Watching a hedgehog bury their face in cake had not been on the list of things Lindle had been expecting to see today, as Notwick furiously devoured every scrap of cake they could reach atop the table. Lindle pulled his slice closer to himself defensively. Everyone else watching the homunculus decided Lindle had the right idea and copied him.

  “I’m glad they seem to be such a huge fan of my baking,” His mom said with a fond smile. “I was a little worried that their tastes would be too different from a humanoids.”

  “I wouldn’t mind,” Humphrey commented between bites of his own slice. “Would’ve meant more for the rest of us.”

  Thalia sighed and elbowed him, “I think you meant to say, Thank you for inviting us and for the cake, Miss Kyte.”

  “No, I think the boy has the right idea,” Madam Holly interrupted her granddaughter. “It’s been far too long since I’ve had something this blatantly unhealthy. You think you could make more for me later, Alyn? It would pair wonderfully with your tea.”

  Thalia groaned in embarrassment and put her face in her hands. Across from her, Dorothea was leaning forward towards Notwick as they rampaged, avoiding crumbs as they flew. “That’s so interesting. You think it’s a case of Lindle’s idea of taste being the basis for your own for why you like it so much?”

  Notwick raised their head up a moment, their muzzle completely covered in frosting, to mumble something intelligible to Lindle, but Dorothea nodded. “I didn’t consider that. I suppose I haven’t studied the eating habits of mundane hedgehogs, maybe they do like cake!”

  Rosato, watching in amusement, cut in. “I know that look. We aren’t going to go hunting for a hedgehog to feed it cake. Even if we could find one, I’m pretty sure sugar is bad for them.”

  Eyes lighting up, Humphrey sat up and pointed to Thalia. “Well, we do have a druid. There's an ethical hedgehog testing opportunity right here.”

  Thalia shot Humphrey a look of betrayal as the kitsune mage started petitioning Thalia to wildshape into a hedgehog.

  Sitting next to Lindle, Chip made a sound of contentment. “How wonderful. We so rarely get the chance to settle down and enjoy such a comfortable environment while on the move.”

  Lindle smiled. The praise for his home made him feel unexpectedly proud. “Thanks. I’m glad you could make it.” Not that Lindle had been expecting them, the ‘something’ his mom had prepared for them having been to invite everyone and bring out some cake as a surprise.

  “Of course, this is a big step for both of you, especially Notwick.” The halfling looked at the hedgehog in the center of the table. “I can’t say I expected this result when you reappeared in the dungeon, a small blobby creature in hand, but I certainly wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  “Think you two will be ready to join us for the raid then?” Theodore’s question caught Lindle off guard, the masked man having walked behind him without Lindle noticing. He saw that his plate was empty, even though Lindle couldn’t recall having seen him lift up the mask to eat at any point. “People will start arriving in Soarstrum any day now. Notwick can be smuggled inside now, but we still need to make sure you’re strong enough to not be a liability.”

  “Oh, don’t worry, we definitely will,” Lindle answered with a bit of challenge in his tone. He couldn’t see Theodore’s expression, but they shifted in a way that made Lindle think he was raising his eyebrows in surprise. Lindle continued. “Two levels and a feat are gonna go a long way towards that goal.”

  Now Lindle knew Theodore looked surprised under his mask. Chip did as well. The cleric let out a low whistle before speaking. “Really? That’s a big jump.”

  Lindle pulled up his Status notifications so they could take a look.

  “Now that is progress,” Chip praised. “Level 12 in only a few months is an amazing pace.” He looked over [Fore-Father] again. “What an interesting feat. Not anything like what I gained as an apprentice, though I suppose we walk very different paths, so no surprise there.”

  “Can’t help but notice that it’s the first one you’ve gotten this tier, though,” Theodore added. “Your future class options and strength are going to end up stunted if you don’t gain more before you hit 20.”

  Lindle shrugged. “According to Madam Holly, this one was apparently preventing the System from giving me more feats until I gained it. Now that it’s here, I should be able to earn any other in-progress feats much easier.”

  Lindle enjoyed the interest the two adventurers displayed in the trio of notifications he’d received as rewards for Notwick’s creation. Double level-ups were nothing to scoff at, and this time, it had happened almost immediately after another level-up, meaning Lindle had gone from 9 to 12 in less than as many days, and that was the least interesting reward he had received.

  [Fore-Father] was a vague but extremely intriguing feat. He had trained extremely hard in order to remove as much randomness from Notwick’s creation as possible, and this feat was the culmination of that. When they worked together, it seemed possible that Lindle would be able to know almost exactly what an artifact would do before it was complete, allowing him to fine-tune their effects.

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  Of course, it would be almost useless without the final addition, the System acknowledging Notwick as Lindle’s bonded companion. Bonded companions were rare creatures with what were functionally unique classes that bonded to other specific classes. Familiars were the most common since many different mage classes could perform the ritual to summon one, even if it was expensive and difficult. In Glacerhine, there were a few rangers and druids that had wild tames as bonded companions. Homunculi were the companions that matched to Artificer.

  Instead of leveling up on their own, a bonded companion’s level would match their bonds, and they would never be as strong as a monster of the same level, at least on the basis of level or stats, but in exchange, all of their Skills would work in conjunction with their bond's class, supporting them. They also got access to each other’s Statuses.

  “Hey Notwick, mind if I show off your Status?” Lindle asked. The hedgehog paused, looking at Lindle before swallowing hard.

  “Oh? Oh yeah, go ahead.” The distraction seemed to have finally pulled Notwick out of their cake-fueled reverie, looking at the destruction around them. “Huh…” They shrank in embarrassment, but they still continued to eat, though with a bit more dignity.

  Lindle chuckled as he pulled up his friend’s status. In his opinion, this benefit was by far the biggest.

  The Skills were certainly the stars of the show, at least when it came to how Notwick would be able to assist Lindle. [Artifice Assistant] was something Notwick had technically already been using, albeit in a nascent state, to help Lindle finish crafting their body. Now though, when Lindle activated his Skill, Notwick would be able to activate theirs and shape Pelos and aspects just like him, allowing them to work together.

  [Bond and Burden] was the only Skill that wasn’t entirely crafting-focused, though it certainly would be extremely helpful there, letting Lindle functionally increase the amount of Ethos strain he could handle by a significant margin. Out of the workshop, however, Notwick would now be able to help Lindle manage debuffs and help buff him, most likely by chugging potions. It would require some testing to see exactly how much Ethos strain absorbing a debuff caused, and a little more testing to figure out what potion bottles and vials were the most hedgehog-friendly.

  The biggest game changer, though, was [Aspect Archive]. The ability to recreate any aspect he’d used in the past would be beyond valuable. Rare finite sources of Ethos would no longer be truly finite, and Lindle could make copies of any artifact he’d made in the past. Of course, the drawback was that unless the aspects he gave to Notwick were really similar, the time it would take the homunculus to spit out any really strong aspects would be measured in days at the least.

  So far, the only aspects Notwick had recorded were the ones they had used to create their body, but in the future, the different types of Ethos they would gain access to would quickly add up.

  All in all, Lindle felt like his new confidence was warranted. His progress through apprentice had already been faster than almost anyone’s he knew of in the village, even if his friends had quickly picked up their pace after they had made their plans. He wasn’t sure if reaching level 20 would be possible before the raid, but in all honesty, he probably didn’t want to. Even if it was riskier, any reward for joining the raid would make for some very powerful options when it came to Journeyman tier. The dungeon had done so for his apprentice options, after all.

  Lindle laughed a little to himself, consumed in his thoughts so much that he almost missed it when Madam Holly sat down next to them and spoke to Notwick, dangling a piece of paper in front of them.

  “So, Notwick, how would you like to go on your first quest?”