On my 19th birthday, I still hadn’t tried on my armour, and Darkrose woke me up before I had the chance. She had worked with my parents and a few other people from around the village to craft a custom sheath for my new katana and she couldn’t wait to give it to me.

  My mother gave me a white cloak that she claimed was an elven family heirloom. She said it had a secret Royal Family protection enchantment, but I think she was joking.... at least about the royal family part.

  My father also gifted me a part of his family legacy: a blacksmithing hammer. It actually looked quite shabby, as if it wasn’t even completely finished being assembled yet.

  Before my family would allow me to go off getting into danger, they wanted me to have a good breakfast. The family whelpling was in attendance and growing quite well. We had been calling him "Dash" in lieu of an official name. During our meal, my parents told me that the gifts they had given me were special and they called them my “birthrights”. They then proceeded to show me how to activate them. The cloak was able to transform into a pendant, and the hammer could transform into a ring. I was shocked that such powerful items could have been sitting in this small village pretty much doing nothing, for at least as long as I had been alive. The ring my father gave me was what grabbed my attention as it too looked incomplete and I think I may have known how to change that. But I would save that for another time.

  I could not wait any longer to try on my armour and new cloak. I had not even sheathed my freshly crafted blade in its new housing yet, but when I finally did, it fit like a dream. And luckily I could eventually add a powerful enchantment to the sheath as well because it was made from very exquisite materials. The armour glowed and I could feel my body gaining power as I put on each piece. I never realised the effects of having that much magic focused into one place, I felt alive for the first time. When I put on the cloak over the rest of my gear it began to shimmer and all the joints in the armour worked so well that I left home right away to slay a goblin, werewolf, troll or dragon; whatever I found first.

  Thanks to the speed enchant on the boots, it only took me a few minutes to reach the monster den south of town. I remember thinking that I could probably beat a horse in a foot race. I walked up to the entranceway and realised I did not bring any torches. Then I remembered how my armour was glowing when I first put it on, so I drew my sword and focused some mana into the blade, and sure enough it gave off a nice aura. Not only did it give off a nice amount of light but I could feel my stamina returning. I looked at the blade and noticed the moss covering the walls and some nearby vines were withering and dying. So I continued draining the essence from the plant life and once I felt revitalised, the blade stopped causing the plants to wither. I could feel the enchantments drawing on my mana reserves, and began thinking of ways to improve them; or even enchant my sheath to somehow convert my stamina back into mana. But for now, my mana was still pretty much full and I was ready for a fight.

  Once I got deeper into the cave, I found a semi-large kobold settlement. These small humanoid gremlin-like creatures attacked me on sight. So I drew my katana, gripping it with both hands, and the slaughter began. The first wave came at me with spears in hand. I parried three of their spears, cutting two of them off completely in a single swipe, then slashed two of their throats with another. I quickly dispatched the remaining stragglers. During the skirmish, my pendant deployed its cloak feature to help deflect any stray attacks and minor glancing blows.

  The second wave of kobolds were far more cautious and approached with shields covering their faces. I kicked one of their pathetic wooden shields into splinters and picked up the kobold by the scruff of the neck and let loose my war cry in his face. All the other kobolds ran away and I tossed the remaining creature toward the exit that the others had used. Just then, I swear my cloak/pendant surged with power. Afterwards I ended up finding some pretty decent treasure, including crafting materials and stolen supplies. I took what valuables I could carry and decided I would come back for the rest later, and maybe even establish my own home away from home.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  I made it back home by noon and told Darkrose all about my first real solo combat encounter, and invited her to come see the new den I had secured. She wanted to take Dash with us, so we got ready for a camping trip. I already had an idea on how I could solidify my claim on the cave, so I grabbed some smithing books and a few tools and we headed back south.

  We arrived at the cave, and thankfully Darkrose had the foresight to bring torches. So we lit up and headed into the darkness. Immediately I could hear the kobolds squeaking and squawking at one another, and Darkrose began to giggle. “Oh my god, they’re talking about you!” she managed to whisper out between stifled laughs.

  Shocked, I replied “When the hell did you learn to speak uncommon?!”.

  “What?!” She said in surprise. “Oh, I didn’t even realise…” She paused before adding “I think I'll talk to them.”

  So, that’s what she did. At first the kobolds drew their weapons but when they saw me standing behind Darkrose, they stopped. I’m not really sure what she said next, but she began speaking to them. After a while of her speaking, one of the kobolds said something in response, and Darkrose gestured toward me. After a moment a few of the kobolds started arguing with each other and Darkrose told me that some of the kobolds wanted to stay and serve me, but the others seemed like they were going to fight. I told her to tell the friendly ones to get behind us. So she began to speak and the arguing kobolds began to split into two packs. Just as I was getting ready to spill more blood, one of the friendly kobolds said something to the opposing group. I was pretty sure the speaker was the same one I had grabbed by the scruff and shouted at, but whatever he said caused the other kobolds to slink away, seemingly discouraged.

  After the confrontation I decided to name the little dude who had diplomatically ended the encounter. But Darkrose informed me that his name was actually Di(ng)'ple-shmitt or some stupid crap, so I just lovingly called him "Dipshit", and had Darkrose tell him to instruct the others to secure the perimeter. Darkrose and I explored the deeper chambers and other entrances leading to the cave system, and planned on a layout for our new dwelling.

  I didn’t completely trust the kobolds with any of my personal belongings in the area, so I started by setting up a workshop and building a door. I brought a book on locksmithing for this exact purpose, although I had originally planned to lock up the entire cave system.

  We decided to leave the main chamber open to the kobolds, but to restrict access to a section of side chambers which would conveniently house our private bedroom and storehouse. Surprisingly the kobolds had already set up a pretty impressive workshop in deeper chambers leading to the other exit.

  I knew it would take far too long to set up a real base before nightfall, so I settled on just throwing together some crude wood blockades. I climbed out of an opening in the room we had chosen for the bedroom, and boarded it up enough to prevent anything dangerous from getting in. Finally, we started a fire before it began to get too dark.

  So to preserve m’lady’s dignity, I’ll simply state that on the night of my 19th birthday, I became a man... Although, with how loud the sounds she made were, I’m sure all of the kobolds probably knew what was going on. Ahahah, fuck.

  The next morning we returned home to let my parents know we were okay, and to grab some more supplies for our “clubhouse”. The first thing I did upon returning to the cave was begin work on some crude iron bars for the doors and windows. I started by firing up the forges. Dipshit helped out and showed me where the kobolds had gathered most of their own supplies. Once we smelted out enough iron, it was time to start forging some fittings. I lifted my hand and the ring my father had given me shifted into its hammer form, and I started working. The anvil was very crude and it looked like it had been made using the head of a large war-hammer. After a few hours of unsuccessfully forging intricate components, I had to stop and consider the quality of my materials, workshop, and tools. Finally I remembered the realisation I first had during my birthday breakfast. I willed my hammer back into its ring form inspected the crest. Sure enough, it looked like it was made to house the seal Chance had given to me. I reached up and under my heart-guard, removed the strange trinket featuring an ornate anvil, and I placed it into the ring.