Leaving the party behind, I can’t help but feel a sense of relief. I was so scared of the deeper monsters, and getting forgotten and left behind.

Being able to train on my own, though, will be nice. I can work on a few things without them knowing. I have Gifts I haven’t bothered attempting yet.

“So when are you going to tell him?”

“Hush,” I say in Silvar.

“You should seriously tell him. The worst that will happen is he says ‘no’.”

“I don’t want to talk about this with you,” I spot a goblin, then charge forward, driving a fist into its gut, then another into its chin. I spin, kicking the goblin in the head, and it dies.

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t!” I quickly kill the next Goblin I come across, then turn into a hall filled with them, including two with bows. Quickly, I chant the Gift of Tough Skin, the Gift going into effect just before the first arrow strikes. It shatters. “If you’re not going to be useful, go away!”

The spirit chuckles, not speaking more as I kill the goblins in the hall. They respawn as I leave it, entering a chamber with only a few goblins within.

“Are you scared that he’ll say ‘yes’?”

“I don’t want to talk about this with you!”

Why does this spirit have to stick around me all the time?

“Warren and Gavin, dancing in the moonlight, their magic humming in perfect harmony...”

The spirit keeps singing as I go deeper into the first Floor, doing my best to ignore him. I don’t know how he figured out I liked Gavin, but he did, and he harasses me endlessly about it. I can’t ask Gavin out, even if I’m a prince and he’s not, he’s too far above me. He’s my Party Leader, and my rescuer.

And he’s just all-around better than me in every way. He’s not weak, and he isn’t scared of anything. He has a goal, and he won’t give up until he does it. I owe him for saving me from that hell, and I’m going to stay by his side and give him Gifts and protect his back for as long as I can.

Father can screw himself if he thinks I’m returning to the fae woods without serving my debt to Gavin. And the spirit can shut up about me liking Gavin. He’s cute, and he’s nice, but I’m not going to risk causing tension in our relationship or party, and I’m not going to ask someone that much more powerful than me to be a lover.

Besides – his Spirit’s lower than mine. Father wouldn’t hear of it, were I to do that.

Bare-handed Fighting is now Level 9!

Really? I haven’t changed my style much at all. I know I’m probably gaining some buff to learning it because of my devotion to protection Gavin, but still…

I shouldn’t be mastering it this quickly. It takes years for each Level of a Skill, and I’ve gone up several since we began training.

“Are you going to sing all day?” I ask the spirit. “Or are you going to finally tell me what kind of Gift I can ask of you?”

“My Gift would take at least two hundred Spirit, you’d need to waste Spirit Potions to refill that while doing the chant.”

A Gift that powerful is rare… and so are the spirits that can grant them…

And it’s following me around, harassing me because I think my party leader and savior is cute.

“Is that just for the base amount of it?” I ask. “Not even for a certain level of the buff?”

“Correct.”

“Going to tell me what it is?”

“Not until you guess it, lovebird!”

Which I probably won’t manage until my Spirit Sense is at least Level 8. It’s currently Level 4. Stronger spirits are harder to sense, and I only know this one’s here because he’s letting me sense him.

“You know Father wouldn’t stand for me with someone with a lower Spirit.”

“You never know! Your father did, after all, sire you and your brothers with a woman weaker than him.”

“Father’s Spirit is monstrous,” I shake my head. “There isn’t a single fairy – male or female – who can come anywhere near his 500.”

“I’m pretty sure your father would be alright with you with someone with a strong Spirit Pool, even if it’s smaller than yours. After all, what ruler would want a stronger lover?”

“Gavin will one day surpass mine.”

“Oh, the contradictions.”

“Shut up!” My face heats up. “If you’re not going to share with me even a fragment of your Gift, then will you please go away!”

“I can summon more goblins for you to fight, if you want.”

“You can do that?”

“Of course! All spirits have the ability to draw in more monsters. Or scare them off. I like scaring them off, their faces are so delightful. Here in a Dungeon, I can increase their spawn rate. I was doing that back in the one you boys were training in.”

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

I felt like there were more goblins than there should have been, but didn’t say anything about it. Now I know why…

“Is that why I’m coming across so few right now?”

“No, I’m not affecting their spawns or fear. Want me to attract more and increase spawn rate? This cavern would be a nice place for you to do that in. Oh, but there’s a miniboss as well. Want me to spawn the miniboss?”

“Do you think I could kill the miniboss?”

“You’re getting strong at a decent rate, probably because of your infatuation with Gavin and your desire to protect him, because he’s your savior, and so I’m sure that after a few days, you could probably kill him.”

“I don’t.”

“Why not? You only need six more Martial Artist Levels and another Fairy Level or two, a decent offensive Gift, and-”

“And you really think I can gain six Martial Arts Levels and a Fairy Level or two in a few days?”

“Probably if I increase the Experience and learning buff I’ve been giving you. Well, Martial Artist Levels… you’re not doing very many Fairy things, so it’s a bit tougher.”

He’s… been giving me Experience buffs?

“Have you been giving the buff to my whole party?”

“Just you. They didn’t need it. Especially not Gavin, seeing as he already had a powerful one. I wonder what would’ve happened if I’d granted him the buff.”

“Are you a Dekami?”

“No.”

“You answered that awful fast.”

“Sort of like you answering me when I asked if you liked Gavin?”

This thing won’t stop!

“What was the buff you were giving me?” I ask.

“Plus one hundred percent Experience, and plus one hundred percent to learning and Leveling Skills related to martial arts, as well as to Gifts. No offense, but you fairies suck at learning stuff like that, and it was paining me to see you Leveling the Gifts so slowly. And no, I’m not a Dekami, but I’m close to it. I’ll increase it to a thousand percent.”

“That’s a pretty big boost.”

“You’ll need it to catch up with your team. Michael’s got an inherent buff from his species to learning his species-related Skills and combat stuff, and he’s got a good experience buff from his devotion. Plus, he doesn’t get hit as hard by the Experience nerf inhuman species have as you do. You really need this buff. Of course, it’s not like it’ll compare to Gavin, by the time he gets Dekami up a few Levels. Level 3 will put it at over twelve hundred percent, and he doesn’t have the nerf.”

He has a point, there…

“Oh, and your father’s Spirit Pool is actually closer to a thousand than it is to five hundred.”

Thank you, for telling me I have no hope of ever being as powerful as my father.

“So what’s your Gift, anyway?” I ask.

“I have several. How do you think I’m buffing your Experience and learning?”

“I thought you need our Spirit to channel that?”

“Eh. Things are little iffy when it comes to that. If you channel our buffs, you have to sacrifice the Spirit needed for the amount and the duration asked for. If we choose to give a passive buff like this, we have to supply the power ourselves. But we can’t just, say, supply you with a buff like my Gift. It’s why I was able to unlock Gavin’s Spirit Affinity without issue.”

“And piss off a Rift Wolf.”

“He’s always chewing me out for one thing or another. I wonder if I could sic him on you to get you to ask Gavin out.”

“Will you stop with that?”

“Or I can just tell Gavin myself.”

“Is Gavin even able to sense you?”

“You forget – you aren’t. I’m letting you sense and hear me. It’s annoying, though, because I have to take on a more physical form in this realm at all times, and I can’t look at my own realm. It’s so beautiful… just like Gavin.”

“Gah!” I snap. “What the hell is your Gift, anyway?”

“Powerful, like Gavin.”

“Pervert.”

“I know you’re curious.”

“Shut up and increase the monster spawns, will you?”

“Sure!”

More goblins spawn, and I continue the fighting. I’m so glad I figured out how to fight while this thing is annoying me, or I’d have probably taken a few dangerous strikes from these goblins. Not enough to really hurt me, but enough to be a pain in the rear.

I begin a chant I haven’t used before, and hope the spirit is still wanting to work with me.

“Your power burns strong and bright, blazing with an endless might, please grant unto me, O mighty spirit, your flaming right.”

Gift of the Blazing Fist!

Fire swirls around my fists. Not as strong as it will be when I master the Skill and the spirit’s full power of the Gift will flow to me, but it will be nice bringing this to its maximum Level.

Unlike most Skills, the Gifts, regardless of their Tier, have only a single Tier to them.

I step forward, and move into a flurry of strikes, and by the time the Gift runs out, I’ve gained a decent amount of Experience.

+5 Fairy Experience!

+49 Martial Artist Experience!

I dismiss the messages, judging my Spirit. That took a lot of Spirit, but lasted around five minutes.

I return to fighting, but this time, without using a Gift.

By the time I finish for the day, I’ve gained an addition hundred Martial Artist Experience and thirty Spirit Experience. I make my way back up to the surface and the Guild, then take a seat and wait for them to show up.

“You know I can translate what they’re saying for you, right?”

“That doesn’t help when I don’t know what to say, right?”

Someone approaches me, he has a slender build and pointy ears, and is a little tall. He asks me something. At least, I think he asks me something, but I can’t understand him.

“He’s asking you what language that is, since he’s never heard it before, and it sounds almost like a song.”

“I still can’t understand him,” I roll my eyes, and the guy says something.

“He’s not happy you rolled your eyes at him.”

“Can you drop water on his head?”

“For ten Spirit.”

“I thought your weakest was at two hundred?”

“I count it more as a utility magic than a Gift.”

“What’s the chant?”

“’I ogle my leader, because I love him so much, and I dump water, on those who think they could match him in looks’.”

“Pervert.”

“Or you could go with what most spirits use and say ‘bubble, bubble, ball of water and ball of life, form here and now, upon my chosen spot’, then release the chant after it forms.”

“Bubble, bubble, ball of water and ball of life, form here and now, upon my chosen spot.”

“That’s so stupid,” I say as a ball of water three times the size of the guy’s head forms above him. “That’s only 10 Spirit? I didn’t get a Skill for it.”

“I was joking about the chant. It’s actually different.”

I roll my eyes.

Want me to tell you what he’s been saying?”

“Is it pleasant?” I ask, doing my best not to laugh as people are staring at the man.

“No, but I’m amused he hasn’t caught to something being off, considering how many eyes are on him right now.”

“What’s the actual chant?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“Because you still drained my Spirit.”

“Contract with someone else for that spell, there’s a limit to how many can we create a contract with per person, and I don’t want to use it up with meaningless spells.”

“Um,” I say. “You do realize that being able to request water while in a hot desert could save lives, right?”

“Find a water spirit. I’ve got other Gifts for you, once you’ve the Spirit to actually use them. This guy is so funny… Imma put him out of his misery.”

I roll my eyes again, then lock gazes with the man and point. He frowns, then looks up. His eyes widen just before the giant orb crashes down onto him, soaking him through.

“And it’s icy cold, too!”