Annabeth had given me a pat on the head, with a bit of ear scritch. It was the type of thing that felt nice even if, from a certain point of view, it could be misconstrued as her treating me like a pet.

But Anna didn’t see me that way, and even so, there is a good reason why pets love scritches. It was like a tickle crossed with someone scratching an itch.

It was almost nice enough to ignore the wild amount of terrible my body was telling me was going on.

Going through it at a higher level now gave me an even greater insight into just how terrible the thing most people call magical puberty is.

Magical puberty came just after a person finished normal puberty, and it was often case by case to some extent. And because of that describing, magical puberty is often described in the same kind of way puberty is.

It’s like a growth spurt you get overnight, but instead of just aching knees, it was a full-body thing. And by full body, I meant my entire body. My legs, arms, chest, bones, blood even my brain felt like I had just grown half a foot, and my body was just now registering the ache of the growth.

When a person gains their first level, they have a sudden increase in stats and get it, and generally, at each level, it starts to get less and less terrible, disappearing at level five. Generally, getting a level after that felt good, like a good stretch after a long day, a kind of limber feeling deep down.

But apparently, it was not so much the first five or so levels, but instead the gain of a large portion of stats compared to what they had before.

If that’s the case, then the safe amount would be like 1/6th of your stats, which is like something less than 20%... 16? Yeh 16%

Before the gargantuan level up, I had been level fifteen, but I had gotten a quarter of my levels literally overnight, and, thus, a quarter of my stats. As my guide put it, that was, ‘like I was level four all over again.’

I had also driven myself to exhaustion carrying the freaking stone, so my body was not only tired and sore from dragging it all the way here, but I was also stretched out from the levelling.

At least this time, I didn't have a fever like I did at level one.

The worst part of it is something most people probably didn’t know. I couldn’t feel my skills, they didn't grow in; their uselessness from earlier levels was tied to my fatigue.

Each one, even the passives, felt like lifting a keg on a ten-foot pole free hand. I couldn’t even focus on the passive skills like [Tool Handling] with my claws.

So, I paid attention, all be it sleepily, to the feeling of the ruffling Anna was giving me.

Why was Anna in my room… Wait a moment.

I wasn’t in my room; I was in her room, oh man, I messed up.

I sniffed.

I could smell the horrible sweaty smell I had baked into my clothes and the sheets. Even Anna’s floral scent was covered with it.

“MMm, bad. Bed smells from me. Sorry.” I told her in my broken tongue.

I looked over to her, opening my eyes to half-lidded from the head pat.

“What smell?” she asked, sniffing a little, “I can’t smell, bed is a little sweaty but wash.” She told me with a shrug.

Right… I have a better sense of smell, she’s Human, even if she reminds me of a Mouse.

An image of Anna, with cute mouse ears parting her brown hair, popped into my mind. It made the part of my brain that recognized small critters act up.

I managed to lift my arms up. She was just close enough for my arms to reach her head, and I started to mess with her hair.

She smirked down at me as I stroked through her hair and over her scalp. No ears, no ridges, no sign that she had Mouse heritage, which made sense.

She was still cute as a button, though.

I managed to hoist myself up awkwardly as I brushed my fingers through her hair with one hand until I was sitting.

“Sit,” I told her, patting my lap. Her indulgent smirk turned to blush, but I just patted my lap again.

“You… touch head, same. Sit,” I told her.

Blushing a little, she did, turning and pulling her clothes close so they wouldn’t pile up below her.

Now, I don’t know for sure what she was thinking, but whatever she thought was about to happen wasn’t what I was going for.

Was that a good blush or a bad blush? Ugh, stupid Kindly, getting the idea of marriage into my head. I need to court her before I even ask her.

She sat down on my lap, her head just below my chin.

I reached up to her head and started giving her a bit of a massage.

I passed my fingers up into her scalp, lightly pressing my fingers through her brushed hair, inching them along like caterpillars.

I wasn’t a professional, I didn’t have any oil or anything to help out. But one of the women in the compound had been a [Courtesan], not a low lever one either.

They often got a bad rap, they were women of ill repute, or women of the night and so on. But they were masters of the body, one name for a more reputable brothel was a massage house. It was tongue and cheek, but it was also literal for classy places with good classes.

I had actually gotten invited by one of the women to join her particular brothel, she hoped I would class into it the profession. I hadn’t wanted to; more frequently, it was men who came to a brothel, and it wasn’t for a massage, or for emotional comfort.

One of the things she shared with us workers was some massage stuff; considering our ears, it was an area that ended up holding a lot of tension, especially if your ears could rotate.

Kobolds were also physical people, and everyone enjoyed it. One of the other girls had joined the woman instead, and a boy, if I remember right, though he was cute.

Anyways, I gave her that kind of massage now. Head, neck and upper shoulders. I could have gone lower, but she was not only dressed, and I wasn’t going to push her that way, I doubt she would be totally ok with just stripping down to almost naked so I could get her upper back.

As it turned out, she held a lot of tension for such a small body. I roamed the head and neck, getting her shoulders to relax with the muscle between her neck and should blades, running my fingers up her neck, before returning to her shoulder blades.

She leaned back into me as she relaxed, and I returned to her head.

I massaged her like a Kobold. I don’t know if anything remained, something I couldn’t feel, but she seemed to enjoy it.

I lightly passed my extended claws over her scalp a few times before returning to her neck and shoulders.

I did the sides of her collar bone too, while I was at it. Her overshirt, a kind of dressy tunic, left her neckline exposed, and so did her smock so I could get there without pushing my hands down her shirt.

I remembered a bit about the jawbone and did that too.

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I went on until it was hard to sit upright, Anna had gone limp, and her heartbeat had slowed. I had, over the course of the massage, taken her weight.

Not bad for an amateur, her hair is kind of messed up, might as well comb it out for her while she’s asleep like this.

And I did, her hair had grown a bit over my time here, slightly longer than the shoulder length she started with.

I let her snooze for a while, although I had to lie down. My upper body burned with the use, and I didn’t push it.

I need time to recover, I can barely sit up, if I need to use the pot, I’m going to have to fight for it.

Her bed was soft, and her weight reminded me of curling up with others when I was a kid. A little reminder of home. We breathed there for a while; our hearts and breaths synchronized.

My hands never strayed onto her, not holding her. Falling over one another while we slept was one thing, but intentionally getting grabby, even in a way I would see as normal might be unbecoming.

Ask first, and help her however, I can after. I don’t even know for sure if she wants anything more. I mean, I have a feeling she does, between the glances and the blushing and all that, but I’m not going to push her on it unless that’s what she wants.

I suppose while I’m sitting here, I should do that, thinking I keep putting it off. Right at the top has to be learning to read and speak, with writing coming in as I go.

Once I can talk to Anna, I can ask her proper questions, which would be nice, and I can also properly learn magic, which is a big number two.

Number three, I guess, is finding undead…

No, wait, Anna is number three, If I can talk with her, I can see if she is interested or just embarrassingly shy.

Four, I guess, would be getting stuff, I have a combat class, or two if you count grave digger, which is… I don’t even know what yet. And two magic classes that I can use. If I want to get rid of the undead, I should get better stuff, but I will need to talk to people about that…

Five… Ah. Right. The [Necromancer] I have to check to see if they are skulking around, but if they are, I can take care of them after I get rid of the undead problem, clean up the valley first.

Clear the valley for sixth?

I suppose in those, I can’t remember much I can’t do now. At least if I forgot it, I now have a list that I can slide it into.

Oh, and at every point possible, I have to try to be better. Not with levels or whatever, just pure skill.

No levels for a while, at least not like yesterday.

Anna was still sleeping, so I tapped her on the head to try and wake her up. Then I did it again. I started whispering her name into her ear, which also failed. I started to combine them, then started wiggling too.

It took five minutes to wake her up.

“Hmm.” She blearily said.

“Anna, sleepy, sleepy,” I told her before patting her on the head.

She sat up and looked around before calling out to me.

The look on her face, when she turned around to look for me, only to realize she was on top of me, could be described in many ways. The shade of red her face took on. The shape her mouth took, where she looked like she was trying to make her lips disappear. Her eyes, as always the gorgeous green with lichen-like shapes in them, were wide as saucers. Her hands came to her face to cover her face.

She squirmed a little, wiggling in embarrassment.

“Liked. Want a hug?” I asked her, ignoring my prior thoughts on the matter and levering myself up on my arms.

She nodded and spun around to face me, which made her face even more heated when she realized she was straddling me. She shuffled back a bit as I came up, and she hugged me. I let her take some of my weight and raised my arms to hold her close.

While I was there, I moved my head so I could whisper to her.

“I can do it again, and back if you want. Very stressed.”

“Mm,” she hedged, “later. It was… Nice.” She told me.

“Ok, can’t move. Will be here, if that ok.” I told her.

I don’t exactly know if I could move to get out of her room, but if she wanted me out, I would find a way to respect that.

I kept holding her until she pulled away from me. I could practically hear her heart beating. And I could smell something else, though I couldn’t narrow it down in the time it took for her to hop off and go off to the main room.

I laid back down and rested my limp body on her bed. I just started to speak to myself quietly, running through the bits of text I had read, working through the ones I could barely speak.

I kept going until I smelt food, and Anna, bless her, brought me some breakfast, or lunch, brunch? Lunchfast?

Anyways Ann brought me food and some water, she also brought that strange scent I had smelled, but like before, I didn’t catch enough before she left to do her work.

I had never felt hungry since I found Anna, but I ate it all the same. It was a normal taste for Anna and was still above average for my taste, 6/10. I kept the mug close to the bed so I could reach it, and I got back to work.

I kept going for hours, I could tell because the windows in the room gave me a little sliver to the outside. Sometimes I could hear Anna outside, her pitter pater as she moved, the sound of her working.

I was a little annoyed at myself for that, it was my job to do work out there, and here I was, lying down on her bed, too weak to stand or use my skills.

I took that annoyance and pushed it into running through what I remembered until I ran out of things I could remember.

Then, after I took a sip of water, I hoisted myself up and, haltingly, made my way to the door.

I made it about halfway there before my knees became too wobbly to hold my weight, so I gave it to the wall and made my way, with my arms and legs.

I got to the doorway before my body was exhausted.

I got down as carefully as I could and haltingly crawled.

Foot after foot, first to Anna’s door, then passed it and got into the common room and around to the study. The door wasn’t held closed, so all I had to do was give it a shove. I crawled in and managed to get myself up into a chair.

I sat, panting in the chair, in the lower light of the study. There were fewer windows in here, and they were on the side of the house that was out of the light towards the north.

That was good, I remembered something about light being the enemy of books. It’s why stacks generally don’t have any windows.

I waited until I didn’t feel the need to pant, and my muscles stopped feeling like they were on fire for me to stand back up and get my book, making my way across the shelves and back.

I was panting again, but this time I had a book to read.

I read the damn book like I was possessed. I did it for hours. I heard Anna come in and check on me, she delivered to me my mug of water, and I thanked her for it.

I read like a mad woman, but I was also using the book as a reference to learn. The passages were marked so I could go, ‘Do I remember that’ and then use my knowledge of the passage in my memory to piece together the more complex words.

It made my aching headache harder, so I took time to drink from the slightly cool mug of water.

Another thing to add to the list is figuring out how to cast magic better, but also, now that I know skills have a description, I want to know them too. I guess that goes in with learning magic… If I can learn a spell that shows me my status, then maybe I can learn one that will show me the descriptions…

I thought about that for a bit, drinking some water and letting the headache go from pounding to just bearable.

I wish I had a pill for this headache, gods, that would be nice. Maybe I should figure out some that would be a good use of my time, and I bet that would be both a useful skill and help me figure out new words.

I looked up, resting the mug on my knee, and looked at the books. Some had words on their spines, and it was those words I meant to read.

There were many books on the shelves of Anna’s study, some of them I couldn’t read, the words never coming up. But I noticed a few on plants.

I took them down and read through them, placing my mug away so I didn’t spill the water on them.

I took them one by one, my legs were still wiggly and weak, but a little less so now compared to earlier, and I managed to get a few down and into a pile. I put the scriptures down with them and sat again.

I got to looking through the books, skimming for what I knew I was looking for.

My mother was a healer of a sort. When I had talked to Kindly, back before I had woken up, he had mistaken me momentarily for my mother. I had taught about following down the path that she had walked, but I also knew what had limited her, and had taken a simpler path, that could have grown into a more valuable one that would not require magic.

You can’t get past simple healing without magic. There are only so many things you can do with herbs, only so many things a tea or a pill can do.

A potion is magical; theoretically, you could create them with magical herbs, but that would likely require special tools or a class with magical skills to get the magic into the potion, which would require a magical class, or a lot of class upgrades to get. My mom never lived long enough to pass that hurdle, but I had magic. Even if I didn’t decide to become a full-on healer, I bet I could at least learn how to make pills and teas, maybe I could learn to do it free hand, no skills required.

Most of the books were simple things, books on crops, or books on how to grow plants. They were small books. For the most part, they were informational, some had simple drawings, but it was mostly just a large flowy script.

One was a text I was looking for, medicinal plants, once I found it, I placed it in a separate pile for later reading, another contained a few recipes, and I placed it on the pile too.

I haltingly returned the books to their places after I was done and spent the rest of the day reading through the book on medicinal plants. It had both descriptive text and small drawings. I knew quite a few of them and began using the knowledge I had gotten from my time learning about plants to puzzle out a few of the words. I got about an eighth of the way through the book before one of them made my brain do its thing. It was talking about.

It was a plant that I had gotten out of Kindly back in the church before he became a skeleton. It was one of the plants that Kindly used for his tea. Yellow Bloom. It was a tiny plant with properties that led to it being frequently used by alchemists. I would have to ask Anna how to pronounce it, but the description of it was bang on. The shape of the leaves and the way it flowered into a kind of tube. If I went out, I could probably find it. That and Yellow Stalk.

I was roused from my thoughts when I heard Anna call out from the kitchen. I hadn’t even heard when she came in, but the call was familiar enough.

It was dinner time.

I placed the book down into the pile with the other two books and picked up my mug on my way out. I had to lay some of my weight into the wall to keep my legs up, but I was getting better, even if they were still incredibly wiggly.

I made my way carefully over to the table, and me and Anna got down to food. It was vegetable soup and some bread, a light dinner, before setting down in the study for talking time.

I was close to her, sitting beside her, when I recognized the scent again. I was close enough to her for long enough to finally get a good whiff of it.

Blood.