A Tamer’s Adventure

Thunder rumbled, and the grey clouds flashed with lightning. Rain tumbled down in a slightly heavy stream.

"Uah, so this is the city you live in?” The thick sandstone walls of the city awed Jade. Despite the rain, certain buildings had magic barriers floating above them, blocking the rain.

The journey back was easygoing, except for the rain. Thankfully, they had magic; a simple barrier above them worked better than an umbrella.

“Does it normally rain this much?” Amber asked as they neared the gates.

“Only in the 9th month, usually a prelude to winter, we’ll probably see the first sign of snow by the end of the month,” Martyn said.

“I’ve never seen snow before,” Amber said.

Jade froze. The goblin girl looked at Amber as if she were mad. “Are you fucking serious? You’ve never seen snow?”

Amber chuckled with a nervous nod. Jade’s mouth dropped, and Martyn chuckled at the scene.

“It’s like one of the best weather cycles there is! Oh my god, I can’t wait for you to see it!” Jade giggled, making it a goal to show Amber the wonders of snow.

As they got to the gates, Martyn and Amber showed their badges, and since Jade never came here, he paid for her entry.

“We’ll have to get you registered at the guild in our party and get our quest rewards,” Martyn said.

“Should I go check if Joseph’s there?” Amber asked.

“Also stop by Jorn’s place to see if it’s open.” He added.

“No problem,” she replied.

Amber left for Joseph’s home while Martyn and Jade went to the guild. Getting her registered as the same rank as them was simple with her status, though the lack of dungeon experience was something they’d have to make up for.

The quest reward increased due to the goblins they faced being above average, and after handing in the monster cores and heads as proof, they earned fifty silver coins.

Before they left, some adventurers were curious about the new addition, asking questions and taking their time.

“Those people seem nice,” Jade said.

"Maybe, but don’t be too trustworthy; not everyone there is what they seem. Joseph’s party are good people, though.”

Jade nodded, putting his words to mind. As they walked through the rainy streets, she glanced around. Not every stall was closed; some just put up a barrier to continue selling, and some closed as the owners just relaxed, listening to the rain hit the pavement and roofs.

The ambience brought a calming atmosphere; “rain’s not a bad thing, though.” Jade muttered.

Martyn smirked, an idea forming. He shrunk the barrier above them, having all the rain slide down to Jade's head.

“Gah, what the fuck!?” She jumped as the cold water hit her. She saw Martyn giggle and smirk.

'Oh, so is that it?’ She looked past him to see a stall owner snickering next to him with a bucket collecting rainwater. The man moved his hands, levitating the bucket.

Jade pouted. “Oh, come on, it was funny,” Martyn said, expanding the barrier.

“I’m not laughing,” she said.

Martyn rolled his eyes, apologising, “I want a kiss.” She said closing her eyes while waiting for one. Martyn huffed but happily obliged before he got hit with a bucket of rainwater.

The man behind them laughed at a few others passing by in their raincoats or magic barriers, too.

"Oh, I’m getting you back for this,” Martyn growled.

“Aren’t you already even?” Amber said returning to them.

“Exactly.” Jade smiled, crossing her arms proudly.

“Joseph and his party aren’t there; they left a note saying they went to a friend’s celebration, but he did leave a book for us. It was a magic note, and once I touched it, the book appeared,” Amber said, holding the thick tome in her hands.

Martyn took the book, thanked her, and, with little to do, went to the inn.

Opening the doors, the trio was met with a somewhat busy atmosphere: adventurers sitting around drinking and feasting, Amber smiling at the atmosphere, and Jade sniffing the air, enjoying the scent of liquor.

A few turned their gazes towards them, but it was only temporary.

“You’re finally back!” Lisa smiled as she came to them with a checklist.

“Yeah, it took longer than expected. Oh, and by the way,” Martyn motioned to Jade.

“Hiya, I’m Jade.”

"Oh, nice to meet you. Wait, are you a goblin?” Lisa, the blonde, squinted her eyes.

‘Oh right.’ Martyn recalled Lisa’s opinions on goblins.

"Yep, I sure am, but not like those other fuckers you’ve probably heard about,” Jade hummed with a proud look.

“Huh, I like you,” Lisa smirked.

The two shared a look, shaking hands. “In case you ask, it’s male goblins I hate, and she’s so cute, I can’t hate her; she doesn’t even look like a typical goblin,” Lisa said to Martyn.

“Aw, you’re making me blush. I love your braids; can you help me braid mine sometime?” Jade asked, flushed from the compliment.

‘This is nice,’ Amber breathed out a sigh. Lisa smiled and conversed with Jade a little before they went to leave.

"Oh, and just so you know, with an extra person, the rent’s increased.” Lisa smiled, but it was the kind of smile that an upset mother would give.

Nodding, he took the girls with him upstairs. Finally entering their room, they could all relax. Amber went to open the window, letting the sound of the rain falling come inside.

“This place smells like you, the both of you,” Jade said with a knowing grin.

Martyn smiled while sitting on the bed, Amber flushed next to him, and Jade giggled, moving to Martyn's left.

With the book in hand, he opened it and asked, “Is this meant to have information on my future evolutions?” Jade asked.

Amber nodded. “It’s information coveted by one monster tamer who managed to evolve a goblin champion.” She said.

Nothing was said, but Martyn could feel the spike of excitement from Jade through the bond.

The trio sat there and read about her possible evolution: a goblin champion evolved from a goblin elite, which is a direct evolution of hobgoblins; only the requirements to evolve were.

“I need to eat how many monster cores?” Jade grabbed the book, reading it again.

“Three to evolve into a goblin elite and six into a champion; there’s also a path to evolve into a minotaur,” Martyn said.

“Given our current level, she’d need to eat three C-ranked boss cores and then six B-ranked cores,” Amber hummed in thought.

Martyn, as if reading her mind, grabbed the book back and read further: “Apparently there are no more evolutions after becoming a goblin champion; even after having their goblin eat more monster cores, no evolution options appeared,” he summarised the following passage.

“This will take some time,” Amber said.

“Yeah, no kidding.” Martyn chuckled. “But this could be a good thing; considering the difficulty of getting the cores we need, we can use the time in between to train, improve, and work on ourselves. And besides, we can’t enter the C-ranked floors of the dungeon yet.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Jade slumped. “So what do we do, master?”

Martyn laid out their future goals and plans for the coming winter; he didn’t forget to take Amber's evolutions into account when setting up their plans.

The first was to get the proper gear for Jade and conquer the dungeon together, including her in the basic training routine and registering her with the fire mage tower so she could properly learn fire magic from experts.

“I think it’s better if I make our gear at some point. If we find the time, can we find a place where I can practice my tinkering? That way, I can improve my skills and enchantment.”

“I agree with that, which is why you’re going to register with a blacksmith guild; they have rooms you can rent to craft and sell your creations, and you can put out quests for other guilds to get the resources you need to craft.”

“For now, though we’ll get your gear from Jorn and at least an extra bow in case, like we do with every other weapon, I’d like you to try and work on your enchantments; those exploding enchantments on the arrows would make them dangerously strong.”

“Ooh, that’s going to be a small problem. I learned the exploding enchantment recently, and failing an enchantment can ruin the material’s durability, which is why I learned the durability enchantment.”

“Then we’ll buy as many arrows as we need and store the ones you can enchant in the inventory.” Martyn nodded.

“Our nearest goal though would be trying to reach C rank; it’s the common rank amongst adventures, but it also means we can get our place, either by renting or purchasing land; we can get you a smithy and a training room for us, though I feel like it’ll take a lot of our gold. Regardless, we’ve got to do it.”

The two smiled at Martyn with firm determination; their goals and plans were set, and they were ready. Martyn placed the book down on the table; they hadn’t gone through all its contents, so he saved that for later.

Stretching his body, a smirk formed on his face. “So who is hungry?”

Martyn snapped his fingers, pulling out all cooking utensils from his inventory, and with his mana, held them suspended in the air.

Jade was in for a new world of taste when Martyn began to prepare for her the same meal that made Amber fall head over heels. Amber looked on excitedly, and Jade could only watch as the various smells assaulted her nose.

He was making a simple meat lovers pizza with most meats he had in his inventory, excluding the dragon meat. Of course, the magical creation was cooking in a ball of mana. Jade couldn’t hide her curiosity.

“What is this?” Jade took in the smell.

Like a mystical creation, the pizza floated down to the table. Martyn put a plate beneath it and sliced it up with magic.

Amber moved first, taking a slice. The cheese pull was lengthy, and she ate it with a small squeal. Martyn took a slice, and Jade mimicked his movements.

She took a bite, and her eyes glimmered. She scarfed down the hot slice in one go and said, “Ah, hot, hm, so good.”

Martyn thanked his otherworldly knowledge, thinking, 'The best way to a lover’s heart is through their stomach.'

He watched as Jade eagerly ate more, and realising there wasn’t going to be enough for the three of them, he made another one that vanished in mere moments.

“I’ve never had anything this flavorful before.” Jade huffed, still savouring the flavour in her mouth.

The goblin girl stood up, went to Martyn, and jumped on him, slamming her lips into his. She pulled back, kissing him in between her words, “Good food, good life, all of this; I think I love you, Master.”

She still didn’t call him Martyn, though the constant affection was a good enough start, and more so as Amber joined in, pushing Martyn onto the bed.

'Wait, are we going to do this?’ His tail quivered, and his ears stood on end.

After all that, Amber and Jade smirked, crawling over Martyn. “I think we deserve a little fun now, don’t you?” She asked Jade, who simply nodded.

He was ready, preparing himself for the two to attack with all their lust, only to be met with tight hugs. Amber could feel it through their bond. Martyn’s confusion made her and Jade giggle.

“What’s wrong? It’s getting dark outside; we need to rest for tomorrow,” Amber said, snuggling into Martyn and pulling a blanket over the three of them.

“Did you think we would do something?” Jade said cutely as if she hadn’t been pushing them to sleep together for the past week, “Master is perverted. I can feel your lust through the bond.”

“I don’t like this; you’re spending too much time with Amber. And what’s with you? You wanted nothing but for me to take you.” Martyn frowned, eliciting more laughter from the girls.

"True, and we will, but oddly enough, I don’t feel that driven anymore; maybe from being bonded to you, I feel fine and less agitated.”

Martyn huffed. He shuffled in bed, removing his clothes and sending them to the inventory, only keeping his sleeping shorts. Amber did the same, switching her clothing for one of his shirts and nothing else, and Jade did the same, mimicking Amber.

The shirt did nothing to block the feeling of their orbs pressing into him, forcing a begrudged growl to come out of him. “When we do this, the three of us, I swear I’ll have the both of you moaning senseless.”

Martyn swore on his panther-kin heritage; the two said nothing, only closing in on him further as they slept in the bed.

The trio rested better than they did on their journey back; they slept peacefully as the rain fell above them, drowning their low snoring. As the downpour lessened, welcoming the beginning of a new day, the trio rose from their bed with vigour.

After taking their shower, they geared up, sorted their inventory, and left the inn with a warm breakfast in their bellies. The clouds above were still grey, blocking out the sun, and a light rain shower fell on them as they went through the streets.

Soon they arrived at Jorn’s Smith shop, and opening the doors, the Ork smith greeted them with a surprised smile.

"Well, I’ll be damned; you got yourself a second one, huh? What is she, a hobgoblin?”

Jade walked up to Jorn. The two green-skinned beings sized each other up before Jade stuck her hand out. Jorn smirked, shaking it firmly.

“Oho, she’s a crafter?”

Martyn and Amber grew curious, getting a chuckle from Jorn. “It’s all in the handshake—firm, a bit rough, and considering she’s a goblin, she must have the tinkerer skill, you lucky bastard,” he said to Jade, who stood proudly.

“But I’m guessing you're not just here to see little old me, though. So what can I do?”

“Well, we’re adding her to our party as an archer and were wondering if.”

Jorn stopped Martyn there. “Let’s see armour and a quiver too. I’m guessing you’ll need as many arrows as you can carry or want with that inventory you all share. And a decent bow too.”

Amber and Martyn stood back as Jorn cast his spell, getting all of Jade’s measurements. “Cool spell, can I learn that too?” Jade asked.

“Sure thing, it’s a basic for all crafting classes; they’ve got books in the library or just check in at a crafting guild,” Jorn said, moving to the back.

“I’ve got a set that matches you quite well; it belonged to a female archer; it’s a bit small, but it's made to stretch; leather armour; a basic quiver; and a steel bark bow. You need a strength stat of twenty to pull this one; considering your D-rank, it should be fine.”

Jorn pointed to the changing room as Martyn paid the orc nearly a gold coin. While Jade changed, Martyn bought and stored roughly two hundred stone-scale-tipped arrows in his inventory.

“Hey Jorn, we never really touched this back in the academy, but what are the ranks for items?” Martyn said, pulling out the steel staff Jade made for the goblin chieftain back in the cave.

Jorn eyed the staff, mumbling a few words, he let out a pleased nod. “All gear are broken down into four ranks, decided by the crafting association: common, enchanted, artefact, and relic ranks. An enchanted weapon is a common weapon with a sort of boost.

But enchanted weapons are an uncommon find; as enchantments are temporary, they’ll fade down to common rank. This would be about a few silvers worth. Honestly, it's better to smelt it and make something new; I’ll take it for twenty silver if you're selling.”

Martyn sold it. Jorn and Jade came out of the changing room, now wearing Archer leather armour with a hood. Martyn grabbed the bow, tossing it to her and the quiver; she caught both putting them on.

“Is the quiver necessary? I can just pull things out of the inventory.” Jade said.

“I guess the quiver’s redundant then?” Amber said this in agreement with Jade.

Jorn and Martyn shared a look before shaking their heads in disagreement. “It’s not for you,” Jorn said, and Martyn continued.

“It’s for the enemy; they think you’re out of arrows; they’ll come charging at you only to be hit with a shot with an arrow from the inventory.”

“Oh, alright then,” Jade nodded, attaching the quiver to her back.

Jorn whistled as she walked up to join the group: “You look like a proper adventuring party now—a tank, a ranger, and a swordsman.”

The group looked at each other, and a small sense of pride welled between them thanks to Jorn. They thanked him and left, heading to the dungeon.

 

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