49)

In the morning, my wife insisted that I show her my dungeon. She expressed her admiration for all my hard work in her typical way.

"Did you have any sort of plan here, or did you do your typical make it up as you went along and claim that was what you meant to do all along?"

I nodded and grinned. "The second one. In my defense, the dungeon keeps getting bigger so nothing was meant to be permanent."

She shot me a narrowed eyed look before sniffing. “You need more traps.”

I shook my head sadly. “Not my area, and I’m limited to what I could find in Iris’s house.”

That made her look thoughtful. “Show me.”

I led her to the storm door and down into the cellar. But instead of my attempts at home brewing, canning, and smoking, There was instead an infinitely large, brightly lit white room. “An internet gave a list of movies that everyone should see. This was from one called the Matrix. Show me everything!”

From the vanishing point, a dozen or so rows of every item I had absorbed and recreated came flying at us before stopping and floating in midair. As I took my love by the hand and led her along the rows I wave my hand at some of them to make them come apart into their component parts.

She began to get that look she used to get when dealing with rarrets when they began nibbling at her lady’s easement herbs. The rarrets did not survive.

My love seemed especially interested in the spring mechanism that slowed down the fragile outer door when it was pushed open to keep it from pulling at its frame, and the one that slowed it down as it closed to keep it from slamming

She was also fascinated by the stove. "So this cooked things with a burning gas, do we have a sample of this burning gas?"

“I never thought to get one but it shouldn’t be much trouble. But you don’t need to cook sweety. We don’t need to eat and I can just make anything I’ve been able to sample.”

She gave me a questioning look, one I know well meant I hadn't been able to follow her thoughts. “No Tarky. My girl is going to have to learn that if you’re reckless with fire, you can get burned. That’s why I stopped carrying self igniting oils before we met.”

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

I thought back. “Oh? Is that why you wore your hair short when we first met?” Her face went blank before she narrowed her eyes at me.

“Sweety, are you mad? Was it something I said?”

Alelan gave me a cold look. “It’s always something you said.” She sighed. “And you’re never mean, just clueless.”

She looked up. "Bee is waking up and today is her first in a dungeon." She turned to me and gave me a sharp poke with and fingertip. "Do not take it easy on her. There have been dark ones after her since the day she was born, and it is only going to be worse when others discover a new mage is walking this world."

My love crossed her arms. “She needs to be strong even if she has to suffer. Do not get soft on her like you did with our girls. You need to be a teacher, not a protector.”

I nodded and pulled her in close until her shoulders stiffened which was her way of telling me she had enough. Then she took a step back and grinned at me before she turned and vanished from the core.

She would be nearby as long as her charge was here. But she was now beyond my ability to sense.

After taking a few deep breaths the pain of her being gone again settled down so my chest didn’t hurt anymore and I could breathe normally.

Then I grinned at the thought that she would be back again tonight, and the night after, and many more after that. I had her back.

The old woman and her niece had a light breakfast of fruit, toast, and juice before heading out for a run at Iris's insistence. "Cardio is the basis of good health." Then they set off at the slowest run I had ever seen, more of a determined walk really.

After they returned and talked for a while, Molly and the boy arrived and were introduced. Both had been warned about the niece and Molly expressed her excitement to see real magic.

The boy had a familiar look of a young man whose brain had shut down to the point of forgetting to breathe. I knew it well from the young men who met my girls once they started to become women.

Well. At least I knew he would do his job of protecting her in the dungeon, I just hoped the distraction didn’t get him hurt.

The girl, Bee, got equipped with a red motorcycle riding jacket, goggles, work boots, shin guards, and a thin scarf to protect her neck. While she had her flame spell, she explained that she could only use it five times before she ran out of magic.

The boy was given a mission to take her out to the garage to look at the tools out there, which I supposed I should take a look at as well at some point.

The weapon she chose. An old rusty shovel.

She explained that a wizard should have a staff, and she could keep the things in the dungeon away from her or knock them around when they moved too fast for her to hit with her spell.

Iris seemed a little dubious, but the boy eagerly approved of her choice. But then he was carrying around a rake.

Down in the dungeon, the girl shouted out in joy when she got her first dungeon award. Then she asked why it was unnamed.

Oh, yeah. I should get around to that. Since Alelan heard that question I guess I should name it now before she can hold it against me.

Hmmmm… Check the manual… Done.

Tark's hole. It's my dungeon and it's in a hole. No need to be fancy, I would just call it what it is.

The girl screamed as squirrels came flying out from the overhead branches and nearly smacked the boy upside his head as she swung her shovel wildly in the air. Only to suddenly calm down and nod to some unseen adviser, take a deep breath, and then fire a fan of flames from a red glowing orb in her hand that followed the last squirrel along the ground before it finally caught up with it.

Neat. That is a very hot flame for a copper rank one Mage. That is what she is right?

“Ping”

Beyonce Cutty

Copper rank Mage 1

Then they made it down the stairs and Ernesto got a face full of toothpicks.