“Have you checked for drops yet?” I asked the ladies.

“Ah, no, Master Rockin. I’ll go look around right now,” Ranalaiya told me before rushing off.

“I’ll go check for drops too,” Sylfrin went off as well.

“I’ll go see if I can find any ore deposits if that’s ok?” Lilfira asked me.

“Yes, that’s fine. Hold on, here, take a pickaxe with you, so you can mine it right away if you find one,” I said, opening my storage and taking out a pickaxe to give to Lilfira. “Just don’t leave this cave, ok?” I added.

“Yes, Master Rockin,” Lilfira acknowledged it before leaving.

Ghm… That spiked shell turtle was quite tough. It didn’t drop anything which means it wasn’t a rare monster or anything. Although, I think Alragus has mentioned rare monsters don’t appear in the mines. Or was he talking about the boss monsters? I touched my chin to think about it. In any case, we will have to be careful going forward.

We might’ve been unlucky this time, but none of the Stoneskin Lizards have dropped any ore, nor Lilfira has found any ore deposits in the current cave either. It couldn’t be helped. Besides, I had something else to worry about. There were three other exits leading out of the current mining cave and I needed to make sure we’d be able to return without getting lost but that’s when Lady Luck smiled upon us unexpectedly.

“I found a strange signpost near one of the exits out of this cave, Master Rockin,” Lilfira informed after passing the pickaxe back to me.

“A strange signpost?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Yes. It said ‘Workers Lodgings’ on it,” Lilfira told me.

“Workers Lodgings? Oh, where is that signpost?” I quickly asked.

“It’s near that one exit over there, Master Rockin,” Lilfira said, pointing to the most right exit from the cave excluding the one we have come here.

“Ok, let’s go check it out,” I said, going towards that specific exit.

“What does the ‘Workers Lodgings’ mean, Master Rockin?” Ranalaiya asked, all of us standing in front of the signpost and looking at it.

“I think this one exit leads to where the mine workers used to rest,” I said before adding. “Let’s go see for ourselves.”

That specific exit led us to a heavy-looking wooden wall which had a built-in door inside of it it. Luckily for us, the door wasn’t locked, but that just made sense. If what the signpost said was true, there was a resting area on the other side of this wooden wall and you would want to be able to lock the door from the inside, and not from the outside which turned out to be true.

“Wow, they actually have beds here,” Sylfrin commented with a bit of a surprise.

“Is that… a cooking oven?” Lilfira asked, pointing at what it looked like stove that was built inside the wall.

“An oven? But it is made out of stone and almost looks like is inside the wall itself,” Ranalaiya was no less surprised than the others.

The cave where the lodgings were wasn’t particularly big, maybe a size of an average two-bedroom apartment. It had three double bunk beds, a cooking stove, a wooden table and several wooden chairs around it to sit on. There was another small door at the furthest corner of the cave which I assumed was leading to a bathroom. Well, hopefully. The lodgings room wasn’t anything fancy of course, but what else could you expect inside a mine? People who came here would come to gather materials, either by mining ore or by fighting monsters. You would definitely not have a five-star hotel accommodation built in here.

“Oh nice,” I said, nodding my head and feeling pleased about it.

“Why would they have this kind of area in the mines, Master Rockin?” Ranalaiya asked.

“For people to rest?” I asked half-jokingly.

“Huh? Oh, you’re being mean again, Master,” Ranalaiya puffed her cheeks at me, looking cute.

“Sorry, but it was you who asked,” I said, raising my hands in front of me defensively.

“Doest that mean we can rest in here, Master Rockin?” Sylfrin asked me.

“It does, indeed. Honestly, I was getting worried about how long we’d be able to stay here. It’s only tunnels and caves in here with no trees, so we wouldn’t be able to hang our hammock up to have a safe rest. I thought we’d have to walk out of the mine, spend the night outside and then go back in again, if we wanted to gather more ore than we already have, that is. But now with these lodgings here, it will make it much easier for us to explore the mine and hopefully find more and better ore too,” I explained what was lingering in my mind for a while now.

“That’s great, Master,” Ranalaiya said, clapping her hands. She had already forgotten she was supposed to be upset with me because of my previous comment.

“So, are we going to have a rest now, Master Rockin?” Sylfrin was curious.

“I don’t know. Do you three want to rest? Also, are you maybe hungry too?” I asked my party members. The thing was, since we were inside the mine, I had no idea what time of the day it was right now. I was certain it wasn’t too late yet, otherwise I would’ve been feeling really hungry right now which I wasn’t. That meant it definitely wasn’t nighttime yet.

“Maybe a little,” Ranalaiya told me.

“I could still keep going, Master Rockin,” Sylfrin added.

“Yes, I… should be ok for a while too,” said Lilfira, but the way she said it gave away she might’ve been hungriest out of all four of us. I didn’t think about it, but Ranalaiya, Sylfrin and I were used to eating proper meals twice a day, breakfast and in the morning and late dinner in the evening while Lilfira had different eating habits.

“Ok then. How about we take a short break here, eat something light and explore the mine some more before returning back here to have a proper rest?” I suggested.

“Yes, thank you,” Lilfira responded almost instantaneously, revealing she must’ve been hungry.

“Yes, please, Master Rockin,” Ranalaiya joined in on that too.

“I do feel a little hungry too. Will you be cooking meat, Master Rockin?” Sylfrin asked.

“Ah, no. It would take too long. How about some cake instead?” I asked with a cheesy expression on my face, already knowing the answer, all three girls not disappointing me with their reactions.

After a short break, we left the resting area and went to explore the mine some more. With one exit leading out of the mine, another one leading to the lodgings, we were left with one of the two choices to decide which way we could go and I chose the right exit after coming out of the lodgings entrance.

“We might encounter that new type of monster from before, so all of you need to be careful. It has a really hard shell on its back which even my Attack Skill: Shield couldn’t penetrate. You probably saw it when I fought the monster, but it can shoot spikes from the top of its shell and they are really dangerous. Having said that, it seems like that monster’s weak point is its belly, so the best way to deal with it is to flip it over upside down and attack its belly, but that doesn’t mean it will be easy to do. The monster is really fast on its feet to get away to a safe distance before starting to spin and shoot its spikes at its target. So, if we encounter another one, leave it for me to deal with, ok?” I told the ladies before we left the big mining cave.

“Yes, we understand, Master Rockin,” Ranalaiya answered for all three of the girls, Sylfrin and Lilfira nodding in agreement, and then we moved on.

We have spent maybe two more hours exploring the mine before returning to the Workers Lodgings area. I wasn’t sure if it were two hours, but it wasn’t longer than that. We’ve found and explored several more open caves and have killed a bunch of Stoneskin Lizards on the way, but we haven’t encountered another spiked shell turtle monster during the extra time that we were exploring the mine. Maybe it was a coincidence that we have found it in that big main mining cave earlier after all. The turtle monster hasn’t dropped anything, but maybe it was a special type of monster that appears in the mine only rarely and that’s why we haven’t seen any more of those.

We haven’t killed enough monsters for Lilfira, or anyone else for that matter, to reach their next level up, but we have collected some extra Brown Iron Ore. We have also found two more Brown Iron Ore deposits, with Lilfira mining two pieces of ore from each of those, adding to a total of eleven pieces of ore that we have collected so far. I have made a conclusion that by mining ore one could collect the needed amount of ore faster than by getting it as drops from monster kills. Killing monsters gives you experience points which is beneficial to adventurers, but if you’re a higher-level adventurer and don’t have a Mining skill, it wouldn’t be worthwhile to come to the mine for drops from the money making standpoint.

“Huh? You want us all three to sleep on the top bed of each of these bunk beds, Master?” Ranalaiya asked, feeling a little puzzled about my suggestion. We’ve just finished eating and were getting ready to lay down to have proper rest.

“Yes. We’ve shut and locked the doors from the inside to prevent any monsters from entering this area, but I’d rather have you three sleep higher above the ground just in case a Stoneskin Lizard somehow appeared here while we are asleep,” I explained why.

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“But then if you sleep on the bottom part of the bunk bed, you’d be in danger yourself, Master,” Ranalaiya protested.

“Hey, I said just in case. Besides, I doubt any monsters would be able to get in here anyway. From the looks of it, this cave room had never been touched by monsters. I haven’t noticed any of the furniture being damaged anywhere which means it’s pretty safe. But if some Stoneskin Lizard managed to get in here, it won’t be able to hurt me anyway,” I assured her.

“But the top beds seemed to be big enough to fit two people in them. You could sleep together with me, Master Rockin,” Sylfrin being Sylfrin, went right for the praise money.

“Hey, no fair, Sylfrin. I wanted to sleep together with Master Rockin too,” Ranalaiya complained, pursing her lips, her cat ears and tail shooting up.

“But I was the first one to suggest it to Master Rockin,” Sylfrin stated calmly, as if showing it was already decided.

“I wanted to offer Master Rockin to sleep with me as well,” Lilfira added, even if being a little timid about it.

“In that case, we need to think of a way to decide who Master Rockin will sleep with tonight,” Ranalaiya suggested, about to declare some challenge or whatever she had in mind.

“Stop,” but I wouldn’t have it, interrupting them. “First of all, no arguing among yourselves. Second, all of you will be sleeping on the top bed of each bunk bed and I will sleep at one of the bottom beds by myself. Period. I want to explore more of the mine and gather as much ore as we can find while we’re here. We’ll be fighting more monsters tomorrow which means we need to be properly rested too. Now go to sleep.” I even raised my voice when I said that.

“Yes, Master Rockin,” the girls responded almost all at the same time, choosing the bed each and lying down to rest without any additional arguments.

Sigh… I dropped my head with a sigh before choosing to lay down on the bottom bed which was closest to the entrance for safety reasons. I was happy to know Ranalaiya, Sylfrin and Lilfira wanted to be with me, but there had to be limits to their willingness to do so. I wasn’t against it, but my mind was set on exploring as much of the mine as we could while being here. Besides, I would feel too uncomfortable to sleep in one bed together with Lilfira at this point if she was the one to win whatever the challenge Ranalaiya wanted to suggest.

“Good night,” of course, I didn’t forget to give the good night kisses to Ranalaiya and Sylfrin, both them showing they were happy to receive them.

“Good night, Master Rockin,” Lilfira, who I did not give a good night kiss said right before I was about to lay down.

Damn it. I cussed at myself, knowing Lilfira must’ve felt like she was being left out.

“Ahm… good night, Lilfira,” I manned up and came over to give her a mild peck on a cheek as a good night kiss.

“Good night, Master Rockin,” Lilfira repeated what she had said only a moment ago, but in a more cheerful manner this time, her face brightening up too. The way she looked at me with her red, passionate eyes made my heart skip a beat before it sank down to my knees.

Why… do I feel like kissing her for real right now? My own thoughts were attacking me in my head while I was staring at Lilfira, still standing next to her bed. Either Lilfira read my mind or she had been thinking the same thing in her head as well, because she leaned closer to me, pausing just an inch away from my face for a brief moment before kissing me on the lips herself. It was a very soft and mild kiss, but the feel of her lips touching mine has sent shivers down my body. Lilfira, probably becoming shocked and embarrassed by her own boldness, quickly laid back down in her bed, turning away and covering herself with a blanket. She looked like a little child who was trying to hide from her parents, afraid to be punished for the prank they have committed.

“Huh?” I turned towards what I felt an intense stare directed at me and saw Ranalaiya, and Sylfrin turn away and hide under the blankets themselves too. I instantly knew they have seen what happened just now, but I didn’t say anything. I knew that even if I won the chance to sleep alone in the bed tonight, I have lost to the girls on another count anyway.

{the next day}

“Monsters ahead, Master Rockin,” Ranalaiya warned me right before we were to reach the main, big mining cave after leaving the Workers Lodgings the next morning. I didn’t know if it was an actual morning since we were inside the mine, but considering all of us felt well rested and full of energy, I wanted to believe that it was. We didn’t waste any time after we have woken up either. It took some time to cook the meat, but other than that, we set out to explore the mine as soon as we were done eating.

“Ok,” I said, raising my hand to have all of us stop and stay quiet. The monsters must’ve respawned while we were resting which wasn’t a big surprise, really. “How many?”

“I can see only one with how far my Echo Sense can reach, Master Rockin,” Sylfrin informed.

“We need to know how many there are in total and if there are any spiked shell turtle monsters in there as well before going in,” I said.

“I’ll go check, Master Rockin. Shadow Blend,” Ralaiya said before hiding her presence and leaving us to scout the big cave. The three of us stayed further behind so we wouldn’t alert any monsters in the meantime while waiting for Ranalaiya to come back. “I saw four Stoneskin Lizards inside the cave. No other monsters were inside, Master Rockin.” She informed after coming back.

“Ok, great. Let’s deal with them quickly then,” I said.

Stoneskin Lizards were easy to deal with by now and the girls have eliminated them in no time. We were also lucky to have one of the monsters drop a Brown Iron Ore too, adding to a total of twelve that we now had. The Brown Iron Ore wasn’t the only good thing that happened after we have killed the four lizard monsters, however. Someone has finally gained enough experience points to receive a Level Up offer, and it was none other than Ranalaiya this time, but she wasn’t about to let me accept her Level Up offer the way I was doing it up till now.

“Huh? What?” I exclaimed when Ranalaiya masterfully slid in front of me right before I was to open her character Status Window.

“I’m ready for you to accept my Level Up offer, Master Rockin,” Ranalaiya purred before rubbing at me with her back and her ass, especially her ass, her tail sneakily wrapping itself around my waist too.

Seriously? I instantly knew what was happening here. After they witnessed how I was ‘helping’ Lilfira level up and to assign her stat points, Ranalaiya and Sylfrin most probably became jealous, and decided they would like to receive the same level up treatment from me as well. Neither Ranalaiya nor Sylfrin were able to tap and choose how to distribute their stat points themselves, but distributing stat points was irrelevant here and I knew that.

“Ok, fine. Just please stand still, so we wouldn’t fall down, ok?” I knew there was no escaping it, so I gave in without any struggle, also hugging Ranalaiya around her waist with my left hand, her releasing another satisfying purr to show how much she liked it.

- “Level up accepted. Increasing character’s level from level fourteen to level fifteen. Complete. Evade Skill: Leap Jump has been improved. Attack Skill: Shadow Claw has been improved. Shadow Skill: Shadow Double has been improved. Luck bonus triggered. Increasing character’s Agility stat by one point. Complete. Level up complete.” – The dull, lifeless, mechanical voice announced all kinds of information after I accpeted Ranalaiya’s Level Up offer. Although, with all the good stuff that it mentioned, it didn’t sound so lifeless this time.

“Wow, so many improvements,” Ranalaiya gasped in surprise.

“And you have received Luck bonus too,” I added, saying it directly into Ranalaiya’s ear, her ear flickering to the side involuntarily.

“Huh? M… Master Rockin,” Ranalaiya exclaimed, her almost jumping up too, but since she had her tail wrapped around my waist and I was holding her with my left hand wrapped around her waist as well, she wasn’t able to.

“Hmph,” I smirked, showing a smug expression on my face before turning my attention to her stats next. “Oh, wow. Luck was definitely on your side this time, Ranalaiya. You have also received six stat points on top of everything else.”

“Six stat points too?” Ranalaiya gasped before smiling excitedly.

“Ok, let’s assign them, shall we?” I suggested, stopping to think for a moment, Ranalaiya rubbing herself at me from behind once again. “You’ll have to wait until we get back to Hirvant for that kind of bonus.” I added in half-whisper, making sure it was only Ranalaiya who heard it.

“Master… Rockin,” Ranalaiya purred in delight once again.

“So…” I was about to add a point to Ranalaiya’s Stamina stat, but after seeing what her Agility stat was right now, a certain thought creeped inside my mind and I couldn’t resist it. “You know what, how about I put all six of your stat points into your Agility stat this time? I believe focusing on your Agility stat more would benefit you the most. Besides, each time your Luck bonus triggers it is your Agility stat that gets an increase every single time.”

“Yes, you’re right, Master Rockin,” Ranalaiya said. I doubted she would’ve objected to it even if I had suggested something else, but it was nice to hear her agreeing with me anyway.

“Ok, here we go,” I said, putting all six stat points into her Agility stat this time. “Now, let’s check your skills. You had your Leap Jump, your Shadow Claw and your Shadow Double skills improved. Let’s see how.”

The description of how Ranalaiya’s skills worked hasn’t changed at all and I couldn’t figure out how they were improved at first, but then I noticed something had actually changed within her Shadow Double skill.

“Hey, wait. Wasn’t the time that your Shadow Double skill lasted twelve seconds before? It says it lasts thirteen seconds now,” I remembered it.

“Yes, that’s right, Master,” Ranalaiya confirmed it

“And look, it says the cooldown is fifteen minutes now. It definitely was sixteen minutes before,” I pointed out another good thing.

“Yes, that was true as well,” Ranalaiya said, becoming even more cheerful.

“So, maybe your Leap Jump and your Shadow Claw had their cooldown timers reduced as well. Let’s see… it says your Leap Jump has eight seconds cooldown timer and your Shadow Claw has twenty eight,” I said after checking them.

“They certainly had. My Leap Jump had nine seconds cooldown and my Shadow Claw had twenty nine,” Ranalaiya told me.

“Nice. Congratulations,” I said, feeling happy for Ranalaiya. Shadow Claw’s cooldown being reduced from twenty nine seconds to twenty eight didn’t sound like a big deal, but her Leap Jump’s cooldown going from nine seconds to eight was a huge boost to Ranalaiya’s survivability. Shadow Double’s cooldown going down from sixteen minutes to fifteen was a great improvement as well. Not to mention, additional second for the Shadow Double to last longer could mean an additional attack before the double disappears too.

“Wait, that’s not all, Master Rockin. My Shadow Double’s strength was seventy percent, but now it says seventy five percent,” Ranalaiya pointed out something which I missed. In all honesty, since Ranalaiya almost never used her Shadow Double skill, with the skill having quite a long description, I had forgotten all about it.

“Oh, wow. That’s great. Now it’s even stronger too,” I said, letting out a whistle too.

“You have received so many improvements. Congratulations, Ranalaiya,” Sylfrin finally came to congratulate her.

“Congratulations on your level up, Ranalaiya,” Lilfira congratulated her too.

“Can I see how your stats look now, Ranalaiya?” Sylfrin was curious to know.

“I’d like to see them too,” Lilfira said, coming closer.

“Yes, of course,” Ranalaiya said, looking to be eager to show them.

“Ahem, mind letting me go first?” I asked Ranalaiya, making a silly grimace. She still had her tail wrapped around my waist.

“Ah, well, sorry, Master,” Ranalaiya put on an act she had forgotten she was holding on to me, showing a mischievous smile before letting me go.

“I’ll wait over there,” I said before walking away.

“Ok, here are my current stats,” Ranalaiya said before tapping with her finger in front of her a few times.

***

Ranalaiya Nightlight (Slave). Level 15.

Master: Rockin Starling.

Class: Shadow Assassin.

Character stats:

Stamina – 16

Strength – 31+8

Agility – 69+20

Spell Power – 1

Magic Energy – 5

Luck - 40

***

“Your Agility stat is so high now, Ranalaiya,” Sylfrin pointed it out.

“Yes, it is. Master Rockin has put all six stat points into my Agility this time,” Ranalaiya told her.

“Oh, hmph,” Lilfira wanted to say something, but chuckled instead, covering her mouth with her right hand to suppress her laugh the next second.

“Huh? What’s so funny, Lilfira?” Ranalaiya asked, both her and Sylfrin giving her puzzling stares.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t intending to laugh, but your basic Agility stat number looked funny,” Lilfira confessed, showing a silly smile.

“Funny?” Ranalaiya asked, turning to check it again.

“Oh, yes. It is sixty nine now and the numbers look like they are hugging each other from both sides no matter how you look at them,” Sylfrin commented, finding it funny too.

“Ah, yes. That’s rather funny, indeed,” Ranalaiya agreed with Sylfrin, letting out a chuckle as well.

I on the other hand, felt like having some water to drink in the meantime.