"Who is in shape for first watch?" Corbin whispered to the other Commanders as the Circle of Protection settled over them.

"I am. My skills refresh stamina, so I will keep first watch while my beasts rest. I can also see in absolute darkness, so there is no need to keep a light on for me." Karl replied.

Larry chuckled. "But it is for the rest of us. This place will be unnervingly black without one. Can you keep that flame spell of yours active, or is it draining even when it's not taking damage?"

Karl smiled and took out his bonded sword, then walked to the wall beside the entrance and stuck it into the stone, with the flames surrounding it. He reduced them to a faint glow and returned to the conversation.

"That should be a good enough night light for everyone, as well as a decent space heater. It doesn't take any effort to keep active, as it was intended to be a passive skill. Only when using it to attack or taking damage does it take effort."

The blade was positively humming with energy today, after all the fighting that it had gotten to do. Karl hadn't noticed with his injuries, but the amount of life that it had stolen was really rather excessive. It was only a small portion of the energy from each kill, but Karl had downed a significant number of monsters alone, including multiple Commanders toward the end of the battle.

The energy hadn't been fully assimilated by his body yet, but it soon would be, and he was focusing it all into the three focal points in the beast spaces.

It didn't take all of his focus, so as everyone ate their dinner, for which the Spellblades were happy to have a Nature Priest, and then settled into bed, Karl continued the energy transfer.

Once everyone was asleep, or on their way to it, he put most of his attention into it, leaving just enough to keep watching the tunnel entrance and the back wall, in case something came from that direction.

The back wall of the cave was only very dimly lit, even to his night sight, but the trickle of water was steady, and as Rae had said, it had to be going somewhere, as it wasn't filling the cave.

Karl let them sleep a bit longer, as they had started the rotation of night watches early due to exhaustion, and waited four hours before he woke Tessa for the second watch.

"The light will stay on while I meditate. I need to absorb the leeched energy from the battle." He whispered as she straightened her robes and brushed her hair.

"Is there anything to report?" She asked.

"Nothing at all. It is eerily silent out there, and I don't hear anything moving near the cave mouth. The wind has died down a bit, so the noise of the trees is quieter, and I can hear some small animals, but nothing else."

Karl settled into a deep trance while laying in his sleeping bag, and was only vaguely aware that at some point Tessa had traded spots with Alice for the third watch.

Alice had just traded spots with Prince Corbin when Karl felt something changing in his spaces.

He had been stuffing them with excess energy that his body couldn't absorb quickly enough all night, and it was then, with a feeling that spread through his body like the ringing of a bell, just a subtle vibration that made every bit of his body sing with energy, they stopped changing, and a fourth space began to form.

It already had a small focus in it, though it was otherwise barren and no larger than a bedroom, instead of the acres of space that the others now encompassed.

The change immediately woke the beasts up to see what was going on in their homes, and they all noticed the new addition.

"So, our homes have reached the standard. Now, we just need to make it to Commander Rank, and we will be the powerful ones on the team." Hawk preened, already imagining the majesty of his feathers when he reached Commander Rank.

"Yes, all shall bow down before us when we are Commanders." Rae agreed.

She mentally added [Maybe not that Overlord Drake guy], but she was otherwise confident that the humans would no longer be her match.

Karl sensed Corbin's attention on him, and opened his eyes to acknowledge the Royal Rank mage, who had carefully arranged himself, and even trimmed his beard a little to look more youthful and less dishevelled than he had at the start of the evening.

All signs of lingering Ice Magic were gone, Karl noted with pleasure, meaning that their strongest fighter was back in top shape.

"Did you make an advancement, or gain an epiphany of some sort? I sensed the surge of power." Prince Corbin asked.

"My beast spaces made a breakthrough. They shouldn't be holding the beasts back anymore, and in due time, the team will be able to make it to Commander Rank." He explained quietly.

The mage looked impressed. "You know, it's a shame that someone with your potential wasn't scouted as a mage. With that level of mental fortitude, you should have a rather easy time learning new spells."

Karl smiled at the thought. "The beasts have an even easier time. I have a skill that helps them learn by watching or being instructed by others. If it's a compatible skill, then within a day or two of watching they can usually get the basics of it down.

We haven't had enough time to just stop and study new skills, but we also haven't come across many compatible skills so far, and that has limited the expansion of their talents."

That made Prince Corbin a bit suspicious. "So you're saying that your beasts are watching us and trying to steal our skills?"

Karl tried to laugh quietly so he didn't wake anyone else up. "Doubtful. None of them have thumbs, so sword skills aren't exactly their forte, and none of them are actual mages. Hawk has an affinity for the Fire Element, but I didn't see any of you using it during the fight, but he's the only one who uses actual magic other than Rae's ability to summon Golems."

Corbin smiled at the memory of the wooden golems charging out of the trees to tear apart the Yeti Warriors. "Those are quite impressive, by the way. If they could use defensive magic or ranged attacks, they would be incredible."

Karl nodded. "Give us time, and we will find a spell that either I can cast on them, or that Rae can use herself to protect them. When they make it to Commander Rank, they might pick up a new skill, though. According to the studies I've done, many beasts do."

Corbin nodded. "It's common for them to get a skill at Commander, and almost mandatory that they learn something other than their Racial Ability to advance to Royal Rank.

Royal Rank beasts can all use some sort of advanced magic, though for some it is hidden either as insane defence or some sort of physical change.

Like the Yeti that we faced today. There is something called a King of Snow, which is an evolved version of that species. They can control ice and snow in all its many forms, but they can also use powerful wind magic, usually including either Tearing Winds or Tornado."

Karl understood the concept, and his pets should all be well on the way to that standard. They had all learned skills that weren't part of their Racial abilities, and they just had to make it to that power level, unless there was some barrier to them as well, the way there was for humans.

But the immediate concern was getting them to the Commander Rank standard.

They were growing fast with the input of the Vampiric Sword, but Karl was certain that there was more he could be doing, other than hunting randomly for monsters to kill and random items to feed them.

Prince Corbin smiled at him. "Relax, you're thinking too hard. Sometimes what you need is not to push forward, but to build your base good and strong. Once you have a better foundation, you will find that it is easier to build the levels that come above it.

Think of your potential like a pyramid. It needs to be broadest at the base to grow properly. You can make it look like an obelisk, but they're unstable, and a good hit can knock them over. That's not what you need for steady growth.

Everyone else will be up soon, so if you want a bit more meditation time, get it now before they start cooking."