*000000*

You know, leaving my house and doing things with people is entirely new to me. Both as a social activity, and as a way to relax. I'm a bit nervous about it, by the sheer magnitude of the fact that I'm going to be spending time with a cute girl that I like a fair bit, but that's outweighed by the sheer relief of having some more human contact that isn't Qrow. Don't get me wrong, I love the guy, but he has a disadvantage in that he is not a cute girl.

The question is, who? There's Ruby, Yang, Blake, or Coco and Velvet. Assuming they don't already have plans of some kind. I think it's a weekend again at this point? I don't know, I haven't really been keeping track of the date or anything.

I don't really want to leave Ruby hanging after meeting her and saying we're friends, so it would probably be a good idea to hang out with her on a purely practical level. That's in addition to the fact that she's just really nice to be around, and would probably be a good influence on me.

Blake is... I can only guess at what she's dealing with right now, and I'd like to be able to be there for her. I know that at the very least she could use someone who's on her side. Especially once she ends up accidentally revealing to Weiss that she was in the White Fang and running away, which could happen basically any day, I have no idea.

As for Yang, I don't feel any particular need to hang out with her for us to become friends at the moment. We'll probably end up seeing each other a fair bit given Qrow and I are friends now. I think we're friends, anyway, he's not exactly the most emotionally open guy. If it weren't for the whole Reputation and his semblance thing I don't think I'd actually be able to tell he likes me.

Coco and Velvet are awesome, and I don't really want to make them wait on me either. I go ahead and send them a group text to let them know what my scroll number is.

Wait, I have a literal entire day. Who says I can't hang out with more than one person or persons? Just not at the same time. Under normal circumstances I would expect myself to be tired of social interaction after spending a couple hours around someone else, but I haven't been having that problem with Qrow. Yeah, okay. I'll try that, though I won't make any plans until the first ones are done.

As for who first... it has to be Blake. I have no idea when the events of The Stray might happen. I want her to feel like she can come to me when they do.

Sil: hey, you have plans today?

Blake: only the usual ones with a book and a cup of tea. Why?

Sil: I'd like to hang out. Fair warning though, I have no idea how to do that

Blake: sure, I relish in an opportunity to get away from Weiss

Sil: is she as bad as I'd expect a Schnee to be?

Blake: yes and no. She's abrasive and pushy, but she could be worse. She's stopped being hostile towards Ruby, at least

Sil: hmmm, that's something at least. May she remain tolerable for the next four years

Blake: I'll toast to that.

Blake: how about we meet up at this nice bookstore I know? It's Faunus owned

Sil: sounds good to me

-----------​

As it turns out, Blake's bookstore of choice is none other than Tukson's Book Trade. A fact that reminds me that I should make sure to save this guy's life. He should be fine if I get him protection from Ozpin. Hopefully. I doubt I could protect him myself right now, so it's the best I've got.

It's a nice bookstore too. I don't even know how long it's been since I was last in one, but I really like it. It's a cozy business, with soft reclining chairs and a few couches scattered about amongst the bookshelves.

I can't help picking up a random book off the first display I see as I'm coming in, opening it to a random page, and just inhaling that wonderful new book scent. It really has been a long time.

Muffled snickering interrupts my enjoyment, and I hastily put the book back down to see Blake watching me from a corner.

"What can I say, I like the smell of a new book." I say with a shrug as I walk over to her.

"Maybe a little too much." Blake raises an eyebrow at me.

"It's been a while is all. Books are nice. I haven't been reading as much as I'd like to the past few years." I absently run my fingertips along the spines of the books on a nearby shelf labeled science fiction.

"Mmm." Blake's eyes follow my hand lazily, contemplatively. "I've had the same trouble, up until recently. Beacon is leaving me with more free time than what I was doing before."

"Any recommendations then?" There's not a single name that I recognize here, which is to be expected really. I'm going to miss my collection of Douglas Adams novels though. A bunch of those were really hard to find, especially in hardback. It's curious though, science fiction here has less of a trend towards space exploration or post apocalyptic settings and is more commonly about superscientists that you'd expect to find in a comic book using their inventions to fight or control variations on the Grimm.

"I've been reading The Man With Two Souls lately. It's interesting." My disinterest in the book that was only there to foreshadow Oz must be obvious, because Blake immediately moves on to something else that grabs her full attention on a nearby display. "Ghira Belladonna published a new book. A Time For Peace." She's talking more to herself than she is to me right now, her expression dark.

I grab a copy and take a look at the back, which has a summary and a dedication. The dedication is to his daughter, though it doesn't say her name. I read the summary as well.

In the aftermath of the Rights Revolution, I laid down arms for good. The Red Fang was disbanded because the Treaty of Argus put an end to the threat of genocide that had originated from the kingdoms, though they called it forced relocation. It also laid the foundations for the peaceful advancement of Faunus equality and justice in every kingdom, and those foundations are now being ignored in favor of brute force. The time in which we once needed to defend ourselves with force passed long ago. Now is a time for peace, and the difficulty in attaining it is well worth avoiding the loss of further lives, or the escalation of violence.

I put the book back on the display, unable to help showing my utter disdain for it.

"Not interested?" Blake's eyes narrow slightly at my disinterest, seeming to take it as approval of the White Fang she left.

"I don't doubt that Ghira Belladonna is a wise man, but that." I tap the cover of the book. "That is meaningless." For fuck's sake, segregation was still legal in Atlas when Cinder was like 16, which has to be less than ten years ago. I'm pretty sure it still is legal in Mistral, although I barely remember any of volumes 4 or 5. "When faced with systemic social, economic, and physical violence people have every right to inflict violence back on that system in an effort to change it. It's when that retaliation is misplaced that you have a problem. Like what the local branch of the White Fang is doing here in Vale."

"You don't think nonviolence is an important part of activism?" Blake's edge is gone, the question born out of curiosity more than anything.

"Nonviolence as a philosophy is admirable. Nonviolence as a political doctrine is a tool wielded by those who have power to stop the common people from taking it for themselves. And to make the people who fight back against being attacked for no reason look like they're in the wrong." I can't help the bitterness that creeps into my voice as I think about how protests had kept turning out lately back on Earth before I died.

[+10 reputation with Blake Belladonna(30/100) you put into words something she's been trying to figure out for a while now]

"That's interesting." Blake says neutrally. "Though I don't think I can agree."

"Fair enough." I nod and leave it at that, though I don't really get why she's doing that. "Sorry about that, I didn't intend to go off on a whole tirade."

"I've heard tirades before. That wasn't one." She shakes her head. "Could we change the subject a bit though?"

"Sure." I have no idea what else to talk about with her, except maybe food. So I just look around at more books, picking out a nonfiction book on the history of racism in Vale and an interesting looking fantasy book about a world without Grimm.

Just as I'm settling down in a chair to read the first chapter of the fiction book, someone opens the shop door. I can't help jolting in place, almost expecting it to be Em and Merc, but it's just some guy who starts wordlessly browsing the shelves.

"Something wrong?" Blake asks as she sits in a chair of her own with a book I can't identify.

"No, I'm just still a bit on edge from some stuff that happened, I guess." And because I'm going to intervene in Roman Torchwick's handling of Tukson being about to run away from the White Fang.

"Ah." Blake just nods, her gaze somber.

We spend the ready of our time together reading in companionable silence. It's natural that it would end up this way, really, since we're both such introverts. It's also very nice. At some point I decide that I'm definitely going to buy both the books I've picked out, and I head up to the checkout desk to do so.

I've already written a small note with Qrow's scroll number and the assurance of protection written on it, which I slip between some of the Lien notes I use to pay for my purchase. It falls as Tukson is counting the change, and he quickly slides it into his pocket, thankfully getting the idea.

Blake and I end up parting with just an awkward nod in each other's direction before we part ways, which is weirdly fitting. Yeah, I really like her.

-----------​

It seems that someone has finally nibbled at Roman's little bait. A piece of bait going by the name of Tukson. Good, he was starting to wonder if that coward would reel in some useful information to make up for his betrayal of the White Fang.

Thank fuck that he'd had one of his own people watching the feed from Tukson's Book Trade's hacked security camera, instead one of those particular fools he was borrowing from Mister Edgy Boy. Edgegar for short. They'd seen something suspicious, and now here he is, reviewing the footage himself.

Roman chuckles heartily at the pathetic attempt at subterfuge by the party he's decided to refer to as Aqua. Slipping someone a note only for it to fall out is just so... basic. Really, he's half convinced that the kid was trying to get Sideburns to sell her something meant for adults. Or at least, he would be. If not for the fact that the in-store cameras had also caught her writing the note itself.

The cameras aren't high resolution of course, they can't possibly be expected to display exactly what was written on the note. He, however, can follow the motion of the author's pen. Not perfectly, of course. Such an art is never perfect. But. He can identify with relative certainty two of the things that Aqua here wrote down. A scroll number. And a name.

Qrow Branwen.

He has a call to make.

"I need you to identify the person in this image." He says as he sends the clearest image he can get of the girl's face to the tech contact given to him by Cinder. He might be a criminal mastermind, but he preferred more traditional methods to the use of digital warfare.

"And why, pray tell, should I do that?" Even though it's distorted by some kind of voice disruption software, Roman can just feel the perpetual condescending drawl in his unidentified contact's speech. Roman would nickname him Ghost, but that would make the arrogant prick sound cool and mysterious, two things that he is decidedly not.

"Suspicious activity." Roman answers. Because if he doesn't get to know everything about the people he's working with, why the fuck would he share all of his information? Not to imply that he would ever do such a thing, even if Cinder and her people were actually telling him jack.

A long-suffering sigh echoes out from the scroll, grating on Roman's ears and his ego at the same time. "Very well. Between this photo and that distinctive animal trait, I suppose that it would be simple enough to find her in a public database somewhere."

"There, see? That wasn't so hard now, was it?" He taunts. "I'm sure a big smart man like you will be just fine."

The contact hangs up.

-----------​

As I'm walking back home I end up getting a sudden craving for cookies, so I guess I'll be inviting Ruby over to partake in them as well. Walking sort of sucks though, I wish I weren't a bottom so I could drive, given that I can already cook and do math. Oh well, I can probably just make myself some kind of flying vehicle eventually once I have engineering. Don't need to be good at driving if your altitude is too high to be at risk of hitting a pedestrian.

However, once I get back I realize that I'm facing an incredibly serious conundrum. Should I tell Ruby I'm baking cookies and I want her to try some, or should I invite her over and make it a surprise?

Hmmm. It'll probably be way cuter if she's surprised, so I guess I'll do that.

My cooking skill isn't that high, so I go ahead and use a recipe instead of just letting the skill feed me the information of what I should do on autopilot. The recipe I find is definitely better than what I would have been able to do on my own, which is good. Someday I'm going to max out cooking and make Ruby a batch of cookies so amazing she cries with joy or something. Hopefully joy.

Maybe I should make sure that I never make her cookies that might be better than Summer's. At least until after I bring Summer back to life.

Yeah, that's a good idea.

"Hi-you got a kitten!" Ruby jumps excitedly the moment I open the door, Amber in what's become her usual easy carry spot of being nestled between my tits like a warm furry boba cup.

"Actually, Amber's not a cat, she's a flerken." I correct gently.

"What's a flerken?"

"I don't know, but you do not want to see her eat." I really don't want to scar Ruby for life. Who knows how traumatizing that could be for someone without Gamer's Mind.

"Oh. Okay." Ruby examines Amber for a moment and shrugs, taking my word for it. She reaches out a hand. "Can I pet?"

"Yeah, just lemme get her in a spot where you can do that without groping me." I hold my cupped palms out in front of my chest and Amber lazily clambers into them, giving Ruby an imperiously demanding look. Why am I planning on making a familiar bond with this small, demanding creature? Oh yeah, because she could kill me and many other things with ease.

"Awww, she's so cute." Ruby coos as she brushes the back of her hand down Amber's spine. "Do you think she'd like to meet my dog Zwei?"

Amber hisses at the same time that I flinch uncomfortably.

"Dogs... aren't great for me. Getting licked by them squicks me out, and they have those big teeth, and the whole barking thing sorta tends to trigger my sensory issues. And uh, I'm pretty sure that's a no from Amber."

"Oh, okay." Ruby's disappointed frown is almost enough to get me to change my mind, but I really do not appreciate dogs' company. In the next moment however, she perks up like a puppy herself, the smell from the kitchen finally reaching her brain. "Did you make cookies?"

"Yeah, I got a totally random craving for some cookies, you want some?" I can't help smiling at her enthusiasm, it's too infectious.

"Yes!"

And there she goes, following her nose to my kitchen, and trailing a bunch of rose petals around the house at the same time. I hope those cease to exist after some finite amount of time, otherwise I'm going to end up with a lot of purposeless rose petals in my inventory just sitting there for all of eternity really quickly.

I follow after her with a dopey grin on my face. I remember when I was young and still had energy. Before puberty, basically. Ugh, now I feel old, even though I'm really not that old.

By the time I get there she's already pulled a bunch of cookies off the sheet and onto a small plate. Where'd she even get a plate? I keep all my clean ones in my inventory.

"Where's the milk?"

"I got it." I pull a gallon of milk and a glass out my inventory, making Ruby stare at me like I'm a magician. Oh, right, oops.

"How did you do that?"

"Would you believe me if I told you it was sleight of hand?" I say, having no idea how to do sleight of hand.

"Not really."

"In that case, I'd really rather not tell you right now." I shrug. I really need to make a better habit of pretending to be normal around people. Well, pretending not to have super extradimsensional magic powers, anyway. As if I could or would ever pretend to be normal.

"Oh, well, that's fine then." Ruby nods resolutely, then snatches the milk and glass from my hands and pours herself some.

[+5 reputation with Ruby Rose(55/100) oh great distributor of baked goods]

Watching Ruby eat cookies is nearly comparable to a religious experience. She's so happy about it, every single part of the process just makes her beam and I can't help thinking that I want to be able to make her this happy and more all the time. I know for a fact that she deserves it.

With the last of the cookies vanished into her mouth (I'd already put a few for myself into my inventory before I answered the door) Ruby heaves a content little sigh and slumps back in her chair, a milk moustache still lingering on her lips. "So, do you live here all alone?"

It takes a moment for me to remember to respond to the question. I... haven't thought about the kind of thing she's implying for as long as I've been here. I didn't exactly leave much of anything behind, in terms of close family relations.

"I... don't really have anyone." I'm not sure why I let myself say it out loud, because that only makes the weight in my chest feel heavier. I hadn't expected this kind of subject to bother me this much. Well, no, it really isn't any different from the way my life had been before, it's just this question that's making me feel what I do more clearly than usual.

"Oh. I'm sorry." Ruby sinks into her chair, shoulders drooping.

"It's not that anyone's dead or anything. I just... chose to leave them behind, is all." Somehow that sounds even sadder than my previous statement, but it's true too. Well, my parents must think I'm dead, but that's a technicality.

Ruby nods awkwardly, her lips pressed into a tight line. "Um, I dunno if it's a weird thing to say, but you could come meet my dad sometime. He's great, and I'm sure he'd like to meet you sometime anyway because I don't make very many friends."

"Well, I don't know if it's a weird thing to say either, actually." I can't help the smile inspired by her offer as I get up and walk over to her. "But regardless, yes, I'd like that too." I spread my arms a little, silently requesting a hug.

She pops up out of her chair and glady hugs me, my chin ending up resting on her shoulder as neither of us wants to end the warm embrace very quickly. Ruby smells like roses and gunpowder, it's actually a really nice scent. It's been a really long time since I've gotten to hug someone like this. It really does make me feel all warm inside, just like Penny said when that one thing happened.

"So, then why do you live here?" Ruby asks as we separate, in a welcome effort to redirect the conversation.

"I'm going to be starting a business soon, once I'm ready."

"I thought you were going to be a huntress though?"

"Oh yeah, I still am. But I mean, there are more things that kill people than just Grimm, and to fix those you generally need money. Poverty, discrimination, cops, lack of a well funded socialized healthcare system... it's a really long list."

"I never thought of that." Ruby's eyes immediately widen with comprehension, her expression serious.

"Don't worry about it too much, I'm sure you're already going to do a fantastic job of protecting people as a huntress. I'm just weird in that I'm actually going to be capable of taking on a bunch of different responsibilities competently." I pat her head reassuringly, unable to resist the urge.

[+15 reputation with Ruby Rose(70/100) pats good, and so is protecting people]

"You think so?" Ruby looks down at me with those pretty silver eyes of hers wide open.

"Yeah, you're already such a cute leader I'm sure you could get your minions to do anything you wanted with puppy dog eyes." I joke.

"I'm not entirely sure what being a good leader means, but I don't think that's it." Ruby spends a moment leveling me with a suspicious glare before she laughs a little. "Although I did manage to help Weiss win a fight in Grimm Studies. That's probably a leader thing, huh?"

"Yeah, being there to help others succeed is definitely a leader thing." I nod, smiling.

We keep chatting for a while after that, and I do my best to give her what little I know about how to be a good leader in theory. I'd like to think that when we part ways she's a little bit more confident about things, but at the very least she seems pretty relaxed and happy, which is good enough for me.

-----------​

It's still weird to wake up in the morning and think that I'm actually looking forward to the day's work that's ahead of me, but magic is cool and good, so sure. Plus, Game systems and mechanics and whatnot to explore. It's all stuff that I find super interesting, and that helps me get stronger, so I'm actually happy to do it.

Down in my workshop, which is my basement and still only has the one desk and its chair, I go ahead and start with the credit shop. That's the part that's most likely to color my future decisions, after all. My ability to get my hands on diverse materials and items from other worlds.

The shop has all the tabs I would expect. Various types of equipment, reagents, ores, metals, herbs, potions, the list is really long. I was sort of hoping that I could get more mundane items from home through here too, things along the same line as Utena, but that's fine. What really catches my interest, however, is the scrolls tab.

It has scrolls for essentially every spell in Pathfinder or D&D, from multiple different versions, with prices that grow exponentially. But there's one particular scroll that really draws my attention, that makes me gasp with excitement when I see it.

Resurrection. A seventh level spell that brings back the long dead.

With this, there are only two things I need to bring back Summer Rose.

122,750 credits, and a piece of her corpse. Even her ashes would be acceptable. Otherwise, I'd need a Wish, which is a ninth level spell. And there's no way I'll be able to afford something like that anytime before I'm operating on the same kind of power level as a god anyway, I don't think.

Given the massive credit cost, I'll try to get the part of her corpse first.

This is still assuming she's dead, of course. But if she's not dead there won't be a corpse to find anyway, so the solution is to investigate her disappearance anyway.

I don't really think Ozpin is going to just tell me what happened if I ask though. He's very much not the type, especially given that I have no intention of telling him that I want the info to bring someone back from the dead. He'd probably stonewall me on the whole subject if I did that, since the gods gave Salem a whole holier-than-thou speech about the sanctity of life and death and I'm pretty sure he knows about that from Salem herself. Not to mention that asking would reveal some degree of the extent of my knowledge and areas in which it lacks.

No, I'll have to wait until after I've helped capture Cinder to ask him about Summer. That should be enough to gain his trust. As much as he ever trusts anyone, given that he doesn't tell them about the whole deal with the gods and all.

But to get those credits, it's inevitable that I'm going to have to end up going dungeon diving again. Maybe not now, but later when I can handle pretty high level dungeons. Those are the most reliable source of them, after all. Just the thought makes me uncomfortable. I don't want to go back, at all.

You don't have to go alone you know.​

No offence, but you being there isn't that reassuring because you're basically a part of me.

No, I'm saying that there's a party system, in addition to being able to bring your familiar.​

Oh. That's... a relief. How exactly does that work?

Once someone meets the requirements, it becomes possible for you to give them a minor copy of your power through means you have to figure out for yourself.​

It's sex, isn't it? I know how these things go. I'll bet you money that it involves having sex with them.

Not that I'm complaining.

Anyway, what are the requirements?

1. Maximum Reputation

2. They have to know about the whole Gamer thing

3. They have to be of a lower level than you

4. They have to consent​

Okay. That's all doable, and I was probably going to do it anyway. Not like I'd ever do something without someone's consent anyway, and I was inevitably going to tell people about the Gamer thing because otherwise I'd just end up having to hide a bunch of stuff about my life from them.

You'll be able to figure out more details as you learn more magic.​

Cool. I look forward to it.

There's also the matter of the base building system, which is exactly what you'd expect it to be. A menu that lets me expand my base (my house) and add various tools and decorations and renovations with credits. I don't need to add anything yet, but I'm sure I will eventually once I unlock less purely magic-based production skills.

Interestingly enough, the base builder also counts Roman's little hidden room as a part of my base as well, and gives me the option of deleting the dungeon portal inside it. The latter is weird, because I would have expected it to go away to begin with once I cleared it.

Dungeon portals respawn a new random dungeon one week after being cleared. ​

Ah, that works then. Means I won't have to go looking too hard for more dungeons in the future. I like that. Sort of. It's good on a practical level, but not for morale.

Anyway, it's time to get to making those arcana spells, then probably coming up with another geomancy spell or two, then spending some time on making more spellstones. I'm going to try to make magic missile, mage armor, shield, and spiritual weapon first, since they're all simple spells. I'm also going to try to make some kind of detection ward.

Arcana as magic, when put into practice is essentially the manipulation of pure force. The reason why I need to spend time carefully crafting these spells, whereas with geomancy I just made by messing around with the magic a little, is that the forces in these spells require delicate balancing and arrangement. Making the mana be converted into the right kinds of force vectors and arranging them the right way, as well as then memorizing the structure. It's basically magical engineering.

It takes about three hours, but the results are pretty good.

Spell gained: Magic Missile

For every 50 int, fire a projectile of pure force at the target that cannot miss. Force damage is not reduced by armor and deals full damage to incorporeal beings.

MP:160

Range: 30m

Spell gained: Mage Armor

Create a force field around the target that will deflect and soften blows, reducing damage taken by 30. Stacks with armor and spells that provide other forms of damage reduction.

Duration: 1 hour

MP: 300

Range: touch

Spell gained: Detection Ward

Create an invisible barrier that will notify the caster when an unauthorized person passes through it.

MP:800

Duration: Permanent

So unfortunately, shield and spiritual weapon aren't happening right now. Spiritual because that's technically a kind of construct, and shield because I don't have a way to make it move autonomously. What's nice is that making those three spells actually ended up increasing my arcana skill a little bit. I guess just putting the magical theory I get out of this into practice will increase it, in addition to fighting with it.

I didn't bother to incorporate runes into the ward, since it's more of a binary thing than something I could potentially make any more powerful, and also because I could use a bit more experience with arcana before I do. Gaining some arcana is letting me understand runes better, but still only on a basic level.

One other thing I've realized about runecrafting is that I'm going to need to start using materials that are more reactive to magic than just stone soon. More reactive materials can hold more mana and remain stable, meaning that they can fit more powerful runes without breaking. The fact that I can't make or retrieve any more reactive materials with geomancy however, is a problem. I need these materials to be able to keep making better runes, which I need to do to be ready to open up shop, which I need to do to be able to afford to get refined metals of a specific size and shape from an outside source. I can't make them myself either without engineering. It's a catch-22.

So I guess I'll check the shop and see if I can find an alternative that way. Pure metal spheres cost at least 20 credits each, which is too much to spend every time I want to make a spellstone, and they're solid anyway, which would make them too heavy and a waste of materials. For 100,000 credits I can get a material fabricator that's basically a 3D printer that never runs out of materials, but that's too much for a form of resource production that sounds like it'll operate slowly. Especially when I'm trying to save up more than a million. Ugh, if only I could grow metal.

Wait, no, there's an infinite multiverse out there. Surely somewhere there are plants that can grow metal, right? Maybe? But then how would I shape it?

You'll gain the ferromancy perk once geomancy reaches 50. ​

Okay, I can work with that then. Now I just have to set up the whole growing metal plants thing.

As it turns out, there are indeed magic plants that I can harvest for various common metals. I end up getting some copper plants and a seedbed that will take up all of one wall of the basement. I'm fairly sure that since they're magic in nature I can just dump some mana and water into the dirt and they'll grow off of that. Arcana don't fail me now, I spent more than 1,000 credits on these things. Hopefully they don't turn into giant monster plants and attack me or something, but that would be silly.

They actually look like pretty normal plants, actually, and I just sort of stick the seeds in the soil, which coincidentally unlocks the gardening subskill. Which, hey, that's great. I gotta get around to growing my own tomatoes sometime soon, those are so much better when you grow them yourself.

By this point, it's lunchtime, something of which Amber has come around to very cutely and instantly remind me of. I'm glad I have her now, as a cute little outside reminder that I need to take breaks instead of hyperfocusing. Our meal is a nice, quiet affair, aside from the terrible sounds that she makes when she eats, and that I'm at least slowly growing desensitized to. I like having a pet, even though I never would have thought that I'd be able to take care of one before. It helps that she's smart enough to yell at me if I forget something, and basically all she needs are pets and food.

I use the evening to set up some detection wards around my doors and windows before retiring for the night. Sleeping with a flerken curled up on my chest is really comfy, as it turns out. I like it. I like my new life.

-----------------

since it's hard to have a reason for in story, I'm going to start posting the stat sheet at the end of each chapter from now on

Name: Sil Marilis

Race: Faunus(Mermaid)

Level: 36

STR: 47

DEX: 100

END: 51

INT: 85

WIS: 75

LUK: 67

Points:

Skills:

Geomancy(33/100)

Arcana(3/100)

Daggers(35/100)

Light armor(1/100)

Runecrafting(30/100)

Stealth(9/50)

Cooking(8/50)

Gardening(1/50)