The testing of his new dodge skill wasn’t as weird for Roge as the first, the dream-like sensation of being moved fading more and more rapidly every time he did it. It also turned out that what constituted an ‘attack’ mainly seemed to be based on intent. If an [Inscription] paint blob was fired at him and Hops didn’t *think* of it as an attack, his skill wouldn’t activate. Same with Sean pushing him over. An intentional attack, no matter if it would deal no damage or not, always activated it and made Roge feel excited. He could only teleport within line of sight, but he forgot how big of an angle that was. Even just being aware of a spot out of the corner of his eye made it a valid target.

  Once he was expended of mana once again, the group headed out, Sean grabbing Roge as he tried to walk in the direction of the inn.

  “We’re going to see about getting you a place near us,” the lion huffed, Roge feeling his scales heat up at forgetting.

  “Right. Sorry. Lot’s of th-“ He was cut off when a jolt went through his body, Roge grunting as he felt an odd burning sensation accompanied it. “What…”

  “Roge? Roge?!?” Sean cried out, supporting the dragon as he nearly collapsed. Hops and Marge seemed worried too, the former writing out a complex rune and the other pulling the group into a semi-private alleyway.

  “Something… weird…” he grunted out, the painful sensation getting stronger as his mana seemed to disappear. “[Inspect]…!”

  It was hard to focus, but as soon as Roge read the synergy, he immediately looked to Hops, who seemed rather confused at the rune he made. “Food. Nut bar. Now,” he grunted, the overall pain slowly being replaced by a gnawing hunger. The elf immediately obliged, pulling a few bars out of his inventory and handing them to the dragon. Once he’d crammed four down his throat, Roge was handed a large waterskin that he drank heavily from, gasping as he felt better and better with every sip.

  “What did the rune say?” Roge asked, assuming it was an assessment one. “And I need to learn those runes.” He tacked that on at the end distractedly, feeling a bit out of it but slowly feeling better.

  “I’ll teach you,” Hops chuckled, keeping a spare bar out just in case. “It said you were mana, nutrient, and water deficient. Which I’ve never really seen all together like that before.”

  “What happened?” Sean growled, Roge tilting his head up and finally noticing he was seated in the lion’s lap.

  “I.. Uh… It was a plant,” he squeaked out, clearing his throat and trying to calm down. “The one that’s been stuck on harvesting the last few days. It finally worked, though by changing the plant.” Hops drew out his journal at that, Roge giving him the box word for word.

  “So it’s a grappling rope?” Sean asked, seemingly content with the dragon in his lap for the moment.

  “Basically. I think…” Roge mumbled, holding his hand out towards one of the walls of the alley. With a thought, the vine sluggishly leaped out, with Roge wincing. “Used up some mana for that…” He looked at the now black vine, the ‘stem’ looking like a rope with several vines wrapped around each other in a spiral, he assumed for stability. The end was less of a venus flytrap mouth and more of a grasping claw, the ‘nails’ looking more like thorns. The stem was about the width of his fingers, while the end abruptly widened to be the size of his whole hand.

  “That’s… creepy,” Sean muttered, his voice vibrating through Roge’s wings. After allowing Hops to sketch it, the group just mainly trying to calm down if the deep breaths were an indicator, Roge pulled it back inside his hoard.

  “Less useful with the teleportation…” Marge mumbled, though Hops quickly shook his head at the deer woman.

  “Not necessarily. He can’t really teleport onto anything above him without appearing in the air, and he doesn’t have the strength to keep falling like that. These, while useless for lateral movement, is good for height. Plus they can be used anytime.”

  “Thanks for the food,” Roge stated, carefully getting up and stretching. “I could use a really big nap, so if we could get going? Can’t experiment with it with an empty mana pool.”

  “Sure,” Sean said, still clearly worried and keeping a close eye on the dragon.

  ~~~

  Roge mostly stayed in his own head at that, feeling a little put off by whatever decision mutated his plant. Sure, he could eject it from his hoard to not have to eat more often, but he wished he’d been given a choice in the matter. ‘I would have fed it… sometime,’ he thought to himself, knowing he was lying after seeing that he still hadn’t bought the insects it could have fed on before. To not make the same mistake, he decided to add checking on the plant food every morning to his quests list, having gotten into the rhythm to pull it up every morning.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  “So you’re finally filling up your empty room? I’m glad!” a voice cheered, the words pulling him out of his introspection rather quickly. A man who looked to be made of living flames looked to the party members, all three looking a bit sheepish. They were at the main bar of a tavern, Roge shocked he hadn’t noticed them entering.

  “Empty room?” he asked quietly, quickly putting two together and huffing out a bit of fog. “So you weren’t just getting me a place ‘nearby’?” The elf pulled out a book and started reading, while Marge disappeared up the stairs. This just left Sean, the lion looking less sheepish than he should have.

  “So… yeah. That’s how it’s only 5 silvers. We have a spare room and you can split rent.”

  “And you didn’t just ask why?” Roge growled, rubbing his eyes as he felt his frustration build.

  “We thought you wouldn’t accept it.”

  *That* extinguished his frustration, Roge sighing and looking up at the sad looking lion. “Previously? Dunno. Now? I’ll take anything I can get Sean. You opening your door for me is appreciated.”

  Sean blinked in shock for a moment before seemingly dismissing the feeling with a nod. “Right. That’s fair. I’m sorry Roge.”

  “No apology needed. Do you guys have a kitchen?” he asked as he started walking towards the stairs, Hops peeking over his book while Sean took the lead.

  “Nope. But breakfast and dinner is included in rent. We’ve just been refusing the fourth meal.”

  “Still. A four bedroom for twenty silver a week? I feel like I was being robbed at my parents’ place.” Roge paused at that, thinking things over before blurting out the question. “It is a hundred silver to a gold, yes?”

  “Yup. Same all the way up from copper, silver, gold, and platinum,” Hops replied, heading to a door near the stairs, the hallway somewhat sparse. “And here’s our room.” The door had a ‘202’ written on it, Roge marking that in the notes in his [Status] so he wouldn’t forget.

  The door led to a pretty cramped living room, two three person couches sitting in a ‘V’ and facing a fireplace. It was currently out, though Marge stood right in front of it, feeding it logs. Pulling out an orange metal plate from her inventory, she tapped it against the logs to seemingly no effect.

  “My lighter ran out. Can I have a recharge?” she asked, Roge intercepting the handing over of the item and looking it over.

  Since Marge presumably didn’t have [Mana Manipulation], Roge decided to not make a wand for the task, instead filling it up with some of his regenerating mana and handed it back. “Don’t waste it. I got it.” Pulling out his wand and swapping it to [Flaming Spark], he moved over to the logs and set the tip of the wand onto it. Considering how low his mana pool was, checking to see he had three points left, he used that bit to snake the flaming electricity over and around one of the logs, quickly catching it alight and hoping it spread to the others.

  He quickly backed away from the flame, the heat prickling his scales even from the couches. “Thanks,” Marge muttered, flopping onto the couch with a sigh. “Any chance you can make something I can use that’s better than that lighter?”

  With an offended look to the [Wizard] elf, who did not share his look, Roge was about to say something when said elf interjected. “I can’t make much more than the plates. It’s okay Roge.”

  “Still. While I think I might be able to in the future, be nice,” the deer stated. Roge sat on the other couch right next to the lounging Hops, Sean giving them all a smile before heading to his room.

  “Oh I think we can fix that now,” Hops muttered, pulling out one of the lighters as well considering it had the same rune. “This is a rune of both storing mana and lighting objects on fire. If you could put the [Alight] ability onto a wand, I can put the battery rune on it. Not sure how strong I can make the rune, but a recharging or transfer rune can pull from the user to activate. Then, with a touch rune, we can bind it together to make a magic item that doesn’t need to be charged, and doesn’t need [Mana Manipulation].”

  Roge’s mouth slowly opened more and more as he spoke, the dragon feeling excited by the possibilities of them working together. Though there was one hiccup. “Why couldn’t you do that with the place…?”

  “It has only one rune slot. Have an effect that makes it so two can go onto a one slot item, but the wands can take three.” Hops placed the plate onto Roge’s lap at that, giving him a significant look.

  “Fine.” It took them a good twenty minutes to make the wand, Roge constructing the wand and ability, while Hops inscribed the runes when the dragon was done. Roge even changed the color of the wood to be a forest green, with the bottle containing what looked to be a candle flame due to the different ability.

  Roge tilted his head as they finished it, feeling the recipe lock into his creation skill as it ranked up as well.

  “That’s… vague…” Roge muttered, handing over the lighter to Marge. “I got the [Additional Recipe] effect and-“

  “Oh that’s so good!” Hops cheered, his hands moving across his invisible screens. “We can just present you with a magic item, and you can duplicate its recipe! What do we want to go with though…”

  “”Potions,”” Marge and Roge quickly said, both chuckling at Hops’ confused look.

  “If I can make potions without using up a bonded slot, I can make things I can throw if needed,” Roge explained.

  “He can also easily make healing potions we can use in emergencies,” Marge added, the dragon giving her a confirming nod. “Ingredients are a lot less expensive than buying the potions outright.”

  “Alright, alright. That’s fair,” Hops grumbled, pulling a potion out from his inventory and handing it over to Roge. Just a glance at it gave him the recipe, Roge waving it away as he thought about it.

  “It needs a petal of a plant I don’t have and quartz dust suspended in water.” He noticed their dour expressions even as his grin got wider, Roge feeling practically giddy. “But considering I have an extra spark and acid tulip, and it needs a healing tulip, I think I know how I can get one.”