"So you did it then," Duke Vitja said to Kiri when he saw me walk in wearing the Hrothgar uniform.

Kiri gave him a huge smile "Good morning, my Lord Duke."

The Duke growled that low rumbling growl only orcs can do. "You should have waited, boy. I would have made you a very good offer."

I just nodded to acknowledge him.

He looked at Kiri, "Hrothgar has come into my area, removed a historic artefact and a major asset against monsters. What do you have to say?"

"An asset against monsters, yes, but also we have taken on the risk that involves."

"Are you a risk, boy?" the Duke asked me.

"I would be if people tried to force me where I didn't want to be," I replied.

"And Hrothgar is where you want to be?" the Duke asked.

"I don't know, I have not been there. I didn't choose Hrothgar, I chose Kiri."

"Does your mother know that, girl?" The Duke asked Kiri.

"She will as soon as my half-brother gets home," Kiri responded, emphasising the half part.

"Yeah," the Duke sounded disgusted, "She is not exactly conventional in her relationships, so I suppose she will not care."

Kiri smiled, "She is a good Mum. But that is not why we are here. We are here to see if we can smooth the way between us. We are only here for another couple of months, after all."

"How do you propose to do that? I don't know that there are any more monster nests around, thankfully." The Duke did seem interested. "Are your bones going to help us?" he added, revealing he was up to date on her affinity. "I am about to notify the army of another citizen with an affinity that needs to report for compulsory military service." He was looking at me when he said that.

"I don't like being forced anywhere," I said, emphasising the forced part.

"And if you did that," Kiri said, "You would be missing out on the huge benefits that Ivan can bring while he is here."

"What benefits are those?" The Duke asked.

"Your clan owns several mines. Do you have some ore that is particularly hard to extract, which could perhaps flow out as molten metal and be partially purified as well? A difficult mine that could perhaps be turned from tunnels into an open-cast mine? Would that sort of help interest you?" Kiri asked.

Even I could tell the Duke was interested. I was pretty sure I had given up on mining back in the Arctic. It seems not.

"That's… interesting," the Duke was clearly thinking through this application of Solar Flare.

It was time for me to be proactive about what I wanted. "All those things are possible," I said, having done some research since Kiri had suggested it to me. "However, this is not a two-way deal between Jern and Hrothgar. This is a three-way deal. Blast mining is not part of my contract with Hrothgar, so I need to be paid."

Kiri's eyebrows went up. I had not discussed this with her beforehand, and this did not go unnoticed by the Duke.

"How much do you want to be paid?" The Duke asked, "Five years of Army Service is worth a lot."

"It is not how much," I said, "it is what. I want my eye fixed, and I want some healer skills."

"You can't expect to become a healer in a couple of months," The Duke said, "That is years of training."

"I don't expect to become a healer. I have First Aid skills and a lot of healer lore. The Field Medic Class should be achievable." I had done my research. Field Medic was the most basic of the healer classes at only three attribute Points. I worked my way up from Scavenger. I can work on this. A Field Medic was skipped by most people training for the healer class, as potions overlapped a lot with the class, and those with the Regeneration Skill usually didn't need them at all.

The object of the Field Medic was to keep people alive until they could get them to a full healer. I have a lot more Lore than the Field Medic usually requires, but my First Aid skill was still only Novice. There were other key skills I would need to learn.

The Duke looked at me in silence for a bit, eventually saying, "That is going to take a lot of time to train."

"True," I said, "but site work at the mine can happen in my absence. I anticipate I will only be needed for two half days a week: one half day for site investigation and liaison with the foreman, and one half day for the skill. Eight weeks, and eight mines are what I am offering."

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"Ten Mines," The Duke said, "And you make yourself available for monsters where your skill can make a difference."

"Agreed, but only monsters escalated to the top Mercenary Guild ranking, and I expect to be paid those rates." That will stop me from being asked to step in for any and all monsters. For the Mercenary Guild Ranking to be escalated that high, there will have been several failed attempts at the monster anyway, and our two to three months was not long. A monster that can't be dealt with at a lower ranking should only come along once every few years, and I just killed one.

Kiri looked at me like she had never seen me before. I am not sure why. I might not be the quickest thinker around, but I had done my homework over the last few days. Kiri has suggested using Solar Flare in the mines, so I have researched mining and how it could be used. This increased my Mineral Lore.

I already had all the Healer Lore and classes researched, so that was simple, and I put them together. Actually, it may not have been that simple, as I have just earned myself a point in Mental Perception. That is my weakest attribute, so I must have done something that showed I have grown.

Kiri was silent and kept looking at me all the way back to the mansion, which wasn't far. When we entered, she grabbed me and hauled me up to her rooms and slammed the door.

"Where did that come from?" she demanded. "I have never seen you so forward and decisive around people before?"

I shrugged, "I had something to say. When I don't have anything to say, I don't say anything."

"You… you… I was expecting to have to negotiate for you, and you turn yourself into a negotiator? You took the Duke by surprise. You took me by surprise." She jumped into my arms, "That was so hot!"

I could get used to this girlfriend thing.

Sometime later, Kiri was cuddling my furry humanoid body. She liked to cuddle my fur. "Ten weeks is cutting it fine," she said.

"Ten weeks?" I said, "I heard ten mines. We could knock them out in two or three weeks."

Kiri grinned, "You can be quite sneaky sometimes."

I shook my head, "I am big and loud."

"And people think you are big and dumb, and you are really smart," Kiri said

"I am not a fast thinker," I said, "But give me time to prepare, and I will get there."

"You most certainly do, and you are cuddly as well!"

"And your skin is amazing," I said, lightly running my claws down her back. She likes that.

"Why Field Medic?" Kiri asked.

"It is about keeping people alive, and it will help keep Felix and me alive. I don't seem to be getting Regeneration, so I have to do it the hard way. First Aid, Blood Clot, and Close Wound are the key skills. Ideally, I would also like to learn a skill to speed the body's natural healing, like Regeneration does, but that can come later."

"Regeneration is more than that, though," Kiri said.

I nodded, "It incorporates a number of Healer's skills, which I will need to learn separately, which is why this is the hard way. Having separate skills means I will eventually be much more efficient and effective than Regeneration." I looked at her naked body cuddled against me, "But what about you. I know your major classes, but you seem to have a lot of extra Skills."

She looked up at me. "It is probably time we have this conversation. I have held off asking bout your affinity in case I was questioned where I couldn't lie. I am a Hunter, Monster Hunter, Bounty Hunter, Scout, Assassin and Archer. Most of those are low-level. Hunter and Scout are my highest-level classes, followed by the army-trained Archer Class." She paused.

"I have had a lot of training in a lot of different skills, so I have a Basic Class that no one has heard of. It is called Illicit Searcher. As best we can tell, it is a mixture of my Father's spy class, Auntie B's Thief Class, and my Mothers Observer Class, but it is none of those. It does use a lot of the skills from all of them."

"Physical senses include Olfactory, Darksight, Farsight, Hearing Aid and Keensight."

"Physical Agility is my highest attribute, followed by Physical Perception and Mental Agility, which are all over 50. My energy levels are Physical 145, Mental 114, and Spiritual 89."

She paused while I thought about it. I appreciated her waiting for me; after all, I had just told her I needed thinking time. She had proper training, and her classes probably gave her 5 points per level, whereas mine are quite low. Attributes empower skills, but the skills and skill levels make a huge difference. She probably has me beat there, too, as she is almost 30, whereas I am barely 10 years old.

She is comparatively low on the Spiritual side, but that should start to change now that she has an affinity.

I started, "None of my Attributes are over 50; my closest was Physical Perception, at 47. My energy Levels are 122, 61, and 86, respectively. You are a fair bit above me."

"I had fantastic training, and you are not that far behind," Kiri said. "We should spar to get an idea of comparative strengths. Be warned: Auntie Drica trained me in Unarmed Combat, and she is above the Master Levels now. It is called a Grand Master."

"Noted. I hope to learn a lot. I am interested in learning a claw and teeth fighting technique," I said.

"I can't help you there," Kiri said, "But we might find a skill trainer that can help."

"Skill Trainer?"

"Yes, they are one of the Classes that can teach the basic skills from Skill books. They are only for low-level starter skills or Lore. Teeth and claws would be more prevalent further south, with more beast-kin, but we can look."

"My affinity is unknown, so I could do with some help figuring it out," I said. "It is the Astral Affinity, and it has to do with cold, void and heat, but it is a lot more than that. The astral bodies, like the sun and stars, are part of it, which is where the Solar Flare comes from. I have an Astral map, which plots the astral bodies in real time, but I have not found a use for it apart from navigation. My affinity skills are Frigid Void, Solar Flare, and Void Sensing, which all work more easily and cheaply inside my Cosmic Aura."

"Wow," Kiri said. "I can do basic navigation from the stars, but that is it."

"Wait till I talk you through my Cosmic Aura and feeling Gravity, Light and Electromagnetic fields."

"And what fields?" Kiri asked.

I snuggled Kiri's naked body closer. This was going to take a while.

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