A Tamer’s Adventure

Muddy Boots Inn

It was the first week of the tenth month, and with gentle snow falling, the trio agreed to enjoy the event. They had snowball fights and taught Amber all she wanted to know about the phenomenon.

Right now, however, Martyn sat on the clean wooden floor, surrounded by a potion-making alchemy set and a potion-crafting book for beginners. He was finally working on his biology, cooking and appraisal skills.

Cooking was a general skill, but it applied to a broader field; it sadly didn’t improve on a specific aspect like the alchemy skill. Still having all those skills together helped, as did his passive skill second nature.

Igniting a flame of mana in front of him, a flask hovered above the flame; inside was boiling water and a generic monster tongue. As the flask bubbled, the tongue shrivelled up.

‘Monster tongue extract,’ Martyn listed the ingredients of a common-grade healing potion.

As the first flask boiled the tongue, he grabbed the mortar and pestle, throwing in bluegrass and mushrooms he gathered from the dungeon. Grinding them into a fine paste.

Once the tongue was shrivelled up and the herbs turned to paste, in another flask, he threw the paste down first, then poured in a bottle of green liquid, and finally the boiled water.

‘Herbs first, solution, then fresh tongue extract,’ he remembered. Once the flask was filled, he closed it with a cork and placed it on top of a Bunsen burner, turning it on a blue flame. He repeated the process for five more potions.

“Don’t you guys find it odd that I originate from a monster, yet I can’t just eat the herbs naturally to heal and recover myself, but you two could easily?” Martyn said aloud.

Amber rested on the bed with a book in hand. She paused in thought.

“It is odd; maybe it has to do with being humanoid, something we have to give up in our evolution,” Amber said.

“Hm, then what are we giving up?” Martyn mumbled. His ears fell flat, then rose again following the change in his mind.

Amber giggled, “Don’t think too hard about it, Martyn,” she smiled, going back to her book. “Maybe some scientists or mages have already figured out why.”

“Mn, probably.” Martyn sighed, watching the potions boil and change colour before him.

Jade sat back to back with Martyn, her back pressed into his as she faced various crafting tools for wood and stone works.

“Hum,” She hummed, with a curved blade, she straightened out an arrow shaft. For the head, she sculpted the stone lizard scales they got from the dungeon as drops and attached the feathers they purchased from the market.

With steely focus, she applied her durability enchantment to the shaft, then to the arrowhead, her mana condensed entering the two pieces; a second later, a breath left her.

‘They didn’t break from the enchantment... Good, now the last one,’ she thought as she attached the pieces with a string of leather. Once finished, she appraised her work, a benefit of the tinkering skill.

With another pool of mana, she aimed her explosion enchantment at the arrowhead. She gulped slightly and soon smiled as the mana gathered and the arrow remained in good condition. She had completed another explosive arrow. Although her success rate was not the best, with the time to practice at her own pace, two in every five she made were successful.

Martyn’s tail coiled around her waist in a hug; she brushed it softly before diving back into her work.

Enchantments were difficult but with her expertise in making exploding rocks; it was less challenging. But there was still a challenge that came from how much mana the arrows could contain before falling apart from within; it was why durability enchants were her first additions, ensuring she could add more.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” Jade snapped out of her focused state, turning her head back to Martyn; the latter chuckled, flicking his tail up and brushing it against the green girl’s cute face.

“It’s nothing just letting out my thoughts,” Martyn said, brushing his tail under her chin.

Jade nodded, returning to her crafts and Martyn his potions. It was a warm space, and as Martyn watched the potions boil and mix, a content breath left him.

‘I never thought I’d be here,’ he hummed, glancing between Amber and Jade.

But he was brought out of his content comfort and focused on the potions in front of him; if he wanted to keep this feeling with him all the time, then he had to work for it.

‘But do I?’ He thought about it: right now they were in a good spot; why struggle and suffer to get better when they could live a somewhat leisurely life?

He was an important person; he no longer had to work if he played it right; he could live the good life with the girls, constant love, and sex; it was him. It wasn’t him.

‘No.’ Martyn shook his head. ‘I mean, I understand, but no, I need to get stronger. Getting comfortable will make it harder to push forward. We must be strong enough to keep ourselves safe in case something comes along that threatens us.'

He frowned at the thought, ‘Why was I getting so comfortable? I shouldn't be to the point of stopping my adventures. I made a promise to show Amber the world why stay in one place.’ He focused again on his potions, putting the thoughts to the back of his mind.

The potion’s texture became a clear, red-like liquid.

Smiling, he appraised it and nodded to himself—a good-quality healing potion. Smiling, he pulled out empty potion bottles from his inventory and filled them.

‘If I can keep this up and get better, then we won’t need to buy many potions.’ Martyn thought.

He also didn’t need to sell these as he had extra money from filling up mana tanks as a space mage.

“Fuck.” Jade cursed.

Amber looked over to see the hob girl throwing away a broken arrow piece. Martyn’s tail coiled around Jade tighter as he worked on another batch of potions.

“Hah, I’m fine,” Jade sighed, leaning back into Martyn, even after she said that his tail was still gently brushing her stomach under her red shirt to calm her.

“Maybe I should’ve learnt about writing sigils.” Jade muttered, “Nah, Enchanting’s better.”

Martyn, after finishing another batch of potions, was content with cleaning and storing his equipment away. He groaned slightly, stretching his arms.

He rose, lifting Jade by the tail. “Eh?” She was taken aback with her feet dangling off the floor. “You can put me down.”

“Sure, after my hug,” Martyn turned Jade over, embracing her and patting her head.

“I’m fine,” She said, “I don’t need a hug.” She protested but didn’t resist.

Soon after they stopped, "Amber, what’s the time right now?”

“Half past one,” she answered.

"Alright, that’s good enough; let’s head out,” he said, changing out of his house clothes.

“Finally,” Jade said.

Amber hopped off the bed, and the trio changed into their adventuring gear. “Let’s head to the dungeon first, then grab a mission from the guild tomorrow.”

“Sounds good to me,” Amber said, shimmying from her shorts.

Martyn had already gotten used to the sight of the two naked, but it still brought a hard-on for him. Jade and Amber smirked, taking their time to change, teasing Martyn.

‘I’ll remember this,’ Martyn thought as they finished gearing up.

"Alright, let’s go!” Jade pumped her fists.

“Not yet,” Martyn popped her bubble of excitement.

“What?” Jade slumped.

“How come?” Amber asked.

“I want to set up something.” Martyn pulled out a space magic book from the inventory; he moved to the centre and pointed his finger to the ground. “I’ve been reading about making gateways.”

“You mean a portal from here to the dungeon?” Amber asked.

Martyn nodded; he read the words of the book. Mana surged from him as he wrote in the air; a vapour of mana followed his finger movements, and the sigils he wrote floated down to the wooden floor, engraving into the wood.

Huffing, he stepped back, looking at the circle of sigils. The magic circle lost its shine, now appearing with a normal circle on the floor.

“I practised with smaller magic circles to make sure it’s safe. I’ll need to make one inside the dungeon to connect the spaces, so we don’t have to travel every time.” Martyn smiled.

“That’s amazing,” Amber awed at the magic circle.

“Can’t you teleport us or use your flicker spell with us?” Jade asked, “In that state, we travel fast as fuck, so we’d get there in a literal minute or two,” she added.

"True, but the portal takes less mana than blinking from place to place unless I learn actual teleportation, but I’m not quite there yet. And using it with more people consumes more mana.”

“Alright then,” Jade nodded. "Anyways, let’s go!” She went to the door.

“I think we should be able to clear the eighth floor this time around,” Amber said, following behind.

With that, the trio left the inn and headed down to the dungeon.

 

Assassins Hideout

In a desolate building isolated in the centre of a barren wasteland, dead trees, yellow grass, and red dirt stood an old-looking building; the windows were shut and nailed, and the surrounding area was circled with giant wolf-like beasts.

‘Fuck!’ Inside, the swordsman assassin mentally cursed, glancing at the projection, ‘This is bad they didn’t bring him with them. I need to run.’

He panicked, looking at the group of ten other assassins who all stared at the projection at the centre of the table; it showed a marching knight unit, being led by a knight captain and commander.

“We planned to face a captain or two but not the commander himself. It's a good thing the master’s is here with us.” Another spoke with a bated breath.

“And the space mage isn’t among them; I guess they chose not to invite him; I’m a bit upset; I would’ve loved playing with him,” another assassin spoke up, smoking from her pipe as a black snake coiled around her neck hissing at the screen.

“Then, there’s no reason for us to remain here.” An elderly voice spoke at the top of the table, drawing all the other assassins’ attention. The figure leaned forward, revealing a withered old man holding a cane.

“This will be a waste of time and, worse, a waste of resources,” he said, standing up. His cane clacked against the wooden floor as he walked to the window.

“What are we to do then, master?” The female assassin asked while petting her snake.

“It’s a shame they didn’t bring the space mage; your plan, though smart, failed, and as such, your life is forfeit.” The old man spoke, tapping his cane on the wooden floor.

The swordsman assassin dashed to the door. ‘I’m not going to die like this!’ he thought as his hands reached the doors.

The other assassins did nothing; as the shadows of the room came to life, tendrils of shadow shot out, wrapping the fleeing assassin in an instant.

“W-wait! Please!” He begged but was shut by a tendril covering his mouth; tears covered his face as the tendrils dragged him down into the shadows.

Once swallowed, the room returned to normal. “Take anything we might need and burn this place down. Send the little beasts and golems on a rampage, give the knights something to do while they're here.”

In unison, they all responded, “As you command, Master.” They all rose and left the room.

“Truly a shame.” The master looked at the projection with a sigh; in a puff of smoke, he vanished.

 

Subterranean Dungeon, 8th floor

The massive cavern, an open space for the boss room, and the magic door closed behind the trio, locking them in. The challenge has begun.

Water dripped from the stalagmites in the ceiling down to small pools of water; the mossy floor caverns hummed as if watching their movements; each step left mushy imprints on the soft mossy floors, and the humidity was high.

In the centre stood the boss of the eighth floor; it was a giant stone bat with a thick spiked stone tail with a heavy mace-like tip. It roared and took off in the air.

“Brace yourselves,” Martyn tensed his scimitar drawn. Amber stood a step ahead with her new kite shield and spear in hand.

Jade stayed back, bow-drawn. As the giant stone bat circled through the stalactites above, Martyn quickly appraised the boss and gave out its details.

[Giant stone bat, Level 4, Class: Mage, Points:??, Title: Floor boss, Skills:??]

» [Mana: 504/504] [Strength: 24] [Agility: 30] [Vitality: 22] [Arcana: 24] [Psyche: 25]

“My appraisals are not high enough to tell how many skills it’s got, so be careful,” Martyn ordered.

The giant stone bat swerved around it and roared with its murky yellow eyes, focusing on the group that'd entered its domain; it flapped its wings and accelerated towards them.

The ground cracked beneath their feet as Amber and Martyn kicked off. Martyn vanished in a flash of light. Amber coated her body in mana, and the mossy floor glowed in green light reacting to it.

The giant stone bat only saw Amber and lunged, flipping forward, and swung its mace-like tail down. Arrows shot through the air but were taken down in the attack.

‘Here it comes!’ Amber thought to herself as she raised her kite shield, her mana expanding. She took the hit, the ground quaked, a crater formed, and her body shook, but she took the attack well.

As the boss removed its tail, it hissed seeing Amber standing strong behind her shield. In a flash of light, Martyn appeared next to its face, and with his scimitar coated in mana, he slashed at its eyes.

A roar of pain echoed, and the boss clawed at Martyn with its right-wing only to hit thin air as he vanished and reappeared next to Amber. It took a deep breath, its lungs expanding, and it shot out a massive green plume of smoke.

Both created magic barriers protecting themselves. The boss flew back and spread its wings out with a roar flapping, unleashing wind blades that cut through the acid smoke. Martyn moved behind Amber as she blocked with her shield, each wind blade slammed against her mana-coated shield, the force pushing them back a considerable distance.

“Keep its attention.” Martyn patted Amber's shoulder, lending her some mana, and turned into a flash of light travelling across the right side of the cavern as a wisp. The boss had lost its right eye and couldn’t see him focusing its wind blades on Amber.

Arrows flew across the cavern, cutting through the air; they slammed into the boss’s body, exploding on contact. It roared flying back. Jade clicked her teeth, firing more arrows.

The boss didn’t stay still and began flying across the cavern, avoiding the incoming exploding arrows. Jade stopped with a frown. She opened her palm. “Better now than never.”

She said as she chanted a spell, “Hunt down my enemy, blazing falcon!” Her voice echoed as mana surged from her body into a giant ball of fire.

It grew the heat, melting the moisture in the moss around her. She fired off the attack, and it advanced with rapid speed. The ball of fire grew brighter, morphing into the shape of a bird as she chased down the boss.

It swerved past the stalagmites, and the flaming falcon followed. Not only that, but a wisp of light also flew across the air next to the blazing falcon, chasing the giant stone bat as the Jade fired more exploding arrows shaking the cavern ceiling and lighting it up in a fiery red glow.

Chunks of rock fell from the ceiling. In the smoke clearing, Amber stabbed her shield into the ground; her tail lashed against the ground in quiet rage. She observed as the boss flew around, chased by a fire spell and a wisp of light that she knew was Martyn.

It was fast for its size, ‘must be using wind magic,’ she thought with a calm glare. As more arrows fired off, some stabbing into its body and others missing, she held her spear tightly.

Mana flared from her body; it bubbled up, covering her spear and turning into a spear of water. It glowed a bright blue, illuminating her armour, the ground, and clearing smoke.

Her eyes focused on the boss as it moved around; she waited till it made a turn, its right eye facing her, meaning she was now invisible towards it.

She sucked in a deep breath and reeled her spear back; her front leg shattered the ground, and she took another, breaking it further. With all her strength, she hurled the water spear.

The air exploded, dirt, and moss went flying. The water spear cut through the air, slamming right into the boss’s side. A cry of pain echoed, and before it could recover, the blazing falcon slammed into its back, exploding and covering it in a swirling ball of fire, causing greater damage.

Once the flames disappeared, the boss barely hovered in the air, its body sustaining significant damage with a spear in its chest, its stone-like scales broken, its wings shaking, and its body charred from the flames. It hissed in pain as a wisp of light appeared in front of its other good eye.

Martyn appeared and sunk his blade right into its eyes; another bellow of pain left the boss as mana coagulated into the blade before exploding inside the boss’s skull, turning its brain to mush and killing it.

Its body went cold and fell to the cavern ground with a heavy thud. Martyn descended with his blink spell sitting right on top of the boss’s disappearing corpse.

A tired breath left him as Amber and Jade walked up.

“That was a good fight, right? I don’t want to say it was easy in case I jinx the future, but it was good, right?” Jade asked.

Martyn chuckled, "Yeah, we’ve gotten stronger; I think we could clear the 9th floor with some difficulty. We could probably do it tomorrow.” He said.

“Nah, I want to do it later; you said it yourself; better to train ourselves, right?” Jade said, stretching her arms.

Amber nodded, seeing the boss's fading body. “No drops, or anything this time.” She said as she drank a recovery potion.

"Alright, then let’s go home.” Martyn said, walking up to Amber, he planted a quick kiss on her cheek, “You did great.”

He did the same with Jade: “You too.”

Together they walked out of the boss's room. They made it to the passageway that connected the floors. “This place should be good enough.”

“Are you planning to set the portal here?” Amber asked, earning a nod from Martyn.

Jade and Amber stepped back, giving the panther some space as he wrote down the sigils as he did in the room. The magic circle was large enough for all three of them to use.

“Alright then, ladies first?” Martyn bowed to the magic circle.

“What a gentleman~” Amber cooed as she stepped into the circle. Jade rolled her eyes as she followed behind with a smirk.

Martyn smiled and stepped into the circle. With his magic, he activated it and wrapped his arms around them as a portal appeared below and moved up, teleporting them out of the dungeon.

[Space magic (1) has levelled up! (2)]

 

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