While the adventurers were out on their first excursion, Roge looked through the wood he had access to to see what project he wanted to work on next. He knew he needed to choose an enchanted bow for his open recipe slot, frowning as he realized he had *two* slots open for additional recipes, having forgotten to look over both upgrades for [Bonded Tools] and [Magic Tool Creation], which both had [Additional Recipe]. ‘So… do I try the wooden potion bottle idea I had…?’

  He’d been wanting to use wooden potion bottles for the drinkable versions before. He just felt like, without the bottles themselves being magical, they’d be an imperfect fit. Figuring he could be wrong, Roge grabbed a grey ash branch to test on, knowing that the [Warding] ability would give it more chances of success. It didn’t take him too long, though he did spend a bit of time making the scale pattern and power symbol he’d made on his bomb bottles. Before wasting one of his potions, he decided to [Inspect] it first to see if it was usable as-is.

  Roge blinked at the description, frowning as he turned the bottle over in his claws. ‘So if I make it rank nine, it can hold potions up to rank nine? But what about the next tier?’ The book he had only listed elemental upgrades he could use in potions, so he soon sought out Sean for advice, since the tank seemed to have more experience with protection magic. To his surprise, he was chatting with some of the friendlier adventurers in the common area of the league building, feeling his scales heat up as he understood what they were talking about.

  “Hopefully he can upgrade the physical protection to the next tier, though I’m fine with the enchantment as-is,” Sean explained, showing off the grey plates on his armor.

  “Man, maybe we should look for a crafter to add to our team. They seem so useful,” one adventurer mused, his red skin and tusks leading Roge to believe he was another kind of orc.

  “Man, not all crafters are as useful in combat, you know this,” his elephant companion countered, calmly snorting out some air in his trunk. “It’s best to commission crafters in towns.”

  ‘Why do so many people have to be so tall…?’ Roge mused to himself, hopping up onto the free chair at the table. “I’d concur. My skills and abilities are a bit… out of the norm.” His arrival didn’t seem to startle any of the adventurers, the elephant man giving the orc a smug look. “Speaking of, Sean, you mind if I pick your brain about said upgrades? I’m… a bit at a loss and the library is probably closed.” Roge placed the wooden potion bottle he’d made onto the table, giving it a frown as he watched the adventurers [Inspect] it.

  “Didn’t know [Warding] worked like that…” the elephant man mused, giving Roge a smile. “Names Emmitt.” He held out a hand for Roge to shake, his steel-looking armor clacking with the motion. The orc just grunted, seemingly a bit more standoffish.

  “Well, it’s magical resistance. So I assumed it wouldn’t do nothing,” Roge replied, glad that the handshake was a normal one instead of a squeezing one. “Do you guys know what the next tier up [Protection] and [Warding] are?”

  “Pretty simple actually,” Sean said, giving Roge a small smile. “The protections seem to just go up in number. Like [Protection I]. And the number correlates with what tier they’re at.”

  “That’s… interesting,” Roge muttered, irritated that the potions didn’t work that way. “So no obvious clues for how to make it go up a tier? Or do I just keep adding ranks until it does?”

  “That… you’d have to get Hops to research. I just know what to look out for.” Sean chuckles at Roge’s sour look, the dragon kobold folding his arms and laying his head down in frustration.

  “Why not just use glass bottles?” the orc grunted out, sounding a bit offended for some reason.

  “Because Roge can cultivate more wood anywhere. Glass, though, he has to buy at a town like a normal person.” Sean’s comment earned him another glare from Roge, though that did make him notice the other two adventurers giving him an assessing look.

  “I’m not swapping teams,” Roge muttered, Emmitt chuckling at the response while the orc just growled. “And I think my team is getting a bit big with five members.”

  “Five?” Emmitt asked, his trunk whipping around while he looked confused. “Theres the other caster, the bow lady, and you two. So… where’s the fifth?”

  Sean gave Roge a worried look, though the dragon kobold just shrugged, unconcerned. “We’re a bit stuck at the moment, but I can bring him out,” Roge replied, activating his shapeshifting and hopping into his hoard for just a moment before appearing next to the table.

  ~~~

  Alton had been doing some meditating in the hoard when he’d been summoned, quickly shoving away the screes he’d been looking at as he found himself seated at a table with Sean. The other two adventurers immediately jerked upright, giving Alton wide eyed looks.

  “Alton?!” Emmitt screeched out, while Charles, the red orc, glared intensely at Sean as his hand started reaching for the scimitar attached to his hip.

  “Calm down, idiot,” Alton grumbled, reaching across the table and tapping the orc on the head once with his fist. “I’m okay. These guys actually saved me.” The dragon kobold in question sat on the table at that, Alton knowing that neither of the adventurers could see him and trying not to glance at him.

  “Saved you?” Emmitt asked, his trunk doing it’s normal twitching with his confusion.

  “Got captured by a doppelganger snake,” Alton grunted out, grimacing at the shocked and worried looks both of them gave him. “Roge saved me, though it’s made it so I’m temporarily stuck in his body. Speaking of…” Alton reached into Roge’s [Status] to add the daily coin and gem into the shapeshifting-related places, feeling his form solidify even more as he did so.

  “He… backfired the snake’s attack?” Emmitt asked, to which Alton nodded. It was as good of an explanation as anything, though Roge looked a bit miffed at the lie.

  “We’re waiting for the skill he got from it to rank up. Then, he might be able to use the doppelganger doll to give me a body instead of letting me borrow his.” Alton glanced at the dragon at that, not caring that he was looking at nothing to anyone but Sean. He still couldn’t understand why Roge was comfortable giving up his body for extended lengths of time. Sure, he could still do alchemy in his hoard, but to Alton, it felt like a frightening thing to give up, even for a small time. And Roge did it constantly to keep Alton’s sanity up. “He’s been shockingly good to me,” he muttered.

  Roge scoffed, seeming to not care about the burden as he listened to the conversation.

  “Well that’s good at least. Let us know if you need any help, though,” Emmitt replied, his gaze flicking to Sean for a moment.

  “I’ll be fine, man. Anyway, you still have those cards you like to play with?”

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  ~~~

  The group spent the next hour or so playing various card games, Roge letting the minotaur play, content to just watch. While yes, in his incorporeal form, he couldn’t feel anything, it wasn’t that much of a burden for him, especially since he spent most of his time operating his body. He now knew he needed to explain that to the minotaur, Alton’s confused look coming up in Roge’s mind a lot. ‘What’s there to be confused about. It’s just being kind.’

  The group had just finished up a hand and Roge felt his potions finish right when the front doors opened, the group that had gone out shuffling into the league building. Brice grunted out something, though Roge was too far away to hear.

  “How’d the fight go?” the League Master called out, looking smug as he looked over the frostbitten adventurers.

  “You know damn well it didn’t go well,” the water tank grunted out, his armor looking a bit worse for wear, with even more cracks than before. “Those damn ice attacks nearly froze us all.”

  “And that’s why it’s going to be very good to have that kobold aro- Wait. Where’d he go?” After not finding Roge anywhere, Alton gave the dragon kobold a look, the two shifting places one again, leaving Roge holding Alton’s hand of cards.

  “Here!” Roge called out, placing the hand down and trotting over to Bert. “So I assume we’re heading out tomorrow?” Roge asked, looking over the injured adventurers and pushing some healing their way.

  “Tonight would have been best, but you need to get your charisma higher and these doofuses need to rest,” Bert replied, glaring intensely. “Did you at least get more of those potions cooked up?”

  “Yup. Got a total of thirty right now. Going to see about getting… fifty more by tomorrow.” Roge did the calculations in his head, finding that, with ten of the drink potions taking only two of the normal ones, he could make another batch of each normal potion and be able to make five batches of the tea. “That way we have extra if the fight takes too long.”

  “You also need to increase your charisma to effect more people,” a voice called out, the same wolf/cat hybrid walking up to give Roge a grin. “While I can buff it, it’s also best to up it naturally. Any of your classes ready to level up?”

  Roge mirrored the man with a grin, looking at his [Status]. “My one class is just about to level up actually. Just need to sing some songs and I’m good to go.”

  “Any songs you thinking of?” Marge called out, smiling as she sipped from a tankard. “My favorite is the symphony one!”

  Questions were soon thrown around about what Roge was talking about, the dragon kobold sighing as he brought out the illusion effect on his wand. Thankfully, he was getting used to casting from around him instead of out the front of the wand, grinning as he spun the music notes up for another song.

  ~~~

  Apparently, the dance songs he’d memorized were a hit with the adventurers, even some of the ones that Roge barely remembered. Luckily, the skills seemed to help with the background music, so all Roge had to focus on was the words and notes he needed to sing. After a few songs, all the while feeling great as his social anxiety was pushed to the side, his skills ranked up, Roge grinning at what he’d gained.

  Roge sighed as he pulled up the added effects, his [Status] feeling cluttered with information. He also felt most of his anxiety come back, feeling wary of his clarity skill with how it made him act. At the very least, the added effect he recieved with his [Spacial Magic] was worth it.

  ‘And now it wants me to control the emotions of my friends…?’ he thought to himself, grimacing as he put the attribute points into charisma. He’d been told that forty adventurers would be a part of the group, so having a total of forty five helped him a lot. That, plus his player effect, did increase his mood, Roge commanding the music notes around him to play one of the earlier songs. Surprisingly, it seemed to play the song with the original artist’s voice, Roge having to stifle laughter at the confusion on peoples’ faces. ‘Is this copyright infringement…?’

  “Master? Can we talk?” Proton called out, Roge jumping at the unexpected kobold.

  “…This is about some of the things I’ve been ignoring isn’t it?” Roge asked, sighing as he started walking towards Hops and Marge, both of which were off to the side eating lunch.

  “Yes. Not only do we need to fill the two blank recipes, but we also need to fill the Form that your [Inspect] skill gave you.” That last part was said within range of the two party members, both giving Roge a look as he cringed.

  “How did [Inspect]…” Hops mumbled, Roge answering his question by sending over the new effect he’d gotten. “Oh just a physical one? How would that help?” Roge sat down at the table and waved over a waitress, everyone waiting to speak until she was gone.

  “Even though it would not include their skills or abilities, you would be adding their species on top of yours, essentially giving you buffs you wouldn’t have otherwise, as long as you put the Form into your hoard, ” Proton explained.

  “And… how do you know this?” Roge asked, feeling suspicious all of a sudden.

  “Because I have access to [Inspect]. Including [All Seeing].” At that, Roge shut up, feeling his face burning as the butler looked to the two confused party members. “Roge has a hard time… processing the extra information it gives, whereas I do not have that difficulty. It lets me see more about how his abilities work, to help me plan things better.”

  “Speaking of planning things, your bow is enchanted, right?” Roge asked Marge, the deer woman grinning as she brought the weapon out. One glance, and Roge added the recipe to his book, grinning at the information it gave him.

  From what he could see of the recipe, it only required him to use the ash samaras, which had the [Wind Magic] ability. He wanted to, of course, add the two abilities to plants he had, but he knew he’d have to wait on that.

  “I’m planning on adding the bow to my bonded slots when I get more, just so I can get it to a higher level,” Roge explained, glancing over at Hops. “I assume you don’t need the higher ranked wand?”

  “Not really,” Hops muttered, shrugging his shoulders. “Most of what I’m going to do is use the [Inscribe] one to make runes, like you demonstrated that one time.” He pulled out the wand that he’d been using, calmly looking over it with a small smile. “Speaking of, can you upgrade it higher? I don’t think we can get it above nine, but being able to generate fifteen mana per second is nothing to sneeze at. After working with it, the excess mana that it contains when I activate the rune is used for the effect. Makes for a fantastic combat inscriber.”

  Roge did just that, though he smiled sheepishly when he noticed Proton’s glare, the butler clearly not liking the topic change.