“Lilfira must be feeling really sad right now,” Sylfrin added more coals to the fire.

“Eh? But… ahh… S… sorry about that, Lilfira,” I said, rubbing the back of my head and looking away. “Here, I’ll invite you back to our party now.” I sent an invite for her to join our party again.

“Ok, thank you,” Lilfira smiled, but looked really sad, like she was betrayed or something.

Shiiit! Why do I feel like I am the worst scumbag here?! I couldn’t help be feel that way.

“Listen, well… I apologize for removing you from the party, Lilfira. It’s just that… we just barely know each other and I would feel really embarrassed having you being able listen to… Lavita’s lewd performance when I decline my level up,” I apologized to her with an added explanation, not that it made me feel any better, so I just kept talking. “You know, if… if we get to know each other better and if we… if we start to like each other more, eventually becoming close then… it probably wouldn’t be an issue and I wouldn’t feel so embarrassed about it.” I mumbled and stuttered like a real dork, but somehow managed to tell her what I wanted to say.

“Oh, but I already like you, Master Rockin,” Lilfira declared without a hint of hesitation in her voice.

“You like me, huh?” I wasn’t exactly surprised to hear her say that, but hearing her say it out loud made me blush. “Well, I think you are very pretty and… I like you too, Lilfira, but… I suppose I need more time to get to know you better in order for us to become close.”

“Thank you and I’d really love that, Master Rockin,” Lilfira cheered up, her beautiful smile returning to her lips.

Baah, I guess I just have to accept her calling me Master too. I felt like frowning, but at the same time, it was clear she wasn’t trying to fake it. She honestly sounded like she wanted to call me Master.

“Ok then, well, ahm… Oh, right, my new skill,” I was still feeling awkward, but remembering I haven’t checked what my new skill does yet helped me change my focus and relax. “I’ll check what my new skill does, ok? Aah… here we go. Shield Guard: creates two shields around the character to protect them from any damage. The amount of damage that the shields can absorb is increased by the character’s Stamina and Strength stats combined. Lasts six seconds. Cooldown: thirty minutes. Eh?” The first part of the skill’s description was amazing, but the last part of it made me grimace at the end.

“Wow, what an amazing skill,” Ranalaiya exclaimed, feeling very impressed by it.

“Indeed. With how high Master Rockin’s Stamina and Strength stats are, no attacks would be able to harm him for the skill duration at all,” Sylfrin added, sounding and looking equally amazed.

“Incredible. What a strong skill it is,” Lilfira gasped in awe too.

What? Really? I mean… it does say it protects me from any attacks, so I guess it protects me from magic attacks too. It has a very long cooldown timer, but it can be a lifesaver at a critical moment, I suppose. After a bit more thought, and hearing how my female companions were impressed by it, it honestly sounded like it was a really amazing skill. Thirty minutes cooldown timer aside, becoming basically untouchable for six seconds could be a game changer when fighting a really strong enemy.

“Right, ok. I guess my level up is now complete. Can we check if the monsters dropped anything now?” I suddenly remembered where we were and why we were here.

“Oh, that’s right. I’ll check for the drops, Master Rockin,” Ranalaiya sprung to her feet, rushing off to check if monsters have left anything behind.

“I’ll go help look too,” Sylfrin said before going to look around as well.

“I’d like to help look as well,” Lilfira wasn’t about to stay behind and not do anything.

Sigh, like little girls. I shook my head, but it also put a smile to my face. Guess I’ll look around too.

“I can’t see any drops,” Ranalaiya announced after a short while.

“I don’t think the Stoneskin Lizards that I’ve killed dropped anything either,” Sylfrin said next.

“Hey, I think I found a piece of Brown Iron Ore,” however, Lilfira was the lucky one.

“Really? Wow, can I see, Lilfira?” Ranalaiya instantly rushed to where Lilfira was to see what she had found.

“Yes, it definitely looks to be a Brown Iron Ore, just like the one we got earlier,” Sylfrin said after she saw the brown rock in Lilfira’s hands.

“Yay! We have found another piece of Brown Iron Ore,” Ranalaiya cheered. “Let’s show it to Master Rockin.”

“Look, Master Rockin, we have found a Brown Iron Ore,” Lilfira spoke to me after coming closer.

“Ah, ok,” I said after turning around to face her.

“You could be a little happier about it, Master Rockin. It was Lilfira who found it,” Ranalaiya complained, apparently my reaction not being what she expected it would be.

“Aah… nice, Lilfira. Great find,” I tried putting on an act, procuring a somewhat genuine smile.

“Thank you, Master Rockin,” Lilfira smiled, hearing me say that.

“By the way, can you mine this ore deposit here, Lilfira?” I then asked her.

“Huh? An ore deposit?” Lilfira asked, becoming surprised.

“Yes, this looks like a Brown Iron Ore deposit to me, but since I don’t have a Mining skill, I didn’t want to touch it,” I told her, making a step to the side to show them a lump of crude looking brown rock sticking out from the wall close to the ground.

“Wow, a Brown Iron Ore deposit. How did you find it, Master Rockin?” Ranalaiya asked.

“I just looked around this cave,” I said with a shrug.

“Hmm…” which made Lilfira chuckle.

“Master Rockin…” Ranalaiya frowned in a cute manner, pursing her lips.

“Here you go, Lilfira,” I smiled at Ranalaiya’s reaction, but then passed a pickaxe to Lilfira.

“But I’ve never mined any ore before, so I am not sure if I…” Lilfira spoke, being hesitant to mine the ore.

“That’s ok. Just give it a go,” I encouraged her.

“Ok,” Lilfira said before swinging at the ore deposit with a pickaxe. However, nothing happened. “Huh?” She didn’t know what to think of it.

“Just keep going,” I told her.

“Right,” Lilfira said, raising the pickaxe again. She hit the ore deposit two more times until it broke, a piece of it falling and rolling to the side on the ground. “Oh, something fell out.”

“Let’s see,” I leaned down to pick it up. “Hey, it’s really a Brown Iron Ore after all.” I showed the ore to the girls.

“Congratulations, Lilfira. You did it,” Ranalaiya was happy for her.

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

“This is the first time I have seen someone mine ore. That was amazing, Lilfira,” Sylfrin was impressed with it too.

“Thank you,” Lilfira said, feeling really happy about it.

“Hey, it looks like you can still mine some more of it,” I said, noticing that part of the ore deposit was still intact. “How about you hit it with a pickaxe a few more times, Lilfira?”

“Yes, Master Rockin,” Lilfira agreed cheerfully. She hit the ore deposit several more times, the rock crumbling to pieces completely and another piece of Brown Iron Ore falling out of it. “Huh? It crumbled to pieces. I’m so sorry.”

“No, it’s all good. Look, another piece of Brown Iron Ore came out of it,” I said, picking it up and showing it to her.

“Wow, we got two pieces out of a single deposit,” Lilfira gasped.

“Now we have four in total,” I said before putting the last Brown Iron Ore piece into my storage.

“That means we need only two more to collect,” Ranalaiya said with a smile.

“We should be done with the quest in no time,” Sylfrin added.

“We shall see,” I said.

“What do you mean, Master Rockin?” Ranalaiya was curious.

“Well, since we are already here, it would be a waste if we collect only six ore pieces and go back right away. I think it would be wise to stay here longer and collected some more,” I suggested. “Besides, it will give Lilfira a chance to gain more fighting experience too.”

“That’s a great idea, Master Rockin,” Sylfrin said.

“Yes, let’s stay here long enough for Lilfira to gain enough experience, so she can reach level two,” Ranalaiya agreed, throwing an additional suggestion too.

“Yeah, it shouldn’t take too long,” I added. Gaining one hundred experience points when Lilfira was getting eight experience points per kill was an easy task. “Ok, let’s keep going, shall we?”

After we took another look around the cave, not finding anything of value unfortunately, we resumed our exploration. The good thing about the current cave was, it didn’t have multiple exits from it which made it really easy for us. The next tunnel path wasn’t any different from the one we’ve reached the cave while coming here and with Ranalaiya’s, and Sylfrin’s vision no surprises were waiting for us up ahead while we walked through it. We’ve encountered two Stoneskin Lizards before reaching the next cave, with Lilfira taking them down one by one. Unfortunately, neither of the lizards left any drops behind for us.

“There’s another cave up ahead, Master Rockin,” Ranalaiya informed me.

“Ok, let’s approach quietly and check how many monsters are inside,” I told everyone.

“I can see four Stoneskin Lizards inside, Master Rockin,” Sylfrin told me once we were close enough.

“I can see only four as well, Master,” Ranalaiya added after taking a better look around the cave.

“Ok, let’s just kill them and then look around the cave if we can find another Brown Iron Ore deposit. By the way, I’d like Lilfira to kill at least one of the monsters by herself,” I said.

“Right. The two Stoneskin Lizards on the left are very close to each other, so I can take them out by myself, Master Rockin,” Sylfrin offered.

“I can take out the one which is the furthest from us and that will leave the one on the right for Lilfira to take down,” said Ranalaiya.

“Ok, let’s do that then,” I agreed, knowing I won’t be fighting again.

Before Sylfrin and Lilfira engaged their targets, Ranalaiya sneaked passed all other monsters by using her Shadow Blend ability, cutting down her target with her Vicious Talons without it knowing what hit it. Once Ranalaiya lost her Shadow Blend, it alerted the other three lizards right away. They couldn’t do much to Ranalaiya, however. Sylfrin used her spells from afar to insta kill her two targets before they could even move from their spots. As for Lilfira, she already had some fighting experience when she fought several Stoneskin Lizards earlier, and even if it took her several attacks to kill it, she took down her target without too much trouble. Killing four Stoneskin Lizards inside this next cave also gave Lilfira enough experience points to finally receive a Level Up offer. The lifeless, dull voice announced it during the fight right after Ranalaiya killed her target, but Lilfira couldn’t accept her level up until all the monsters were defeated.

“Congratulations on receiving your first Level Up offer, Lilfira,” Ranalaiya was quick to congratulate her.

“Congratulations, Lilfira,” Sylfrin added too.

“Thank you,” Lilfira smiled happily.

“Yes, congratulations are in order. Well done, Lilfira,” I was happy for her myself. “I think it is safe for you to accept your Level Up offer now.”

“Ah, well… About my level up…” but Lilfira was hesitant to do it.

“Is something wrong?” I wondered.

“Would you mind… helping me level up, Master Rockin?” Lilfira asked, a mild flush jumping on her cheeks.

“Help you level up? Oh, you mean you want my advice on how to distribute your stat points?” I asked, thinking that would be the main reason she would ask for my help.

“Yes, that too,” Lilfira said, her acting bashful making me feel somewhat suspicious.

What does she mean ‘that too’. What else is there that I could help her with? I didn’t know what to think of it.

“Ok…” I said, turning my head to the side, but not removing my eyes from Lilfira.

“You see, I don’t exactly know how to level up, so I thought maybe you could guide me, Master Rockin?” Lilfira asked, her biting on her index finger making me feel even more suspicious.

“Yes, no problem. Just let me know what you don’t understand and I’ll try to explain it to you,” I said, putting on an act I wasn’t affected by her own act.

“That’s wonderful. Thank you,” Lilfira smiled, extending her right hand in front of her, with her index finger pointing forward.

“Huh?” I couldn’t understand where she was pointing at.

“Please,” Lilfira said, motioning with her hand.

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand what you want me to do,” I was at a loss.

“Well, you agreed to guide me, so I’m offering my hand for you to pinpoint where I have to tap in order to level up,” Lilfira explained it to me, her cheeks burning red, but she tried to not break our eye contact.

“Wha…” my mouth dropped. I was about to ask for an additional explanation, but then it hit me. “Wait, wait. You want me to hold your hand and use it to tap on your Status Window to have you level up?” I asked yet couldn’t believe I actually asked that.

“Yes, of course. I… I’m too afraid I might tap on something I shouldn’t and do something wrong. It would be… bad, wouldn’t it?” Lilfira asked, slightly averting her eyes away, but still keeping her hand extended in front of her.

Aah… what? I couldn’t believe what I just heard. I turned my head to the side in order to think about what was going on here, noticing Ranalaiya and Sylfrin averting her eyes away from me in an innocent manner. I instantly understood who were behind it all. Huh? Oh, really? Now I get it.

“I think I will go look around the cave to see if monsters dropped anything,” Ranalaiya quickly made up an excuse to get away from my piercing glare.

“I’ll go check if I can find any Brown Iron Ore deposits in this cave,” Sylfrin spoke out loud, pretending she didn’t know what was going on either.

You two… I placed my hands on my waist before dropping my head and letting out a deep sigh.

“Excuse me, Master Rockin?” Lilfira spoke up, trying to get my attention.

“Huh? Ah, yes, ok,” I said, finally deciding to play along.

As much as I tried to pretend it didn’t bother me, the moment I touched Lilfira’s hand I had hotness hit my cheeks. Holding Lilfira by her hand felt unusually pleasant. Come to think of it, I wasn’t holding hands with either Ranalaiya or Sylfrin much, other than when we were sleeping inside the hammock. But even then, it was Ranalaiya and Sylfrin who would place their hands on mine one each from both sides. While I was comfortable with Ranalaiya and Sylfrin doing so, holding Lilfira by her hand right now aroused a rather not so humble sensation within me.

“So then… you need to click on your Character Status tab here,” I used Lilfira’s hand, navigating it to press on the screen in front her with her finger. As surprising, or not so surprising really, as it was, Lilfira had her Status Window open for both of us to see it in advance.

“I’m sorry, but I couldn’t see what you just did, Master Rockin,” Lilfira said suddenly. Due to how I held her hand, she was basically standing behind me while I was standing at the front and blocking the view for her with my wide shoulders.

“Oh, sorry. It’s… a little uncomfortable doing it like this,” I apologized, making a step to the side. But when I did so, I couldn’t see her Status Window clearly myself. “How about I just tell you where to press and you do it yourself?” I suggested and was about to let her hand go.

“No,” Lilfira quickly objected, placing her other hand on mine and stopping me from removing it. “Oops, s… sorry, but what if I press on the wrong thing accidentally?”

“I understand, but… this isn’t working, you know,” I said, Lilfira holding my hand with both of her hands making me feel bashful.

“I know, how about you stand behind me, Master Rockin. That way you can hold my hand from behind and we will be able to see my Status Window screen easily,” Lilfira suggested.

“Oh… yeah, that could work,” I said, actually believing her it would be easier for both of us, and in theory, it was. When I stood behind her, both of us could see Lilfira’s Status Window clearly, but now we were really close to each other, with me basically touching Lilfira’s body with mine from behind.

“Oops…” Lilfira lost her balance just slightly when I rushed to tap on her Character Status tab by extending our hands towards it, accidentally pushing Lilfira forward with my whole body when I leaned forward myself. I had no time to think whether it was an actual accident or not, but reacted by grabbing Lilfira by her waist with my other hand, so neither she nor I would fall down. “Thank you, Master Rockin. How about you hold me like that, so we don’t fall down?” Lilfira added, placing her left hand on my own which I was holding her around her waist now.

“No… problem…” I said, pressing my lips against each other tighter. The thing was, now we were really, really close to each other. I mean, I was hugging her, with our bodies touching one another. In addition, I had my face next to her face from my left side, and if not for her long, thick, red hair, our cheeks would’ve been touching each other too.

Come on, let’s get it over with. I gritted my teeth, also feeling sweat starting to gather on my forehead.

“Right, so… you have to click on this tab… and then choose ‘Yes’ on your Level Up offer,” I started explaining what to do while navigating her hand to tap on the ‘Yes’ option.

- “Level up accepted. Increasing character’s level from level one to level two. Complete. Level up complete.” – The boring, mechanical voice announced once Lilfira accepted her Level Up offer.

“And that’s it. That’s how you level up,” I said, wanting to let go of Lilfira’s hand and step away from her once again.

“Wait, what about assigning my stat points?” But Lilfira had no intentions of letting me step away just yet.

“Oh… yeah…” I squirmed. “Well… you go here and…” I used her hand to navigate to her Character Status window, so we could see her stats.

“It says here that I have six unspent stat points. Is that good, Master Rockin?” Lilfira asked after seeing it.

“Yes, very good. Six is the maximum that you can get,” I said, seeing she had received six stat points helped me relax even if a little.

“How do I add stat points and which of my stats should I increase, Master Rockin?” Lilfira asked, adjusting her standing position just slightly and turning her head to the side to try and see my face. I opened my mouth to say something, but seeing her beautiful face only an inch away from mine, stopped any words from coming out. She didn’t avert her gaze away, but moved her left leg a tiny bit back, making her lean at me more.

“Huh?” Even through my armor I could feel her ass pressing against me, yet it felt rather unusual. I became confused at first, but then remembered she actually had a tail. It resembled a lizard’s tail and it wasn’t too long, about one and a half foot in length, but it was thick and strong, and when Lilfira leaned against me, she also pushed and lifted her tail up, her tail squeezing itself in between my legs and almost making me jump. “Care… full… Ahem… You… don’t want us to fall down, do you?”

“Oh, sorry. Maybe… you could hold me tighter?” Lilfira offered a solution, leaning with her back at my chest even more.

This will not end well, damn it. I tried to swallow, but my mouth was totally dry.

“Anyway, let’s assign your stat points now,” I thought the best thing to do was to focus on finishing helping Lilfira level up. “Ok, so… your stats are…” I then stopped to think how best to distribute her stat points. Lilfira’s main stat was obviously Strength, with her Magic Energy being second best and her Stamina being third. I still couldn’t make sense why her Spell Power was zero while her Magic Energy was so high, but decided to follow my gut and do how I’ve done it for Ranalaiya and Sylfrin when I was assigning their stat points. “Since your Strength stat is obviously the highest stat, I think putting three points into your Strength would be best. Then we have Magic Energy, which I would suggest putting two stat points into it and then use the last stat point to increase your Stamina by one. How does that sound?”

“Yes, ok. Whatever you say, Master Rockin,” Lilfira agreed without any objections.

“Ok… let’s do that then,” I said, navigating her hand to distribute her stat points. “There, it’s all done now.” I pulled away, with Lilfira finally letting me go.

“Wow, that was very helpful. Thank you so much, Master Rockin,” Lilfira said after turning around to face me, her face sparkling with joy. Only then I noticed how wide her scaly ears were extended to the sides, something I haven’t seen her do before. It must’ve been a reflexion of how she was feeling right now, but I didn’t know what to think other than seeing her being happy.

“Sure, no problem,” I mumbled, trying to pretend nothing out of an ordinary had happened just now. “Sorry, I’ll just… have a drink right now.” I added, removing myself from Lilfira’s sight.

“Are you done already, Lilfira?” Ranalaiya was right next to her the moment I stepped away.

“Yes,” Lilfira smiled happily.

“Really? But you haven’t kissed yet,” Sylfrin made a comment that set my ears on fire.

What… did she just say? I didn’t turn towards them, but had my ears become very tense. On the other hand, I better not listen. As curious as I was, I already knew Lilfira wouldn’t have thought of it on her own. The worst part was, I actually enjoyed it.

“Ah, you see, I sort of wanted to, but when I turned to face Master Rockin, my heart started beating so fast I couldn’t do it,” Lilfira confessed, pressing her clenched fist close to her chest.

“Oh, I know what you mean, Lilfira. I have felt the same way too,” Ranalaiya told her.

“Really?” Lilfira asked, lifting her eyes up to look at Ranalaiya.

“Yes, that means you’re on the right path,” Ranalaiya said with a smile.

“That’s great then,” Lilfira smiled, easing up.

“By the way, do you mind showing us your level two stats, Lilfira?” Sylfrin asked, being curious about it.

“Not at all. Here,” Lilfira tapped in front of her and a screen appeared for Ranalaiya and Sylfrin to see.

Of course she knows how to navigate her Status Window. It was no surprise for me to see Lilfira do that. Oh well, I’ll pretend I didn’t see that. I mumbled to myself, turning to face away from the three women.

***

Lilfira Rageflame. Level 2.

Character stats:

Stamina – 9

Strength – 19

Agility – 3

Spell Power – 0

Magic Energy – 13

Luck – 9

***

“Oh, wow. Your stats have increased so much,” Ranalaiya said.

“Does that mean, you have received six stat points?” Sylfrin asked.

“Yes, but I haven’t received any new skills unfortunately,” Lilfira said, becoming a little sad.

“Don’t worry about it, Lilfira. It is only your first level up. I had no skills to begin with and have received my first skill only when I reached level four,” Sylfrin told her in a supportive manner.

“Ah, yes, you have told me about it, Sylfrin,” Lilfira remembered it.

“Now that you are stronger, you will be able to kill those Stoneskin Lizards easier, Lilfira,” Ranalaiya said.

“That’s right. We should go and fight more of those lizards, so you could reach your next level faster,” Sylfrin added.

“Yes,” said Lilfira, a big smile showing on her face.