True to their word I could hear the party getting set up in the mess hall. The sounds of the tables being rearranged as well as the mess hall getting an extension. As the minions carved out the walls Bent Plate went out with Burn to the woods to find us more game.

I was not allowed to be part of the set up. I was told it was going to be a surprise and that I needed to focus on studying. Flashbacks to college hit me all at once, studying before a party always distracted me too much as I was worried about what to say. Worse yet now I had a cute girl getting handsy with me before the party.

“Josh, hold your hands still so I can show you again.” Rolada said, swatting my wrists.

Rolada took it on herself to teach me the Arcane Trick spell and it was proving to be harder than I thought. The first time I had learned magic was part of the freebies from the talent and the information just clicked with me as soon as I chose them. Learning the old fashion way was rather difficult.

Arcane Trick

Tier 0 spell (currently consumes 1 mana point)

This spell is a staple to many magical practitioners, with it you can accomplish small magical tasks within a short range.

For example you can clean and dry an object, such as clothing or ink on a page, activate a low tier magic item from a short range,

light and extinguish candles.

I read over the text again wondering if the spell was worth all this effort. It was open ended and sounded quite versatile which was a huge plus. Able to dry myself after the rain was even better and best yet, I would never have to deal with the stupid flint and steel again.

“I just can’t get my fingers in the right position when I try to cast.” I said.

Rolada stood behind my chair and held my wrists from behind waving my arms around like a puppeteer. She got my hands and arms back in position and leaned in to grab my wrists. With her so intimately close and pushing on my back I started to feel a bit flushed in the small office.

Before I opened my mouth to ask her why she stopped I felt a prick against my neck as the fox girl nipped me. I jumped in my seat and when I twisted around I felt her lips plant right onto mine. A brief moment after she broke the kiss and tapped me on the forehead.

“If you would pay attention maybe you could figure it out.” Rolada said with a smirk. “Your teacher might even have a special reward for you later too.”

I felt a spark of magic leap from my fingers and scorch the ceiling. As I reeled back in surprise, Rolada mirthfully laughed and slapped me on the back. She tried to say something several times but kept cutting herself off to snicker instead.

“Just spit it out.” I hissed between my teeth.

“The fact you're quite explosive is exciting. I just hope you last long enough to make it worth it.” Rolada said.

I turned around and faced the wall hoping she wouldn’t see my reaction. Sadly she already had and crackled loud enough it echoed down the hall. She took up her position behind me again and moved arms.

“Now when you reach about this mid way point you want to twist your off hand into a closed fist while your main hand gestures towards your target. When you reach this point you let the mana flow and say what you want to happen.” Rolada said.

She had figured out the spell from my book at a fascinating speed. She had managed to decipher all the different forms and small text of the spell page to figure out everything I needed to do to cast the spell. I tried to do my best to follow the motions with my hands as Rolada moved my arms.

“Clean soot!” I said, pointing my fingers to the wall with as much authority as I could muster.

The sudden flow of magic caused me to jump in my chair as the shock of energy passed between my hands. I must have had the forms ever so slightly off because my mana points ticked down slowly and made my vein feel hot as the magic tried to worm its way out.

The layer of black soot on the wall did dissolve in front of my eyes and most of the patch of it blinked away out of existence. A deep sense of relief overloaded my senses as if I had just let out a great sneeze I had been holding.

“I feel…better.” I said flexing my fingers.

“I think you had too much pent up emotions and mana, Josh. Sometimes when I get really fidgety I’ll walk around and cast a few weak spells just to get the magic muscles working. We might have to make a small routine for you.” Rolada said.

Checking my character page for statuses I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary to confirm or deny her idea. It was perfectly plausible, and if that was the case it gave me a good excuse to run around to practice throwing a few blasts of fire each day to keep it in shape.

“I think you're right, I’ll have to let it out a few times each day just to be sure.” I said looking at my unburnt hands. I looked up to the few remaining places with soot and frowned. “I rather dislike this, what if I burn the place down by accident.”

“Oh please Josh. Every village with a wizard apprentice experiences at least one or maybe two fires before they get it all under control. Think of this as your learning to walk phase.” Rolada said, giving my shoulder a supportive squeeze.

I put away my book and cleared the office desk. I then grabbed my water mug and took a swig of the cool refreshing water. I left a bit of water in the bottom and poured it out onto the desk. Rolada approved of my action and stepped back to give me some needed space.

I rose out of the chair and waved my left hand in a loose semi circle. As I went to twist my hand I moved my right and gestured towards the spilled water. I slowly but seamlessly transitioned between the two parts of the stance and let the magic start to flow.

“Clean up this water.” I said, slowly and carefully.

Another mana point vanished and the water evaporated leaving behind a nice clean, dry desk behind.

Arcane Trick has been successfully learned!

+15 XP gained.

“Hell yeah!” I said, pumping my fist into the air.

Rolada squeezed me into a hug and happily cheered. “Hey you did it. Just one night and you got a new spell under your belt.”

I ruffled up her hair and flattened down her ears. “Thanks to my great teacher.”

“Oh you.” Rolada said, breaking the hug and playfully pushing on me. “It was just a tier zero spell, so it was the easiest to learn.”

The sobering thought brought me back down to Earth, or rather Ewyernar. It was true, it was the simplest tier of magic and I only learned it with careful teaching and supervision. Without Rolada I might have learned it on my own but only with a ton of trial and error. Not to mention a few accidental fires or worse.

“Still, thank you Rolada. You're a great teacher and I wouldn’t mind a few more private lessons.” I said.

Rolada clasped her hands together and formed her fingers together into a heart. A pink spark formed and a ghostly image of the heart appeared. The heart then popped out of existence with the scent of vanilla and I couldn’t help but clap to applaud her.

“Stick around and I can show you plenty of fun spells.” Rolada said. She then laughed. “They take a bit of finesse so it might be a few long personal sessions too.”

The fox girl hopped onto the desk and tried to strike a seductive pose. The cheap desk however had different ideas and a sharp crack emanated from the wood supports. Both of us looked at each other in shock and a second after Rolada vanished into a cloud of dust.

I dove into the dust cloud and pulled her out. Luckily she was unharmed and just slightly embarrassed. The desk was completely obliterated and only a handful of pieces survived. The lone surviving beam had the Tired Lad stamp on its side and the reclining goblin was smiling at us.

“Gods above I hate Tired Lad.” Rolada huffed.

“Wow, these guys actually are terrible. Look at this stuff, it looks like it's made of pressed together dirt or dust.” I said in shock, holding the pieces in my hand.

Rolada coughed and waved away the dust. With no way to save it I queued up an order for a minion to dispose of it. We decided it was best to check up on the others. We headed to the mess hall and stood amazed at the changes.

The improvements to the mess hall had been outdone yet again. A fine wood table had been made with an almost noble looking throne at the head with my name carved into it. The other seats looked fantastic and each one had a thick stag hare pelt for cushioning. A huge fireplace had been placed against the wall and inside a cozy fire was lit bringing the whole room up to a comfortable temperature.

Lin was humming to herself behind the counter. The expanded kitchen had more space for storage and tables to prepare food. It was looking much better and as we expanded our little group we would have the facilities to accommodate them.

“Ah!” Lin squeaked. “Rolada you were supposed to keep him busy. Also why are you two coated in dust?”

“The desk exploded when I got on it.” Rolada said with a sour expression. She wiped off her sweater and flicked a wood splinter in the garment. “Was a mood killer.”

Lin tried to say something supportive but broke into a smirk and had to stop herself from laughing. Behind her a column of smoke started to rise and Lin spun around in a panic. She took something out of our oven and stuck her tongue out at us.

“If you're going to ruin the surprise you can help then.” Lin said.

Rolada joined her in the kitchen while I was given the task to set the table. As I put down the plates and cutlery our resident ogre and goblin returned. Slung over Bent’s shoulder was a long pole with a dozen fish on hooks.

“Bad luck on getting the game. The fishing however was child’s play.” Burn said. He gave me a thumbs up and smiled. “Pretty good, right boss man?”

“That’s a ton of fish. We will be good for a while… wait, why are some of them smoking?” I asked with a brow raised.

Smoke came off several of the fish and one of them was missing a chunk out of its side. Most of the fish were also bleeding around their eyes and looked like they were surprised at their sudden death.

Bent shrugged and said. “Well Burn threw a bomb into the river and-”

“We are just really good fishermen.” Burn said with a worried smile.

“Let’s not throw bombs into the river, it’s part of our drinking water.” I said, rubbing my temples.

“Don’t worry boss man, the pipes have filters in them. Gets rid of most of the contaminants, bomb material included.” Burn said.

I squinted towards the wall and focused on the stone pipes. The wall vanished and I could see the twisting roots of the crystal powering the walls and the mess of pipes we had around the dungeon. In the distance under the town with all the connecting water ways I could see a central place with two large stone blocks that then led into the water heading to time.

“They have water filtration here?” I asked in disbelief.

“Yeah it’s under one of the houses. I saw one of your guys digging around up top to fix a crack and I checked them. Whoever made this place beforehand spared no expense. Really bang up dungeon you are building here.” Burn said, rubbing the praise in.

As I checked over the pipes some of them headed elsewhere under the earth and vanished from my view into the darkness. There were places in the mine area and deeper underground. There was far more to this place and I was curious to start exploring.

“Once the fish is on we can have dinner!” Rolada said excitedly. She then hollered to get my attention. “Josh, go pick out a drink for us.”

I filed the mystery away for later. Perhaps the simple cave I first found meant more than I had been led to believe. I popped open the cold room and checked the stack of small marked barrels. Out of the options we had beer, cider, wine and a strange hard liquor. There was also another barrel with juice in it, but knowing the crowd and that Sten had worked hard I relented and chose the cider at random.

The heavy barrel was chill to the touch as I wrapped my arms around it and stumbled out of the cold room and right into Sten. I tripped and started to fall, the dwarf moved with lightning speed towards me and reached out to break my fall. Only for me to end up crashing hard onto the ground, and saw Sten hold the barrel closely, gently patting it and whispering.

Perception : Success!

+2XP gained.

“You're safe now with Sten, worry not my sweet muse for we shall write an epic unmatched by even old Callous.” He said with an almost poetic tone.

The world started to move away from me as I was hoisted up into the air before being set onto my feet. Bent gave me a grin and took up his place at the table. The far end of the table had a huge comfortable cushion for the ogre and he eased himself into his spot.

A hand slapped me on the back and Lin came into view. She pushed me towards the fancy chair and said. “Sit down Josh, it’s time to feast.”

I took my place at the head of the table and waited for everyone to assemble. I paused the minions' work and ordered them over too. The little fuzzy guys coated in rock dust walked into the room bewildered until I pointed at the extra chairs. Once everyone was seated the meal was finally ready and we passed it around the table.

The plates were stacked with cuts of fish, berries and flatbreads. Lin somehow managed to wrestle the drink barrel out of Sten’s hands and placed a tap in it. She took each mug and filled them with the chilled alcoholic drink. Once everyone had their meal ready I looked around wondering why no one was digging in.

Lin put her hands together and bowed her head, the others did so as well, even my minions. Not wanting to look out of place I copied the motion and bowed my head as well.

“Heinekia, we ask that you bless this bounty we have earned for ourselves. We ask that you calm your raging bitchy attitude you usually have in winter since we are still not ready for it. If you want some money or sacrifices just send us a sign and it’s yours lady.” Lin said in a surprisingly reverent tone.

At the completion of the prayer everyone clapped their hands twice and started digging in with ferocity. The minions shovelled food into their mouths while Bent essentially inhaled his plate. Even Lin was trying to out eat Sten and the dwarf was like a raging boar.

Only Rolada and I had any kind of reservation or etiquette for eating. As she saw the havoc going on around us she leaned and whispered into my ear.

“You should do a speech.” She said, eyeing the alcohol vanishing at an alarming rate. “Soon, before everyone is too drunk to remember.”

I raised my glass and cleared my throat. The sound immediately died down and everyone’s eyes were on me. I felt my throat go dry as stage fright set in. A boot kick from Rolada broke the grip of fear on me and I launched into my speech.

“I just wanted to say thank you to everyone. You are all working hard getting this place in order, I have new friends to learn things from and you guys have kept me alive so far. Also thanks for not killing me.” I said, ending with raising my mug. “So here's to us, and plenty of more good days to come.”

“Lad, if I wanted to hear a speech I’d be back home listening to the old beards grumble about family, clan and the damn weather. We are together as friends, who cares if you are a keeper. You're not a bastard with a pole shoved up his arse. So here’s to us, and to you!” Sten cheered, slamming his fist down.

In unison we all raised our mugs and cheered. “To all of us.”

The alcohol flowed freely and we ended up popping open the wine barrel too. I wasn’t sure who was the most drunk at the end of the hour, Sten or Lin but the two of them kept trying to arm wrestle and couldn’t even sit up straight.

I watched the minions stumble around trying to dance to an off key tune Rolada played as they held their mugs in their hands. The fox girl was swaying with the notes hiccuped after each pause. It was like watching a group of tiny sailors trying to get their sea legs as they drunkenly slurred together strings of sounds.

As I downed another glass and my vision started to blur a pop up appeared. I brushed it off and spilled my wine onto my shirt. I set down my mug and very carefully tried to use my new found spell. The mana point vanished and the wine lifted off my shirt and instead splashed onto the floor. It was the best I could do, and I noticed someone had already given me a refill. The wine soon entered my stomach and a more incessant pop up appeared.

Constitution save : Failure!

Drunk status has been inflicted.

I was too drunk at the moment but the last bit of my rational self facepalmed. I was going to be dealing with one hell of a hangover tomorrow. My drunk self managed to remove the pop up and rose to dance with the minions, it was going to be a long night.