Roge’s question froze the entire party, though Roge was mostly focusing on the idea that had manifested in his head. It made some sort of sense, as he’d gotten the cooking skill from brewing his potions. What had mainly made him think of it was the fancy potion-like drinks he occasionally saw online.

  “I feel like that… shouldn’t work?” Hops said slowly, thinking over the question hard, from what Roge could see. “But I don’t think anyone’s ever tried that… Or if they have, I certainly haven’t heard of it.”

  “I mean… I do have the refreshing plants… though I only having [Lesser Refresh] in coin form. I’d need to wait till tomorrow for that experiment. But right now… I could try putting [Healing] into your hot chocolate, if you don’t mind me trying…?”

  “… Order one for yourself,” the elf said in a short time, Roge feeling his spectral scales blushing at that.

  Looking to Alton, the white-furred minotaur gave him a smile and nod. “We can change back. I’m just glad you let me have a meal.”

  Roge rolled his eyes at that, focusing and swapping back to his original form just in time. The waitress had just come by with everyone’s drinks, though she looked a little confused at the dragon sitting at the table. ‘Maybe I need to use my kobold form more…’ Roge mused to himself, not liking the attention he was getting from random people. After ordering and receiving his own hot chocolate, Roge decided to look at it before trying, knowing that occasionally, mundane things had latent magic already in them.

  Roge frowned at the abilities that were listed, knowing that they limited how many coins of healing he could put into the drink. As he pondered what to do, he also looked at the somewhat fancy drink, having been surprised that they’d included whipped cream and a bit of hardened chocolate drizzle on top of it. ‘Maybe this world puts more stock on the whole… chocolate being an aphrodisiac thing? But why would it refill allure?’ He thought that just effected social skills, but that thought sparked another one. ‘Maybe it’s a magical form of social battery?’ Wanting to at least try that out, he grabbed nine of the [Alluring] coins from his diminishing stockpile and deposited them into his drink, raising his eyebrows at the updates he received.

  “Aaand Roge just did something again,” Alton blurted out, looking over the screens as well. “Though this one is definitely going to be good for all of us.”

  After explaining the upgrade he received and everyone [Inspecting] the drink, Sean sighed, frowning hard at it. “I just don’t like that it uses allure. Can’t you stay away from that mind bending stuff?”

  “Well, this was just the experiment,” Roge defended, sipping his drink and letting out a hum at the taste. “Besides, I’m tempted to try and unlock it, as I think it’s more than just a charisma skill buffer. It might be what my old world called a ‘social battery’.”

  “Which is…?” Hops asked, his wand poised to write.

  “It’s… actually just like a resource. But you use it during social situations. Some people back in my old world would actually *gain* energy from social interactions, which they could spend on doing things on their own. While others were the exact opposite, needing for their resource to refill by themselves so they could use it to be social.”

  “That… makes too much sense,” Marge said, giving Roge an assessing look. “Like… once you put it into those words, it seems to fit with what I’ve experienced with people.”

  Roge shrugged at that. “Our worlds work very similarly, so I’m not surprised. So if we ever have a case where anyone needs more social energy, I think allure potions could help with that.”

  ~~~

  They had some more talks about how the allure resource could work, though Roge could see everyone talking in circles after just a few minutes. They’d need proof, which just made him want to get the resource that much more. In the meantime, he looked at the recipe that altering the hot chocolate unlocked, surprised to find the full drink recipe printed out. The only edits that the magical portion made was to mix two alluring tulip petals into the milk while it was heating up, thus making a rank one ‘potion’ of alluring. Just… in drink form. Even though most wouldn’t think that would be beneficial, if his party was safe back in town and needed heals, he could just whip up a meal and heal them that way. It could be a potential boost to morale and would increase his cooking skill, making his potions and meals better in the long run.

  He got up from the table and went to the bar counter after musing on the recipe, asking the bartender if he could talk to the cook. He specifically asked to leave the cook alone if he was busy, but his Draconic heritage struck again as the shale-skinned elven cook came out all miffed.

  “So uh… one of my skills accidentally copied your hot chocolate recipe,” Roge mumbled, turning his recipe book around to show the cook. To stave off the blow up he could see on the man’s face, Roge interrupted with, “How much do I need to pay you? I only plan on making it for my party, as we’re adventurers and would love hot chocolate during trips. But if you want me to not use it, I’ll respect that too.” The cook paused at that, clearly not expecting Roge’s words and contrite tone.

  Stolen story; please report.

  “It’s a family recipe, actually,” the elf grumbled, making Roge feel even guiltier about it. “Lemme see.” Roge let him grab his recipe book, the cook looking it over before frowning at it. “Wait… potion effects? Restoring allure?”

  “Yeah. I unlocked it with a potion-making skill.” The cook looked incredulously at Roge at that. “So… should I not use it then?”

  “I would say you can. Just don’t go spreading the recipe around,” the elf grumbled, shoving the recipe book back at the dragon. “And if anyone asks where you got the recipe…” He fished out a pencil from his apron, grabbing the book back and writing some information at the top. “That should change your [Inspect] description when you make it. And let people know where they can get more.”

  “Will do!” Roge choked out, seeing the same title he saw on the hot chocolate written down in his book. “And thank you.”

  ~~~

  Proton asked that they all head out to do some shopping next, with Roge insisting that they stop at a clothing store first, much to the butler’s chagrin.

  “We can’t just have you running around with no clothes, even if it does look fine,” Roge grumbled as they entered one of the nicer establishments, the dragon giving into his intrusive thoughts to go in as a sapphire and emerald scaled kobold. He was also naked in that regard, glad that kobolds had a ken doll-like physique. “Also I need clothes, and we’re about the same size. So even if you don’t end up using them, I will.”

  “Oh aren’t you two cute!” the shopkeep squealed, Marge chuckling as she came in behind them.

  “We’re actually here to get these two dressed up,” the deer woman said, the male dwarf shopkeep hopping down from his stool to get a good look at the two kobolds. Roge’s grin was no doubt wide as he looked the dwarf up and down, the purple hair styling well with the glitter in his beard. His clothes were also very stylish, looking like the classic shirt and jeans combo that he missed.

  “Woah, you two *are* the exact same size,” the dwarf mumbled after looking them over. “So you’ll be easy to design for. Is there anything in particular you’re looking for, hun?”

  “We just need-“

  “Something like your outfit would be good to start,” Roge said, cutting of Proton’s words. He then looked around before spotting exactly what he wanted for the butler, walking over and examining the black pants, white shirt, and black coat combo on display. “Maybe a couple of your outfit, just so I can change the colors, but do you do custom shaping work for suits?”

  “Of course, darling! Anything you need, I can do for the right price. What exactly are you looking for?” In no time, the clothing designer, Terrie, had several jeans and shirt combos for Roge to try, as well as bringing out a pair of combat boots for him to try on as well. Terrie also could resize things for Roge’s exact fit, giving him a lot of options. He even got a coat similar to his dragon-sized one, opting out of the heating enchantments in favor of cooling ones for when spring came along. Roge couldn’t stylize it to his liking quite yet without the color buffs, but at least his three and a half feet tall form now didn’t look like a nudist.

  “This is fantastic!” Roge cheered, looking at himself in a mirror. He’d chosen for that day’s look a purple t-shirt with dark blue jeans, the black boots, and the black coat, looking at himself from every angle and noticing his stubby tail wagging. “Now for the suit portion. Are you able to make two square tails on either side of his tail?” Even though he felt like it was idea stealing, Roge wanted Proton to have the exact outfit befitting a butler, with the tailcoat, bow tie, and everything. Thankfully, the shopkeep knew what Roge was talking about, saying that it was popular fashion with the servants of a lord’s house.

  “But are you sure you want that for your… companion?” the dwarf asked, looking slightly concerned.

  “Considering I am my Master’s butler, that is not a concern,” Proton finally got out, though he frowned at the formal looking attire. “Is it going to restrict my movement? Cleanliness isn’t going to be an issue due to some magic we have to clean it.”

  “Oh! Well in that case, the fabric should not hinder you, my good servant,” Terrie cheered, soon outfitting the kobold in the classic butler outfit. The shoes were the only thing different, as Proton requested travel boots that would survive wear and tear better.

  All in all, the trip cost Roge a whopping gold for all of the clothing, though the dragon kobold thought it was all worth it as he sauntered out of the store.

  “Now if we’re done with frivolities,” the butler grumbled, Marge giggling at his attitude as she trailed behind them. “Our first stop is to the stables, where we are going to get some animals to add [Glow], [Fog], and [Inscribe] to.”

  “But… how will we know which ones fit which animals?” Marge asked, mirroring Roge’s own thoughts.

  “It shouldn’t matter too much. The first two are classic monster abilities, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s how the items were made. The last one, though, we are picking a bird for, as having [Inscribe] feathers makes the most sense.”

  They soon arrived at the stable, finding a wide variety of domesticated animals for sale. Roge immediately jumped over to the fox pen, finding foxes the size of wolves too cute to resist.

  “That’s a decent pick, Master,” Proton said, looking over Roge’s [Inspect] screen. “Just a normal animal with no abilities, so adding two of them in, one at a time, shouldn’t be much of an issue. [Glow] would most likely attach to the fur well, though [Fog] would not work for the claws.”

  “Leave it as an open slot for future stuff?” Roge asked, to which Proton just nodded. Roge was only half paying attention, however, just enjoying the visual of the orange and black creature. “What kind of bird are we going to be looking for?”

  “That one, we’ll preferably want with an ice or water theme, so I’m thinking, if we can find any penguins or seagulls, that would be best.” At Roge’s confused look, Proton sighed. “It’ll make the buffs upgrade faster for you. Honestly, the fact that none of your creatures are ice or water is atrocious. The plants can be forgiven a bit more, but even then, we should really find a water themed ability to add to all of them, now that you can add two tier zero abilities to things. Or even just adding a rank zero ability works. Anything to increase your affinity with the things in your hoard.”

  Roge paused at that, having not even thought of adding a useless water or ice ability to increase the effects. He sighed, though, giving his butler a sad smile. “I don’t think I can do that. It’s just… too cheaty. I already have so much power, why make it easier to get more and attract the wrong attention.”

  “Found some penguins!” Marge called out, having searched the cages for more animals.

  Proton didn’t move for a few seconds, though, looking at Roge with an assessing look. They gave a small nod, turning to walk over to Marge with their posture even straighter than before. “Very well Master. But, if I may, I’m still going to be looking into things so that if you want to upgrade things in the future, it will not take too much time.”

  “That’s… fine I guess,” Roge grumbled, finding his desire to be fair warring with his desire for more magic. “Maybe we could get more of the rank zero ability coins, as a compromise for now? Increasing my power in slower ways?”

  “Very well, Master,” his butler intoned, moving on to the penguins that Marge had found. “Very good Marge. These are exactly what we need.”

  After searching around some more, Roge finally picked the last animal they would need, having found a small rat-like creature that was too cute to pass up. Proton called them ‘inefficient’, but Marge agreed to get them, as they were cute. “Besides, I want to see you be able to turn into one at some point. At the very least, you’re basically like a pet hoard at this point.” Roge hadn’t known that Marge had always wanted to get pets, the deer woman seemingly entranced by all of the animals that were for sale. It was then that he started scheming to get her a familiar-type bond, so that she could summon her own animal.

  ‘It’s only fair…’