Karl made his way up to the second level, and began the hunt for a Rare skill that would help Tian with his goal of becoming the group's utility buff person.

They had potions, defensive buffs, and plenty of damage, so the fox wanted to carve out his own niche on the team.

There was so little that the team didn't already have that he had to really work to provide a function that wasn't just stacked on top of something that everyone else already had.

Even his [Hymn of Heroism] was just another straight skill damage buff.

But when they were in a large group, or among allies that weren't part of the group, he could play his songs and activate that hymn to give everyone on their team a big bonus.

That was definitely something that the others didn't already grant.

Inspiration was a lot of extra attack speed, and they all needed some of that, as he had learned in the Demon dungeon. Some of the fights were so fast that even Dana's [Auto Parry] was struggling.

And that was no good.

They searched slowly through the second floor, looking at all the extremely situation-specific skill books for bards, and then finally found what they were looking for, tucked back in a corner.

[Fox God Charm] {Creates an [Enthrall] effect on any target that hears the song. Enthralled targets will forget their allegiance and stop all attacks on the caster's allies. Enthralled targets may be commanded to take actions, but actions that cause harm to the target will break the charm.}

"Now that is beautiful. We might have to teach it to Dana as well, as it doesn't specify that it needs an instrument to cast.

If it's functional for all foxes, it should work for her, and then she can charm her way into having people stop bothering her." Karl suggested.

[Oh, that's a good use. I was thinking of using it to let us get close, or walk past annoying things, so that's kind of the same.

I wonder if there is a Hypnosis, one that will enthrall without breaking when they are attacked.]

"I will look for it. There should be something like that here. Hypnosis type spells aren't all that rare for mages, so they shouldn't be too hard for bards."

"Ah, there it is. [Song of Control]. I wonder if there were other ones, and we just overlooked them because they had strange names? A lot of these bard spells are pretty vague." Karl wondered.

[Song of Control] {Mental Domination Effect, forces the target to obey the caster while the song is playing. Improved effect against weakened minds.}

Tian was overjoyed. They had found everything that he came here for, and even a bonus one that he could share with the Dana Mage.

But even better, he now had a reason to sing and play music while the group was in battle.

He could even heal while he did it, since his heals didn't require movement.

With the books now in hand, Karl headed for the entryway to make his payment, and let everyone else know that they had found what they needed. "Alright, we're ready to check out."

The clerk looked up, startled by Karl's quick return.

"Did you manage to find what you wanted?" She asked carefully.

"Indeed. I found five different tomes, and they're all suitable for what Tian needed. Don't worry, I know the 'no refunds' policy if he can't use the books directly to learn the skills."

Karl had actually seen that Tian could use them when he picked them up. The System Interface informed him of the compatibility at the same time that it told them what the skill did.

"Alright, if you're certain. I have deducted the credits for you."

She looked a bit startled as she saw the balance in Karl's Clan Credit section, but didn't question it and just watched as Tian came out and took the first book from Karl's hands.

[Fox God Charm] was learned without incident, and the Tian spun in happy circles on the desk.

That was the most important one for him to learn.

Not because it was the most powerful, but because it was a song to the Fox God.

Now that he had that one learned, he could move on to the others, and quickly learned [Inspiration], [Dissonant Whispers], [Hymn of Heroism] and [Song of Control].

{Now I've got enough basic skills to go with [Vicious Mockery]} He announced proudly.

Dana patted his head. "Indeed you do. You even got a buff to help us attack faster. Sister Rae is going to love that skill."

{I wanted it for your Auto Parry. Us fluffy creatures need to stick together.}

Dana laughed and stroked his back. "You're right. We're far too cute to be getting beat up by dungeon mobs."

The clerk at the counter began to laugh. "I see how it is now. The fox and the foxkin are on the same team."

Karl winked at her. "That's why I marred my Dana Mage. Now, she can't run off

with my Fox."

The clerk laughed at the sight of Tian cuddled up in Dana's arms.

The beast was most likely bonded to Karl, but it was apparent that the foxkin

mage was his favourite. Not that she could blame him. With Fox Charm and whatever perfume it was that she was wearing, even the clerk found it hard not to want to stand closer to her.

To a Stonefur Divine Fox, that had to be nearly irresistible.

But that should work both ways. The tiny fluff ball was also incredibly tempting, and she had heard from her friend Min that he was actually quite

adorable when he was trying to be helpful.

The Green Dragon's reenactment of Tian's version of [Vicious Mockery] had

been hilarious.

But apparently the butterfly in the team was going to put on a whole illusionary show for them, reenacting the dungeon run that had brought the Supply Warehouse's most popular counter clerk newfound riches.