Gi felt the pressure as Jalx stared at him while sitting outside of his makeshift house. Krayli watched him suspiciously as though he'd try to make a run for it. Elizabeth had simply returned to her own house, not feeling the need to watch. From his own clan's side, both Tiria and Poe waited for his orders, eager and excited respectively.

The gentle sounds of the lake should have calmed him, but the stench of blood and death was still heavy in the air from the battle, reminding him exactly what was at stake here.

"Poe," Gi began, "You mentioned that you had information on Body Orbs."

Poe flitted about in the air, his wings beating a small hum in the relative silence. "Oh yeah, Rocky sells them. One for twenty silver."

Twenty silver? Ouch. He had enough for it, but it still bit into his savings. He checked his notebook. If he wanted to be the most efficient, he'd need five to fully upgrade himself. For Tiria, he'd only need three as he could consider Wisdom a bit of a dump stat for her.

But she did have Arcane Bolt as well... Would a whole gold be worth bringing all her stats up to cap as well? Would her body even be able to handle it?

He checked his money. After some meals that Poe had purchased, he was left with nine gold and five coppers. That didn't include what Elizabeth owed him or what he owed her either. It would cost one gold and sixty silver without Tiria's Wisdom leaving him with seven gold and forty silver.

His small fortune was slowly leaking away from him. Poe's happy face caught his eye and he groaned. He'd forgotten completely about Poe's stats as well.

"Poe, share your sheet."

Name: Poe

Race: Empathetic Dragonfly (Scoundrel - E)

Job: Rogue

Level: 0

Squad: None

Stats

Strength - E

Agility - E+

Vitality - F+

Wisdom - G

Leadership - 3

Traits:

Subordinate (from Boss Gi)

Flight

Web Shot

Trait Skills:

Minor Telepathy (Inherited)

Size Matters Not

Multi-Tool

Skills:

Sneak

Skullduggery

Sleight of Hand

Barter

Poe wasn't much of a fighter, but he might be perfect for an infiltration mission. Did any of his stats truly matter? Well, he could make himself large and he had helped him fight the scorpion early on in the Child Stage.

He kept second guessing himself when finally he took a deep breath and stopped. That wasn't what Danna would do. "Fuck it. I'm all in."

He grabbed the two of them and pulled them into his house, closing the door slightly. He handed Tiria three gold. "Get twelve Body Orbs, some food, and any equipment you think you might need. Poe, tell her how to get to Rocky."

As Poe was giving her the long version of directions, Gi sat down on the ground of his house. Most of it was hard rock as any sand got washed away during high tide which filled up the floor with water, necessitating his rope bed. Once Tiria had left, Gi pointed at the floor. "Poe, draw me a map as best as you can. Spare no detail."

As Poe drew, Gi was first amazed at how well he managed it. After Poe muttered, "Ooo new skill!" Did Gi question him to realize that he'd just been accepting every new skill that came up. Thankfully that was just [Barter] and the newly [Cartography] skill, but still, he made him stop.

Gi translated the highly detailed map into his notebook as Poe had even managed to map out part of their facility, but he still didn't have enough information. Gi stepped outside to where Jalx sat.

"I need all the information you have on the Ferrous Clan."

***

Ferra scratched at the fur under her bracer in irritation as she walked across the Bazaar. First, that idiot Yom had brought her a child to replace one of her slimes in the bordello and he hadn't been quiet about it if this meeting was any indication. She'd shut Yom in a cell until she could decide his punishment, but she swore if it caused any issues with her plans...

With a glance at the various monsters shopping outside, she stepped into a dark tavern that was built into the mountain. The chairs and tables were made from an old worn blackwood that had to be from the previous age due to the lack of any sort of forestry industry in Igna. Despite its potentially storied history, she only saw a tavern of squalor.

Its patrons were dirty goblins or even worse independent monsters who lacked a clan. You couldn't trust any monster without a clan. Poorly hiding her disdain, she walked past the bartender, an old hunched troll, and made her way into the back room.

"Master Ferra, you look as exquisite as always. Come have a seat."

Ferra sat down across from the noble demoness and crossed her arms. Galvina's appearance screamed that she was a noble from the main continent. Her long coat with its high collars was clearly enchanted and bore the symbol of her noble house across its back and twinned on her collar. Yet, it lay open revealing a deep cleavage from an elegant bustier. Demons, being nearly human themselves, were sold on the human concept of beauty, but Ferra found it disgusting. She'd rather fuck a cow if given the option.

Opulence and indulgence characterized almost her entire impression of Galvina. If she wasn't very aware of how well she could use the rapier at her side, Ferra would have no respect for the demoness at all.

She showed none of that on her face, of course. Galvina was her sponsor after all and if she had to deal with her inane flirting and disgusting displays, she would. She'd do anything to progress.

Galvina lifted up a pot of tea that had been set on the table and poured Ferra a cup before taking a delicate sip from her own. "So I've heard you're selling the services of children now. Bad business that."

It hadn't even been a full day yet. How could she know? Ferra tried to smooth any irritation off of her features. "Princess, I assure you that we are not selling children. I'm very aware of how the Sky Clans view that."

Galvina tapped her finger on her cup. "And the demon nobility as well, though I suppose that is beyond your current ambition. If you don't intend to use the child, how do you plan on dealing with the appearances of your current action?"

Ferra took a sip of her tea to hide her gritted teeth. Being a kinslayer would be worse than using the child, but the thought of offing Yom sounded more and more appealing. "I intend to release the child, of course. There was never any intention of them being used within the business as it was part of an unrelated matter."

"Perhaps." Galvina chuckled. "That might even be true, but trust when I say that reeks of a cover up. Why don't we spend some time discussing that strategy? The Angelic Mice in particular will be a nuisance to assuage their concerns and politics is not your strong suit."

She said all of that with a smile that made Ferra want to cut her with [Sharp Wind], but she held back. If nothing else, Ferra was patient.

****

Tiria returned after only twenty minutes having sprinted the entire way. She'd managed to get all the Body Orbs, rations for several days, new non-magical robes for Gi, and a short sword, buckler, and light mace for herself among other things.

Wanting to give themselves every advantage though, the two of them doffed their robes to appear as similar to the Iron Ferrets as possible. With Gi's silver streaked fur and Tiria's short sword and shield strapped to her back, it didn't seem likely, but a lot of jobbies were stupid so it was worth a shot.

Gi had considered using [Persuasion] and a disguise to sneak in, but that wasn’t truly in his skill set nor in any of the monsters he had access to. It had to be an infiltration mission.

Gi sat Jalx down and explained his plan, taking the blue goblin's grunt of acceptance to be akin to another monster's fervent agreement. Jalx sent his jobbies off for their part of the mission while Elizabeth escorted Gi's clan to the Encampment.

Before they left, Tiria also showed her worth as she had procured a bundle of silver ferns from the waterproof backpack that she'd also purchased. Apparently, these were Wind Ferns which provided air for anyone that chewed on one. Elizabeth would be able to get them down quickly, but that was the only way that Poe would be able to make it at all. Another oversight on Gi's part.

He was already liking having a clan.

The Pikes seemed to be laying low after the battle so Elizabeth only had to deal with two ambushes. When she was working on speed instead of maintaining the bodies, her ferocity made quick work of them only allowing Gi to nab a couple for himself.

Once down there, Gi placed his paw on the Encampment Crystal.

Residence Menu:

Not enough Soul or Heart Orbs.

Use Body Orbs to increase Stats?

Assign Squads?

The new command surprised him, but he supposed he should have expected it. Apparently, there was a reason that founding a Home was on the Task list for this Stage. It was pivotal for a Progenitor to have one.

Before he dove into that, he selected yes to use the Body Orb. It functioned much the same way as using a Soul Orb except the itch was much bigger when going up a half grade. He sped through his Vitality and then into Strength, but only with the last Body Orb for strength did he feel anything different. The itch had turned into a deep ache, but it cleared up almost immediately.

Tiria repeated his achievement, but none of her three main stats caused her anything other than the standard discomfort. The best part was once she reached the cap in one of her stats, it provided her with four level ups that included seemingly free stat upgrades.

Suspiciously, the amount was exactly half of what Gi himself had. That confirmed for him that their progress was tied to his at least partly, but he doubted his whole clan would get a free ride like that. He'd need to do some more research.

Meanwhile Poe had started his stat increases, but it wasn't as smooth as Tiria's. His Agility reached the cap with no issues including the four free levels. On Strength, Poe only felt the deep ache as Gi had, but the first Body Orb placed into Vitality caused him to scream and convulse.

The sensation ended quickly, but Poe cowered against Gi's shoulder, not eager to repeat the experience. Elizabeth added some free advice which was nice since very little of what she did was free.

"Seems like your little friend is only a Adept. It's best not to force it."

"What does that mean?" Tiria asked. Gi had already slipped out his notebook.

"One main stat is a Specialist. An Adept has two main stats. A Generalist has three and a Champion has all four. Adepts are sometimes called Leaders because having two main stats maxes out the leadership stat. Generalists tend to lack inherent strengths as they're spread out. For Champions, I prefer the human term of Abberant as they are harder to pin down. They could be very strong or very weak."

The information wasn't super relevant, but it would help with classifiying his clan in the future he thought. Since Poe seemed okay, Gi stowed his notebook again and placed his paw back on the crystal and selected Assign Squad.

Current Squads: 0

Create a New Squad?

Yes.

Choose Leader.

It listed himself, Poe, and Tiria, but both Tiria and Poe were greyed out. If he mentally attempted to select them anyways, it informed him that the first squad of a clan had to be lead by the Progenitor. Since he'd planned to anyways, he selected himself and then added Poe and Tiria as members.

Current Designation: Gi's Squad

Race: Mixed

Role: Mixed (Normal Infantry)

Mob: N/A

Current Squad Traits: None

Current Leader Traits: None

Current Leadership Skill: None

It honestly didn't look like he'd get any benefit from adding a Squad now, but he decided to leave it assembled in case something changed. It did provide one excellent prompt though.

By practicing [Leadership], you may learn the skill [Leadership]. You have 3 available Skill slots. Would you like to learn [Leadership]?

Since he was going to be the head of his clan until he died, Gi assented. It got added to his list of skills, but no focusing on it or sending Aether to it made it actually do anything. Unless it was very subtle, he also didn't think it provided knowledge like his [Religion] skill had.

Despite the seeming uselessness of it, he felt good about his decision. There was no way that a skill would actually be useless which meant it was a good investment for the future.

He took a brief moment to update their stats in his notebook before they returned to the surface.

Name: Gi

Stats

Strength - D

Agility - D

Vitality - D

Wisdom - D8

Leadership - 4

Name: Tiria

Stats

Strength - D1

Agility - D2

Vitality - D1

Wisdom - G+

Leadership - 4

Name: Poe

Stats

Strength - D

Agility - D4

Vitality - E

Wisdom - G

Leadership - 4