The couple snuggled in bed as they woke up to experience another day in Goshem. Their eyes met with the finished ceiling that had a candle wax chandelier that they had mounted at the centre of the room. The master bedroom had custom made antiques, life size models of video game and manga characters that Tanatswa liked as well as crafted furniture. Making use of Refiner to polish up their home really made a difference and to their joy, it made their home especially astounding to look at. A job that usually required a lot of man power and money was achieved by two individuals, driven by the desire to have a lovely home in preparation for the arrival of their child.

With the combined effort of using the custom goal mechanic, they were able to craft various kinds of detergents, making varnish for the wooden furniture and walls, and they cheated their way into making everything perfect. All that was left for them to do was to figure out how to manufacture glass and then they would use it for their windows. This accomplishment by two people really made Shami feel proud and more connected with Tanatswa. He would always work hard to train and do all the physical labour, speeding up production by pulling all-nighters. With his higher level, it would take him a while before his body would experience fatigue. The perks of having a body from Goshem, really did their wonders when it came to productivity. Carving out tiles and making cement were now just mundane tasks he could breeze through. Having a beautiful and fortified home was something they both wanted and as a couple, they made their dream come true.

Shami got up and lit the fire place where she placed her huge bucket filled with water. The clay pot would take a while to boil due to its low thermal conductivity of heat which often annoyed her. As Tanatswa would wake up, she would complain, "We need to make iron buckets and get some silverware in this place. Shit, this is quite primitive."

"You know, you might as well try turning into a dragon to boil your own water." said Tanatswa, who glanced at her from behind.

"A dragon, really? I don't think I would want to look as hideous as a dragon. Besides, if we don't get a permanent solution we will just end up wasting our mana to heat up things quickly. Who am I fooling here, I don't think I can turn into a dragon." said Shami, who scoffed at the slow progression of heat on the clay bucket.

"You can't turn into one? Is it because it's a high leveled creature?" wondered Tanatswa, who closed in on her, grabbing on her on the hips.

"Yeah, something like that. Wait what are you doing. Are you trying to grab my ass?" she wondered, as he slid his fingers down her buttocks.

"Yup, that's exactly what I am doing." he said, as he moved in close and began to rub his chest against her shoulders.

"From the very get go, you're in the mood. If there is one thing that men have over women is, is their ability to always be in the mood. Sadly, I don't feel like doing it." she said, as she grabbed onto the hand that was gropping her.

"Again? Come on, 2 days ago you told me that you were up for it." lamented Tanatswa.

"Well, I am sorry Tana, but I am not feeling it. I feel kinda nauseated, even right now as we speak. Just, I don't know... whack it off." she said, feeling slightly bad for him as well lamenting the fact that she couldn't do it with him.

"You want me to jack off? Like, when I am in the mood and you're not, I jack off. This makes me feel weird." he said, languidly.

"Well, I am just trying to be understanding. I mean, the 9months are going to be hell for me, but I know that abstinence for guys for 9months is kinda hell, so hey, whatever keeps you from losing your mind." she said, jokingly.

"Your sense of humour never fails to impress me, right little baby growing in her tummy. Your mamma is a comedian with sass." he said, now rubbing her tummy gently.

"You know, you might give our unborn baby the wrong idea about me. I just hanged around a lot of boys to know the kind of locker room talk they would have. Anyways, I think we should put mining iron ore and making steel kitchen utensils on the list. You wouldn't mind figuring out how to craft iron pots, pans and e.t.c?" she said, flickering her eyes at him to persuade him into action.

"You know you don't have to use that look to make me do it. I would gladly learn how to make iron and whatever steel things that come into mind. Although, a little bit of sex can make a guy do much more without you asking. That would be your best persuasion card to play." he said, giving her a sly look.

"Oh brother, you're literally pulling at strings of straw to get yourself laid. Hmm, well, later today I could give you head, so that you could calm the fuck down. Like seriously, I will tell you when I am in the mood for it, so sheesh." she said, mixing a bit of a laugh and annoyance in her remark. Tanatswa was taken aback by her mixed message and just took a step back. He couldn't help himself with how he was feeling and wanted to embrace her in sensual sexual activity. He simply capitulated and walked away.

As he distanced himself from her, he noticed a bird that had just landed by the window frame, start to peg on the wood, causing a loud obnoxious sound. Due to being annoyed by Shami's response, he felt compelled by frustration to chase away the bird that was making the irritating noise. However, Shami intervened on behalf of the screeching bird and told Tanatswa, "Don't be cruel to this beautiful creature. It's here to deliver a message." Tanatswa paused for a bit and then asked her, "Wait what?"

"I forgot to tell you that I managed to learn how to communicate effectively with animals recently. Well, not all animals but so far birds, wolves and unicorns are what I have managed to strike a conversation with. They aren't entirely dumb creatures, but I must say they have simple needs as compared to us people. Anyways, her name is Sherrah. Let me just find out what she has for me." said, Shami who blocked Tanatswa's way as she approached the bird.

Tanatswa kept quiet and simply observed as his girlfriend initiated a conversation with a bird that had the eyes of an owl but had a body which seemed like a fusion of a toucan and a penguin. Shami used her ability to alter her head, making it similar to that of the bird. Both the bird and her began screeching, with their beaks and tongues, shifted and wagged respectively. Witnessing her in bird whisperer form was always an uncanny experience for him. It reminded him of mystique from the X-men films, but unlike seeing it through the veil of a tv screen, the first hand experience had no competition in terms of spectacle. The conversation which involved her waving her hands with dramatic gestures soon ended and she reverted back to her human face as the messenger bird flew away. Tanatswa then waited for her to say to say something, consumed by immense curiosity. Shami's face gave him a look of desperation and he immediately realised that what the bird had to told her was nothing good.

"What did the bird tell you? If it insulted you I can just kill it. That won't be a problem for me as I am now." he said, trying to lighten the mood.

"There is a group of survivors heading our direction. Possibly looking for mana or something. I don't know if this is good or bad, but what if they are just like the asshole who attacked us? I have a bad feeling about this Tanatswa. Call me crazy, but I really don't want to have any guests coming to our home." said Shami who held onto his shoulders, trembling. The motion of her fingers, conveyed how much this information was bothering her. Being xenophobic or territorial was one thing, but they really had no way of telling if other survivors were going to be hostile or friendly.

"Did the bird tell you how many they are?" asked Tanatswa.

"Yeah, but it could only say that they were more than 5. I am scared Tana, what if we have to face them? What if our baby..." said Shami who was immediately interrupted by Tanatswa who raised his voice to solidify his resolve.

"Nothing will happen to the baby. I will make sure of it. Did the bird tell you how strong they are? like their levels?" he said, hugging her tight.

"No, the animals can't tell levels, but the bird told me that they are strong, well, some of the members. I am scared Tana. If we end up facing them, what would happen to us and the baby..." she said, before being interrupted by him as he raised his voice to show his resolve.

"I will just become stronger than them. Nothing will happen to you. I am not going to jump the gun, but if they end being enemies, I will kill them. That's a promise from me so, so don't be afraid. I will protect our family." he said, embracing her tightly and looking into her eyes. Shami's sadness was replaced by a smile as she gladly accepted his bold optimism. His chiseled and hard muscles felt like armour that could protect her from all the evils of Goshem. After embracing him for a while, an idea popped up her mind.

"Tanatswa, I think I can get some of the wolves to guard our home. Like it sounds crazy but there is a way for them to submit to us." she said, with her eyes sparkling as if a great idea had come to mind.

"Wait you want those blood thirsty wolves guarding the fortress, are you sure?" he asked, hesitant about incorporating those beasts into their plans.

"They are barbaric, but they can be easily swayed. We would need to guarantee them a large amount of unicorn meat as well as other game. It could ward off anyone trying to get here. I believe it would work."

"If that's possible then, I will help you out, but in the event that these guys don't turn out to be bad, I wouldn't want these wolves to attack the innocent. So do we hunt down the unicorns and provide them with meat. Is that what it takes?" he asked, wishing for her to confirm it.

"Yeah. I will just turn into a she wolf and communicate with them. If a battle ensues, I don't want our lovely home to be demolished. We worked our butts off, especially you, so I will tell them to guard. Hopefully they will only attack if our visitors prove to be a threat." she said, reassuring him that she had everything under control.

"Okay then, I will go kill some unicorns." he said, averting his attention towards the exist.

"Wait a minute, like now? We barely just got up from bed and you want to go ahead with the plan?Hey Tanatswa, I am just as eager about getting shit done, but let's slow down. I haven't taken a bath yet, plus I am hella hungry, so I want to eat first. Let's first gauge the distance of these people. Then we can decide how urgent we should act." she pleaded with him.

"Like it's not even a big deal, I can just get the unicorns ready..." he said.

"Man listen to yourself. You're acting as if you run on autopilot. Wait for me to prep up then we can act. I am entering something into the custom goal mechanic so just give me a sec."

Shami entered the words 'People who are coming for our mana plants' and she immediately had seven navigation points appear in her peripheral vision. The distance stated 80km+ which was far enough for her to gauge how much agency she was supposed to exhibit in their current predicament. The number of navigation points were 7 and Shami made this number known to him. Tanatswa began to think about his chances against 7 unknown individuals. If they were looking for mana, it probably meant that they were all above level 1 and had special abilities he didn't know about. If they had some crazy ability who wouldn't be able to counter, then they would be certainly fucked. Tanatswa looked at his baby mama and tried to elicit a need for to make a quick decision. 7 versus wasn't favourable, thus Shami decided to act.

"I think I can skip that bath and go ahead and eat. After breakfast I will go talk to the wolves. It's all sudden, but I guess we will have to sacrifice those unicorns." she said, a bit drained by her own chose.

"Alright, Shami. I will get the meat. Nothing matters more than securing this household." he said, with a determined frame.