Roge barely glanced at the screens telling him about his rank ups before dismissing it, giving the deer woman a wide eyed look. “Well I uh…”

  “Oh don’t overwhelm him,” Sean chuckled, grabbing the quiver and getting a glare from his team member. “We’ll improve his aim first. *Then* we’ll work on making magical gear.”

  “It’s a smart move,” Hops stated, rubbing his chin and looking Roge up and down. “From what I’ve heard, the bonded items he makes will be more beneficial if he can properly use them. What exactly were you doing there to change the effect, though?”

  Roge sighed at that, moving over to a nearby wall and sitting against it. He spent a few minutes explaining how the coins worked, Hops looking at the [Color] coin while he did. While Roge no longer had [Flame] and [Spark], he still had the plants that he could use to get more, and he explained that too. He strangely felt comfortable with the party, though he could admit to himself that he was being a bit selfish. The more he talked about his skills, the more he knew they wanted him in their party.

  “I wonder though…” Hops muttered, tapping the coin with his fingers. “Can you put the skill gems into your plants to grow more?”

  Roge blinked at that, pulling up his [Status] to reread things. “It doesn’t say I *can’t*. I guess I’ll have to try that when I have more plants to use. Doesn’t seem to matter what abilities I put in, so I’ve been thinking of using the magic flowers to grow the coins, and use the other plants for experiments. Keeps things organized on my sheet.”

  “Well for now, let’s improve on your accuracy,” Sean said, standing up and holding out his paw to help Roge get up. “Knowing how to hit is one of the most important things of being an adventurer.”

  ~~~

  They spent the next hour or so showing him tips on how to hit the target better, as well as having him moving around while doing so. Getting good angles was, apparently, important for hitting things, especially when he’d move to moving targets. ‘Hopefully I don’t have to fight too many things,’ he thought to himself, resting his claws on his knees as he felt his mana bottom out. ‘I just need more abilities and skills…’

  Being almost completely out of mana made Roge feel very tired, the dragon not realizing that his mana also seemed to fuel his attributes to an extent. A mental fog also proceeded the resource running out, making it harder to think while he waited for it to refill. He asked Hops about that, though it was surprisingly Sean who answered.

  “Oh yeah. And the more attribute points you have, the more it effects you. Imagine going from forty strength to practically nothing. Feels like your muscles are about to shrivel up and die.”

  Roge looked confused at that, tilting his head as he pulled up his attributes.

  “How… What’s your attribute totals?” he asked, feeling a bit overpower as he counted up his.

  “We’re around level five in all our classes, so the usual is around a hundred depending on what you started out with for our level,” Hops responded, his face seeming to stiffen at the question. “Why?”

  “I only have one class worth of points at level three. And I have over one-sixty.” He didn’t mention the fact that he still had 7 free points left over, the party’s eyes widening cluing him into the fact that his stats were irregular.

  “Wow! Maybe starting out late has advantages?” the elf asked, earning a slap to the back of his head from Marge. “Sorry!”

  “It’s certainly more than expected. But you’re going to need it if you want to round out your skills,” Marge commented, giving the dragon a serious look. “A dex based combat class would be best. Possibly one to do with ranged attacking. How many free slots do you have in con?”

  Roge held up two fingers at that. “Well getting a basic tank class wouldn’t harm anything either,” the deer woman said, adjusting her bow and quiver strap as she thought. “Something to give you health and damage mitigation will make you less squishy. Even me and Hops have one, though it’s the lowest level of our classes.”

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  “Sorry,” Sean chuckled, his party members each giving him a smirk. “I tend to defend well, but if we get overwhelmed, it’s a good idea to have one. Usually every adventurer gets offered one in the course of their work.”

  “Of course, a healing class would work best,” a voice called out, Roge swiveling around to find a purple skinned elf in a light yellow priest robe in the entrance to the training space. He had a peaceful smile on his face, calmly walking over to the group as they each gave him an assessing look.

  “Who are you?” Sean mumbled, taking a step forward to place himself in front of everyone.

  “Apologies,” the elf said with a bow, looking right at Roge with his calm eyes. “Harold Robbins. Roge’s new probation manager.” That didn’t seem to calm the adventurers at all, each of them frowning and giving him glares.

  “The last one wasn’t very good,” Marge commented, Roge feeling nervous at the tension in the air.

  “From the reports I read, he was, in fact, so bad I recommended kicking him out,” Harold stated, tension quickly morphing to surprise. “And if he’d learned about your new [Artificer] class? I can’t imagine what we’d have to do regarding his actions.”

  “Is it… banned?” Roge muttered, the elf giving him a reassuring smile at the dragon’s nervousness.

  “Not at all. In fact, it’s enough that, if you gain another non-mage class in the same line, it would release you from probation entirely.” Roge felt massively confused at that, his face scrunching up and causing Harold to sigh.

  “It’s because your classes are trending towards magical skills,” Hops interjected, giving Roge a wink. “Mage is usually the first thing to unlock if you have magical abilities. But since all three classes are based on using that magic for skills…”

  “There’s no reason to monitor me?” Roge asked.

  “Exactly young dragon,” the elf cheered, his calm demeanor soothing the rest of Roge’s worries. “Spells can be quite dangerous, and from the reports I’ve gotten, that wand of yours is dangerously close to that.”

  Roge’s grip tightened on his wand, the bottle glowing slightly at his emotions. “But it’s not close enough to get me in trouble?”

  “If it did, we’d have to ban all [Artificers] outside of the church. Which doesn’t help anyone.” The cleric’s face hardened at that, sending a shiver down Roge’s spine. “But if you delve into making [Mind] items, then we will have to crack down on you. They’re banned for a reason.”

  “Do you have a list of the banned stuff?” Sean asked, moving slightly in front of the dragon.

  “I can bring it to young Mr. Youngston tomorrow. It’s standard practice.”

  “I’ll also write anything down that’s not in there,” Roge conceded, rolling his shoulders to get rid of the tension in his wings. “The way my classes interact-“

  “Also acceptable. We just ask you destroy any items we deem dangerous.” Harold paused at that, his face softening to a kind smile. “Though since you can change your items on a whim, we might just ask that you swap it out and not use it.”

  Roge nodded. “More than fair. I was planning on keeping notes in my [Status]…”

  “Ah yes. The Colorful buff. Please use it to list any updates to keep things more private.” The smirk on the elf’s face looked a bit out of place, as was the chuckle. “Now. I came here to check on reports of a potential mage, and I’ll let the League know you’re not going to be a problem. Since the Head Priestess asked me to give you advice, and I have some time on my hands, would you like me to recommend a healing class you could take?”

  ~~~

  They talked for quite a while on Harold’s suggestions, Roge feeling his mana recover quickly as they went over the options Roge could take without getting himself in trouble. It was unlikely he’d get a spellcasting healing class, but as the apparent drow put it, “You can’t be too careful with these things.”

  The class they decided on was one that Roge hadn’t even considered at first, the dragon quietly looking over the class in the book Harold was lending him.

  “[Self Healing] is an option when you hit level five,” the drow stated, seeing Roge’s confusion on why it was considered a healing class. “There are two types of healing classes, and since your wand seems to already focus on others,” He waved at the now pink glow to Roge’s wand, “Being able to heal yourself is a massive boon. It’s also a con skill, as are most of the skills down that branch.”

  Looking at the skill trees that had been discovered, Roge found Harold to be exactly correct. The healing branch of the tree focused more on bolstering the body, increasing con and agility with buffs. “That looks… perfect,” Roge muttered, finding one flaw in the section of the book. “But how do you unlock it?”

  “Oh this book is just the general overview. Books that tell people how to get classes are kept under strict lock and key.” Roge frowned at that. “It’s because no two people are the same. You got the [Artificer] class from using the bond between you and your bottle. You could have easily gotten another Draconic class instead. Or someone else might get it from dumping a potion on a book.”

  “Did someone actually-“

  “It’s all about intent,” Harold interrupted, giving Roge a stern look. “As long as you intend to get a dodging class that uses magic items, you’ll get, if not [Dodge Magician], something similar. If you want to heal yourself with that class, it narrows it down even more. Just focus on the *goal* you want with the class while performing the actions.”

  A hand landed gently on Roge’s shoulder at that, looking back to see Sean with a dejected look on his muzzle. Apparently, he’d not gone back to training like Marge and Hops did, being close enough to hear. “I’m sorry you’re going to have to learn this all again, Roge. Don’t be afraid to ask us these questions too.”

  “Thanks,” Roge muttered, feeling extra glad the heat in his scales didn’t make a visual blush. “So does that mean you want me on your team?”

  “Of course, buddy. Not just because you’re a good fit.” The smile the lion gave sent butterflies racing through Roge’s stomach. “I’ve promised time and again to be here for you. And you never took me up on that before now. Your face when using magic? I’ve never seen that face on you before. You always seemed… sullen. Angry at the world.” Sean’s breathing hitched at that, the sad look on his face almost too much for the dragon.

  “Do you know… why? I was like that?”

  “You never opened up to us like that.” The lion huffed at that, Roge’s face burning more at the wind it created. “You were a good friend, don’t get me wrong. But without that burden? I’m confident you’ll be an even better one.”

  “I swear to god, if you’re flirting with Roge AGAIN!” a shout went out, Fred coming back into the training grounds with a massive frown on his wolf-like muzzle. That caused Sean’s paw to move away from Roge’s shoulder, the dragon unsure if that was a good thing.

  “He doesn’t seem to mind now.”

  “He doesn’t need more complicated shit busying up his life-“

  “I think I can speak for myself,” Roge stated, surprised at both him speaking and the calm tone he was able to make. “I don’t mind it. But…” At that he looked to the side, embarrassment creating a massive lump in his throat. “I’m not… I mean… relationships take time and effort…”

  “You need time to get acclimated,” the cleric spoke calmly, Roge having forgotten Harold was there for the whole thing. “Take things as close to one step at a time as you can, Mr. Youngston. Your friends and I will be here while you settle in more.” With a nod, the drow cleric stood up, smoothly gliding out of the training area without another word.

  “Who was that?” Fred asked, Roge sighing as he realized the stealthy wolf had slipped out at some point without him noticing.

  ‘Am I going to have to explain that stuff again…’