~I’m done. You can pick me up now. I’m returning with two more bags, and a wooden crate,~ Aisha informed me.

  ~One teleport coming right up.~

  After invoking the other new ability, the same formation appeared on the floor and Aisha materialized in front of me after a faint, purple flash. Just as she had said, she brought back both empty backpacks, as well as two more bags, and one sizable crate.

  “Let’s get to work, then.” I sighed and we both walked towards the nearest pile of Darksteel Ore.

  The mineral itself was a polished rock, so we at least didn’t get too dirty while loading our containers with it. The chunks were surprisingly heavy. Aisha moved them much quicker than I could, filling one of the sacks and starting on a second while I’d only filled mine slightly more than halfway.

  “So, we talked about gods existing and starting guilds and such not that long ago.” I decided to start a conversation to make the time pass pleasantly as we worked. “I was kind of wondering how it happened that people from other realms have heard of, or got in contact with, the gods of our world. Was it through the whole Defender operation?”

  “Not exactly but I’m sure some knowledge came from the believers that were turned into Defenders.” Aisha shook her head. “It’s quite simple, actually. The gods migrated. They always do.”

  “Migrated?” I raised a brow at her.

  “Gods operate on worship, reverence, faith, and other things like that. They will obviously stay in the region with the highest concentration of their devout believers. But, nothing is eternal, especially not faith. People come, people go. Whole religions can disappear overnight, for various reasons.”

  She grabbed a piece of the ore and crushed it in her hand.

  “At some point,” she continued, “it’s just inefficient for the gods to stay in a dead place. It’s all a business to them. And when your business fails in your chosen market, what are your options?”

  “Either close it up or move to another market,” I replied.

  “Exactly.” She pointed a chunk of ore at me before tossing it into the bag. “So, the gods often jump realms, in search of other and better opportunities, preferably into ones with less competition. That’s one of the main reasons why they pack their bags too. With many pantheons around, or with one of them attaining an overwhelming majority, it’s just a pain to compete.”

  “I see.” I nodded. “That’s actually more logical than I expected, and matches what probably happened over the ages. I bet the Greek, Norse, Egyptian, and many other gods, jumped ships at some point when the currently popular entities began dominating the market. And Earth has quite a few atheists too.”

  “Pretty much.” Aisha smiled.

  “No wonder various races worship gods mentioned in our own history. I now kinda wonder where each of the pantheons is currently located. Or where they originated. And also, how come there are so many versions of the creation of the world, if they keep jumping into already existing realms?”

  “You are a real thinker, aren’t you?” Aisha chuckled. “It’s because explaining something like that in a mystical way is the easiest method to capture people’s attention. People always wonder how things came to be. They want to know where they came from, why they are here, and where they go when they die. It only takes one god with a captivating story to satiate their thirst for knowledge. From what I heard, that’s often the first step the gods take after arriving in a new world.”

  “Quite fascinating. How did guilds come into the play?”

  “Just another way to gain followers, as I mentioned during our previous conversation. Except with a more hands-on approach, rather than the quite laid-back one you might be used to. There are more actual benefits for the people in such situations. Over the years, it developed into some sort of competition between gods, with the adventurers or Defenders as their representatives. They love to brag about which guild is bigger, stronger, and so on.”

  That sounded weirdly similar to a certain light novel I had read not that long ago. I began wondering how much of it had been inspired by what Aisha was talking about. I bet there were many stories that drew on the fantasy side of things and people would never guess how close fiction was to reality.

  We filled all the bags to the brim and moved to the crate. Not a single piece of valuable rock would be left behind, especially now that we didn’t have to keep it in the bedroom. We continued gathering the ore in relative silence, until Aisha broke it.

  “Have you already thought who the next Subordinate would be?”

  “Yeah, naturally.” I nodded. “There are so many valid options to pick from, that I’m still undecided. It really depends on what our situation will be after we complete our next assignment. That is, assuming we receive a Subordinate Token for it.”

  “I don’t think we’ll have any issues for quite some time with just the two of us. Saving it up for when we stumble on something difficult might be a wise choice. But, any ideas you’d care to share?”

  Aisha glanced at me, and I could tell she was extremely curious to know about my plans.

  I chuckled with a smile. “Well, instead of saving it, I’m actually considering going for a production or crafter-type Class while things are still relatively easy.”

  “Oh? A production Class? Like what?”

  “An Alchemist, Blacksmith, or Carpenter, for example. There are plenty of professions that could make finished goods from what we gather in the Dungeons if this world follows the game in that fashion too. We could turn raw materials into something processed and make much more money from it that way, securing another stable source of income. And, naturally, we could save on purchasing such things, not needing to buy them from the shop,” I explained.

  Aisha twirled a chunk of Darksteel Ore between her fingers. “Considering your Class, that could actually work. You could technically turn your home into a workshop. And, I bet it would be easy to earn the gratitude and appreciation of people with such Classes, as I doubt they get summoned that often.”

  “Now that I think of it, you are probably right.” I rubbed my chin. “It kind of sucks for them, having to remain as a soul for who knows how long, just because of their profession. Not that I’m thinking of saving literally anyone stuck in that limbo. I have to put our interest and safety above all else.”

  “Same here. And, while that would certainly allow us to either craft or buy lots of useful gear and consumables with the additional money, in the end, it pretty much always boils down to your own combat power.”

  “That’s why I’m still considering it. I don’t want to be too greedy. Both options are viable, technically.”

  “Yeah. You have shown me this much already.” Aisha smiled at me. “Whatever you go with, I’m sure it will be a good choice. There’s also always a chance that you might summon someone experienced in certain crafts, even if their Class is typically combat based.”

  “If we get lucky, maybe.” I shrugged. “I’d rather not rely on that too much. We’ll see how it goes. Let’s wrap things up here.”

  Soon, we finished loading the crate, having cleared almost the entire spacious chamber of all the Darksteel Ore the kobolds had mined. It should net us quite a decent pile of coin. We should also leave a bit of it in our storage, just in case we did summon a crafter who could work with it.

  We then stacked all the containers on top of one another, and Aisha huddled with her arms as tightly around them as tightly as she could. It looked almost comical, seeing her hunched over a crate and four bags full of ore. But, it was worth it, and she promptly disappeared with all the goods when I invoked the skill.

  She left everything in the middle of the apartment for now and I recalled her back.

  “Let’s make a round through the tunnels and check to be sure we didn’t miss anything,” I suggested.

  “Finding a deposit of Darksteel Ore is already something. I don’t think we will find anything else of value, but you’re the boss.”

  We spent the next four hours scouring the silent Dungeon while chatting about random things. Aisha inquired about my thoughts on our next steps and the future. We also exchanged some more trivia regarding our respective worlds. In general, our conversation was mostly lighthearted fun stuff.

  As for our trip, it was just as Aisha had said. We found nothing of interest during our final search. We had already explored most of the Dungeon before clearing up the final objective, but since we had the time, it would be a waste not to be completely sure.

  Unfortunately, we found no secret passages filled with loot. Curses.

  After getting back home, we ordered some food to fill our bellies and got to sorting the captured spoils of war. We couldn’t just leave all of this by the bed. Someone had to move the bags and the crate to the storage room since the teleport activated in the middle of the apartment.

  It took us around an hour to deal with the ore, freeing up the backpacks for future use. We still had plenty of space in the storage room after filling three crates with the raw mineral. It had been a great decision to invest in this chamber.

  Just like the prompt had advised, we chose to spend the rest of our free time relaxing. With a quick shower together again, this time without any delays and mischief, we sat down by the PC and went through our attributes, skills, and all other menus.

  We decided to sell part of the resources we had gathered, leaving more than half of them in the storage. Nothing too valuable was in our hands yet, except for the Darksteel Ore, so we couldn’t really go wrong with getting rid of some junk.

  In the end, we earned an additional 638 D$ by selling some materials to the shop and setting various quantities of Darksteel Ore up on the D-Market, bringing our account to 1912 D$. We had enough that I didn’t bother playing around with the price in order to score the absolute best profit, so our offering sold quickly.

  By the time everything was done, it was getting pretty late. We had spent a fair bit of time discussing the distributions of our stats and browsing through the D-Shop for various things. After sharing a late dinner, we chose to end it there for the day.

  I dropped onto the bed first and comfortably set myself on my back, releasing a deep sigh of satisfaction. There was a lot on my mind, related to our recent Dungeon clear and all the technicalities of my Class. Especially the latter had been a shock and quite the revelation.

  The sheets rustled quietly and something warm laid down on my chest. Someone’s arms soon wrapped themselves around my body and a certain woman exhaled softly into my neck as she nuzzled her face into it.

  Aisha sleeping on top of me wasn’t anything new, but a certain sensation made it clearly different today. More specifically, two soft and squishy sensations with pointy tips grazing over my chest.

  I lifted one eyelid and glanced down at the snuggly drakan. “Where’s your bra?”

  “Do I need it?" Aisha murmured without moving even a little.

  “You always wore one before.”

  “I didn’t want you to think that I’m an indecent woman.”

  “Yeah, because that would make a difference with how much you teased me.” I snorted. “What changed?”

  “Well, technically, you became my mate so there’s nothing indecent about me sleeping without one now, as it’s naturally your right to see and experience all of me.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You just want to feel my warm skin on your naked body, don’t you?”

  A faint smirk formed on Aisha’s lips. “What a wise mate I found.”

  “At least you’ve still got your panties on.” Shaking my head, I sighed and wrapped my arms around the playful drakan.

  She hummed contentedly into my neck, every now and then taking a deep breath. She dozed off with a smile on her face a moment later. I suspected it wouldn’t be long before Aisha switched to sleeping in the nude. If that happened, it was just a matter of time before she convinced me to do likewise.

  I soon joined her in the lands of dreams, wondering what kind of environment the next Dungeon might have. I was both curious and excited. It might be a bit weird, getting hyped up about the place of your potential death, but this was my life now. Full of Dungeons. And women, most likely.

  Chapter 16

  And Another One Goes Down the Rabbit Hole

  The faint buzzing of my phone announcing that it was already ten in the morning woke me. As usual, I tried to reach for it without opening my eyes, depending on muscle memory at this point, but for some reason, when I moved my arm, my hand brushed the bedding at a slightly confusing angle.

  Feeling the soft mattress with my palm instead of the back of my hand, I realized that I lay on my stomach instead of my back or side like I usually did. When I opened my eyes, I was greeted by a sizable, tender hill with a pointy peak.

  It instantly became obvious to me what position I was in.

  Somehow, as rarely as it happened, I had ended up on top of Aisha, instead of her on top of me. My cheek rested on her warm chest, with my head nestled between her breasts as she hugged me to her, her fingers tangled in my hair and one leg wrapped around my waist. My legs hugged her tail.

  Gods, it had to look comical. We must have flipped over during the night, to end up like this. I had to say, though, it was quite nice and pleasant, lying on someone like that. Perhaps I was beginning to understand why Aisha liked it so much, to the point that she subconsciously clung to me in her sleep.

  But, as much as I enjoyed it, we couldn’t remain like this forever. We had things to do. The Tutorial Dungeon was going to close today, and another one—a proper Dungeon, this time—would be assigned to us by the company.

  So, without further ado, I located my vibrating phone and shut the alarm off, lifting myself up. Since Aisha’s arms and legs were wrapped around various parts of my body, the movement roused her from sleep, too, and she took a deep breath, causing her full chest to heave alluringly.

  Opening her eyes, she glanced down. Blinking a few times to get rid of her initial drowsiness and the haze of sleep, she smirked at me after noticing the quite implicative position we had found ourselves in.

  “Right from the morning? You are truly insatiable.”

  I leaned forward to bring my face closer to hers while supporting myself on my elbows.

  “Is that a problem for you?”

  We stared at each other intently for a brief moment. I could tell Aisha was considering her answer from how her eyes jumped between my face and my waist a few times. With just one or two small movements, we could shed the two unnecessary pieces of material and jump straight to the fun part.

  But, while she would surely not mind going at it again, I knew Aisha was just being herself and teasing me like usual.

  I closed the remaining distance and connected our lips in a warm good morning kiss. Our tongues danced with each other for a brief moment until I backed away.

  “Any requests for breakfast?” I asked.

  “Are you on the menu?” She gave me a mischievous smile.

  I rolled my eyes, sitting up. Aisha followed suit, with the help of my hand, and we ended up in front of each other again. It was still unbelievable to me that I had such a beauty at my side. I could literally just stay like this and admire her every morning from now on.

  Aisha’s faint chuckle pulled me out of my thoughts when she caught me staring at her perky breasts and fit stomach.

  “Having second thoughts now?”

  “Do not tempt me or be prepared to face the consequences.” I squinted my eyes at her.

  She, as expected, didn’t back down and straightened her arms just to emphasize her bust by pushing her perfect breasts up and out, and smiled at me with an upturned gaze.

  I shook my head with a sigh. There was no way I would be able to win against her. And the longer I would try, the closer to wasting time we would get. Perhaps getting together with her was actually a curse, instead of a blessing.

  Aisha chuckled again, sitting up and stretching to bring her arms above her head, releasing an extremely suggestive, prolonged moan.

  “Anything will do fine,” she answered my earlier question. “I feel like asking for sushi would be a bit much.”

  “God fucking dammit.” I laughed. “We’ll have to order a truck of it, you damned sushi junkie.”

  We looked at each other and chuckled together again. Turning to the side, I jumped off the bed before she could tempt me with that delicious body again.

  “If you want sushi, just say so. You can have anything you’d like,” I said, starting to pull on some pants.

  “Anything?” Aisha asked, pressing her chest into my back as she embraced me from behind, leaning out from the bed.

  “Don’t start again.” I looked back over my shoulder and bopped her lightly on the nose.

  She pouted playfully but quickly let me go and began to get dressed. We took care of our morning toiletries in a flash, and I ordered a nice breakfast for us. As I set it up on the table, bringing the delivery from the entrance, Aisha joined me, and we dug in.

  “So. What’s the plan for today?” she asked, munching on, unsurprisingly, a piece of sushi.

  “Well, we have some time before the Dungeon closes and gets replaced with the new one, so there are a few things we could do in the meantime.”

  “Such as?”

  “Checking our gear, checking our supplies, browsing the D-Shop and D-Market again, unpacking the reward armor we got, trying our hand at weapon gacha, or we could always waste some time if that’s what you really would like to do,” I replied with an eyebrow waggle at the end.

  “What’s gacha?” Aisha inquired, looking over at me curiously.

  Woah. Impossible. She hadn’t taken the chance to tease or smirk at me. Did she break?

  “Well, simply speaking, it’s just another word for a lottery. We got that random weapon box with the Kobold theme from our clear bonus. Such things are often called gacha here.”