We returned to the tower as it was getting dark. I waved off Karma the Stardust Dragon and flew in at my room.

“Wow, your room is really bare,” Tear commented as I set her down. I looked around. There were a few items of furniture, but the rest was just plain wood flooring and bare obsidian walls. “Hmmm,” I replied non-committedly, but agreed internally. “Anyway, put your clothes down in your room, then come down for supper. Feel free to take your time, I'll be about an hour.”

I left her to do so, dropping down the central shaft to land directly in the kitchen. I used the Meat Grinder to grind some beef I had bought in the butchers into mince, then mixed some flour and eggs into pasta, which I rolled out and cut into thin strips, like tagliatelle.

I then mixed up some finely chopped tomatoes, various herbs, a sliced onion, and then diced a carrot into fine cubes.

While frying the beef mince I put the carrots on to boil to soften them up a little, then mixed all the ingredients into the frying pan, added some of the water I had been boiling the carrots in and left it to simmer.

I checked on the boiling pasta, turned it off, grated some cheese, laid the table downstairs, including cups of water, then served out the large servings of spaghetti, er, tagliatelle bolognese, and carried them down to find Tear waiting eagerly at the table.

I placed the plates on the table and added cheese to mine. Tear did the same, then eagerly set in. She had difficulty with the tagliatelle, until she saw how I was spinning it round my fork and started copying me.

“Mmm~ that was delicious,” she sighed after finishing. I finished a moment later and took a mouthful of water.

“You're very welcome,” I replied, and pulled two Gingerbread Cookies out of my world storage and handing her one. “One for you, one for me.”

She hummed in delight after the first bite and ate the rest in seconds.

I finished mine, then stretched. “I need a bath, then a sleep,” I yawned, and Tear seemed to catch my yawn.

“Definitely,” she agreed, “I even brought my towel down.”

“Then I'll see you there, or not,” I said, and hopped over the edge of the central shaft.

I landed gently, then carefully collapsed onto the floor.

Tear emerged from the staircase several minutes later, looked at my crumpled form, snorted, and walked past with her towel over her shoulder.

“That's really mean, how could you just leave me here?” I said, mock-hurt.

“You're too much of a monster to die to something like that. Besides, I can see your wings,” she said bluntly.

“I'll need to remember that for next time,” I said pensively.

“Please just don't,” she pleaded and stepped through the teleporter.

I sighed, straightened myself out on the floor, and then levered myself directly up to my feet by pressing my wings against the ground and using my heels as the pivot point. I pulled a towel out of my inventory, then headed through the teleporter myself, stepping round the wall to enter the male side.

After a long soak I headed up to bed. My body didn't seem to need much sleep, but I hadn't slept at all last night, so I was fatigued mentally, falling asleep instantly.

I woke up and stuck my head outside in preparation for my morning exercise, only to be soaked by the torrent of rainwater pouring off the spire.

“Nope,” I said grumpily and spent the time redecorating my room instead.

I lined my walls with creature kill banners interspersed with item frames containing various ingredients and items, including the feather ingredients for wings, boss trophies, and various weapons on racks. Around the wall I placed mannequins with various vanity and armour sets, though, like the weapons on the walls, I was careful to ensure none of them were on a level that could pose a threat to me, simply sticking to the flashier looking ones such as the gladiator armour, just in case.

On opposite sides of the room, I placed two groups of four mannequins, one side wearing Lunar Cultist robes and hoods, the other wearing Solar Cultist robes and hoods. Between the two centremost mannequins I hung Celestial Sigils.

I was careful to ensure all of my decorations were spaced so that they provide no hindrance to my movement if I were to have to fight in my room, though I didn't think that was very likely.

I didn't feel much like cooking, so I just brought the still warm leftovers from breakfast yesterday from my inventory, and, to make up for the deficit, added bread that I had bought in Durell and a bottle of honey from my world storage.

When Tear came down for breakfast, I noted that she had filled out a little, though she was still fairly thin. I reckoned that the mana rich environment was doing wonders for accelerating her recovery.

“You look much better now that you actually have some substance to you,” I told her, and she blushed a little. Her face was becoming prettier as she filled out, her skin losing its rough look. She was also finding the stairs easier, which was a good sign, and I began planning out some light exercises for her to do in a couple of days.

“If you need me I'll be in the library,” I told Tear after breakfast as I left the crockery on one side of the bar for the tower to clean.

“Oh, and I recommend you practise your reading and writing until it's almost instinctual - here's a blank book, a quill, and some squid ink. You could try keeping a diary!”

“Do I have to?” she complained half-heartedly, and I ruffled her hair.

“Just do it; it'll benefit you in the long run, and books are interesting! If you come visit me in the library, I'll direct you towards some good ones.”

She groaned but when I looked at her sternly, she agreed to practise.

“Good,” I said, hopping down a level into the library.

I spent almost the entirety of the rest of the day in the library, only leaving to prepare food for Tear (I wasn't feeling hungry and so decided to just subsist off the mana in the air), and for a quick jog up and down the tower. I also installed some comfier chairs in the library.

About three hours after breakfast, a bored looking Tear came by, and I gave her a dictionary and directed her towards 'The Hobbit'. She curled up on a nearby chair and just read for several hours, occasionally checking words against the dictionary. I took this as a good sign.

I was further encouraged by her excitedly chatting about the books over dinner. Though she hadn’t finished The Hobbit, she had no problem enthusing over it.

“There are actually sequels to The Hobbit,” I told her when she took a moment to draw breath, and she beamed brightly, “but they're written with a bit more difficult language, not to mention archaic, so you should polish up your reading skills a bit more before tackling them.”

“I'll do it!” she said with determination, and I smiled happily - my plan to get her reading had worked. I also pointed her in the direction of 'The Dragon Rider' by Cornelia Funke, which, like The Hobbit, my little brother had also loved deeply.

I looked through the wall with my depth vision; the rain had stopped.

“I'm going out for a bit, don't stay up past ten,” I told her.

“Can I come?” she asked, perking up in her chair.

“No, it might be dangerous, and I don't want you getting hurt,” I replied, and almost laughed at how her cat ears flopped sadly.

“Don't worry, I'll be fine,” I said, ruffling her hair again.

“I'm not worried about you! I'm worried about being bored to death!” she exclaimed, batting my hand away.

“In less than an hour between now and ten?” I asked, quirking an eyebrow.

She opened her mouth to continue, then actually looked at the clock I had placed in the dining hall. “Huh, I didn't know it was that late,” she said more calmly.

I laughed. “You were engrossed in your book, so I waited until you'd finished before calling you for dinner,” I said, walking across to the central shaft and I stepping into it. ”Now, I want you to be in bed by ten. Don't be late,” I called, using my wings to hover to deliver a parting message before shooting up to my room and then out the tower door into the cool night air.