Cless was at the association training grounds. A crowd of adventurers, delvers and curious townsfolk was gathered to see the marksmanship contest. She was sitting on a bench under a canvas awning with Venaris and Kurt. Vic and Silverfang were at the sides, their shapes inadequate for sitting.

After leaving the church, they took the bear pelt to Olson for curing and earned two crowns from the unblemished and perfectly skinned pelt. Then they went to the barracks and informed the constable of the wagon's recovery. Everything Cless took from the bandits was hers but there was a custom to let the former owners ransom their belongings at a discounted price. She didn't have to accept the ransom but it was considered bad form. George had a list of the cargo the merchant was carrying. The foodstuffs and the herbs. It meant that the spools of fabric were hers. She was putting her seamstress Skill and Proficiency to work full throttle in her mind, trying to come up with ways to use those bolts to make clothes for everyone.

"I guess it is time, Venaris. Remember to aim for the bullseye. Don't lose. Here is some help. Lend the [Trick Shot], [Nimble Step] Skills plus fifty Agility and Health to Venaris until the next sunrise." With her comprehension and experience, her Skill was getting easier to use. She felt weaker and slower as her Agility plummeted but all she had to do was to sit down on the bench and cheer.

Venaris stumbled while she adapted to her new Agility score. The adventurer archer and the gnome took their positions and started to shoot at their targets. They were tied because none of them hit anything but the center of the bullseye. Cless noticed the intricate craftsmanship in the archer's bow and called out.

"Hey, is that bow enchanted?"

The archer sneered. "Yes, got a problem? It is a surefire bow. I can hit the same spot as the last arrow if I so desire."

That was cheating. Of the highest sort. a magical bow against an ordinary leather strap? Cless boiled. Then her mind came to a conclusion. There is no such thing as a free lunch. That bow must incur a cost to use. While shooting the sling would eventually...

"Lend [Giant's Stamina] to Venaris until the next sunrise."

That should do it. Venaris turned around and showed her tongue at Cless. They kept shooting. Eighty shots for both sides, all of them in the bullseye. The archer was dizzy.

"Time out. I need to drink some refreshment." She called. Her teammates were already uncorking a vial when Cless called.

"No potions! If you are parched, drink water."

"Hey, there's no rule saying I can't use a potion." The archer called out.

"That's external influence!" Cless retorted.

"No rule against that either."

"FIne. Quaff your alchemical concoction." Cless sat down. Potions were expensive.

The shooting was going to resume. Cless directed her hostility to the archer girl and mumbled under her breath.

"Hallow."

The ring of golden light spread. The archer gave Cless the stink-eye but couldn't say anything. The two girls kept shooting. One hundred, hundred-fifty shots for each side. The archer girl quaffed her third potion. Sunlight was drawing long shadows. Most of the training yard was already under the shade of the wall. Two hundred shots. Venaris switched hands. Two-hundred-fifty. The arrows were breaking. Venaris' iron balls didn't lose shape or if they did, she was unfazed. Fifth potion.

Three hundred and twenty-nine shots. The archer girl missed. Finally one point to Venaris. She went for the sixth potion and despite her team's protest, drank it. The archer fell on her knees and threw up.

"That was anti-climatic," Complained Kurt.

Cless dropped the Hallow. "Can she even draw the bowstring?" She shouted.

"She is suffering from alchemical poisoning! Please heal her!" The rogue of the party shouted back at Cless under the jeering and hooting of the crowd.

"Forfeit and I'll do it."

"Yes. We forfeit."

Cless went and used her magic. Detoxify, Purify, and even a Heal for good measure. The warrior gave Venaris five crowns. The crowd was dispersing and Karen was happily counting money. Cless approached.

"Thirteen Crowns, six hundred and seventy--six ducats, and eight thousand, three hundred and twenty-one solidii," Cless told her aunt. Karen looked up, puzzled. Cless shrugged. "There's a Skill for that."

"Gimme!" Karen joked. The greed in her eyes seemed real.

"Nope. It is too funny to see you count money." Cless quipped. "Take these coins to the market and get them changed into higher denominations or you'll ruin the town's economy."

"You should do it!" Karen retorted while she scooped different coins into their proper bags.

"I'm a busy guild master. I have places to be." Cless poked her nose up.

Karen ground her teeth, "I hope one of those places let you sleep comfortably."

She might've gone too far. Cless scooped the silver and copper coin bags and deposited three crowns on Karen's hand. "There you go, boss Karen. I'll get your coins changed for you."

"Wait for a second, that's not—" Karen was cut off by a Cless putting her hundred-plus Agility to work.

"I took our cut of the profits. Toodles!"

They went to the market to celebrate. Cless bought spools of lace, boxes of colorful beads, and ribbons. She bargained hard for them, almost as a sport. She also bought three bolts of fabric with neutral colors. Those she collected were too colorful. She bought some flower seeds and other vegetables and herbs one could grow indoors. A full traveling kitchen set, adventurer gear, climbing gear and a dungeon delving set of tools. The shops would deliver the goods tomorrow morning as she didn't want to burden herself.

They were useful to measure distance without walking the length, angles and even could help drawing maps. Speaking of maps she also bought parchment, ink and spare quills. She looked at Kurt to see if he had any feather good for a quill but the mawarpy's pleading eyes were too much for her.

With the mission of putting all the copper coins back in circulation and even some of the silver, they noticed they were very hungry.

Cless bought some rare spices and took them to the inn. Karen would serve them for dinner if they ate at another venue. They went up to the stairs and Cless dumped everything on the vanity or around it.

"We are going to have some fun busy days ahead of us. Wanna take a bath before dinner, Venaris?"

"You tortured my arms for the sake of monetary gain. Now you are going to massage them until I feel good." The gnome's words made Cless smile. Venaris stomped her feet. "And don't you dare use that succubus Skill on me!"

"Of course not, silly," Cless took Venaris to the bed and laid her on her stomach. "I'd have to do something erotic with you." And yet the Erotic Technique proficiency could do massages as well. In a very intimate way. Not what she intended to do.

"Hey, girls," Vic approached. "If you want, I can do the massage on both of you. I'm very good at it."

"Both of us?" Cless wondered. "At the same time?"

"Yes. My style of massage is very unique."

"Venaris?" Cless passed the ball to the gnome's side.

"If you make my arms stop hurting, I'd kiss you."

"Then it is settled. Please don't be startled." Vic leaped across the bed, wrapping himself in an eight-figure around the two girls twice. He then started to massage their shoulders with his hands while his whole tail squeezed the girls in the right places. He would hold Venaris' legs and torso and pull her to snap her spine. He took special care of the gnomes' arms. Venaris moaned and whimpered in pleasure and pain as the naga worked her body.

He could twist and roll his tail up and down, squeezing Cless thighs and making her circulation flow better. Both girls were flushed, blushing, and satisfied. Vic was deft in his manipulation and after he was done, both were panting on the bed as Vic gently deposited them on the duvet. Cless could swear she had broken bones but her body felt awesome.

"Damn, dude. That was intense." Kurt congratulated him. "Is that a Skill?"

"Just experience and practice. I know a lot about bones and joints."

Cless looked at Venaris. The gnome was glowing a healthy pink. "I think we do need a bath now."

"Ah... That's bliss. Too bad that..."

Venaris started to cry. She would probably say 'too bad the others from my village can't experience this' and it triggered the memories she was suppressing. Cless hugged her and they eventually fell asleep even though they were hungry and sweaty.

Deferred Stat allocation. +1 Magic, +8 Wisdom. Your loaned Stats and Skills returned.

Cless woke up and it was morning. She was spooning Venaris on one side and Silverfang-werewolf spooning her on the other. His long arm actually wrapped around the gnome. Kurt was sleeping on Venaris' bed and Vic was drooling over his own coils. She came to her senses and saw it was morning. As in sunlight was filtering through the window blinds.

She was late for her morning routine!

She went downstairs in a hurry. Josefine was cleaning mugs. "Hello, princess." The barmaid sarcastically said. "Had fun last night?"

"Huh? What are you talking about, Josie?" Cless pretended she didn't know what Josefine was talking about.

"I was going to call you for dinner last night, Karen told me to let you there and not disturb you. With a naughty smirk." Josefine put her hands on her hips. What were you doing in there with those monster boys?"

"Oh. Vic was massaging me and Venaris at the same time. He is divine!"

Josefine glared at Cless through slitted eyes. "Massage. Right."

"Oh, well. Believe what you want. I didn't lie." She made a mental note to get back at Karen the voyeur innkeeper. Cless was sure Karen could look anywhere inside the inn from afar.

"Breakfast is ready. Get your crew downstairs to eat. Some parcels arrived for you too. They are in the closet behind the stairs, suit yourself."

"Thanks a lot, Josie. I can get Vic to give you a massage if you want."

Josefine hissed and threw a mug at Cless. Cless caught it. She went away before more crockery got endangered. They descended and ate their breakfast. Cless was unfazed by the fact that Kurt liked raw seeds. Crunchy ones. She was actually thankful he also ate the shells of the seeds. She read in a book that macaws would discard the shells, eating only the seed core. But Kurt had a mouth and teeth so he probably lacked the equipment to extract the cores. A beak, so to speak.

More of Cless' purchases arrived while they ate. They took everything upstairs, including the bolts of cloth from the wagon.

As they were moving stuff, a guard came. "Guild master Cless, the merchant that has a claim to the wagon was contacted. He told us he'll visit you today before noon."

That was good news. Cless had no use for the horses and the wagon. And it would be a bother to look after them during winter. "That is excellent! Thank you for your hard work." Cless went on with her day. She went with Venaris to take a long-deserved bath.

Upstairs at their bedroom, Cless found Karen inside and noticed that the room was a bit larger. "Hello, aunt Karen. What is going on?"

"I thought you'd like a bigger room. I also added more insulation to the walls," Karen told her.

"Because of the winter?" It was bound to be cold. Winter was a cruel season this far high and north.

"No. Because you are too loud," Karen pointed out. "Seriously, you girls can have your fun all you want, but keep your voices down."

The collection of different faces Cless did would fill an art gallery. "We. Did. Not. Have. THAT. Kind. Of. Fun. I. Swear. Please. Believe. Me. Karen."

"I know. I was just teasing you, dear niece," Karen kissed Cless' cheek. "Payback's a bitch."

Name: Cless (no surname)

Race: Human.

Level: 50 ( 1,224,681 / 1,275,000 Exp )

Class: — Dabbler 11 (56,542 / 66,000 Exp ) — Priestess 25 (975,000 Exp / ** )

Profession — Veteran Warmaster 18 (158,689 / 171,000 Exp) — Crafter 16 (Skill) — Farmer 16 (Skill)

Base Stats — Strength: 63 — Agility: 85 [136] — Health: 85 — Intellect: 96 — Wisdom: 33 — Charisma: 46 — Magic: 135

Available Status Points: 66

Skills:

S-rank: [ Absolute Contract ]

B-rank: [ Succubus’ Kiss ]

C-rank: [ Crafter ], [ Dangersense ], [ Illusionist ], [ Elven Longevity ], [ Eat Anything ], [ Earth Magic ]

D-Rank: [ Trick Shot ], [ Nimble Step ], [ Tinker ], [ Grounding ], [ Dancer’s Grace ], [ Great Leap ],

— [ Tremorsense ], [ Gemsense ], [ Ore sense ], [ Brownie Magic ], [ Courtier’s Charm ],

— [ Singers’ Talent ], [ Spellslinger ], [ Poison Resistance ], [ Merchant sense ], [ Master Miner ],

— [ Heavy Handed ], [ Farmer ], [ Druidwalk ], [ Twin Strike ], [ Curmudgeon crafter ]

E-Rank: [ Gravebreath ], [ Architectural Ingenuity ], [ Coin Sense ], [ Weavertouch ], [ Silk Hair ], [ Wanderlust ],

— [ Giant's Stamina ], [ Hearth’s warmth ], [ Seamstress Talent ], [ Lady’s Countenance ]

F-rank: [ Gardener’s touch ], [ Florist’s Wonder ]

Unkonwn: [ ???? ] x 18

Proficiencies (values under 10 hidden):

Appraisal: Status: 22

Magic

Cleric: Mending: 50 — Detoxify: 36 — Light: 44 — Turn Undead: 34 — Blessing: 46 — Holy Bolt: 50 — Purify: 47 (+3) — Protection: 50

— Hallow: 50 (+2) — Flametongue: 30 — Cure: 30 — Uncurse: 30 — Banish: 30 — Heal: 50 — Warding: 30 — Revivify: 30

General: Prayer: 48 — Reading: 12 — Skinning: 11

Social: Negotiation: 31 (+10) — Persuasion: 16 (+4) — Bluff: 17 (+4)

Social, martial — Leadership: 38 (+4) — Intimidation: 44 (+4) — Tactics: 34 (+4)

Weapon — Long Blades: 27 — Unarmed: 27 — Archery: 34 — Maces: 32