While we're eating breakfast, I feel an odd but familiar sensation. A sort of fuzz similar to when I focus on a caster like Tir. Though I don't need to look for it to notice this. My gaze shifts around the room. "Dan? Why are you in our house?" I set my fork down and turn towards the window facing west.

The strange personality behind the dungeon core I made whispers back. "Sorry, I have my dungeon finished. At least for now. Wouldn't mind building more, and putting more work towards mana combinations. Still feels like I'm missing something there. Like if I get the combinations right, I should actually have more mana types, right? But I think I've built enough to call it a dungeon. Anyway, extending my mana field here was the only way I could think to contact you, and I wasn't sure when you'd stop by again. Kinda had a gentleman's bet going to see who would visit first, but I got bored. It's already been a few days, right?"

"Little over a week actually. Why are you whispering? It's just the three of us, and we're all up." Dad looks unperturbed, but Tir is grinding his teeth a bit. Doesn't speak up about whatever is bothering him though.

"Weeeell, you see. I bonded with a Dungeon Faery, and made a joke she didn't fully appreciate, and I don't want to bo-." He cuts off mid sentence and seems to focus on something else. "Why not? This is the girl who made my first core. If I don't tell her about you, how do we ask for her help with your plans? . . . Okay. She doesn't mind me talking about her, but would like some time before speaking to you herself."

"I heard everything you said. But not whatever your uhh, friend said. What kind of plans does she have?" 

He hesitates a moment before speaking. "I'll introduce you properly when you get the chance to meet. She just wants you to make more dungeons. Might have some specific places she wants them or some such, but that's the core detail." He snickers for a few seconds. "I suppose I need to learn how to direct where I'm speaking at instead of being heard, everywhere my mana field is? I guess I could try to focus it like I do with sight?" There is another brief pause. "Okay, did you hear that? No? Good. Glad that was easy. Now, on to what I actually came here for. Would you like to explore what I have set up so far?"

I grin and sit up higher, then Dad suddenly speaks. "Only if you take Tir and Mera, and I'll run through first while you go check if she's free." I nod, then turn back to the table to finish eating.

Tir finally speaks up. "In the future, you should find some other way to get our attention. Preferably outside of the house, hard enough to get any privacy around here without a dungeon watching us."

"Fair enough. Lessee, you said not to send any of my monsters out. I could set up a torch a ways away and use my mana to light it if I ever need to talk? Huh, and maybe I can absorb my mana field from around the house? Yep. Well, see you in a bit." The faint prickly feeling recedes.

After breakfast Tir and I head into town to meet Mera. Today she greets me by petting my hair for several seconds during which she steals my ribbon. After we explain the situation she agrees to come along. She spends the first part of the trip straightening my hair out meticulously with a brush and comb as we walk, then she braids it and uses the ribbon to tie the end. I carry my spear in front of me instead of over my shoulder while she works. Once she's done she bats at the end lightly like a cat with a cloth toy.

Halfway between the town and Dan's dungeon we hit the edge of his influence. I shudder slightly and look around. "Did he stop about here to keep an eye on the town without drawing attention?"

"Well, I could do that, but it's more that I just wanted to expand above my dungeon too. You're right over the last room of my Holy section right now. I can pull back from the surface, if you'd prefer. It's useful for drawing in wild monsters, but I could probably find an alternative. Separate caves with slightly denser mana inside the entrance, or mana crystals as bait with pit traps that drop into secret chambers. Ah, of course I'd only open the traps for monsters. Not trying to set traps for people outside."

"If you're picking off wild monsters, that could make Dad's job easier. But if they get stronger from your mana things would just get harder." Tir looks thoughtful. "Of course, Dad is already above the level limit, so as long as you don't raise them to level fifty? Or would having more at even a moderately higher level be a problem still? He doesn't usually need to pay much attention to weak monsters, but if there are more that are at least a minor threat he could be busier."

"Level limit?! There's a limit?" He pauses for several seconds. "Okay, Sol says that's only outside the dungeon proper. Phew. Not that it'd be easy for me to get monsters to that point anyway. Kinda makes sense even. If there is a limit on monsters, then having dungeons where stronger monsters appear for people to train in is good. But how exactly does that work? . . To allay your concerns, my default mana field density only seems to empower monsters under level five before my drain matches them. So I imagine it won't be a problem. Though I guess they could get a little higher than that if they mostly had other energies first then take in mana after? Should be a negligible difference."

It goes quiet so it seems like the conversation is over, but then Dan speaks up again. "By the way, aside from my dungeon I was wondering if you could check something else out. About a mile north of my dungeon's entrance is a sort of bubble where I can't spread my influence, or even look into. It's also leaking a little bit of mana for some reason. I already mentioned it to Tiruse, and he said you all could look into it together. If you wanna."

"What's a mile?" I furrow my eyebrows and tilt my head a bit.

"Don't know imperial measurements? Okay, if I say it's about a kilometer and a half, does that make more sense?" I nod. "Metric then. Good for you. Wait, how do you know metric? If it was an auto-translation thing, then a mile would've been made to fit what you know too. So you, actually use the metric system? How the hell'd that happen?"

"That's just what we were taught, right?" I look over to Tir and Mera for confirmation. They both nod, then speak at the same time saying two different things.

"It was only introduced a couple years before we went through school."

"The King mandated it when he took the throne, because the way each measurement fits cleanly into the next is easier to use than the old system."

". . . Okay, so the King is definitely an isekai'd person. Probably a reincarnator, given that he could become King. Lucky bastard being born into the royal family. Anything else, unusual he's been doing since taking over? Also, how does the whole royalty thing work here? Nobles too if you got em."

Mera squints at Tir a moment, as if worried he'll speak at the same time as her again. When he doesn't she perks up. "Okay! First question." She holds a finger up. "His first official decree was to make it so people, particularly nobles, can have multiple husbands and/or wives, though apparently he was already practicing that himself before it became strictly legal. Given the age and diversity of his children." Dan sputters nervously, then sighs in relief a moment later. "Aside from that he's been increasing international trade for various products, mostly foodstuffs like rice or exotic spices."

"Hmmmm. Japanese or american weeb. Probably. And given the first part, likely a fan of isekai stories himself." Mera looks a little cross from the interruption. Dan clears his throat, or at least makes the noise for it. "Sorry, please continue."

"As for royalty and nobility, that's pretty complicated. I know a bit because my dad is a merchant. So I can tell you some of it, at least." She takes a moment to gather her thoughts, which apparently requires hugging me from behind and nuzzling the back of my head. "Basically, the reason they're in charge is because they're the strongest. Sort of. They have a duty to protect the kingdom and the people of course. There are a few reasons behind that, but it's at least in part because they have special classes. Rare classes for nobles and Legendary classes for royalty. Us commoners don't, exactly know how they get those, but basically. A normal advanced class Ranger like Mister Tiruse wouldn't be as strong as a rare Ranger, whatever the name would end up as. Even at the same level."

"There are generally two factors to determine the rank of nobles. Personal strength, and influence, both politically and through wealth. You can tell how much of either they have based on their noble names." She brings one hand to her chin thoughtfully. "Met one while on a trip with my dad once. His name was, uhhh. Belan Creetin, and he said his family name is Breecoper. So, Creetin is his noble name. It starts with a 'C' so that means he's at least on par with a C-Rank adventurer in strength, and tin means he has little real influence. Though the head of his household with the noble name Breecoper is much stronger and somewhat more influential."

"From what I've heard, there are five metals generally used for noble names." She holds her right hand out over my shoulder to count them as she lists them off. "Tin, Copper, Mercury, Iron, and Titanium. Aside from that rarer metals are special. Silver is specific to people with close ties to the royal family, Gold is for the royal family alone, and Platinum is for the reigning monarch. The current King is Aldros Alphaplatin, and his mother the former Queen was Amaphore Actinum."

She pulls her hands away and moves to walk alongside me. "Lastly, succession is generally decided by which child is strongest when the current head of the family retires or dies. That's especially true for royalty. The children that don't take over usually end up joining the kingdom's standing army or the like? Some become adventurers, and some aren't even really interested in combat in the first place and do other things." She stretches her arms overhead and sighs. "Think that about covers what I know. Probably other stuff I don't."

"Interesting. Both monarchic and meritocratic. Even if the latter is only within established bloodlines. Or are there ways for commoners to raise their ranks?" Even Mera shrugs at that, so we continue on in silence. Before long we reach the north oriented cliff face with the cave entrance. "Welcome to, err. Haven't decided on a name yet. Got an idea, but I'll have to run it by Sol's mom first. And figure out if the written language will be the same? Or you guys could spread the name around some way or other."

We walk into the mostly familiar shallow cave. The first tunnel is the same, but the chamber has changed a bit. There is now another passage leading deeper, and mounted on the walls next to the naturalistic looking tunnel are a pair of brightly glowing things. It's difficult to take a close look, but they seem to be made of glass or crystal. Tir looks uncertainly at his torch, but doesn't light it for now.

After looking around a little, we head further in. The passage seems about the same size as the one leading into the first chamber, but is a bit shorter, and soon widens out into a grand elongated cavern. There is an odd shiny brown brazier set at the end with a red and gold crystal floating over it. It's perhaps two hundred meters long, thirty wide, inclined slightly downwards, and has eight plain pillar framed doorways set into the walls. The doorways have more lights set over them, though only three of the closer ones are glowing. The first two on the left and the second one on the right. This section also has a natural look to it, with stalactites and stalagmites scattered about. Most just look like decorations, small enough not to get in the way, though a few connect the floor and ceiling. They seem a little off for some reason though. I frown and look around for a few seconds before Mera speaks up on the matter. "It's too symmetrical to be natural."

"Yeaaaah, I wanted to go with the cave aesthetic for the central area, but got a little finicky about the details. So it ended up like this. Tiruse has already explored half of the branches and given some commentary. He said the fire area would be too tough for you, so that one's out, but the other three he's been through are fine. The ones that have a bright light over them are the ones you can do."

I consider the first door on the left. "I think, that one. But first I gotta look at this." I jog through the central path to the end of the cavern. "Is this your core? It looks a lot different now."

"I actually have multiple cores now. Sol suggested a fire and holy one be put on display in tribute to the Goddess Vestria. Little disappointed in my attempt at making metal mana though. Seven parts earth mana plus one part fire mana makes a pretty durable stone. But it seems more like a less fragile clay or ceramic material instead of metal like I was hoping. And it doesn't feel complete." I rap a knuckle against the odd brazier, which produces a nice pinging noise.

Tir walks up alongside me, though Mera hangs back a bit. "So, you refined your earth with a little fire then?" Dan hums in affirmation. "Then, maybe you could just repeat the process to make it even better?"

". . . Huuuh. So, seven earth, changed by one fire, then changed again, and so on as needed? . . ." He is silent, and the feeling in the air shifts a bit to a harsh dry warmth. The bowl of the brazier ripples to a lighter color. "Better? Still not complete. . . Ohho! If that's the case for the other pairings, then I've been thinking of mana combinations wrong. It isn't adding them together, or mixing, it's using them to affect each other." The basin changes twice more before it is left as an odd iridescent silvery metal. "Finally! Now to see what the Metal versions of my monsters look like! Oh, and I'll need another branch of course!" Dan laughs for several seconds, in a manner that reminds me of the villain of a play I once saw, then sighs contently. "Gotta play with my options soon. But for now I'll stick with watching your exploration. It's, not fun watching Tiruse run through. He's too strong. Ignoring most of the monsters, just to check the traps and so on."

"Riiiight. Okay." I back away from the displayed core, then start walking through the cavern to the first lit doorway. As we're walking, Dad pops out of the third doorway on the left, he is grinning broadly and his hunting leathers look a little scuffed. He strides across to the third opening on the right.

"Not that one either. Too dark, you'd need to rely on other senses. Or have some brighter light than a torch." He quickly disappears into the tunnel with a wave. I blink after him, then keep going.

When we enter the branch dungeon I immediately latched onto, the interior changes immediately. The floor and walls are tiled with what looks like textured white stone marbled with a faint blue color. I stop to follow one of the blue strips with a finger. "Pretty cool huh? Took a little practice to figure out, but when working the earth, I can change the color of stone pretty well. The theme is 'Grecian Ocean Temple'. Though I suppose that doesn't mean much here. Also, I don't really know architecture, so I kinda just used the iconic pillars and expanded that pattern to other things."

There are indeed pillars in this ten meter hallway. About every two meters is a pair of pure white pillars set close to the walls. The base of each pillar is widened into three tiered steps, and the top has a sort of curl down from where it meets the ceiling. The central length is round and has deep grooves running down it. There's a light hanging down in the middle. 

Tir moves to a pillar while Mera looks at the tile I'm touching. "This is pretty, but I think it'd be better if the blue was a little more subdued. Or, you could go the opposite way and make it mostly a deep blue like Ara's hair, with a marbling of lighter blue swirled about." A rough feeling flickers across the tile I'm touching, which changes to match her second option. She gasps excitedly, and holds my braided hair up next to it to compare. "Yeah! Just like that! No rush though. I imagine that sort of thing will take some time."

Dan chuckles and the entire hallway changes starting from the beginning and sweeping forward. "Doesn't take much mana or effort just to change the color." Mera drops my hair and looks around with an awed expression. I nudge her gently with my elbow and she closes her mouth. "Hmm, might need some more lights with this dark color. Or I could use both ideas selectively?"

I walk forward, determined to get this adventure started without further distractions. The hallway ends in a sudden left turn, which I stroll through. The other two follow, though they hesitate at the turn to look around the corner instead of rushing in. The room before us is a bit lower than the hall, and most of the floor is covered in water. There is a winding pathway leading through the room, with three larger platforms connected to it. The water looks a couple meters deep, and is full of slowly swaying plants.

"Nothing out in the open, but I'd guess monsters will attack at the platforms." Tir and Mera catch up with me at the start of the path. He kneels next to the water and stares down into it. "Hiding in the water plants near them?" Well, there's an easy way to find out. I start walking again up till the first turn, then jump across a gap to take a shortcut to the nearest platform. "Don't just rush ahead on your own! Ack, is this what I was like that day we went near the beach?"

"Naaah. You were running at an obviously strong monster. I'm just looking around." I turn to look back at them, Mera is considering the gap with a worried expression. I sit down on the edge with my feet in the water so she knows she can take her time on the path.

When they're a few meters away I scoot back to stand up, but there's some resistance when I try to raise my legs. I look down to see vines wrapped around my boots. "Huh?" Suddenly they yank me towards the water. My back hits the edge, causing me to exhale sharply. I quickly try to take another breath as I go under, but I definitely took in some water at the same time.

I hear a muffled shout, but it takes a moment for the water to clear enough for me to see. I flail my legs about trying to kick the vines off, then take a crude swing at them with my spear. One of the several vines bends sharply, then uncoils and draws away. I stare after it as it retreats and spot something in the nearest cluster, a small blue vaguely humanoid figure similar to a mandragora. I feel something pulling on the back of my shirt, then a pair of hands grab my left shoulder.

There is a struggle between Mera and Tir and the monster's vines. It doesn't seem like that'll work and I'm already getting tired of holding my breath, so I raise my spear and thrust it into the creature. A shrill noise ripples through the water and the grip of some of the vines loosens enough for them to hoist me back up onto the pathway, at which point Mera hacks away at the few still holding on with her knife.

I sit up and exhale until water pours down my chin and across my already soaked clothes, then I take a deep breath. Mera leans in near my face, hers is a bit red right now. "Do you need help breathing?!" I turn my head and cough up a bit more water.

"What d'you mean 'help breathing'? How's that supposed to work, ya weirdo?" I break out laughing with occasional coughs mixed in, then take another deep breath. "Think that's the first time I've breathed in water. Felt a lil weird." I rub my face against my sleeve then stand up.

Tir is staring down at the water again. "Are all of those plants, monsters? Seems a little dangerous for the first room."

"Not all. I found a pond and brought some in. Though I agree that that's a little much. I think I'll make the water shallower here but leave the Grasping Lilies. Then keep the deeper water in the later rooms."

Mera sidles up next to me and grabs my hair, giving a light tug on the braid. "I think we can agree that nobody rushes ahead, yeah?" I look over to see a smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes. That's almost scary. She tugs again, so I nod without objection. When she lets go, my gaze drifts to the platform. Mera sighs, but walks next to me as we approach the larger space.

When we reach the edge of the water ringed arena, a trio of big bloated looking blue furred rodents jump up onto the stone floor. "Drowned rats?" I lower my spear, Mera readies her knife and shield, and Tir holds his wand up without actually pointing it yet.

The rats charge forward, misshapen fangs bared. I thrust at the lead monster, my spear pierces its shoulder, but the rodent twists into it and bites hold of the haft. I swing it to the side, bludgeoning one of the others with the first rat. The other one ducks to the side and charges at Mera.

Mera slams her shield to the floor right in its face, then braces both hands against the shield to give the nearly dog sized monster a firm shove. Once it's stunned, she swipes at it with her knife. It screeches and jumps at her, but is intercepted midair by a purple fireball from Tir. The flames cause the monster's whole body to start steaming as it writhes on the ground. A moment later it vanishes, leaving a crystal in its place.

I feel the weight of my spear shift, drawing my attention back that way just in time to see the second rat climbing over the first one and running up the handle. "Yech!" I swing the spear straight up hard enough to fling the second rat away into the water and crack the teeth of the first, before slamming it down hard enough to kill it.

The last rat climbs back onto the floor just in time for Tir to hit it in the face with his Magic Missile. When it disappears, it leaves behind a light blue gem instead of a clear one. He picks it up for a closer look, before tossing it to me. "You might as well take em all today. Unless Mera wants to keep one?" She looks at me, then shrugs. So I convert the blue gem, as well as the two clear ones. [2 Lesser Mana Crystals absorbed, Lesser Water Mana Crystal absorbed]

"Drowned Wretches actually. Ugly as they are, they're far from the worst of the Wretch line. And, as I'm sure you could tell, I can make Mana Crystals to match the elements of each zone. I'm intending attributed Crystals as something of a 'Rare Drop'. They don't seem to make any difference for the monsters though."

"Still nothing happening. Let's keep going." I walk forward quickly, making sure not to leave the others behind, but still dictating the pace. At the next platform, a trio of Splash Slimes approach us. I charge them, when the first one dodges my spear thrust, I stomp on it, then swing at the next one. It dodges my attack, then gets hit by a Magic Missile, which it actually endures, at least long enough for Mera to stab its core while it's reeling. Tir shoots another firebolt at the remaining one, taking it out in one shot. "Are you always gonna match the number of adventurers?"

"Ehh, that'd be a hassle. How big is an average party? Like five or six? If so, I'll make the standard five." I nod, then convert the mana crystals from the slimes. [3 Lesser Mana Crystals absorbed. . . . Skill enhancement submenu unlocked.]

Mera moves right into my line of sight, a few inches from my face, causing me to cross my eyes to look at her. Then I lean back slightly. "So, what's it doing?"

"I uhhh. Skill enhancement submenu? Looks like I have Lesser Energy Drain and Lesser Regeneration? And I could upgrade either?" I don't know about Energy Drain, but Regeneration makes sense, so I confirm that one, causing it to change to Minor Regeneration in the menu. "Alright, Minor Regeneration! . . That, doesn't sound that impressive." The wording after Minor Regeneration is also different. [Refund 4 Lesser Mana Crystals Y/N, Upgrade for 1 Moderate Mana Crystal Y/N] "Oh, it can upgrade further if I get enough mana crystals."

"Interesting, iiiiiinteresting. Can you tell what Water mana crystals do? If you need more to figure that out, I can just make them now. Lessee, you have six normal ones, so I'd guess five is the benchmark?"

"Five is right, but I want to get them by fighting. Hmmm, most of the things I make with Monster Conversion can be used by other people, and I don't see how that'd work here. . ."

"Fine fine, but I'm gonna swap the next bunch for ones with water crystals." After he says that, I can feel the mana moving around up ahead. I glance towards the other two, who nod in response. With that, we head onwards to the final platform of the room.

This time, two of both kinds of monsters emerge. The rats scurry towards us as the slimes hang back and spit water from a range. Tir lobs an earth spike at one of the rats, which gets away with only its tail being damaged by the stone. I trample over the other rat to charge the slimes. Mera hangs back, blocking the water streams as well as she can and trying to deal with the rodents at the same time.

I stab the first slime, after predicting how it would try to dodge. The other one, jumps back into the water when I get close, then pops back up several meters away after a few seconds. When I run towards it, it dives again. I groan, then turn to see how the others are handling the rodents. One of them is already dead, but the other is clinging to Mera's shield and snapping at her knife whenever she tries to attack it.

I run over next to them and stab the wretch in the side. It releases its grip and I toss it away, after which Tir finishes it with a Magic Missile. Then I get hit by a water spout from the remaining slime, throwing me off balance for a moment. I turn to look at it, and Tir hits it with a firebolt before I can act again. "Awww, I really wanted to kill that one."

I pout, then convert the mana crystals. I open the menu again, and see the option to 'Reform' Lesser Energy Drain for one Minor water mana crystal. I confirm the action, and the name of the skill changes. "What's 'Minor Water Recovery' supposed to be?! Ughh, why doesn't this menu explain the skills?"

"I don't know about minor water recovery, but all skills you have should show up in the skill menu, with explanations, when you gain Vestria's blessing."

"Oh. Can't really play around with skills I can't figure out. Should I switch back to Lesser Energy Drain?" The only response is a shrug, so I refund the skill.

We press on to the end of the path, a doorway on the right wall near the far right corner from the entrance. This hallway is a straight shot, and relatively short. The next room is also mostly covered in water, but this time, instead of a long trail leading through, it has a forest of pillars with varied gaps, but plenty easy to jump across. Ten of the pillars are large enough for several people to stand on, but most would be a balancing act for one. The larger pillars all have monsters on, or above, them.

Two colors of wisps, blue and clear glass like ones, odd near humanoid figures made of flowing water with indistinct lower bodies, and blue skinned goblin like creatures. Mera looks around thoughtfully. "There's several paths we could take to avoid fighting here." I whine slightly and pout at her. "I didn't mean completely. But I'm getting worn out already, so I don't want to fight all of em."

I look through the occupied pillars for one with a blue goblin, one of the water things, and a wisp. Then point at it. "Got a route that goes through that one?" She leans forward and sways as she looks, then nods before jumping to the first pillar. I follow along a couple paces behind her.

About halfway to the target I hear a splash behind me. I turn to see Tir flailing a bit in the water, but I don't see any water vines near him. "Mera?" She has already stopped, but I wanted to be sure. I jump back a few pillars to help Tir back up. But once he's got ahold of my hand and I start to pull him up I pause. "How do we, get you back up here? Cause I'm already on the pillar I'm pulling you up."

"Just, get my hands on the edge and move?" I blink then hoist him up and lean back to brace my feet against the other edge. Once his hands are there I jump backwards to the next pillar, landing with my left foot and pirouetting to face forwards again before hopping to another. The next time I look, Tir is already back on his feet.

When we reach the edge of the larger platform, we spread out before it, then jump forward at the same time. I charge towards the monsters, but halfway there a layer of stone crumbles underfoot and a searing heat shoots up my leg. I jump back away from a jet of steam shooting out of a shallow depression in the floor. My right leg is scalded red up to the knee. "Tsk! Remind me to wear full length pants next time!"

Two of the monsters start moving, but the wisp hangs back and fires a magic missile at me. I swat the spell out of the air with my spear, then plunge it into the elemental creature to no apparent effect. I swing my spear to the side, and duck under a watery fist to run past the monster and skewer the goblin.

The goblin shrieks and pushes forward, driving my spear through its chest, with a knife that looks like an edged seashell held up to slash at me. The knife digs into my left arm as I heave the goblin up and throw it into the water elemental. As it starts to reform it gets hit by a fireball and disappears even faster than the goblin.

I look around for the wisp, then sigh when I realize that Tir already killed it while I was distracted by the other monsters. Mera runs over and grabs my wounded arm. "Are you okay?!" The cut was shallow, but it's still bleeding a bit.

"My leg itches." I rub the back of my left calf against my right shin. I look past the arm she's holding up to look down at my leg. It's starting to peel slightly like a bad sunburn. "Yech. Where'd that steam even come from?"

"Aha! That's pretty simple. There was a very thin layer of stone over a bubble of Fire Mana, and the whole floor around here is rich in water mana, when the two interact, it's quite violently. Almost all of my current traps are magic based." Dan chuckles, then the monsters on the nearest large pillars sink down. "You can take a look ahead if you like, but the boss room is next, and Tiruse thinks it's too strong for you so I didn't respawn it after he killed it. Takes some time to get it ready anyway. There's also a hidden treasure room, but nothing in there yet. Also, Sol is ready to meet you. Just, head back to the central chamber when you're ready."

Chaos_Sinner777

I was thinking of doing a poll to see which area or two of Dan's dungeon they would be exploring. But then I was like "Nah, water section." Not gonna explain why, exactly. But we'll get there. Probably in another two chapters? Maybe three. Which I think the next few will be character focused? Then perhaps another Side chapter for Dan? Which will cover a bunch of stuff that happens with him between the beginning of next chapter and the next time he comes up in the main story.

I feel like I specify both the passage of time and who is talking more often than I'd like, trying to fix that. Blasted RPing habits. Also why I write in first person. Which is, fine?

Kinda debating how Class Skills work. Since I already established that Tir has his third spell, that would initially have implied that he was at level ten? Which is a little more than I'd like. So I'm considering having it be that a skill point is gained every level, but a few new skill options show up every five. The points can be spent to mildly upgrade skills you already have, or to obtain new skills. So if he's just level six he could have three skills.