"Is it mixed bathing day?"

The off-hand question made Agha look up at him questioningly. Then she scoffed.

"Right, I forget most races have separate bathing spaces fer the sexes. Well just tae let ye know, we dwarves have no shame in our bodies. We're an honest folk."

Well that explained a bit. Still, Tyler was a bit nervous. He did need to bathe, and if he had to do so in a pool filled with naked dwarves, then so bit it. Tyler was about to ask what he had to do next, when what appeared to be an employee of the bath house approached. She wore a white robe with some sort of symbol on the right side, and like all dwarves he had seen so far, had gray skin. Her hair though was as dark as charcoal. Her orange eyes raked up and down Tyler's body before she turned to Agha, a knowing grin on her face. Agha merely huffed.

"Dunnae gimme that look, Lyra. I'm just showin' 'im around. Also he smells, so it was either this or a sponge bath. Also while we're washin' up, go get him a spare set o' clothes fit for a tall-man. Put it on my tab."

The now named Lyra simply smiled wider.

"Sure, Aggy," said the attendant, with a knowing smile. "Now, you." She turned to Tyler and kicked his shin, pointing to a closed off room with a finger. "Off to the changing room, get stripping. Those rags are an eyesore to look at!"

Tyler actually jumped at the sudden impact on his leg, his embarrassment shifting a bit as he hastily made his way away from the feisty woman. Man, were wall dwarves like this? Still, it was actually a fun change of pace compared to Earth. Pushing past the flap of the men's changing room, he was thankful that he seemed to be alone. It looks eerily similar to a changing room one would expect on Earth, but everything was made of stone. There was also a mirror near the far end, and Tyler decided to take a good look at his body now that he had time. To say he was shocked was an understatement.

He had known that his body went through changes, but they were much more noticeable now that he had an actual mirror to look at. While he had known his skin had changed color but looking at himself in the mirror gave him pause. Previously he had a slight olive-tint to his skin thanks to one of his grandparents having been from Italy. But now his skin almost looked corpse-like. For the dwarves, it was a shade of gray but where they seemed to hover around Iron, Shadow, and Pebble Gray, Tyler's changed skin was more of a mix between Cloud and Flint Gray. His hair, once dark brown, was now white as snow. His right eye was also...weird to say the least. He knew it had been ruptured during his fall but now it was strange. It had black sclera and was strikingly violet, contrast to his normal left eye which had retained its green color post-transformation. Other than that his physiology seemed to be the same. Wait a second. He checked between his legs and if he could, he would have paled. It was gone.

No wait, that was wrong. It wasn't gone, but changed. Panic set in as felt around but eventually something did happen. Something weird and that he would never tell anyone. Where he had expected normal human anatomy instead the closest thing he could equate it to was reptilian. But he was no expert on genitalia. A few seconds of prodding around and he felt it. A god damned tentacle in place of where his shaft should be. He stared down blankly at it in shock, a bit of dysphoria settling in. He went to grab the appendage and shuddered as he did so. Okay, calm down. He could work with this, it would just take time. Tyler played around for a few minutes and found it was prehensile and he could control it like a third limb. Deciding he had messed around enough, he retracted his....tentacle into its sheath. He was going to need a long hard drink after this.

Tyler was distracted by a knock on the stone from outside the changing room.

"Hurry up in there, I can still smell ye from here!"

Tyler coughed, realizing he had taken much longer than he had planned. Well sue him for feeling weird now that his log and acorns were gone and replaced by fucking alien anatomy. Discarding his torn and tattered clothes, Tyler finally let himself be naked as he hesitated before exiting the changing room. God, why was he acting like a kid, he was technically in his forties, at least mentally. As he got outside, he saw Agha waiting for him and could see her eyes rake down his body, stopping at his groin. She tilted her head a bit, before snapping her fingers.

"Right, Voidborn. I knew ye had to have changed somehow. Most o' the texts regarding the race ye changed into are deemed as stories of myth, but they did say they had lizard-like anatomy down there. I just hope ye know how tae use it."

Tyler breathed out a sigh. He had thought that she would make a joke or something about his lack of normalcy, but he supposes he should start just accepting things in stride. This was a fantasy world after all, who knew what kinda weird body parts other esoteric races might have. Speaking of body parts, Tyler couldn't help but rake his eyes over Agha all the same. She was curvy in all the right places, from her large chest to her rear. Now that her armor was gone, he could see a smattering of dark gray freckles on her skin, as well as several scars. Between her legs was a bush of fiery red hair, the same as on her head but...fluffier. He assumed that was the word. They also glowed slightly, which was odd but he supposed it matched.

"Ye done ogglin' me yet? Not that I mind too much. Most folk round 'ere try not tae stare too much since I am the Chieftain's daughter an' all that."

Agha said, a coy smile on her face. This broke Tyler out of his stupor and he snorted, finally loosening up just the slightest.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"You know words like that aren't going to help the rumors of you trying to land me, right?"

That made the short woman sputter and curse, a gray blush creeping onto her face.

"Whatever, idjit. Let's head tae thae baths now, let thae runes wash ye up nice and good."

Shrugging, Tyler followed Agha into the main bathing area. He had expected stares and pointing, given he was the only non-dwarf amongst other reasons. But aside from a few cursory glances, no one made much of a scene. That, at least gave him a small amount of solace. Tyler stepped into the steaming water and hissed slightly at the hot sensation. Eventually though, he adjusted to it and found the warm sensation on his skin was a godsend that helped him relax. Agha led him to an open area where he could sit down, and he did so. Sighing in relief as the hot liquid poured over his aching muscles, Tyler looked around at the bathing area with a more critical eye.

While it was, in the end, a giant hole in the ground filled with water, several things caught his eye. Magical symbols, ones he vaguely thought looked like norse runes, lay on the ground of the bathing area, and each one pulsed every now and then. The magic of it drew him in. Almost as if on instinct, he used [Analyze] on it. It took a good fifteen seconds or so, and something clicked as System prompts showed up.

[Heating Rune]

Type: Enchantment

Rarity: Common

Description: This rune is set to keep the surrounding temperature within a ten foot radius to a pleasant heat. Consumes 10 mana per hour, and holds 1000 mana.

As a result of your actions, a new skill has been discovered.

[Runic Lore]

Uncommon

Level 1

The basic knowledge of runes is often the first step towards becoming a Runesmith. The higher the level of this skill, the more you will be able to recognize patterns and runes at a glance. Let's see how far you can push yourself.

Huh, that was neat. Most of the runes on the floor were similar, but he saw a few that had a different shape. He squinted at the new rune, but nothing came up.

"Feck are ye lookin' at, yer making me nervous."

The sudden statement caused Tyler to shake his head mentally and look over at Agha. He pointedly did not stare at her chest, which was barely covered by the water. Nope, no siree bob.

"Sorry, I was just inspecting the runes. Even got a skill for it, but I can't make out some of them."

Agha blinked at him owlishly. "Ye got a damn skill fer just lookin' at a rune?"

"Yeah, is that...not normal?"

She shook her head a bit and leaned forward to whisper semi-conspiratorially. "Nae fer most folk unless they got a title that helps. Must be yer status as a Transmigrator. Legends say that they learn skills faster and gain more esoteric benefits because they ain't been born here. Still, best keep tae yerself that bit o' information. Some people might try tae take advantage of you."

Tyler had to agree with her there, that just seemed standard fair in any world. People would exploit what they could and as often as they could until it became illegal. Then they would just do it less and away from prying eyes.

"Should I worry about you taking advantage of me then?" Tyler said nonchalantly, looking at the woman.

For her part, she simply grinned up at him and pressed her chest into his arm.

"Please, if I wanted to do that, I probably just could have promised tae ride yer cock in exchange."

The sudden crass statement made Tyler choke as his face dusted pink and he slipped into the water with a mock glare at the woman who was laughing at his expense. Pulling himself back up, Tyler made sure to force down his embarrassment.

"Not nice, Agha. I'm a fragile man, you know. I can't handle such blunt statements."

The woman simply rolled her eyes at him, placing a hand on the rune next to her. This was one of the ones he hadn't been able to decipher. So, Tyler was surprised when a stream of pink bubbles shot out of said rune and onto Agha's body. The woman wasted no time in lathering herself up. Though rather slowly, though he wasn't sure why.

"Neat, some kinda soap rune?"

Agha nodded slightly, moving her hands to her red hair and getting the cleaning solution into it.

"Aye, thae ol' Runesmith managed tae buy a rune from a traveling Kitsune around three decades. It converts thae mana poured inside into a cherry blossom soap that works wonders tae clean yer body an' hair. Smells good too!"

Tyler decided to stow away the information that Kitsune were a thing here for later, and got to work on his own body by copying what Agha had did. Roughly half an hour later with some light small talk in between cleaning themselves, Tyler and Agha stepped out of the bathing area and onto a drying rune of some kind, which flashed over their bodies briefly. It had made Tyler's white hair stand up all frizzly, much to his chagrin and the dwarf's laughter. Then made their way to their separate changing rooms, with Tyler being handed an assortment of basic equipment.

The whole ensemble consisted of many parts. First was a pair of dark brown leather boots, white socks and a type of underwear as well thankfully. Then there was the tunic and pants, colored a dark purple with some white trim, which fit him rather nicely all things considered. Finally, the last part was a set of a pair of leather gloves with small metal stubs on the end. All in all, he looked like a new adventurer if he had to say so himself.

As he walked out of the changing room, he heard Agha whistle, making him smile wryly.

"Damn Ty, ye clean up rather nicely. Yer gunnae have tae fight off the ladies now."

Deciding not to mention the fact she used his name, or part of it, for the first time, he simply shrugged.

"Don't worry, I have you to keep them away, right?"